The Germans called them “night witches”, and Marshal Rokossovsky called them legends. The marshal was confident that the pilots would reach Berlin, and he turned out to be right. Slow night bombers PO-2 “night witches” bombed the Germans, regardless of weather conditions and all air defense systems, and a woman was invariably at the helm. About the most effective aces of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment - in the material “Defend Russia”.

Irina Sebrova, Natalia Meklin, Evgenia Zhigulenko. They served in the legendary women's air regiment of Marina Raskova (46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment), and their front-line biographies are in many ways similar. Each of them was passionate about aviation and from the first days of the Great Patriotic War strove to go to the front; each had three years of war and a journey from the Caucasus to Germany. The pilots even received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on the same day - February 23, 1945.

But at the same time, the exploits of the “night witches” are unique - the bombers accounted for about 1000 sorties and tens of tons of bombs dropped on enemy positions. And this was on wooden PO-2 biplanes, which were not created for military purposes and could do little to answer the German air defense forces!

“Without radio communications and armored backs capable of protecting the crew from bullets, with a low-power engine that could reach a maximum speed of 120 km/h. (...) the bombs were hung in bomb racks directly under the plane of the plane,” pilot Natalya Kravtsova (Mecklin) recalled after the war.

Irina Sebrova, 1004 combat missions

“Ira Sebrova made the most sorties in the regiment - 1004, it’s scary to even say. I think that in the whole world you won’t find a pilot with so many combat missions,” wrote fellow pilots Irina Rakobolskaya and Natalya Kravtsova (Mecklin) in the book “We were called night witches.”

Irina was one of the first who turned to Marina Raskova with a request to enroll her in the emerging women's air regiment. And the girl had arguments - even then, in October 1941, Sebrova was an experienced pilot: she graduated from the Moscow flying club, worked as an instructor and graduated several groups of cadets before the war.

The battles in the Donbass region in May 1942 became a baptism of fire for the bombers. Using PO-2 light bombers, regardless of the weather, they made several sorties per night. This is how Irina’s everyday life at the front passed, this is how she gained experience.

“She loves flying, she is attentive when flying, self-possessed, demanding of herself, disciplined,” Sebrova’s description said.

It soon became clear that there were no impossible tasks for the girl: continuous fog, rain, lack of visibility, mountains, enemy searchlights and anti-aircraft guns - she did not care about any difficulties.

Over 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 guard senior lieutenant and went from a simple pilot to a flight commander. She was awarded three times the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star and the Patriotic War, 2nd degree, and many medals, including “For the Defense of the Caucasus.”

The pilot received the Order of Lenin and the gold Star of Hero on February 23, 1945 for 792 combat missions. There were less than three months left until the end of the war and the brilliant result of 1000 sorties (1000-1008 - the number varies depending on the source; 1000 is indicated in the submission to the Order of the Red Banner dated June 15, 1945...

Natalya Meklin (Kravtsova), 980 combat missions

Natalia grew up in Ukraine, in Kyiv and Kharkov. There she graduated from school and the 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 Marina Raskova’s women’s aviation unit, graduated from the Engels Military Pilot School, and in May 1942 went to the front.

She was a navigator, and later retrained as a pilot. She made her first flights as a pilot in the skies over Taman. The situation at the front was difficult, German forces desperately resisted the Soviet offensive, and air defense on the occupied lines was saturated to the limit. In such conditions, Natalya became a real ace: she learned to steer the plane away from enemy searchlights and anti-aircraft guns, and escape unharmed from German night fighters.

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

He is a brave and fearless pilot. He devotes all his strength, all his combat skills to completing combat missions,” says the nomination for the country’s main award. “Her combat work serves as a model for all personnel.

After the war, Natalya Kravtsova (husband's last name) wrote novels and short 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.

Evgenia Zhigulenko, 968 combat missions

“The Germans called us ‘night witches,’ and the witches were only between 15 and 27 years old,” Evgenia Zhigulenko wrote in her memoirs.

She was 21 years old when in May 1942 she went to the front in the 46th night bomber air regiment formed by Marina Raskova.

She made her first combat missions in the skies over Donbass as a navigator, working with Polina Makogon. Already in October 1942, for 141 night flights on a PO-2 aircraft, she received her first award - the Order of the Red Banner. The submission said: “Comrade. Zhigulenko is the best marksman-bombardier of the regiment.”

Soon, having gained experience, Zhigulenko herself moved into the cockpit and became one of the most effective pilots in the regiment.

In November of the 44th Guards, Lieutenant Evgenia Zhigulenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The pilot’s combat description noted “high combat skill, perseverance and courage,” and described 10 episodes of dangerous, but always effective sorties.

“...When my combat missions began as a pilot, I stood first in the ranks as the tallest in height and, taking advantage of this, managed to be the first to reach the plane and the first to fly out on a combat mission. Usually during the night she managed to complete one more flight than other pilots. So, thanks to my long legs, I became a Hero of the Soviet Union,” Zhigulenko joked.

In just three front-line years, the pilot made 968 missions, 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 and made films. One of them, “Night Witches in the Sky,” is dedicated to the combat activities of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.

The entire Soviet people contributed to the victory over Nazi Germany. Men fought the enemy face to face, women, teenagers and old people tried, to the best of their ability, to organize supplies, agriculture and the work of the rear 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 us with the necessary equipment.

