Twice a year - May 2 and November 8 - at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, veterans of the legendary 46th Guards Regiment meet in the park. They commemorate the names of their fallen comrades and girlfriends, including their dear and glorious Tatyana Makarova. Since 1960, Bolotnaya Street, where Tatyana Makarova, Hero of the Soviet Union, lived, was renamed in her honor, but then everyone returned it back. It was decided by her name to name the street of the new Moscow district. The archive of the Komsomol Central Committee still has some of her letters.
Tatyana Makarova: biography
Tatyana was born in Moscow in 1920, September 25, in the family of a simple employee. First, she graduated from the "seven-year" secondary school number 12, then in 1939 she studied at the technical school of the food industry. Makarov devoted all her free time to the flying club and soon began to work as an instructor pilot.
The war broke out, and Tatyana from the autumn of 1941 joined the ranks of the Soviet army. In 1942, this courageous girl continued her studies at an aviation school in the city of Engels. She became a member of the battles for the Crimean peninsula, the North Caucasus, Belarus and Poland.
Tatyana was the commander of the 46th Guards Bomber Regiment. On the account of the guard Lieutenant T. Makarova 628 sorties. She dropped 96 tons of bombs, destroyed 2 anti-aircraft points, 2 crossings, 2 ammunition depots. All this was vital for the Germans. She died with her friend Vera Belik.
Dream
Tatyana Makarova (her photos are presented in this article) from childhood dreamed of becoming a pilot. She loved to parachute, she was very attracted to the sky, and she really wanted to fly. Her father did not understand such daughterly female affection. However, a strong and courageous girl at the age of 19 acquired a new profession for herself, became a civil aviation pilot, took up teaching practice and taught young cadets.
With the outbreak of war, the flying club was reequipped into a military flight school, and Makarova was retrained as a military pilot. This profession was not easy, but the persistent and purposeful girl was able to overcome difficulties.
Childhood Tatyana Makarova
It should be noted that her childhood was far from cloudless. Tatyana Makarova’s father was an invalid of the First World War and worked as a postman. He was often sick, and then my mother was engaged in delivering mail. Tatyana was very lively and active, for which her peers loved her.
Tatyana went to war without hesitation for a long time, and served in the 46th aviation regiment. World history did not know analogues of the situation when the entire composition of the regiment consisted of only women. They made sorties on the light-winged U-2. The division commissar called them "heavenly Amazons," they fought on an equal footing, and sometimes better than men. They “threw the gauntlet” to the men, and Tatyana was the initiator. She was the authority of her fighting friends, they trusted her, flying with her was considered an honor. The Germans were afraid of them and called them "night witches."
Once they retreated to the foothills of the Caucasus, the death of their friends did not break the fighting spirit of the pilots, but only rallied them even more. On the village of Assinovskaya, an order was received with his chest to stand for Grozny and Ordzhonikidze. The Nazis were not supposed to get to the Soviet oil bases. There were a lot of night flights. The girls flew under the motto: "Die yourself, and help a friend!" The conditions were very difficult, the enemies often blinded by the light of searchlights.
Reciprocity
Veteran of the regiment and Hero of the Soviet Union M. Chechneva recalled that once Tatyana’s plane came under heavy fire, it was not possible to escape from blinding spotlights, but squadron commander S. Amosov came to the rescue. She went on a picket to the searchlight installations and almost lost control, as she was greatly planted. Aside, one of his own threw a light bomb, this distracted the Nazis for a minute, and all the pilots safely escaped. Such acute and deadly moments they experienced several times in each battle.
Once Makarova, having knocked down all the targets, she herself got a direct hit, but she was able to cope with the car and save the crew. In September 1942, K. A. Vershinin, general of the 4th Air Army, awarded Tatyana the Order of the Red Banner of War, her other friends were also awarded this award.
In January 1943, their 588th Bomber Regiment was renamed the 46th Guards.
And then there was the liberation of Stavropol, Novorossiysk, Feodosia, Taman (by the way, the regiment was given the honorary name - Taman). Then the regiment was relocated to Belarus. The plain and swamp forests had almost no landmarks. Tatyana was already a flight commander, she had followers and students. She did not spare herself and made 8-9 flights every night. In 1944, she was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner, then the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st Art.
Fate
On one of the sorties in Poland in the region of the city of Ostroleki on August 25, 1944, Tatyana and her navigator Vera Velik returned after a successful bombardment. On the way back they were suddenly overtaken and attacked by an enemy fighter. The plane of Tatyana Makarova caught fire, and then the pilots flew without parachutes (for them it was better to take an additional bomb load). Therefore, there was no chance of escape.
Her body rests in the mass grave of the city of Ostroleki (Poland). Posthumously, she received the title of Hero of the Soybean Union. In Moscow there is a museum of Tatyana Makarova at the address: 6th Radialnaya, building 10.