"night witches" defenders of the fatherland.

June 1942 was difficult for the Red Army. German troops developed an offensive on the southern wing of the Soviet - German front. At this time, the command of the 218th Night Bomber Aviation Division brought the 588th Night Light Bomber Aviation Regiment into battle. The regiment began combat work, striking German lines in the south of Donbass in the area of ​​the Mius River. A fierce battle broke out here for the approaches to the Kuban and the North Caucasus.

The first to fly on a combat mission were 3 crews - regiment commander E. D. Bershanskaya with regiment navigator Sofya Burzaeva and squadron commanders Serafima Amosova with navigator Larisa Rozanova and Lyubov Olkhovskaya with navigator Vera Tarasova. The whole regiment accompanied them. It was June 8, 1942. The first bombs with the inscription "For the Motherland!" fell on the heads of the enemies. The pilots, maneuvering in the night sky, broke through the curtain of anti-aircraft fire and completed the task. However, the crew of L. Olkhovskaya and V. Tarasova were seriously wounded by an enemy shell, tried to reach their airfield, but had to make a landing. The residents found them dead. An excellent pilot, Dina Nikulina, and a navigator, a former student of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow University, Zhenya Rudneva, were appointed to replace the dead. On the eve of the first sortie, many girls, including Dina Nikulina and Zhenya Rudneva, applied for admission to the ranks of the Communist Party.

The next night, the entire 588th regiment took to the air - 20 crews. The first massive raid on the enemy was dedicated to the memory of the fallen fighting girlfriends.

Day after day (more precisely, night after night) the pilots of the 588th regiment increased their attacks on the Nazi invaders. From the onset of darkness until dawn, bombs were thrown at the heads of the enemies. Until the summer of 1944, the crews flew without parachutes, preferring instead to take an extra 20 kilograms of bombs with them. The small U-2 terrified the enemy, and already in 1942, German pilots and anti-aircraft gunners were often awarded the Iron Cross for each downed "corn" gunner.

During the war, the number of personnel of the regiment increased from 112 to 190 people, and the number of combat vehicles - from 20 to 45 aircraft. The regiment completed its combat path with 36 combat aircraft. During the battles, the combat skills and flying skills of the girls were improved.

Every night they made several sorties to bombard the enemy, bringing the combat load to the maximum limit. When breaking through the enemy defenses on the Narew River near Warsaw, the regiment made 324 sorties in one night. Night flights and constant danger required a lot of physical and moral strength. But no one has tarnished the honor of his regiment.

The 588th regiment began its combat path in the Salsky steppes and ended it on the territory of Nazi Germany. The brave female pilots destroyed the crossings and defensive structures of the enemy, destroyed the equipment and manpower of the enemy. The regiment participated in offensive operations in the Mozdok region, on the Terek River and in the Kuban, contributed to the liberation of Sevastopol, Mogilev, Bialystok, Warsaw, Gdynia, Gdansk (Danzig), helped ground units in breaking through enemy defenses on the Oder. For successful fighting in breaking through the strong defensive line "Blue Line" on the Taman Peninsula, the regiment received the honorary name "Taman".

For the exemplary performance of the combat missions of the command for the defense of the North Caucasus, the regiment was awarded the highest military honor: in February 1943 it was transformed into the 46th Guards NBAP. For the liberation of the Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and for the liberation of Poland and the defeat of the enemy in East Prussia - the Order of Suvorov 3rd degree. In February 1945, the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League awarded the Komsomol organization of the regiment with a Certificate of Merit.

During the war, the 46th Guards Taman Night Light Bomber Aviation Regiment was transformed from a 2-squadron regiment into a 3-squadron regiment, and then a 4-squadron regiment. This restructuring, which contributed to the intensification of strikes against the enemy, caused the need for replenishment with new personnel of pilots, technicians and armed forces. This task was successfully solved. During the war, the regiment received 95 men as reinforcements. Of these, and mainly from among the persons of the former composition, directly in a combat situation on their own 36 pilots, 35 navigators and 8 aircraft mechanics were trained. In addition, specialists of this profile arrived in the regiment and as part of the specified replenishment. A number of navigators were retrained as pilots, and mechanics and armed men mastered the specialty of navigators.

Each sortie was a test of will, courage, devotion to our Motherland. On the way to many targets, the slow-moving and devoid of armor protection U-2 was met by the enemy with dense anti-aircraft fire. The pilots required genuine art, skill and perseverance in order to break through the curtain of fire and complete a combat mission.

The regiment lost 28 aircraft, 13 pilots and 10 navigators from enemy fire. Among the dead were squadron commanders O. A. Sanfirova, P. A. Makogon, L. Olkhovskaya, air unit commander T. Makarova, regiment navigator E. M. Rudneva, squadron navigators V. Tarasova and L. Svistunova. In list dead Heroes Soviet Union E. I. Nosal, O. A. Sanfirova, V. L. Belik, E. M. Rudneva.