What exactly was the plan? Using silent and almost invisible to radar U-2 aircraft, loaded with bombs to the max, the girls, under the cover of darkness, flew up to German positions and dumped explosive surprises on their heads. The idea was good, but, as practice later showed, it was almost suicidal. The fact is that the U-2 is an outdated TRAINING biplane made of plywood, which could reach a speed of no more than 120 km/h. That is, if they notice, they can even shoot you down with a submachine gun, not to mention a more powerful weapon. Plus, at first the girls basically did not take parachutes with them in order to increase their ammunition load.

I mean, imagine. Winter 1943. Frost is minus thirty, the Germans are still successfully resisting, and you, late at night, with virtually no lighting, lift into the air a slow car that looks like a wooden coffin and loaded with bombs, fly behind the front line, miraculously find the enemy, and without attracting the attention of the sentries you dump it on them everything I took. Oh yes, there is no auto-reset or sight either - only improvised devices. And then we have to come back. And sit down. At night. No lighting. Repeat 12 times. An ordinary February night.

Of course, there were losses. Of the 115 women who went to the front on May 27, 1942, 32 people died. Some were shot down while approaching the enemy, some crashed unsuccessfully landing in complete darkness, some were shot down by enemy night fighters, which, by the way, were specially created to fight "night witches". After the war, regimental commissar Evdokia Rachkevich, using money collected by the regiment, traveled to all the disaster sites and found the remains of all her dead friends. So none of the " Night witches“Isn’t missing and isn’t lying in an unknown place.

« Night Witches"- the only unit that consisted entirely of girls, even technical and maintenance personnel. And if you think that it was hard only for pilots, imagine what it was like for the girls to attach bombs weighing one hundred kilograms to the wings of the plane in the bitter cold. And then repair the fuselages that were shot through.

As already mentioned, initially as part of “ Night witches“There were 115 people who flew in 20 cars. Then the number of vehicles increased to 40. And the total number of military personnel of the 46th Guards Bomber Regiment was 265 people. More than 23 thousand combat missions 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 stupor - they came up with a terrifying name, specially created a night fighter regiment so that at least somehow they could be resisted. They succeeded a couple of times. 23 pilots were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

My grandfather himself was a pilot. Civil aviation, true, but I heard enough stories from him in my time. And about flying in a thunderstorm, and about landing in extreme conditions, and about emergency situations. It was scary, yes. But there is no comparison with what these girls experienced every day. And if this is not real heroism, then I don’t know who can be called heroes. So yeah, " Night Witches"are forever inscribed on the pages of the heroic history of Russia.

A year ago, at the venerable age of 91, Reserve Major Nadezhda Vasilievna Popova, the last of twenty-three combat pilots - “night witches”, who were awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union during the war, quietly passed away. Quiet, because on the day of her death, July 6, only a few news agencies briefly reported on what happened. If in her place there had been some, even if not particularly talented, artist or a pop-rock singer who died of a drug overdose, then all TV channels would have been broadcasting about it for three days in a row, and the newspapers would undoubtedly have been very sad articles, often without any reason including the deceased in the ranks of the “great”. And then it got to the point that Popova, the true Hero of the country, was more or less fully mentioned only by the English Telegraph. And this publication was quoted by domestic information specialists, without bothering to search for the slightest additional information.

25 BOMBER HEROINES

This is how, decades after the war, the chief of staff of the then 588th, and later the 46th Guards Taman Order of the Red Banner and Suvorov air regiment of night bombers, the now still living retired lieutenant colonel Irina Rakobolskaya, characterized her combat subordinate: “Nadezhda Popova - Nadya - beautiful, a bright girl with a cheerful, laughing face. She flew with passion and courage... Nadya started the war as a flight commander, was deputy squadron commander, then became commander of the 2nd air squadron. Oh, how well she sang “Ducks Are Flying”! I flew with Nadya on combat missions, flew to Belarus in search of a new airfield. She could navigate perfectly, and she didn’t really need a navigator.”

She returned from the war to her native Stalino (now Donetsk in Ukraine) with eleven orders and medals, over which shone the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. I wanted to spend a short vacation in a close circle of relatives whom I had not seen for a long time, but that was not the case. The countrymen and local leadership thoroughly “took possession” of the heroine. She spoke about her exploits and the courage of her front-line friends during countless meetings in schools, at coal mining and metallurgical enterprises. They looked at her, listened and “believed or didn’t believe,” they were surprised: The heroine, who went through almost the entire war (from the fall of 1941 in the army, and from June 1942 at the front), was only 24 years old! Not every seasoned man distinguished himself at the front as she did.

It is also interesting that Nadezhda Popova was to a certain extent known as the prototype of Masha “Juliet” - the young heroine from the immortal film “Only Old Men Go to Battle.” This film was advised by her husband, Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General of Aviation Semyon Kharlamov, with whom fate brought Nadezhda together during the war. He himself did not leave any memories of their timid romantic relationship, but, obviously, he told the director of the film masterpiece, Leonid Bykov, about them, and he introduced this touching storyline into the film. With the difference, however, that for the sake of the sharpness of the audience’s perception, he “destroyed” his loving heroes.

