In World War II, not only young seventeen-year-old boys, but also student girls, went to the front. Young beauties who were preparing for exams yesterday, met with guys and dreamed of a wedding dress, today fought for the life of their compatriots and the freedom of their homeland. Some of the brave girls became a military nurse, some became a scout, some became a machine gunner, and some became a military pilot. They fought with fascism on a par with men, often in the same regiment.
"Night Witches"
The most famous and at the same time the only female regiment in Russian and world history is the 46th guards female regiment of night bombers, affectionately called the regular army of the Soviet Union “Dunkin Regiment” and nicknamed with fear, the fascist soldiers “Night Witches”.
At first, the “Night Witches” only aroused contemptuous laughter from the German army, as they flew on U-2 plywood aircraft, which, when hit directly, was not difficult to shoot down from a heavy machine gun. However, during the battles, fearless warriors managed to show what they were doing, inspiring the enemy with horror of the "night swallows" (as the girls called their planes).
The Women's Aviation Regiment of night bombers made an invaluable contribution to the victory.
“U-2” - a cardboard maize or combat “Heavenly slow-moving”?
“U-2” and “Po-2” are lightweight plywood airplanes, whose hulls were not protected from large-caliber weapons. They light up at the slightest contact with the fire. Slow cars, the speed limit of which was slightly above 100 km / h, gained altitude up to 500 meters, but in the skillful hands of the female pilots turned into formidable weapons.
With the onset of darkness, a 46th female aviation regiment of night bombers appeared out of nowhere and bombarded enemy positions.
The Germans were afraid of the girls and endowed 46 regiments with supernatural powers, not believing that by flying on such primitive devices an ordinary person could achieve such results. However, few knew how hard the pilots managed to maintain their fantastic image. Indeed, for a long time, in order to accommodate a larger number of bombs on board the “swallows,” the girls did not even take parachutes with them, and from the weapons they carried only TTs. In the second half of the war, pistols were replaced by machine guns, which significantly increased the ability of pilots to defend and resist. But, despite the improvement of weapons, when hit by the rays of a searchlight, “Heavenly Quiet” had no chance.
During the night, aircraft operated by the 46th Guards Women's Regiment of night bombers made eight sorties, and on long winter evenings their number doubled. The mechanics of the regiment, which, by the way, were also women, patched the punched and burnt parts of the plywood "whatnots" in a matter of hours, and the warriors again went on a mission.
Who knows, maybe, indeed, the 46th female aviation regiment enjoyed the favor of higher forces? Otherwise, how can we explain the fact that the "night swallows" returned to the airfield in a state in which any other plane would not have flown even five meters?
I saw in the plywood "U-2" bombers world-famous experienced pilot Marina Raskova.
Baptism of fire "Taman" regiment
The operation of breaking the Blue Line can be considered a real baptism of girls. That was the name of the fighting in Novorossiysk. Having liberated the Taman Peninsula, the 46th Guards Women's Regiment of night bombers, whose photo you can find in any textbook of world history, received the nickname "Taman".
The fighting here was the bloodiest operation in the entire history of the Night Witches. The regiment suffered invaluable losses: 11 heavenly Valkyries gave their lives for the freedom of Novorossiysk.
On the last night of July 1943 alone, in the light of a searchlight, the regiment lost 8 troops and 4 crews.
Marina Mikhailovna Raskova
Marina Mikhailovna Raskova was born on March 28, 1912. Her father was a singing teacher, and a girl gifted with musical talent wanted to become an opera singer. But fate decided otherwise - the breadwinner died in the Raskov family. To help her mother and younger brother, at the age of sixteen, Marina went to work at the Butyrsky Chemical Plant. A year later, a fateful change of profession took place in the life of the future pilot - the girl got a job as a laboratory assistant at the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy.
The work, which she agreed to from despair, grew into a passion and became a matter of life. The famous girl graduated from the Civil Air Fleet Institute and began teaching navigational affairs. She also set several world records in flying.
In 1938, Raskova went to the front, where she became the first navigator of the fair sex.