During the war, the regiment inflicted enormous damage on enemy manpower and equipment. The brave pilots made 23,672 sorties at night and dropped 2,902,980 kg of bomb cargo, 26,000 ampoules of flammable liquid on the heads of the enemies. According to far from complete data, the regiment destroyed and damaged 17 crossings, 9 railway echelons, 2 railway stations, 46 warehouses with ammunition and fuel, 12 fuel tanks, 1 aircraft, 2 barges, 76 vehicles, 86 firing points, 11 searchlights. In the camp of the enemy, 811 fires were caused, 1092 explosions of great force. Pilots dropped 155 bags of ammunition and food to our encircled troops. Aircraft of the 46th Guards Taman Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Suvorov Aviation Regiment were in combat flights for 28,676 hours, in other words, 1,191 full days without a break. This was a great contribution of Soviet patriots to the defeat of the enemy.

During the war years, 23 servicemen of the regiment were awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union:

Guards senior lieutenant Aronova Raisa Ermolaevna - 960 sorties. Awarded on May 15, 1946.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Belik Vera Lukyanovna - 813 sorties. Awarded posthumously on February 23, 1945.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Gasheva Rufina Sergeevna - 848 sorties. Awarded on February 23, 1945.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Gelman Polina Vladimirovna - 860 sorties. Awarded on May 15, 1946.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Zhigulenko Evgenia Andreevna - 968 sorties. Awarded on February 23, 1945.
- Guard Captain Litvinova (Rozanova) Larisa Nikolaevna - 793 sorties. Awarded on February 23, 1948.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Makarova Tatyana Petrovna - 628 sorties. Awarded posthumously on February 23, 1945.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Meklin Natalya Fedorovna - 980 sorties. Awarded on February 23, 1945.
- Guard Captain Evdokia Andreevna Nikulina - 760 sorties. Awarded 10/26/1944.
- Guard Lieutenant Evdokia Ivanovna Nosal - 354 sorties. Awarded posthumously on May 24, 1943.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Parfyonova Zoya Ivanovna - 739 sorties. Awarded 08/18/1945.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Pasko Evdokia Borisovna - 790 sorties. Awarded 10/26/1944.
- Guard Captain Anastasia Vasilievna Popova - 852 sorties. Awarded on February 23, 1945.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Raspopova Nina Maksimovna - 805 sorties. Awarded on May 15, 1946.
- Guard Lieutenant Rudneva Evgenia Maksimovna - 645 sorties. Awarded posthumously on October 26, 1944.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Ryabova Ekaterina Vasilievna - 890 sorties. Awarded on February 23, 1945.
- Guard Captain Sanfirova Olga Alexandrovna - 630 sorties. Awarded posthumously on February 23, 1945.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Sebrova Irina Fedorovna - 1004 sorties. Awarded on February 23, 1945.
- Guard Captain Smirnova Maria Vasilievna - 950 sorties. Awarded 10/26/1944.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Syrtlanova Maguba Huseynovna - 782 sorties. Awarded on May 15, 1946.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Ulyanenko Nina Zakharovna - 915 sorties. Awarded 08/18/1945.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Khudyakova Antonina Fedorovna - 926 sorties. Awarded on May 15, 1946.
- Guard Captain Chechneva Marina Pavlovna - 810 sorties. Awarded on May 15, 1946.

In 1994 - 1995, 2 more former navigators of the regiment received the title of Hero of Russia:

Guards Senior Lieutenant Akimova Alexandra Fedorovna - 680 sorties. Awarded on December 31, 1994.
- Guards Senior Lieutenant Sumarokova Tatyana Nikolaevna - 725 sorties. Awarded on 10/11/1995.

The title of Hero of the Republic of Kazakhstan was awarded to one pilot:

Guard Senior Lieutenant Dospanova Khiuaz Kairovna - more than 300 sorties. Awarded on December 7, 2004.

OUR FAVORITE COMMANDER

"Today, on International Women's Day, we are summing up some preliminary results of our work, the work of pilots. Almost all of us from the first days Patriotic War we are at the front and destroy the German invaders from the air.

We girls made 20,000 sorties, spent 25,000 hours in the air and from there dropped a deadly load on the heads of the enemy.

Our 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment has come a long way. Many of us participated in the defense of the North Caucasus. We crushed the enemy in the Kuban, in Taman, on the Kerch and Crimean peninsulas, in Belarus, we fought for the liberation of Poland, and now we are delivering blow after blow against the Nazis in Eastern Pomerania.

For exemplary performance of command assignments, the regiment was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. About 200 people from the regiment were awarded orders and medals, including two orders - 60 people, three - 30 people, and 10 people - four order bearers. Recently, 13 pilots of the regiment were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 4 of them - posthumously.

E. D. Bershanskaya.

Our regiment was repeatedly named in the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Just the day before yesterday, it was noted in the order that the pilots of Lieutenant Colonel E. D. Bershanskaya distinguished themselves in battles.

Evdokia Davydovna Bershanskaya - regiment commander. We owe much of our success to her. From the first days of the Patriotic War, she skillfully commanded our night bomber aviation regiment. Evdokia Bershanskaya graduated from the aviation school of pilots in 1932, in 1933 she was already a pilot - an instructor of the school, then a flight commander, a detachment commander. And so, step by step, I reached the regiment commander.

We love our commander. We believe her. She herself sets an example of heroism and courage. She loves flying, she has flown about 3000 hours. Personally made 20 sorties. And in each such sortie, she destroyed many enemies. As a commander, she pays great attention to the training of flight and navigation personnel and aircraft navigation at night.

Our regiment is made up of volunteer girls who have never served in the Red Army before. And here, in combat conditions, on the battlefield, Evdokia Davydovna Bershanskaya, as a regiment commander, managed to rally a friendly team that enjoys a good reputation among the regiments of our aviation division.