It is noteworthy that the “most complete” list of heroes of the 46th Guards Women’s Aviation Regiment of Night Bombers (GZAPNB), which fought in the last year and a half of the war as part of the 325th Night Bomber Aviation Division of the 4th Air Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, includes today there are no longer 23, but 25 people. In 1995, retired senior lieutenant Alexandra Akimova became Hero of Russia (she was nominated for Hero of the Soviet Union back in April 1945 by Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky himself, but it didn’t work out then). And on December 7, 2004, by decree of the President of Kazakhstan, the title “Halyk Kaharmany” (People’s Hero of Kazakhstan) was awarded to Khyuaz Kairovna Dospanova (her name in the regiment was Katya) - the only Kazakh pilot (if not the only Kazakh woman at the front), at one time at the call hearts that rushed into the sky and, with the beginning of the war, achieved a direction to the front.

DEFINED IN "TARDIGADS"

While still a schoolgirl, Nadya Popova found herself in aviation as a “natural” path for young people of that time. The daughter of a railway worker, she was born in the Oryol region, later the family moved to Ukraine, and there in 1936, at 14 years old, she graduated from the seven-year school in Stalino. By that time, the Motherland and the party were already calling on young men and women to “change from horse to plane.” In addition, the thousand-kilometer flights, unprecedented at that time, in which women also participated, were also impressive. The names of the fearless Valentina Grizodubova, Marina Raskova and Polina Osipenko, who became the first women Heroes of the Soviet Union, thundered throughout the country. Nadya did not have a horse, but she, like many, responded to the call and “moved” into the cabin of the winged car right from behind her school desk.

Nadezhda graduated from the flying club and remained there as an instructor, training three dozen pilots, mostly boys. In 1939, she came to Moscow, where she met Polina Osipenko, with whose assistance she was sent to a flying school in Kherson. But the dream of not just flying, but becoming a military pilot did not leave her, and in 1940 Popova was already studying at the Donetsk Military Aviation School. She graduated and received a diploma as a pilot-navigator.

She got to the war from evacuation: in Kattakurgan, Samarkand region of Uzbekistan, as an instructor of primary training at a military aviation school, she trained fighter pilots for front-line aviation, and in between these noble activities, she wrote reports one after another about being sent to the front. I received refusals - and again for my own. She didn’t listen to any “convictions” or demands from her superiors (it was forbidden to submit such reports). She had her own “convincing basis”: the girl had already tasted the horrors of war - she lost her brother Leonid, who died in battle in the first weeks of German aggression, and lost her home. “Lena was 20 years old, and he had never kissed a girl,” she later said. “Mom cried and said: “Damn that Hitler!”

As soon as she found out that a decision had been made in Moscow to create a women’s air unit (“Group 122”), she herself sent a “convincing” telegram to the Komsomol Central Committee. Only then was she called to the capital, to which the Nazi hordes were getting closer and closer. Here, in the building of the Komsomol Central Committee, Hero of the Soviet Union, Major Marina Raskova formed a group of female pilots. “Group” is an understatement! Raskova recruited no more, no less than three female air regiments - fighter, dive and light night bombers. Later, she herself led a regiment of Pe-2 dive bombers, but did not have time to “properly” command them - she died in a plane crash. It is curious that Sergeant Major Nadezhda Popova, a “fighter”, resolutely expressed a request to be assigned to the regiment that would be the first to go to the front. And then, surprisingly, they immediately met her halfway.

Those selected were sent to study in the city of Engels (Saratov region). Popova was only 20 years old. And this was the average age of the unit's personnel. Other girls were 19 and 17–18 years old.

Before the war, they studied to become a pilot for three years, but now they had to master the specialty in just six months. We studied for at least 12 hours a day, often more, spending a good part of the night. They had to fully master the U-2 biplane - the “heavenly slow-moving aircraft”, as this plane was called (in 1944 the plane was renamed Po-2 - after its untimely death designer Nikolai Polikarpov).

The regiment's combat path began in the North Caucasus and continued in the Crimea and Belarus, after which there were Poland, East Prussia, the Oder and Berlin. Only women fought in the 46th GZhAPNB, not a single “guy.” Even the special department was headed by a woman.

“WITCHES” BECAME “SWALLOWS”

And so these beauties (just look at their photographs from the front!) were nicknamed by their enemies “night witches” (in German Nachthexen). The Nazis associated the noise of flying U-2s with the scraping of a broom: it flies “like a witch’s broom in the night,” they were scared. According to Popova herself, “the Germans even came up with a whole legend: they say, ‘night witches’ see so well at night because they are given some kind of injections or pills, that’s why they are so notorious.”

At first, their male pilots were also skeptic, even worse. The night bombers, as soon as they appeared at the front, began to be called the “Dunka Regiment”, since it was led by Evdokia Bershanskaya, a 28-year-old pilot with 10 years of experience as an instructor. She commanded the unit until its disbandment in Polish Schweidnice on October 15, 1945, becoming, by the way, the only woman during the entire war to be awarded the Commander's Order of Suvorov, III degree, which was awarded to regiment commanders.

