NIGHT WITCHES
Terrors Of the Sky
Feature Article: Night Witches
By Kelly J Clark
T
he night is as silent as it can ever be behind enemy lines. The hushed voices of comrades laugh and joke in an attempt to ignore the barely hidden cocktail of terror and excitement bubbling in their veins. Then in the darkness someone asks, “Do you hear that?” The world goes as cold as the Russian autumn and conversation dies beneath sharp hisses for silence. At first, nothing. And then everyone hears it: a whispering, shuffling sound from above, like the swishing of a broom across a hearth. Eyes reflect like saucers in the dark as someone tries to raise the alarm, but it’s too late. The Night Witches are here. Aviation history is full of tales of heroism, courage, and bravado from around the world. But few are as inspiring as the Soviet Air Force’s 588th Night Bomber Regiment, better known by the nickname used by their German targets: the “Night Witches.” With Halloween around the corner, it seemed fitting to celebrate the women who terrorized so many Nazis.
swiftly changed. Leningrad was under siege and Moscow was in the cross hairs; to survive, the Soviets needed all the help they could get. They needed women like Major Marina Raskova. Known by many as the “Soviet Amelia Earhart,” Raskova was the first female navigator of the Soviet Air Force and had set many long-distance flight records. For months, she had received letters from women across the Soviet Union; each wrote of the rage, zeal, and loss caused by the deaths of lovers, family, and friends. They wanted to help. They wanted to fight. Raskova petitioned Joseph Stalin and received permission to form female combat units. On October 8th, 1941, the 558th became one of three female air force units created for the war effort, which made the Soviet Union the first nation to officially allow women to engage in combat.
members in ranks of the 588th. Their training was compressed, brutal, and diverse. Each recruit needed to be a competent pilot and navigator, and also able to serve as both maintenance and ground crew. On top of the harsh training, the recruits also faced constant harassment from their male counterparts. A mix of sexism and the Soviet military’s lack of supplies further hampered the unit. They were provided illfitting hand-me-down uniforms and boots, poor equipment, and no end of grief. Accounts say that they had to stuff their boots with torn bedding to make them fit; that instead of radios or radar, they were given rulers, pencils, and stopwatches; that guns were considered a luxury reserved for the men. But none of that would come close to what would define the unit in history: their aircraft. The 588th was equipped with a fleet of Polikarpov U-2 biplanes. These were not wartime aircraft: they were crop dusters and training planes. Already outdated by the 1920s, the Polikarpov was
From 2,000 applicants, Raskova narrowed the pool down to 400 women, most of whom were students in their teens When World War II began, and early Russian women were barred from twenties. Of combat, but when Operation these, sources Barbarosa thrust the Nazi war put 261 final machine into Soviet territory, that 8
OCTOBER 2021
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