We have sworn a solemn oath to hit the enemy even harder. We keep our word. Without sparing lives, we deal him blow after blow.

The Nazis contemptuously called our plane "Russ-Plywood". But on their backs and heads they felt the power of our magnificent aircraft. Soon "Russ-Plywood" will appear over Berlin. It won't be long to wait."

This letter from the Heroes of the Soviet Union Guards Major Yevdokia Nikulina and Guards Senior Lieutenant Rufina Gasheva was published in the Pravda newspaper on March 8, 1945.

On the evening of July 31, 1943, Galya Dokutovich had a severe backache, she took painkillers, but did not feel any relief. Immediately after sunset, the navigator of the 46th female bomber regiment, Dokutovich, together with everyone else, received an order - to destroy the enemy troops in locality"Red". Having hardly climbed into the cockpit of the Po-2 aircraft, Galina and her partner Anna Vysotskaya flew out for a night bombardment. After 35 minutes, when all the bombs were dropped, their plane hit the beam of a German searchlight, and after a few seconds, their wooden "corncob" turned into a flaming torch. After 35 minutes, when all the bombs were dropped, their plane hit the beam of a German searchlight , and in a few seconds their wooden "corn" turned into a flaming torch. former boss of the headquarters of this regiment, Irina Vyacheslavovna Rakobolskaya: “In the morning, I, as the chief of staff, had to write a report. Even today I remember it by heart: point number 4 - “In total, 15 sorties were made for the given targets. Flight time - 14 hours 23 minutes. Ammunition spent -140 pieces. 4 crews did not return from the mission: Vysotskaya, navigator Dokutovich; Krutova, navigator Salikov; Polunina, navigator Kashirin; Rogova, navigator Sukhorukov. ”The death of eight female pilots in one night became an emergency. For all the years of the war, the women's air regiment, nicknamed the "Night Witches" by the Germans, lost only 32 people dead. The death of Galina Dokutovich was perceived by everyone with a special feeling. Dokutovich's recipe: 120 sorties instead of a hospital bed At the beginning of the war, Galya Dokutovich was a student at the Moscow Aviation Institute, the Moscow Aviation Institute. She went to war at the call of the Central Committee of the Komsomol. One of the first nights at the front, in the Salsky steppes, when she was flying with Irina Dryagina, their plane was fired upon, and while the mechanics put patches on the plane, Galya lay down in the soft grass on the edge of the airfield and fell asleep. In the dark, she was run over by a gas station... Irina Viktorovna Dryagina turned 94 this year. The famous pilot told the Zvezda TV channel about how she herself miraculously escaped that fateful day: “This car flew out of the darkness at us, I was next to Galya. Only she fell asleep, and I didn’t, so I managed to jump aside. A loaded fuel truck literally ran over her, but she did not scream, although she received a spinal injury, but calmly waited for an ambulance. She was a tall, slender girl with an open, clear face and large black eyes. ”When the regiment was formed, Galya was appointed adjutant of the squadron. This was a blow to her, since adjutants could not fly on combat missions every night, she did not have “her own” pilot and aircraft, she shared them with the head of communications. The adjutant is like the chief of staff of a squadron ... “I remember Galya lying on a stretcher, her bloodless face with compressed lips. Before she was taken away, she asked me: “Ira, promise me that when I return to the regiment, you will no longer appoint me as an adjutant, I will be a navigator, I will have my own plane and pilot.” At that moment, I could promise her anything! We retreated, almost fled, and there was no hope that Galya would remain alive, let alone return to the regiment ... ”, recalls war veteran Irina Rakobolskaya. After the hospital, Galina returned to her air regiment, hiding her referral for six months of treatment and rest, and secretly from everyone, took painkillers. In front of the chief of staff, Irina Rakobolskaya, Dokutovich did a handstand - so much she wanted to fly again. Before her death, Galya managed to make about 120 sorties and receive her first order ... Stalin "surrenders" to senior lieutenant of state security Marina Raskova Before the war, the profession of a pilot was very popular and prestigious in the Soviet Union. Hundreds of girls rushed after the men to gliding schools to get a flight ticket. Immediately after June 22, 1941, Soviet pilots began to ask to go to the front, but every single one was refused. Only an experienced pilot, senior lieutenant of state security, Hero of the Soviet Union Marina Raskova was able to turn the tide. This happened after her personal appeal to the People's Commissar of Defense Joseph Stalin. “She was a fragile woman, but she could knock on the table with her tiny fist ... She taught us: “A woman can do anything!”. These words have become my motto for life,” says Irina Rakobolskaya. Raskova received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union even before the war - on November 2, 1938 for the women's world aviation record for flight range. Then there was service in the NKVD. With the outbreak of World War II, Raskova began organizing women's aviation regiments, on October 8, 1941, Stalin "respected" the famous pilot and gave order No. 0099 to form three women's aviation regiments. Two of them were mixed, and only the 46th Night Bomber Regiment did not have a single man. Forget-me-nots on footcloths On October 26, 1941, on the platform of the railway station in the city of Engels, the future "Night Witches" received the first order for a general haircut "like a boy" and "hair in front to half an ear." “Our hair began to look like tow, in wrinkled long overcoats we looked a little like an army unit. Braids could be left only with the personal permission of Raskova. But how could we, girls, turn to a well-known respectable woman with such trifles as braids! And on the same day, our hair lay like a motley carpet on the floor of the garrison barbershop. More than 60 years have passed, but my hair is still “from the front to half an ear,” says 95-year-old Irina Vyacheslavovna Rakobolskaya, the former chief of staff of the 46th regiment, today. In the first week at the front, it seemed to the pilots that they were given fake goals - didn't shoot at them German anti-aircraft guns, they were not caught by searchlights. And the fact that the crew of squadron commander Lyuba Olkhovskaya with navigator Vera Tarasova did not return from the very first flight was taken as an accident, for loss of orientation, for a malfunction in the car. “When Irina Dryagina flew in with a hole in the plane, everyone ran to the plane, touched this hole and rejoiced - “finally we are at war for real! Of course, the girls remained girls: they carried kittens on airplanes, danced in non-flying weather at the airport, right in overalls and high fur boots, embroidered forget-me-nots on footcloths, dissolving blue knitted underpants for this, and wept bitterly if they were suspended from flying, ”says the veteran At first, the Germans, seeing plywood planes descending towards them with their engines turned off, which were flown only by young girls, decided that they were all criminals whom Stalin forced to fly at night by force and manually drop bombs on their positions. Then the pilots of the 46th air regiment received the nickname "sorceresses", and after that - "Night witches". "We learned about it from local residents villages that we abandoned in 1941 and then liberated. We even liked that the Germans called us that. The regiment was secret, nothing was written about us in the newspapers for a long time, journalists never came to us. Our glory was known to very few, ”says Irina Rakobolskaya. "Fire Land"