At first they called the unique women’s air unit and “woman’s regiment,” putting a certain amount of derogation and contempt into this definition. But when, six months later, as Rakobolskaya recalled, “we stood on par with the guys who were sent to teach us, and then we began to fight better than the men, then the latter fell in love with us very much and began to call us “sisters”, “heavenly creatures” , “our Marusi”. In addition, less than a year later, at the height of the fighting in the Kuban, the regiment was awarded the rank of Guards and renamed the 46th.

In fact, at the front, in addition to the 46th Women’s, there were about 60 “male” regiments and squadrons of night light bomber aviation. But mentions of them in specialized literature and even on the “omniscient” Internet are very scant.

And the flying stronger sex (and infantrymen and artillerymen) affectionately called the female bombers “night swallows” - for their skill in deftly and almost silently approaching enemy targets and, having bombed, escape just as skillfully. In fact, they were all so enthusiastic in battle that they made 5–6 bombing missions per night, and in other intense dark hours, 8–9. “And before the capture of Warsaw, I had 16 combat missions in one night. “I didn’t get out of the plane,” Nadezhda Vasilievna recalled. “Sometimes in the morning after such exhausting flights, it seemed like there was no strength to get out of the cabin.” And such tirelessness of Popova and other flyers cannot but impress and amaze!

Night bomber, Nadezhda Popova, from May 1942 to the end of the war, carried out 852 combat missions. Not a record. For example, her colleague Antonina Khudyakova climbed into the skies of war 926 times, and Maria Smirnova - 950, Raisa Aronova - 960, Evgenia Zhigulenko - 968; The record holder was Irina Sebrova - 1004 combat sorties. And they all became owners of Gold Stars.

Not a single front-line male pilot could even come close to such an achievement. Three times Heroes of the Soviet Union, the most successful Soviet aces Ivan Kozhedub and Alexander Pokryshkin made 330 and 650 combat missions, respectively. Twice holder of the Golden Star, attack aircraft Alexander Efimov - 288. In heavy bomber aviation, the record belongs, perhaps, to twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Captain Pavel Plotnikov (after the war he was promoted to major general) - 305 sorties.

INAPPROPRIATE IRONY OF A BRITISH NEWSPAPER

The British newspaper Daily Telegraph, whose hastily published article on the day of Popova’s death in 2013 was quoted by some domestic media, not without visible obscenity (that’s what the Russians went to in the fight against the Germans) wrote: “The regiment was poorly equipped and armed. The women were given a worn-out men's flight uniform, and they flew on well-worn 1920s Po-2 (Polikarpov) airplanes made of plywood with fabric stretched over it, and the instruments were the most primitive. There was no radio communication or weapons. The pilots were not given parachutes either... From a strategic point of view, targets for striking were not of particular importance...”

All this is mostly more likely not true than true. It is obvious that the value of the U-2/Po-2 bombing for the Soviet command remained enduring throughout the war. Otherwise, the 46th Guards “low-speed” regiment of “night witches” could well have been disbanded soon after the Battle of Kursk, since the forces of the parties already before the capture of Berlin were far not in favor of the Germans, and the air supremacy of Soviet aviation was undeniable. However, the brave “swallows” continued to bomb enemy communications - right up to the approaches to the enemy’s lair, from which the war was started.

Victory! Heroes of the Soviet Union Nadezhda Popova (left) and Larisa Rozanova. Photo from 1945

Nadezhda Vasilyevna’s personal account includes “only” three destroyed enemy crossings, as well as a railway train, an artillery battery, two searchlights and 600 thousand propaganda leaflets dropped in the German rear. In terms of the scale of that war, especially for the huge 2nd Belorussian Front, on which it ended the war, it is minuscule. This cannot be said for a specific narrow section of the same front. In addition, Popova was not bombing alone - a whole regiment was flying. And by and large, it was precisely such victories of “local significance” that ultimately formed the Great Victory, which took four long years to achieve.

And regarding the fact that the pilots of the 46th wore “whatever they wanted”, this is also an unscrupulous manipulation of facts. According to the recollections of Irina Rakobolskaya, at first, while they were retreating to the Volga and everything in the troops was in short supply, for some time they really had to be content with what was at hand, because they did not sew for women in the army en masse (“Get boots of size 40 it was great happiness, they were already happy with the 42nd, but everyone wore mostly the 43rd”). But after November 7, 1942 - after a visit to the unit by the commander of the Southern Front, Army General Ivan Tyulenev - a sewing workshop was sent to the regiment: “Measurements were taken from all the girls, and blue skirts and brown tunics were sewn for us. Tyulenev also sent white fabric so that the girls could sew their own underwear.” From this example it is clear that the command took care of its “night swallows” as best it could.

DEAR ENEMY “RUS PLANER”

As for the irony of the British newspaper about the “antediluvian” plane on which Nadezhda Popova and her fighting friends fought, this does not stand up to criticism at all.

Hitler's Luftwaffe did not at all disparage the capabilities of the U-2/Po-2. Except that in the first year of the war the Germans chuckled, jokingly calling this “miracle of technology” “Russian plywood”. But as soon as the women’s regiment began operating at the front, the term “Russian mosquito aviation” began to appear in Luftwaffe headquarters documents. The German military leadership remembered how, during the First World War, a series of small bombs were dropped from a British single-engine airplane onto the German Zeppelin airship - as a result of the attack, the combat air giant was instantly set on fire by the gas that exploded in it and fell to the ground like a torch. It was then that such blows began to be compared with the fatal bites of mosquitoes - small but very dangerous midges found mainly in the tropics.