By the way, the idea of creating the 46th Guards Women's Regiment of night bombers was submitted precisely by Marina Raskova. For three months, with its help, two regiments of professional pilots were organized.
The story is widely known, which tells that when a plane with female bombers made an emergency emergency landing in the taiga, Raskova jumped with a parachute and was discovered ten days later, barefoot but not losing her will to win. For her brave leap, the woman was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
Regiment commander
The commander of the "Dunkin Regiment", as they jokingly called the 46th female regiment of night bombers, their combat brothers - soldiers of the Soviet Army, became the experienced pilot Evdokia Davydovna Bershanskaya.
Evdokia was born on February 6, 1913 in the Stavropol region, in the village of Dobrovolny, in the family of a blacksmith. During the Civil War, the girl lost her parents, her uncle George Sereda took up her upbringing. Probably, it was thanks to the patriotic instructions of his uncle, who was listed as the commissar of the 286th infantry regiment, and his friends, among whom were such famous personalities as Voroshilov, Budyonny and Apanasenko, a girl with a male character decided to become a conqueror of heaven. After graduating from the Blagodarnenskaya school number 1, she entered the Batay school of pilots, after which she began to teach in it as an instructor.
In 1941, Evdokia Davydovna was appointed commander of the 46th Guards Women's Regiment of night bombers, under her command there were over thirty aircraft. She was awarded the orders of Suvorov and Alexander Nevsky.
After the war, she married the commander of the regiment of night bombers Konstantin Bocharov and gave birth to three children.
Awards and titles of "Night Witches"
The Taman women's regiment distinguished itself in the number of women presented for the award. Twenty-three of them became Heroes of the Soviet Union.
After the collapse of the USSR, Akimova Alexandra Fedorovna and Sumarokova Tatyana Nikolaevna were awarded the title of Hero of Russia, and Dospanova Hiuaz was awarded the title of Hero of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Losses
Unfortunately, the women's flight regiment was not without losses. During the war years 32 pilots died, but all of them were buried, thanks to the efforts of Evdokia Yakovlevna Rachkevich and other surviving soldiers of the regiment.
Also, the girls died in accidents during exercises, from serious illnesses and injuries in military hospitals and in other circumstances not related to hostilities.
Revelations of Irina Rakobolskaya
Irina Rakobolskaya, a veteran and chief of staff of the women's bomber regiment, gave an interview to reporters.
In her revelations, she told how terrified she had heard on the radio about the beginning of the war. This terrible news overtook her when she was preparing with her friend for a physics exam. After crying, the girls decided to go to defend their homeland.
Since the uniforms of small sizes were not released in the USSR, the pilots were forced to wear uniforms on their men’s shoulders and shoes of 41–43 sizes. Only in the middle of the war did the regiment receive normal uniforms, which were made by order of General Tyulenev.
Rakobolskaya respects Raskova, who made a professional regiment of night bombers out of “unformed, shaggy, with dirty hair of the army”. With a laugh, the ninety-year-old Irina Vyacheslavovna recalls her girlish resentment, when she, like the entire female regiment, was ordered by the command to cut her hair short, and the frustration that arose when she found out what the battle brothers called their unit.
A woman who fought for the people, for the future of her children, with tears in her eyes tells about the fate of some of the girls from the Dunkin Regiment after the war, because not all of them found their calling in peacetime. However, the wise Irina Vyacheslavovna Rakobolskaya does not hold any evil either on the authorities or on the eccentric youth. She believes that if the war began in our time, young men and women, without a moment's doubt, would go to defend their homeland.
"Night Witches" in art
Glory overtook the regiment in the field of art. A lot of films were made about brave girls and a lot of songs were sung.
The first film about the 46th guards female regiment of night bombers with the name “1100 Nights” was shot by Semyon Aronovich under the Soviet Union in 1961. After 20 years, another film was released - "In the Sky," Night Witches. "
In the well-known and beloved by all, the work “Only the elderly go into battle”, the story was based on the story of The Night Witch by Nadezhda Popova and pilot Semyon Kharlamov.
Some foreign groups, such as Hail of Bullets and Sabaton, glorify the 46th Guards Women's Regiment in their compositions.