46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Red Banner Taman Order of Suvorov 3rd Class Regiment The only completely female regiment (there were two more mixed regiments, the rest were exclusively male), 4 squadrons, these were 80 pilots (23 received the Hero of the Soviet Union) and a maximum of 45 aircraft, made up to 300 sorties per night, each dropping 200 kg of bombs (60 tons per night). We made 23,672 sorties (almost five thousand tons of bombs). The bombers were mostly advanced, so that falling asleep the German risked not waking up. The accuracy of the battle is amazing, the flight is silent, it is not visible on the radar. Therefore, the U-2 (Po-2), originally contemptuously called by the Germans "Russian plywood", very quickly turned into a regiment of "night witches" in literal translation.

Once we were on the Terek. Our defense line stood there for a very long time, and one pilot (we don’t know who, although we can guess) descended over the Terek and shouted to our fighters: “Why the hell are you sitting and not advancing?! We fly, we bomb you here, and you sit still!” And from above, when you remove the gas, everything is very audible. And in the morning this battalion got up and went into battle. We didn’t know anything about this, but then a letter came from the commander of the infantry: “Find the woman who was shouting from above,” I wanted to express my gratitude to her. From the memoirs of Irina Rakobolskaya

During the war, Irina Rakobolskaya was part of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, in which only women flew. They flew wooden U-2 biplanes, created in 1928 for training pilots, and bombed the Germans at night, silently, hovering over them with the engine turned off. The low-powered engine made it possible to develop a speed of only 120 km / h, and the pilots made the sights for bombing themselves, they were called PPR - “Easier than a steamed turnip”. The fascists, hardened in battles, were afraid of them like fire, and they called them “Night Witches”. Of the slightly more than 200 people of the flight crew of the regiment, only five are alive today, and Irina Vyacheslavovna is one of them.

After the war, she became a professor, head of the department of cosmic rays and space physics at the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University, participated in the work on the Soviet nuclear program and raised two sons, each of whom also became a professor.

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. The frame was often reinforced and ... But this is a long story about the half-century 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.
Remembers Shcherbinina Tanya 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!"

There were 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?

It was especially hard in winter. Bombs, shells, machine guns - metal. Is it possible, for example, to load a machine gun in gloves? Hands freeze, are taken away. And the hands are girlish, small, sometimes the skin remained on the frosted metal.

Regimental commissar E. Rachkevich, squadron commanders E. Nikulina and S. Amosova, squadron commissars K. Karpunina and I. Dryagina, regiment commander E. Bershanskaya
Tired of moving. Only niches, dugouts with rollovers will be built by the girls, disguised, covered with branches, the planes, and in the evening the regiment commander shouts into the mouthpiece: "Girls, prepare the planes for redeployment." They flew for a few days, and again moving. In the summer it was easier: they made huts in some kind of fishing line, or even just slept on the ground, wrapped in a tarpaulin, and in winter they had to grind the frozen soil, free the runway from snow.

The main inconvenience is the inability to put oneself 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, aviation was sent to help the ground troops and the marines, 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"

Squadron commander of the 47th ShAP Air Force Black Sea Fleet M.E. Efimov and deputy. regiment commander S. Amosov discuss the task of supporting the landing

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 before the assault on Novorossiysk came, the night of September 15-16. Having received a 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"

Novorossiysk is taken! Katya Ryabova and Nina Danilova are dancing.
The girls not only bombed, but also supported the paratroopers on Malaya Zemlya, supplying them with food and clothing, and mail. At the same time, the Germans on the Blue Line resisted fiercely, the fire was very dense. In one of the sorties in the sky, four crews burned down in front of their friends ...