“These planes did not allow us to live - we cannot light a fire either in the stove or in a small fire - the U-2 crews immediately detect them and drop bombs. They find us all the time - that’s why we have to sit in the trenches all night to avoid losses,” admitted one of the Wehrmacht veterans. An eloquent fact: in August 1943, during the battle for Donbass, regular night U-2 raids on the Uspenskaya railway junction reduced its capacity by 50% - the Germans stopped night transportation, fearing the complete failure of this important station. Now the German soldiers in the front line, who regularly experienced the “bites” of the Russian “air slug”, already called it much less swaggeringly - “Kaffeemuhle” (coffee grinder) and “Haltsnahmaschine” (sewing machine).

The U-2, at first glance, was truly “poor” from the point of view of its combat use. It was created as a training aircraft in the late 1920s and has not undergone any radical modernization since then. Wooden construction, with percale lining, not equipped with a walkie-talkie and instruments that would help pilots distinguish objects on the ground at night, this “flying rattle” with its engine power could reach a speed of no more than 140 km per hour, and with a full combat load even less - only 100–120 km per hour. Because of this, its “slow movement” with the beginning of hostilities in the U-2 was seen not as a somewhat formidable combat unit, but as “obvious uselessness” - just an easy air target that would be shot down and not costly.

“The wings (planes) were generally made of fabric, only edged with wood at the edges, if you poke your finger there will be a hole. The cockpit is open, there are no armored backs that protect from bullets,” such depressing touches were added by the chief of staff of the women’s air regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Rabokolskaya, to the “portrait” of her beloved aircraft, a model of which she had had at home all her life.

In the Red Army, in addition to this nickname, the “air slow-moving aircraft” was assigned a couple of other not very “beautiful” nicknames - “flying whatnot” (he was somewhat similar to it) and “corn farmer” (for the fact that he didn’t even need an airfield - the plane could land and take off from tussocky fields, and from narrow lawns, and from small clearings in the forest, and from village streets).

With all this “squalor”, this creation of Polikarpov’s design idea could transport from 100 to 300 kg of bombs, and sometimes the U-2 “took weight” of 400 and even 500 “combat kilos”. And someone brilliantly thought of using it as a night bomber!

In this capacity, the U(Po)-2 proved to be an excellent machine during the Great Patriotic War. During the night, as noted above, the plane managed to make up to a dozen sorties, and the total bomb load was comparable to the load of a large bomber (for example, the most popular Soviet bomb carrier Pe-2 “carried” 600 kg of bombs in the fuselage and 400 kg on the external sling) . There really were no sights for bombing, but the girls “invented” them themselves and, without further ado, called them PPR - simpler than a steamed turnip.

During the war, almost all the seemingly “ridiculous” qualities of the U(Po)-2 became its remarkable advantages! And by 1943, this plane “crawling like a turtle in the sky” was respectfully called “the foreman of the front.” And even - with respectful humor - the “king of the air”! The quietly purring low-power engine of the “whatnot” allowed it in the middle of the night, especially if the darkness was filled with other sounds of military operations, to quietly approach enemy targets and completely unexpectedly fall on their heads.

In other situations, “Russian plywood” was completely irreplaceable! The son of Hero of the Soviet Union Raisa Aronova, Anatoly Plyats, recalled his mother’s story: “In the Caucasus, when German tanks crawled into gorges at night, attack aircraft could not reach them. And our plane, equipped with captured incendiary bombs, first attacked the leading tank of the column, then the rear one, then all the rest.”

These slow-moving "corn makers", driven by girls, inflicted such significant damage on the enemy that a legend arose that the Luftwaffe aces were promised one of the prestigious awards of the Reich - the Iron Cross and a bonus of 2 thousand Reichsmarks - for the downed "night witch"! One way or another, the paradox is that shooting down U(Po)-2 was as difficult as it was easy.

It’s difficult at night, so the girls bombed exclusively at that time of day. Air defense was powerless against him. The attack technique of the Russian “air coffee grinder” was that a group of aircraft approached the target at low throttle and at an extremely low altitude, and enemy air defense often came to its senses only when bombs were already falling from the sky onto military formations or communications.

Easy - during the day: the “barely flying” slow-moving vehicle was indeed an excellent target. But even the Luftwaffe aces had a hard time hitting the light bomber due to its small size and snail-like speed. To attack, German pilots had to reduce speed to a minimum and even lower the landing gear. The flyers managed to use skillful maneuvers, hugging the ground as close as possible, to escape the pursuit of Hitler’s vultures.

It’s hard to believe, but the Po-2 was actively used as a light bomber and even an attack aircraft (!) in the already completely “qualitatively different” Korean War of 1950–1953, when jet aircraft dominated the skies with might and main.

Polikarpov's bomber was extremely durable. Once, near Novorossiysk, German anti-aircraft gunners, having caught the “Russian plywood” of Nadezhda Popova and her navigator Ekaterina Ryabova in the crosshairs of searchlights, opened hurricane fire on the car. “You should have seen what happened to our U-2! The technicians counted 42 holes in it, one larger than the other,” Nadezhda Vasilyevna recalled that incident. “Despite this, the plane did not require any lengthy repairs, the fuselage and wings were quickly patched up, and we took off on a combat mission again.”

