The Escadron bleu was the nickname given to Mobile Unit No. 1 of the French Red Cross, created on 13 April 1945 by order of the Ministry of Prisoners, Deportees and Refugees. It brought together eleven young volunteer women, nurses and ambulance drivers, most of them in their twenties, who were tasked with helping bring home wounded prisoners of war, forced labourers and survivors of the camps. Its nickname came from the colour of the uniforms supplied by the American army.

Under the authority of Violette Guillot, the unit leader, the Escadron bleu worked with five pairs, each made up of one driver and one nurse. The group travelled in five Austin K2 ambulances donated by King George VI of England. Members of the unit included Jeannine Robert, Simone Saint-Olive, Aline Tschupp, Cécile Stiffler, Charlotte Pagès, Micheline Reveron, Jacqueline Heiniger, Élisabeth Blaise, Simone Braye and Françoise Lagrange.

Its first mission took place in Germany, from 25 April to 24 July 1945. On 29 April, the Escadron bleu was present when the gates of Dachau were opened. The ambulances could carry only four stretcher cases or ten seated passengers, which meant that many journeys between the camp and France were necessary. After Dachau, the unit also worked with survivors from Buchenwald.

The history of the Escadron bleu was closely linked to that of Madeleine Pauliac. A doctor and lieutenant in the French Forces of the Interior, she was sent to Moscow and then Warsaw by General de Gaulle to organise the medical repatriation of French citizens still in Eastern Europe. She became chief doctor of the French hospital in Warsaw and delegate of the French Red Cross in Poland. In a Warsaw that had been almost entirely destroyed, she directed a ten-bed hospital, a dispensary and a reception centre for refugees.

From July 1945, the Escadron bleu joined Madeleine Pauliac in Poland. The unit travelled along damaged roads to find people liberated from camps, prisoners and refugees. Its missions sometimes took it as far as the Soviet Union, including the Tambov camp, to repatriate the Malgré-nous, Alsatians forcibly incorporated into the German army. In total, the Escadron bleu carried out more than 200 missions and travelled around 40,000 kilometres before its work ended in November 1945.