"... At that moment, searchlights lit up ahead and immediately caught the plane flying in front of us. In the crosshairs of the beams, 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, having broken 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. 25 thousand kilograms of bombs.
The next day we received an order to relocate to the Crimea.
MP Chechneva "The sky remains ours"

Panna Prokopyeva and Zhenya Rudneva

Zhenya studied at the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University, studied astronomy, and was one of the most talented 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

Poland. The regiment was built to present awards.
Here I digress a little from history, remembering photography lovers. This photograph is the middle part of a 9x12 photograph that I found in Bershanskaya's album. I scanned it with a resolution of 1200. Then I printed it on two sheets of 20x30. Then on two sheets 30x45. And then ... - you won't believe it! A photo 2 meters long was taken for the museum of the regiment! And all the faces were read! That was optics!
Fragment of the far end of the photo

I return to the story.
The regiment was moving west with battles. The flights continued...

Poland. For flights.


Winter 1944-45. N. Mecklin, R. Aronova, E. Ryabova.
By the way, if anyone remembers the film "Night Witches in the Sky" - then it was directed by Natalya Meklin (after Kravtsov's husband). She has also written several books. Raisa Aronova also wrote an interesting book about a trip to the battlefields in the 60s. Well, the third one here is my mother, Ekaterina Ryabova.

Germany, Stettin region. Deputy regiment commander E. Nikulin sets the task for the crews.
And the crews are already wearing custom-made ceremonial dresses. The photo is staged, of course. But the flights were still real ...
Two photos from the album of the regiment commander Evdokia Bershanskaya.


Commanders receive a combat mission on April 20, 1945.

Berlin is taken!

The combat work is over.


The regiment is preparing to fly to Moscow to participate in the Victory Parade.
Unfortunately, percale airplanes were not allowed to enter the parade... But they recognized that they deserve a monument made of pure gold!..


Evdokia Bershanskaya and Larisa Rozanova


Marina Chechneva and Ekaterina Ryabova

Rufina Gasheva and Natalya Meklin


Farewell to the banner of the regiment. The regiment was disbanded, the banner was transferred to the museum.

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.

Feature film In the sky "night witches"

In the sky "Night Witches" - This film is about the events of the Second World War. The Nazis called the fearless Soviet female pilots "Night witches". They fought on "night" bombers PO-2. For girls, this nickname was the highest assessment of their contribution to the victory. Responsibility for the fate of the country, crying from fatigue, yearning for loved ones, relatives, loved ones, real warriors in difficult wartime.

Director Evgenia Zhigulenko - Hero of the Soviet Union, first a navigator, then a pilot of this regiment (46th Guards), made 968 sorties.

Released: 1981

Cast: Valentina Grushina, Yana Druz, Dima Zamulin, Nina Menshikova, Valeria Zaklunnaya, Tatyana Mikrikova, Elena Astafieva, Alexandra Sviridova, Sergei Martynov, Dodo Chogovadze, Stanislav Korenev, Valentina Klyagina

The entire Soviet people contributed to the victory over Nazi Germany. Men and fought with the enemy face to face, women, teenagers and old people tried to the best of their ability to organize supplies, agriculture and rear work in general. But there were exceptions to this rule. Unique exceptions.

In 1941, in the city of Engels, under the personal responsibility of Senior Lieutenant of State Security Marina Raskova, the 46th Guards Night Bomber Women's Aviation Regiment was founded, which in the future was dubbed " night witches". To do this, Marina had to use her personal resources and personal acquaintance with Stalin. No one really counted on success, but they gave the go-ahead and provided the necessary equipment.

What exactly was the plan. Using silent and almost imperceptible U-2 planes, loaded with bombs to the very “I can’t”, the girls flew up to the positions of the Germans under the cover of night and dumped explosive surprises on their heads. The idea is good, but, as practice later showed, it is almost suicidal. The fact is that the U-2 is an outdated TRAINING biplane made of plywood, which could reach speeds of no more than 120 km / h. That is, if they notice, they can even shoot down from a submachine gun, not to mention more powerful weapons. Plus, at first, the girls basically did not take parachutes with them in order to increase the ammunition load.