It is true that the “night witches” flew without parachutes for almost the entire war. But why? From the very beginning of the U-2's use as a night bomber, there was an understanding that parachutes were useless if the aircraft was shot down. Nadezhda Popova argued: “Even if we had parachutes with us, we still would not have been able to escape, since we were flying at low and very low altitudes, and at best we would have been crippled.” Girls were required to wear parachutes only at the end of 1944, after two female pilots burned to death in a plane over our territory. But the living were not very happy with the means of salvation: the cabin was already cramped, and the navigator also took bombs on his knees. And it was difficult for the “night swallows” to control a 15-kilogram parachute. Although the lives of some of them were saved thanks to him.

“NONE OF US RAN HOME FROM THE FRONT”

For the girls, each flight, taking into account the mentioned characteristics of their combat low-speed vehicle, was not only dangerous (where in war is it not dangerous?!), but also very difficult. “We ourselves had to see from above the target on which we needed to drop bombs. And for this we had to descend as much as possible,” explained Nadezhda Vasilyevna. “At this time, having caught the sound of our engines, the German anti-aircraft gunners tried to catch us in the searchlights and opened fire. These searchlights were like death for us, because they blinded the pilot, and then it was extremely difficult to fly. Each time we had to squeeze ourselves into a ball in order to accurately drop the bombs, and even worse - not to give up in front of such a barrage of fire that was rained down on us, not to turn aside. After all, there were those among us who were afraid of little gray mice, but here...”

To say that in many, many cases the girls flew not just to the limit, but even beyond technical and human capabilities, would not be the slightest exaggeration. After some flights, when they returned, they examined each other or hurried to the mirror, bringing their hair closer to it: had it turned grey?

Popova more than once had to, with her heart sinking, “indifferently” watch as her fighting friends died before her eyes: “It’s scary. Before your eyes, the crew is burning alive along with the plane, and you can’t do anything to help... We have lost a lot of fighting friends, a lot.”

Let us clarify here, however, about the “very large” losses in the regiment - for the former combat pilot it was more from emotionality, from deep bitterness from the losses. In fact, during the three years of participation in the war, this female air unit lost relatively few pilots (13) and navigators (10) from enemy fire. Another 9 girls died in plane crashes or died from illness. The regiment lost 28 aircraft. Even the “Night Witches” website notes that “for an aviation regiment such losses are small.” This was due to the fact that the 46th Guards Aviation Regiment had established good practice in training air fighters: “Unfired pilots were commissioned by experienced navigators, and novice navigators by skilled pilots.”

In one of her last television interviews, in response to the presenter’s question about what “helped her and her fighting friends to hold on,” Nadezhda Vasilievna replied: “We were supported by such a charge of our own internal energy, such an amazing atmosphere reigned, there was boundless responsibility, a sense of duty to our people, before their country! We were brought up like in the song - “Think about your Motherland first, and then about yourself”! And during the war, we were all ready to carry out any order without discussing it.”

And she explained: “It was difficult, very difficult for us to cope with the loss of our fighting friends, but nevertheless, not a single girl left the front. Many girls were talented, wrote poetry, even poems, dreamed of love, of a beautiful happy life, of a good favorite profession. But no one cried, no one asked to go to the rear or go home, we were all volunteers and, despite all the horrors of the war, we were able to maintain a high spirit. We brought Victory closer as best we could, we thought the war would end, and then life would be better!..”

There is not a grain of exaggeration, panache, or “excessive patriotism” in these words. Such were each of the 261 flyers and navigators, as well as technicians of the 46th air regiment... Yesterday’s student Zhenya Rudneva, who died at the age of 23, dreamed of science, wrote in her front-line diary: “I really miss astronomy, but I don’t regret joining the army : Let’s defeat the invaders, then we’ll get down to restoring astronomy. Without a free homeland there can be no free science!” She was not destined to finish her studies, or fall in love, or, as one of her friends wished her for the New Year, to taste her first kiss.

Some of the “night witches” - “night swallows” who met the Victory were given long lives by fate; they passed the 90-year mark. Including Nadezhda Vasilievna Popova. And who knows, perhaps she had the opportunity to “live” (and “love”) for part of her life also for her fallen, unkissed fighting friends, who, like Zhenya Rudneva, were not even 24 years old before their death.

Nadezhda Popova, the legendary pilot, the last of the “night witches,” has died. 91 years old All clear. A long, worthy, beautiful path has been traveled. Probably happy. And yet, and yet... While these old people find the strength to come to the Bolshoi Theater on May 9, stand in the wind during the parade with carnations trembling in their hands, march discordantly along Red Square, jingling their medals ever more quietly, we have rear. We are supported by a foundation, albeit a shaky one. It feels like we are still someone's children.

I knew them all. Film director Evgenia Zhigulenko was a flight commander of that famous 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. She graduated from VGIK at the age of 50 and made only two films - the autobiographical “Night Witches in the Sky” and our joint work “No Right to Fail.”

Flight commander of the legendary 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, "Night Witches" regiment, guard lieutenant, Hero of the Soviet Union, Knight of two Orders of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, two Orders of the Red Star and two Orders of the Red Banner, Evgeniy Zhigulenko. By November 1944, she had made 773 night combat sorties, inflicting heavy damage on the enemy in manpower and equipment.