The 46th Tamansky Guards Bomber Regiment went through a glorious combat path from the Salsky steppes and the Don to Nazi Germany. On Po-2 night bombers, the brave female pilots inflicted crushing blows on the enemy, destroying crossings and defensive structures, destroying enemy equipment and manpower. The regiment participated in offensive operations in the Mozdok region, on the Terek River and in the Kuban; contributed to the liberation Crimean peninsula, cities: Sevastopol, Mogilev, Bialystok, Warsaw, Gdynia, Gdansk (Danzig); helped ground units in breaking through the enemy defenses on the Oder. “Our regiment was sent to perform the most difficult tasks, we flew to complete physical exhaustion. There were cases when the crews could not get out of the cockpit due to fatigue, and they had to be helped. The flight lasted about an hour - enough to fly to the target in the immediate rear or on the front line of the enemy, drop bombs and return home. In one summer night, they managed to make 5-6 sorties, in winter - 10-12. We had to work both in the dagger beams of German searchlights and under heavy shelling, ”recalls Hero of the Soviet Union Evdokia Borisovna Pasko. In November 1943, in the Crimea, south of Kerch, in the small fishing village of Eltigen, our troops landed, but the Germans managed to surround him. Our soldiers had to fight off up to twenty attacks a day. From enemy bombs and artillery fire, Eltigen flared up with continuous fire. “For several nights, our regiment flew to destroy artillery points around Eltigen. But the moment came when the paratroopers of the "Land of Fire", as it was called in our regiment, ran out of ammunition, food, and medicines. The weather at that time was non-flying, the airfields of day bombers and attack aircraft were covered with dense fog. And we began to fly, despite the bad weather and heavy anti-aircraft fire. Instead of bombs, they hung sacks of bread, canned food, ammunition and - forward. We focused on the light that the paratroopers lit for us. When he was gone, they shouted: “Polundra, where are you?” Evdokia Pasko recalls. ". Then Pasko's crew made 12 flights to " Tierra del Fuego”, dropping 24 bags of ammunition, food and medicine with sniper accuracy. "Armenians" After the war, millions of people learned about the exploits of the pilots of the 46th regiment. 25 "night witches" received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And only the technicians of the women's aviation regiment are almost never remembered. By staffing at the front, they were masters of armaments, the "witches" themselves called their irreplaceable assistants - "armed men." The armed woman Tanya Shcherbinina attached bombs to the wings of the aircraft throughout the war. But first, the bombs had to be received, taken out of the box and unchecked, the fuses wiped of grease, screwed into the “hellish machine”. For each flight, as a rule, they took 24 pieces. “The technician shouts: “Girls! For manpower!” This means that it is necessary to hang fragmentation bombs, the lightest - 25 kilograms each. And if they fly to bomb, for example, railway, then 100-kilogram bombs were attached to the wing. In this case, they worked together. Just raise it to shoulder level, so partner Olga Erokhina will say something funny, we both laugh, “hellish machine” - from our hands to the ground. We need to cry, but we laugh! Again, we take on the heavy "ingot" with the words: "Mom, help me!", - then the veteran of the Great Patriotic War Tatyana Shcherbinina recalled. Tatyana Shcherbinina says that the best gift for the weapons masters was an invitation from the pilots to fly at night on a combat mission. This rarely happened, only in those cases when, for one reason or another, the navigator could not fly: "Just click:" Climb into the cockpit, let's fly! A wild roar filled the air. Maybe it was compensation for the tears on the ground? SAB parachute bras There is a lot of evidence about the hard everyday life of female pilots. One of them leads night witch” Galina Bespalova: “For us, the days were considered a holiday when a “woofer” arrived at the location of the unit - tunics, underwear, and trousers were fried in it. More often we washed things in gasoline. At the same time, our girls managed to wash, comb their hair and even make up every morning after the bombing. Once, after the battle, one of the crews had an unused luminous aerial bomb (SAB) - a burning torch that descended on a parachute over the target and illuminated the area. Usually the navigator held these bombs right on his knees and threw them over the side of the aircraft. Two armed men opened the bomb left after the flights, took out a parachute and sewed panties and bras for themselves (for the first three years of the war, women at the front received only men's underwear). And parachutes for bombs were sewn from real silk! “One of them was called Paradise, yes, for sure! Ray Kharitonov, and the second ... I don’t remember. I'm like a deputy commander for political affairs, I can say that they were punished severely, very much so. There was a military tribunal, they were sentenced to 10 years. But at our request, they were left in the unit, so to speak, "to atone" for guilt. One of her friends denounced them, she later admitted that she did not expect such a turn of the case, ”recalls war veteran Irina Vyacheslavovna Dryagina today. “After a while, Rai Kharitonova and Tamara Frolova were cleared of their criminal record, they learned to be navigators. One of these girls, Tamara Frolova, burned to death on a plane during the assault on the German Blue Line, the other, Raya Kharitonova, remained alive, both received awards on their merit ... ”, says war veteran Rakobolskaya. 20 thousand sorties without parachutes and machine guns During the fighting on the Taman Peninsula, an entire squadron of fascist aces was deployed to fight the "female Soviet nightlights". For each plane shot down, German pilots received the highest award- "Iron Cross". "Night Witches" flew on the U-2 (training), but with the outbreak of war this training plywood aircraft received a new name - Po-2 (N.N. Polikarpov - aircraft designer). Po-2 could be controlled by both the pilot and the navigator. The plane did not have any armor protection, it did not have weapons on board almost until the very end of the war. Machine guns appeared on these aircraft only in 1944. Prior to this, the only weapons of the pilots were TT pistols. Until August 1943, the brave pilots did not even take parachutes with them, preferring to take another 20 kilograms of bombs instead. Before departure, be sure to leave all the documents in the shelf. Because of this, the graves of some of our dead girlfriends managed to find it not immediately after the war,” says Irina Rakobolskaya. In October, the 46th Guards Taman female night aviation regiment the bombers were disbanded. According to Irina Vyacheslavovna Rakobolskaya, not all of her fighting friends were able to find their place in life, because they went to the front immediately after graduating from high school. Hero of the Soviet Union Evdakia Borisovna Pasko still brings out new varieties of iris in memory of her departed brother-soldiers : “I called this handsome man “Heavenly slug” - that was the name of our Po-2. Do you know how many of our girlish "slow-moving" bombs dropped on the Fritz? Almost 3 million! Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Aviation Major General Grigory Rechkalov said well about us: "Flying during the day and drinking at night is not at all the same as flying at night and not drinking at all." Like all pilots, after intense sorties we were given 100 grams of vodka or dry wine. We united several people, poured alcohol into a bottle and gave it to the tailors and shoemakers of the aviation maintenance battalion, who altered our greatcoats and tunics, but, most importantly, adjusted chrome men's boots of size 42 to fit our legs. ”This photo shows a meeting of veterans 46th Air Regiment "Night Witches" made in 2006 at the Bolshoi Theater. At this place, according to tradition, the legendary female pilots gather every year on May 2 and 8. This year, only Olga Filippovna Yakovleva, Irina Vyacheslavovna Rakobolskaya, Irina Viktorovna Dryagia and Evdokia Borisovna Pasko will be able to come to the meeting.