That is, imagine. Winter 1943. The frost is minus thirty, the Germans are still successfully resisting, and you, late at night, with practically no lighting, lift into the air a slow car that looks like a wooden coffin and loaded with bombs, fly over the front line, miraculously find the enemy, and without attracting the attention of the sentries, dump them on everything he took. Oh yes, there is no auto-reset and no sight either - only improvised devices. And then you have to come back. And sit down. At night. Without lighting. Repeat 12 times. Typical February night.

Of course, there were losses. Of the 115 ladies who got to the front on May 27, 1942, 32 people died. Someone was shot down on approach to the enemy, someone crashed unsuccessfully landing in complete darkness, someone was shot down by enemy night fighters, by the way, specially designed to deal with "night witches". After the war, the regiment's commissar Evdokia Rachkevich, using the money raised by the regiment, traveled to all the disaster sites and found the remains of all her dead girlfriends. So none of night witches“I haven’t gone missing and I don’t know where.

« Night Witches"- the only unit that consisted entirely of girls, even technical and maintenance personnel. And if you think that only the pilots had a hard time, imagine what it was like for the girls to attach bombs weighing a hundred kilograms to the wings of an airplane in severe frost. And then repair the fuselages shot through.

As already mentioned, initially as part of " night witches"There were 115 people who flew 20 cars. Then the number of vehicles increased to 40. And the total number of servicemen of the 46th Guards Bomber Regiment was 265 people. More than 23 thousand sorties were carried out and a huge number of enemy infrastructure elements were destroyed. . And all this in absolutely suicidal conditions. The Germans were afraid night witches"to the point of being stupid - they came up with a frightening name, they specially created a night fighter regiment so that they could at least somehow be resisted. They did it a couple of times. 23 pilots were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

My own grandfather was a pilot. Civil aviation, true, but I once heard enough stories from him. And about flying in a thunderstorm, and about landing in extreme conditions, and about emergencies. It was scary, yes. But it does not go to any comparison with what these girls experienced daily. And if this is not real heroism, then I don’t know who can be called heroes then. So yes, " Night Witches are forever inscribed on the pages of the heroic history of Russia.

They were called "night witches" and "legends" - heroic girls who desperately fought for the victory of our country during the Great Patriotic War. Brave fighting girls from 15 to 29 years old as part of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment took part in the liberation of Novorossiysk, battles in the Kuban, Crimea, Belarus, Poland, and reached Berlin. According to incomplete data, the regiment destroyed and damaged 17 crossings, 9 railway echelons, 2 railway stations, 46 warehouses, 12 fuel tanks, 1 aircraft, 2 barges, 76 vehicles, 86 firing points, 11 searchlights. 811 fires and 1092 large explosions were caused. Also, 155 bags of ammunition and food were dropped to the encircled Soviet troops.

The Aviation Regiment was formed in October 1941 by order of the NPO of the USSR. Marina Raskova led the formation, she was only 29 years old. Evdokia Bershanskaya, a pilot with ten years of experience, was appointed commander of the regiment. Under her command, the regiment fought until the end of the war. Sometimes it was jokingly called the "Dunkin Regiment", with a hint of an all-female composition and justified by the name of the regiment commander.

The formation, training and coordination of the regiment was carried out in the city of Engels. The air regiment differed from other formations in that it was completely female. Only women occupied all positions here: from mechanics and technicians to navigators and pilots.

The exploits of the "night witches" are unique - the bombers account for thousands of sorties and tens of tons of bombs dropped on enemy positions. And this is on wooden PO-2 biplanes, which were not created for military purposes at all and the German air defense forces could not answer much!

Our training aircraft was not created for military operations. Wooden biplane with two open cockpits located one behind the other and dual controls - for the pilot and navigator. Before the war, pilots were trained on these machines. Without radio communications and armored backs capable of protecting the crew from bullets, with a low-power motor that could reach a maximum speed of 120 km / h. The plane did not have a bomb bay, the bombs were hung in bomb racks directly under the plane of the plane. There were no sights, we created them ourselves and called them PPR (simpler than a steamed turnip). The amount of bomb cargo varied from 100 to 300 kg. On average, we took 150-200 kg. But during the night the plane managed to make several sorties, and the total bomb load was comparable to that of a large bomber.