Night Witches. This is what the Germans called the pilots of the 46th Guards Taman Regiment of night bombers. The girls flew on U-2 (Po-2) - light plywood maize trucks without a top at low speed. “Heavenly slug” - people said about them, but the girls gave them a more gentle name - “swallow”. They worked mainly at night, in conditions of almost zero visibility, to avoid anti-aircraft fire, for which they received the nickname “night witches”.

It turned out that the girls’ plane was shot down over Kerch. Pan burned in the car, and Zhenya was thrown several meters away. Residents of the city found only large boots on the plane, decided that it was a man, and buried the girl as an unknown soldier in a mass grave. Zhenya was buried in Kerch Lenin Park.

And Zhenya’s beloved friend Dina Nikulina died half a century later at the hands of a modern fascist. He came to her house, introducing himself as a friend of a front-line comrade, attacked Dina, beat her and her three-year-old granddaughter, took away military awards and disappeared. Soon Dina died.

Nadezhda Popova and Semyon Kharlamov. Prototypes of Masha and Romeo in Leonid Bykov’s film “Only Old Men Go to Battle.”

War does not have a woman’s face... This is probably why we look so closely at images of women in war photographs, and are interested in their fates in the war. It is women's war stories that are especially touchingly reflected in both fiction and cinema. Below we will talk about the aviation regiment, which was formed to fight the fascist invader. “Night witches” - that’s what the enemies called this regiment. All his warriors - from pilots and navigators to technicians - were women.

History of the creation of the 46th Aviation Regiment

In 1941, in the city of Engels, under the personal responsibility of Senior Lieutenant of State Security Marina Paskova, the 46th Guards Night Bomber Female Aviation Field was founded k, which in the future was dubbed “Night Witches”.

To do this, Mapina had to use her personal resources and personal acquaintance with Stalin. No one really counted on success, but they gave us the go-ahead and provided us with the necessary equipment. 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 this regiment was jokingly called “Dunkin’s Regiment,” hinting at its all-female composition, and justified by the name of the regiment commander.
The enemy called the pilots “Night Witches,” who suddenly silently appeared on small planes.

The 46th Guards Taman Regiment is a unique and only unit in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. There were three aviation regiments in which women flew: fighter, heavy bomber and light bomber.

The first two regiments were mixed, and only the last, which flew the Po-2 light bomber, was exclusively female. Pilots and navigators, commanders and commissars, instrument operators and electricians, technicians and armed forces, clerks and staff workers - all these were women. And all, even the hardest work was done by women's hands. None of the reinforcements had experience flying at night, so they flew under a canopy that created an imitation of darkness. Soon the regiment was transferred to Krasnodar, and night witches began to fly over the Caucasus.

There were no men in the regiment, so the “feminine spirit” was manifested in everything: in the neatness of the uniform, the cleanliness and comfort of the hostel, the culture of leisure, the absence of rude and obscene words, and in dozens of other little things. And as for combat work...

Our regiment was sent to carry out the most difficult tasks; we flew until complete physical exhaustion. There were cases when crews were unable to leave the cockpit due to fatigue, and they had to be helped

The flight lasted about an hour - long enough to reach a target in the immediate enemy rear or front line, drop bombs and return home. In one summer night they managed to make 5-6 combat sorties, in winter - 10-12. We had to work both in the dagger rays of German searchlights and under heavy artillery fire,” recalled Evdokia Rachkevich.

Aircraft and weapons of the “night witches”

The “Night Witches” flew on Polikarpov, or Po-2, biplanes. The number of combat vehicles increased in a couple of years from 20 to 45. This aircraft was initially created not for combat at all, but for exercises. It didn’t even have a compartment for air bombs (the shells were hung under the “belly” of the aircraft on special bomb racks). The maximum speed that such a car could reach was 120 km/h. With such modest weapons, the girls showed miracles of piloting. This is despite the fact that each Po-2 carried the load of a large bomber, often up to 200 kg at a time. The female pilots fought only at night. Moreover, in one night they made several sorties, terrifying enemy positions. The girls did not have parachutes on board, being literally suicide bombers. If a shell hit the plane, their only option was to die heroically. The pilots loaded the places designated by technology for parachutes with bombs. Another 20 kg of weapons was a serious help in battle. Until 1944, these training aircraft were not equipped with machine guns. Both the pilot and the navigator could control them, so if the first died, his partner could lead the combat vehicle to the airfield.

“Our training aircraft was not created for military operations. A 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 that could protect the crew from bullets, with a low-power engine that could reach a maximum speed of 120 km/h. The plane did not have a bomb bay; 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 the load of a large bomber.Machine guns on airplanes also appeared only in 1944. Before this, the only weapons on board were TT pistols.”- the pilots recalled.

In modern parlance, the Po-2 plywood bomber could be called a stealth aircraft. At night, at low altitude and low level flight, German radars could not detect him. German fighters were afraid to huddle too close to the ground, and often this was what saved the lives of the pilots. That is why the girls from the night bomber regiment received such an ominous nickname - night witches. But if the Po-2 fell into the searchlight beam, it was not difficult to shoot it down.