How many heroic deeds our ancestors accomplished during the Great Patriotic War. Soviet women also participated in the fight against the enemy on an equal basis with men, and even quite young girls. A few years before the onset of the Nazis in the vastness of the Soviet Union, mass training of young people in flying clubs was launched. The profession of a pilot was so romantic and attractive that not only enthusiastic young men, but also girls aspired to the sky. As a result, by June 1941, the country had a staff of young pilots, this circumstance once again refutes the allegations that the USSR was completely unprepared for war, and the country's leadership did not expect an attack.

In October 1941, in the most difficult military situation, the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR issued an order to form a women's aviation regiment No. 0099. Responsibility for the execution of the order was assigned to Maria Raskova. In their interviews, the surviving female front-line soldiers speak of Raskova as the most authoritative person in their midst. Her orders were not discussed, young girls who came from different parts of the country, who had just graduated from pilot courses, looked at Raskova as a pilot of an unattainable level. By that time, Raskova was a little over twenty-five years old, but even then Maria Mikhailovna was a Hero of the USSR. Amazing, brave and very beautiful woman died in 1943 in a plane crash in the most difficult weather conditions near the village of Mikhailovka in Saratov region. Maria Raskova was cremated, and the urn with her ashes was placed in the Kremlin wall so that grateful descendants could lay flowers and honor the memory of the female hero.

In accordance with the order of the People's Commissar of Defense, Maria Mikhailovna formed three divisions:
fighter aviation regiment 586;
aviation regiment BB 587;
night aviation regiment 588 (legendary "night witches").

The first two divisions became mixed during the war; not only girls, but also Soviet men fought valiantly in them. The night aviation regiment consisted exclusively of women, even the hardest work was performed by the fairer sex.