No difficulties frightened the pilots. And when they wanted to feel like just women, they arranged dances at the airport right in overalls and high fur boots, embroidered forget-me-nots on footcloths, dissolving blue knitted underpants for this.

The pilots in the memoirs describe their baggy uniform and huge boots. The shape to size for them was not immediately sewn. Then two types of uniforms appeared - everyday with trousers and dress with a skirt.
On missions, of course, they flew out in trousers, the uniform with a skirt was intended for solemn meetings of the command. Of course, the girls dreamed of dresses and shoes.

Every night, the pilots managed to make 10-12 sorties. They did not take parachutes with them, they preferred to grab an additional bomb with them instead. The flight lasted an hour, then the plane returned to base to refuel and plant bombs. The time to prepare the aircraft between flights took five minutes.

The flight lasts about an hour, and mechanics and armed forces are waiting on the ground. They were able to inspect, refuel the aircraft, hang bombs in three to five minutes. It is hard to believe that young thin girls during the night with their hands and knees, without any devices, each hung up to three tons of bombs. These modest assistant pilots showed true miracles of endurance and skill. And the mechanics? Whole nights they worked at the start, and during the day they repaired cars, preparing for the next night. There were cases when the mechanic did not have time to bounce off the propeller when starting the engine and her hand was interrupted ... And then we introduced a new service system - shift crews on duty. Each mechanic was assigned a certain operation on all aircraft: meeting, refueling or release ... Armed men in threes were on duty at the cars with bombs. Supervised by one of the senior AE technicians. Fighting nights began to resemble the work of a well-functioning factory assembly line. The plane that returned from the mission was ready for a new flight in five minutes.

Different stories led women to war. Some of them are tragic. Evdokia Nosal came to the front to think less about the death of her newborn son. Immediately after Evdokia gave birth, the bombing of the maternity hospital began in Brest. Evdokia survived, and later she found the body of her son under the rubble.

Dusya miraculously survived. But she could not leave the place where until recently there had been a large bright house. There, under the rubble, lay her son... She scraped the ground with her nails, clinging to the stones, they pulled her away by force... Dusya tried to forget all this. She flew, flew, and every night managed to make more sorties than others. She was always first. She came to us, flew brilliantly, and on the dashboard of her plane there was always a portrait of her husband, also a pilot - Gritsko, so she flew with him. We were the first to introduce Dusya to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

From the diary of pilot Zhenya Rudneva:

April 24th.
Yesterday morning I came to the navigators, who were going to bomb, scolded them for the lack of windbreakers and asked Nina Ulyanenko: “Yes, Nina, you were on flights, how is it, is everything all right?” Nina looked at me strangely and in some too calm voice asks : „What - everything is all right?“
- Well, is everything all right?
- Dusya Nosal was killed. Messerschmit. At Novorossiysk...
I only asked who the navigator was. "Kashirina. Brought the plane and landed. Yes, we always have something new. And usually all sorts of incidents at the start happen without me. Dusya, Dusya... A wound in the temple and back of the head, lies as if alive... And her Gritsko is in Chkalov...
And Irinka did a good job - after all, Dusya fell on the handle in the first cabin, Ira got up, pulled her by the collar and with great difficulty piloted the plane. Still hoping that she fainted...
No matter what I did yesterday, I thought about Dus all the time. But not like it was a year ago. Now it became much harder for me, I knew Dusya closely, but I myself, like everyone else, became different: drier, more callous. Not a tear. War. Only the day before yesterday I flew to this target with Lyusya Klopkova ... In the morning we drank with laughter with laughter for not hitting us: we heard anti-aircraft guns bursting under the planes, but they didn’t get us ... "

“... In the coffin she lay strict, with a bandaged head. It was hard to tell what was whiter - her face or the bandage ... There was a salute from rifles. A pair of fighters flew low, low. They waved their wings, sending a farewell greeting."

