The first book to focus solely on the men of a hunting group.
Approaching the history of a Hunting Group from the perspective of its men is the idea of this book. The first part provides an overall vision of the place of men in this unit, but also their place before and after the Second World War. The second part speaks individually of more than 370 men, officers, non-commissioned officers or enlisted men who belonged to GC I/8 between 1936 and 1942.
Jean CAZAUX, mechanic at I/8 between 39 and 42, wrote the spirit of this book before its time: XXX
“Yes, there were the pilots – the class – the glory – the panache, there were the mechanics, capable, dedicated, conscientious workers, but why do we never talk about all the others, exposed to the same risks ( bombed – machine-gunned) and to very meritorious, essential servitudes. What would we have all done, all those around the plane (operating it) if it hadn't been for the administrators - the treasurers - the cooks, them at their rolling kitchen for the "juice" from morning to get up from day, to night, for the evening meal? And the vaguemaster, the man awaited every day, the one who on June 8, 1940, arriving around 1 p.m. with the mail, surely saved half of the squadron from death. And our soldiers, our second mechanics (we had one with each mechanic)… All this made a very homogeneous, fraternal whole, formed a beautiful unit, commanded by an exceptional leader. During my career, I have never found such a united ensemble. »
400 pages, 700 photos, 385 men cited, 39 detailed portraits. A4 format, hard cover, square spine.