At the head of the "night witches" or the 46th guards nbap was an experienced pilot Evdokia Bershanskaya. Evdokia Davydovna was born in the Stavropol Territory in 1913. Her parents died during civil war and the girl was brought up by her uncle. Strong character this woman allowed her to become a brilliant pilot and commander. By the beginning of the war, Evdokia Bershanskaya already had ten years of flying experience, she diligently passed on her knowledge to young subordinates. Evdokia Davydovna went through the whole war, and after that she worked for a long time in public organizations for the benefit of the Fatherland.

Regiment commander Evdokia Davydovna Bershanskaya and regiment navigator Hero of the Soviet Union Larisa Rozanova. 1945

The entrusted Bershansky regiment was sometimes called "Dunkin". In this name, all the brave pilots shine through. Plywood, light Po-2 aircraft were not at all suitable for fierce battles with the German invaders. The Germans openly laughed at the sight of this fragile structure. Often the girls were not taken seriously, and throughout the war they had to prove their skills and demonstrate the capabilities of the “whatnots”. The risk was extremely high, since the Po-2 quickly caught fire and was completely devoid of any armor or other type of protection. Po-2 is a civil aircraft used for transport purposes, as well as in the field of communications. The girls independently hung the bomb load on special beams on the lower plane of the aircraft, which sometimes exceeded 300 kg. Each shift could carry a weight reaching a ton. The girls worked in extreme tension, which allowed them to fight the enemy on an equal footing with men. If earlier the Germans laughed at the mention of the "Kuban whatnot", then after the raids they began to call the regiment "night witches" and attribute magical properties to them. Probably, the Nazis simply could not imagine that Soviet girls were capable of such feats.

Maria Runt, a native of Samara, the same age as Bershanskaya, was responsible for party work in the regiment of girls studying to fly in the city of Engels. She was an experienced and courageous bomber pilot who patiently shared her experience with the younger generation. Before and after the war, Runt worked pedagogical work and even defended her PhD thesis.

Combat aircraft PO-2, on which the crews of the regiment flew to bomb the Nazis

The baptism of fire of the 46th Guards Nbap took place in mid-June 1942. Light Po-2s soared into the sky. Pilot Bershanskaya with navigator Sofya Burzaeva, as well as Amosova and Rozanova, went on the first flight. According to the stories of the pilots, the expected fire from the position of the enemy did not follow and the crew of Amosov-Rozanov circled three times over a given target - a mine, in order to drop a deadly load. Today we can judge the events of that time only from documents and a few interviews with direct participants in combat sorties. In 1994, they talked about the exploits of the women's air regiment Larisa Rozanova, navigator, born in 1918, son of the hero of the USSR Aronova, as well as Olga Yakovleva, navigator. They describe all the difficulties and horrors of the war that the fragile Soviet girls had to face, as well as the heroically dead pilots and navigators.

It should be said separately about each of those who, on the light Po-2, terrified the invaders. Larisa Rozanova was refused several times in her requests to send her to the front. After order No. 0099 was issued, Rozanova got into a flight school in the city of Engels, and then into the 46th Guards. For the war she flew over Stavropol Territory and Kuban, soared on her light Po-2 over North Caucasus and Novorossiysk. Rozanova contributed to the liberation of Poland and Belarus, celebrated the victory in Germany. Larisa Nikolaevna died in 1997, having lived a long and interesting life.

Flight commander Tanya Makarova and navigator Vera Belik. 1942 Posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union

Olga Yakovleva went from being a gunner to a navigator, she participated in battles against the invaders for the Caucasus, as well as in the liberation of the Crimea, Kuban and Belarus. The brave woman inflicted well-aimed bombing attacks on enemy targets in East Prussia.

The combat path of the regiment is a series of glorious deeds, to which each of the "night witches" contributed. Despite the formidable name that the Nazis gave to the women's air regiment, for the Russian people they will forever remain noble conquerors of the sky. After the first sortie took place, young girls fought on light plywood "whatnots" for a long time. From August to December 1942 they defended Vladikavkaz. In January 1943, the regiment was sent to help break through the line German troops on the Terek, as well as to support offensive operations in the region of Sevastopol and Kuban. From March to September of the same year, the girls undertook operations on the Blue Front Line, and from November to May 1944 they covered the landing on the Taman Peninsula Soviet forces. The regiment was involved in actions to break through the defenses of the Nazis near Kerch, in the village of Eltigen, as well as in the liberation of Sevastopol and the Crimea. From June to July 1944, the women's aviation regiment was thrown into battle on the Pronya River, and from August of the same year it flew over the territory of occupied Poland. Since the beginning of 1945, girls have been transferred to East Prussia, where the "night witches" on PO-2 successfully fight and support the crossing of the Narew River. March 1945 is marked in the history of the valiant regiment by participation in the liberation battles for Gdansk and Gdynia, and from April to May, brave female pilots supported the offensive Soviet army behind the retreating fascists. Over the entire period, the regiment made over twenty-three thousand sorties, most of of which went to difficult conditions. On October 15, 1945, the regiment was disbanded, and the bulk of the girls were demobilized.