Pilot Natalya Kravtsova also got to the front of her own free will. She grew up in Ukraine, in Kyiv and Kharkov. There she graduated from school and an flying club, and in 1941 she moved to Moscow and entered the Moscow Aviation Institute.

The war began, and the girl, along with other students, went to build defensive fortifications near Bryansk. Returning to the capital, she enrolled, like other future "night witches", in the women's aviation unit of Marina Raskova, graduated from the Engels military pilot school, and in May 42 went to the front.

She was a navigator, and later retrained as a pilot. She made her first flights as a pilot in the sky over Tamanya. The situation at the front was not easy, the German forces desperately resisted the Soviet offensive, and the air defense on the occupied lines was saturated to the limit. Under such conditions, Natalya became a real ace: she learned to take the plane away from enemy searchlights and anti-aircraft guns, to escape unscathed from German night fighters.

Together with the regiment, the commander of the guard, Lieutenant Natalya Meklin, traveled a three-year journey from the Terek to Berlin, making 980 sorties. In February 1945, she became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war, Natalya Kravtsova wrote novels and stories about the Great Patriotic War. The most famous book is “We were called night witches. This is how the women's 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment fought,” was written jointly with her front-line friend Irina Rakobolskaya.

Another pilot, Irina Sebrova, was one of the first who turned to Marina Raskova with a request to enroll her in the emerging women's air regiment. She graduated from the Moscow flying club, worked as an instructor, and before the war released several groups of cadets.

Ira Sebrova made the most sorties in the regiment - 1004, it’s even scary to say. I think that in the whole world you cannot find a pilot with so many sorties.

Over the Donbass, Novorossiysk and Eltigen, in Belarus, Poland and Germany, Sebrova raised her plane against the enemy. During the war years, she rose to the rank of senior lieutenant of the guard, went from a simple pilot to a flight commander. She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner three times, the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, many medals, including "For the Defense of the Caucasus."

Pilot Evgenia Zhigulenko was only 21 years old when she went to the front in May 1942. She made her first combat sorties in the sky over Donbass as a navigator, working with Polina Makogon. Already in October 1942, for 141 night flights on the PO-2 aircraft, she received her first award - the Order of the Red Banner. The performance said: “Comrade. Zhigulenko is the regiment's best shooter-scorer."

Soon, having gained experience, Zhigulenko herself moved into the cockpit and became one of the most productive female pilots in the regiment. In November, the 44th Guards Lieutenant Evgenia Zhigulenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In the combat characteristics of the pilot, “high combat skill, perseverance and courage” were noted, 10 episodes of dangerous, but always productive sorties were described.

When my sorties began as a pilot, I was the first in the ranks as the tallest in height and, taking advantage of this, managed to be the first to run to the plane and be the first to fly out on a combat mission. Usually during the night she managed to make one flight more than other pilots. So, thanks to my long legs, I became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

In just three front-line years, the pilot made 968 sorties, dropping about 200 tons of bombs on the Nazis!

After the war, Evgenia Zhigulenko devoted herself to cinema. In the late 70s she graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography, made films. One of them - "Night witches in the sky" - is dedicated to the combat activities of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.

Unfortunately, the regiment did not return from the war in full force. The combat losses of the regiment amounted to 32 people. Despite the fact that the pilots died behind the front line, not one of them is considered missing. After the war, the commissar of the regiment, Evdokia Yakovlevna Rachkevich, used the money collected by the entire regiment, traveled to all the places where the planes crashed, and found the graves of all the dead.

The most tragic episode in the history of the regiment was the night of August 1, 1943, when four aircraft were lost at once. The German command, annoyed by the constant night bombing, transferred a group of night fighters to the regiment's area of ​​operations. This was a complete surprise for the Soviet pilots, who did not immediately understand why the enemy anti-aircraft artillery was inactive, but the planes caught fire one after another. When the understanding came that Messerschmitt Bf.110 night fighters were fired against them, the flights were stopped, but before that, the German ace pilot, who only in the morning became a holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Josef Kociok managed to burn three Soviet bombers in the air together with the crews, on which did not have parachutes. Another bomber was lost due to anti-aircraft fire. That night, Anna Vysotskaya and navigator Galina Dokutovich, Evgenia Krutova and navigator Elena Salikova, Valentina Polunina and navigator Glafira Kashirina, Sofya Rogova and navigator Evgenia Sukhorukova died.

However, in addition to combat, there were other losses. So, on August 22, 1943, the communications chief of the regiment, Valentina Stupina, died of tuberculosis in the hospital, and on April 10, 1943, already at the airfield, one plane, landing in the dark, landed directly on another, which had just landed. As a result, the pilots Polina Makagon and Lida Svistunova died immediately, Yulia Pashkova died from her injuries in the hospital. Only one pilot remained alive - Khiuaz Dospanova, who received severe injuries: her legs were broken, but after several months of hospitals, the girl returned to service, although due to improperly fused bones, she became an invalid of the 2nd group. Crews also died before being sent to the front, in accidents during training.

Unfortunately, the surviving "night witches" after the war were forgotten by many. In 2013, at the respectable age of 91, Guards Major Nadezhda Vasilievna Popova, the last of twenty-three combat pilots - "night witches" awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union during the war years, quietly passed away. Quietly, because on the day of her death, July 6, only a few news agencies briefly reported on the incident.

dead girlfriends

Malakhova Anna and Vinogradova Masha Engels, March 9, 1942
Tormosina Lilia and Komogortseva Nadya Engels, March 9, 1942
Olkhovskaya Lyuba and Tarasova Vera Donbass, shot down in June 1942
Efimova Tonya died of illness, December 1942.
Stupina Valya died of an illness in the spring of 1943.
Makagon Polina and Svistunova Lida crashed while landing April 1, 1943, Pashkovskaya
Pashkova Julia died on April 4, 1943 after an accident in Pashkovskaya
Nosal Dusya was killed on the plane on April 23, 1943.
Anya Vysotskaya and Galya Dokutovich burned down over the Blue Line on August 1, 1943.
Rogova Sonya and Sukhorukova Zhenya - -
Polunina Valya and Kashirina Ira - -
Krutova Zhenya and Salikova Lena - -
Belkina Pasha and Frolova Tamara shot down in 1943, Kuban
Maslennikova Luda died during the bombing, 1943
Volodina Taisiya and Bondareva Anya lost their bearings, Taman, March 1944
Prokofieva Panna and Rudneva Zhenya burned down over Kerch on April 9, 1944.
Varakina Lyuba died at the airfield in another regiment in 1944.
Makarova Tanya and Belik Vera burned down in Poland on August 29, 1944.
Lelya Sanfirova was blown up by a mine after jumping from a burning plane on December 13, 1944, Poland
Kolokolnikova Anya crashed on a motorcycle, 1945, Germany

• In 1981, the Soviet feature film "In the Sky" Night Witches "" directed by Evgenia Zhigulenko was released. The prototype of the unit where the heroines of the film serve was the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, formed at the suggestion of Marina Raskova [ . The director of the film, Yevgenia Zhigulenko, fought as part of this air regiment, was a flight commander and became a Hero of the Soviet Union for her courage in battle.
• In 2005, Oleg and Olga Greig's book Field Wives appeared, in which the pilots are depicted as sexually promiscuous. The authors also accused them of the fact that the awards were given only through the bed. Veterans of the regiment sued the authors for libel. A criminal case was initiated, which was terminated due to the death of O. Greig.

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 the place of the dead as the squadron commander. 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 enemy crossings and fortifications, destroyed 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 combat operations in breaking through the strong defensive line "Blue Line" on the Taman Peninsula, the regiment received the honorary name "Tamansky".

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, 36 pilots, 35 navigators and 8 aircraft mechanics were trained directly in a combat situation on their own. 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 gunmen 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. Among the dead were Heroes of the 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 of the 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 have been at the front since the first days of World War II and are destroying 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.