Mechanics at the airport. Summer 1943

Twenty-three brave female pilots of the 49th Women's Aviation Regiment were awarded the title of Hero of the USSR. Evdokia Nosal, a native of the Zaporozhye region, was killed by a shell that exploded in the cockpit in the battles for Novorossiysk. Evgenia Rudneva, also from Zaporozhye, died in April 1944 on a combat mission in the sky north of Kerch. Tatyana Makarova, a 24-year-old Muscovite, burned to death in an airplane in 1944 in the battles for Poland. Vera Belik, a girl from the Zaporozhye region, died along with Makarova in the sky over Poland. Olga Sanfirova, born in 1917 in the city of Kuibyshev, died in December 1944 on a combat mission. Maria Smirnova from the Tver region, a smiling Karelian, retired with the rank of Major of the Guard, lived long life and passed away in 2002. Evdokia Pasko - a girl from Kyrgyzstan, born in 1919, retired with the rank of senior lieutenant. Irina Sebrova from Tula region, since 1948 senior lieutenant of the reserve. Natalya Meklin, a native of the Poltava region, also survived the bloody battles and retired with the rank of major, died in 2005. Zhigulenko Evgenia, a resident of Krasnodar, with beautiful eyes and an open smile, also became a Hero of the USSR in 1945. Evdokia Nikulina, native Kaluga region, entered the reserve of the guard as a major and after the war lived until 1993. Raisa Aronova, a girl from Saratov, retired as a major and died in 1982. Khudyakova Antonia, Ulyanenko Nina, Gelman Polina, Ryabova Ekaterina, Popova Nadezhda, Raspolova Nina, Gasheva Rufina, Syrtlanova Maguba, Rozanova Larisa, Sumarokova Tatyana, Parfenova Zoya, Dospanova Khivaz and Akimova Alexandra also became heroes of the USSR in the valiant 49th Aviation Regiment.

Machine gun verification. Left st. weapons technician of the 2nd Squadron Nina Buzina. 1943

About each of these great women, as well as about other girls who served in the 49th regiment, called the “night witches” by the Nazis, you can write not only an article, but also a book. Each of them has come a long way and is worthy of memory and respect. Soviet women fought not for the party and not for Soviet power, they fought for our future, for the right of future generations to live free.

In 2005, a literary "creation" was published under the name "Camping Field Wives", the authors of which are certain Olga and Oleg Greig. Don't mention it scandalous fact, which is a product of attempts to interpret historical truth, would be criminal. The mentioned "creators", the proud word of the writer has no desire to call them, tried to denigrate the bright memory of heroic women with statements in their sexual promiscuity and other vices. In refutation of the shameful and narrow-minded speculation, I would like to recall that not a single fighter of the 49th Women's Aviation Regiment left the ranks due to gynecological diseases or pregnancy. We will not deny that based on real history Nadia Popova and Semyon Kharlamov, a love story was covered in the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle”, but people with stable moral values ​​are well aware of the differences between sexual promiscuity and high feeling.

Heroes of the Soviet Union: Tanya Makarova, Vera Belik, Fields Gelman, Katya Ryabova, Dina Nikulina, Nadya Popova. 1944

Heroes of the Soviet Union squadron commander Maria Smirnova and navigator Tatyana Sumarokova. 1945

Heroes of the Soviet Union Nadezhda Popova and Larisa Rozanova. 1945

The U-2 itself was created as a training aircraft, was extremely simple and cheap and outdated by the beginning of the war. Although it was produced before the death of Stalin and 33 thousand of them were riveted (one of the most massive aircraft in the world). For combat operations, it was urgently equipped with instruments, headlights, bomb suspension. They often reinforced the frame and ... But this long story and about half a century of life of the machine and its creator Polikarpov. It was in his honor after his death from cancer in 1944 that the aircraft was renamed Po-2. But back to our ladies.

First of all, let's dispel the myth of losses. They flew so efficiently (the Germans practically no one flew at night) that 32 girls died in sorties during the entire war. Po-2 haunted the Germans. In any weather, they appeared over the front line and bombed them at low altitudes. The girls had to make 8-9 sorties per night. But there were such nights when they received the task: to bomb "to the maximum." This meant that there should be as many sorties as possible. And then their number reached 16-18 in one night, as it was on the Oder. The pilots were literally taken out of the cockpits and carried in their arms - they could not stand on their feet.
Tanya Shcherbinina remembers Weapons master

The bombs were heavy. It is not easy for a man to deal with them. Young front-line soldiers, pushing, crying and laughing, fastened them to the wing of the aircraft. But before that, it was still necessary to figure out how many shells would be needed at night (as a rule, they took 24 pieces), take them, get them out of the box and undo them, wipe the fuses from grease, screw them into the infernal machine.

The technician shouts: "Girls! By manpower!" This means that it is necessary to hang fragmentation bombs, the lightest ones, 25 kilograms each. And if they fly to bomb, for example, a railway, then 100-kilogram bombs were attached to the wing. In this case, they worked together. Only they will raise it to shoulder level, partner Olga Erokhina will say something funny, both will burst out and drop the infernal machine to the ground. You have to cry, but they laugh! Again they take up the heavy "pig": "Mom, help me!"

Happened happy nights when, in the absence of the navigator, the pilot invited: "Climb into the cockpit, let's fly!" Fatigue vanished. A wild roar filled the air. Maybe it was compensation for the tears on the ground?

The main inconvenience is the inability to put yourself in order, wash, wash. Days were considered a holiday when a "washer" arrived at the location of the unit - tunics, linen, and trousers were fried in it. More often washed things in gasoline.
Flight personnel of the regiment

Take off! (Still from newsreel)

The crew of N. Ulyanenko and E. Nosal receives a combat mission from the commander of the Bershanskaya regiment

Navigators. Stanitsa Assinovskaya, 1942.

The crew of Tanya Makarova and Vera Belik. They died in 1944 in Poland.

Nina Khudyakova and Lisa Timchenko

Olga Fetisova and Irina Dryagina

in winter

For flights. Spring thaw. Kuban, 1943.
The regiment flew from the "jump airfield" - as close as possible to the front line. Pilots got to this airfield by trucks.

Pilot Raya Aronova at her plane

Armed Forces insert fuses into bombs
4 bombs of 50 or 2 of 100 kg were suspended from the aircraft. During the day, the girls hung several tons of bombs each, as the planes took off at intervals of five minutes ...
April 30, 1943 the regiment became Guards.

Presentation of the Guards banner to the regiment. two crew

By the well

All three shots were taken in the village of Ivanovskaya near Gelendzhik before the storming of Novorossiysk.

"When the attack on Novorossiysk began, then to help the ground troops and the landing marines aviation was sent, including 8 crews from our regiment.
... The route passed over the sea, or over mountains and gorges. Each crew managed to make 6-10 sorties per night. The airfield was close to the front line, in a zone accessible to enemy naval artillery.
From the book by I. Rakobolskaya, N. Kravtsova "We were called night witches"

The deputy commander of the regiment S. Amosova sets the task for the crews allocated to support
landing in the Novorossiysk region. September 1943

"The last night came before the assault on Novorossiysk, the night of September 15-16. Having received combat mission, the pilots taxied to the start.
... All night long, the planes suppressed pockets of enemy resistance, and already at dawn an order was received: to bomb the headquarters of the fascist troops, located in the center of Novorossiysk near the city square, and the crews flew again. The headquarters was destroyed."
From the book by I. Rakobolskaya, N. Kravtsova "We were called night witches"
“During the assault on Novorossiysk, Amosova’s group made 233 sorties. The command awarded the pilots, navigators, technicians and armed forces with orders and medals.

From M. Chechneva's book "The sky remains ours"

"... At that moment, searchlights lit up ahead and immediately caught the plane flying in front of us. In the crosshairs of the rays, the Po-2 looked like a silver moth entangled in a web.
... And the blue lights started running again - right in the crosshairs. The flames engulfed the plane, and it began to fall, leaving behind a winding strip of smoke.
The burning wing fell off, and soon the Po-2 fell to the ground, exploding ...
... That night, four of our Po-2s burned down over the target. Eight girls...
I. Rakobolskaya, N. Kravtsova "We were called night witches"

"On April 11, 1944, the troops of the Separate Primorsky Army, breaking through the enemy's defenses in the Kerch region, rushed to connect with units of the 4th Ukrainian Front. At night, the regiment delivered massive strikes against the retreating columns of the Nazis. We made record number sorties - 194 and dropped about 25 thousand kilograms of bombs on the enemy.
The next day we received an order to relocate to the Crimea.
M.P. Chechneva "The sky remains ours"

Panna Prokopieva and Zhenya Rudneva

Zhenya studied at the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University, studied astronomy, and was one of the most capable students. I dreamed of studying the stars...
One of the minor planets in the asteroid belt is called "Evgenia Rudneva".
After the liberation of the Crimea, the regiment receives an order to relocate to Belarus.

Belarus, a place near Grodno.
T. Makarova, V. Belik, P. Gelman, E. Ryabova, E. Nikulina, N. Popova

The famous and legendary even before the war, the creator of the regiment and the ancestor of the very idea to use the U-2 as a night bomber. Marina Raskova, 1941

Marshal K.A. Vershinin presents the regiment with the Order of the Red Banner for the battles for the liberation of Feodosia.

Monument in Peresyp
Those who did not return from the war - remember them:

Makarova Tanya and Belik Vera burned down in Poland on August 29, 1944.

Malakhova Anna

Vinogradova Masha

Tormosina Lilia

Komogortseva Nadia, even before the battles, Engels, March 9, 1942

Olkhovskaya Lyuba

Tarasova Vera
Donbass, shot down in June 1942

Efimova Tonya
died of illness, December 1942

died of illness in the spring of 1943.

Makagon Polina

Svistunova Lida
crashed on landing April 1, 1943, Pashkovskaya

Pashkova Julia
died April 4, 1943 after an accident in Pashkovskaya

Nosal Dusya
killed in an airplane 23 April 1943

Vysotskaya Anya

Dokutovich Galya

Horny Sonya

Sukhorukova Zhenya

Polunina Valya

Kashirina Irina

Krutova Zhenya

Salikova Lena
burned down over the Blue Line on August 1, 1943

Belkina Pasha

Frolova Tamara
shot down in 1943, Kuban
Maslennikova Luda (no photo)
killed in the bombing, 1943

Volodina Taisiya

Bondareva Anya
lost orientation, Taman, March 1944

Prokofieva Panna

Rudneva Zhenya
burned down over Kerch on April 9, 1944

Varakina Lyuba (no photo)
died at the airfield in another regiment in 1944

Sanfirova Lelya
hit a mine after jumping from a burning plane December 13, 1944, Poland

Kolokolnikova Anya (no photo)
crashed on a motorcycle, 1945, Germany.

Those who want to get statistics on the regiment- in Wiki.