War. Battle path

After night flights, the stiff girls had difficulty getting to the barracks. They were carried straight from the cabin by their friends, who had already managed to warm up, because their hands and feet, shackled by the cold, did not obey

• During the hostilities, the pilots of the air regiment carried out 23,672 combat missions. The breaks between flights were 5-8 minutes, sometimes during the night the crew made 6-8 flights in the summer and 10-12 in the winter.
• In total, the planes were in the air for 28,676 hours (1,191 full days).
• The pilots dropped more than 3 thousand tons of bombs and 26,000 incendiary shells. The regiment destroyed and damaged 17 crossings, 9 railway trains, 2 railway stations, 26 warehouses, 12 fuel tanks, 176 cars, 86 firing points, 11 searchlights.
• 811 fires and 1092 high-power explosions were caused.
• Also, 155 bags of ammunition and food were dropped to the surrounded Soviet troops.

Until mid-1944, the regiment's crews flew without parachutes, preferring to take an extra 20 kg of bombs with them. But after heavy losses I had to make friends with the white dome. We didn’t do this very willingly - the parachute hampered our movements, and by the morning our shoulders and back ached from the straps.
If there were no night flights, then during the day the girls played chess, wrote letters to their relatives, read, or, gathered in a circle, sang. They also embroidered with the “Bulgarian cross”. Sometimes the girls organized amateur performance evenings, to which they invited aviators from a neighboring regiment, who also flew at night on low-speed aircraft.

The regiment's combat losses 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, regimental commissar Evdokia Yakovlevna Rachkevich, using money collected by the entire regiment, traveled to all the places where planes had crashed and found the graves of all those killed.

Composition of the regiment

On May 23, 1942, the regiment flew to the front, where it arrived on May 27. Then its number was 115 people - the majority were aged from 17 to 22 years.

During the war years, 24 servicemen of the regiment were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

One pilot was awarded the title of Hero of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Guard Art. Lieutenant Dospanova Khiuaz - more than 300 combat missions.

If it were possible to collect flowers from all over the world and lay them at your feet, then even with this we would not be able to express our admiration for the Soviet pilots!

Written by French soldiers of the Normandie-Niemen regiment.

Losses

The irretrievable combat losses of the regiment amounted to 23 people and 28 aircraft. Despite the fact that the pilots died behind the front line, not one of them is considered missing.

After the war, regimental commissar Evdokia Yakovlevna Rachkevich, using money collected by the entire regiment, traveled to all the places where planes had crashed and found the graves of all those killed

The most tragic night in the history of the regiment was the night of August 1, 1943, when four aircraft were lost at once. The German command, irritated by the constant night bombing, transferred a group of night fighters to the regiment's area of ​​operations. This came as a complete surprise to the Soviet pilots, who did not immediately understand why the enemy anti-aircraft artillery was inactive, but one after another the planes caught fire. When it became clear that Messerschmitt Bf.110 night fighters had been launched against them, the flights were stopped, but before that, the German ace pilot, who had only in the morning become a holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Josef Kociok, managed to burn three Soviet bombers in the air along with their crews, on which there were no parachutes.

Another bomber was lost due to anti-aircraft artillery fire. Those who died that night were: Anna Vysotskaya with navigator Galina Dokutovich, Evgenia Krutova with navigator Elena Salikova, Valentina Polunina with navigator Glafira Kashirina, Sofia Rogova with navigator Evgenia Sukhorukova.

However, in addition to combat, there were other losses. So, on August 22, 1943, the regiment’s communications chief, 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 that had just landed. As a result, pilots Polina Makagon and Lida Svistunova died immediately, Yulia Pashkova died from her injuries in the hospital. Only one pilot survived - Khiuaz Dospanova, who received severe injuries - her legs were broken, but after several months of hospitalization the girl returned to duty, although due to improperly fused bones, she became a 2nd group disabled person.
Crews also died before they were sent to the front, in accidents during training.

Photos of female pilots. Night Witches. War

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Pilots heroes of the Soviet Union - Rushina Gasheva (left) and Natalya Meklin

Novorossiysk is taken - the girls are dancing

Memories of War

Maximum nights

Marina Chechneva recalls:
“Flying over the mountains is difficult, especially in the fall. Suddenly, clouds roll in, pressing the plane to the ground, or rather to the mountains, and you have to fly in gorges or over peaks of different heights. Here, every slight turn, the slightest decline threatens disaster, and besides, near the mountain slopes, ascending and descending air currents arise that powerfully pick up the car. In such cases, the pilot is required to have remarkable composure and skill in order to remain at the required altitude...

...These were “maximum nights” when we were in the air for eight to nine hours at a time. After three or four flights, the eyes closed by themselves. While the navigator went to the checkpoint to report on the flight, the pilot slept for several minutes in the cockpit, and meanwhile the armed forces hung bombs, the mechanics refueled the plane with gasoline and oil. The navigator returned, and the pilot woke up...

“Maximum nights” brought us enormous strain of physical and mental strength, and when dawn broke, we, barely moving our legs, walked to the dining room, dreaming of quickly having breakfast and falling asleep. At breakfast we were given some wine, which pilots were entitled to after combat work. But still the dream was disturbing - they dreamed of searchlights and anti-aircraft guns, some had persistent insomnia..."

A feat of mechanics

In their memoirs, the pilots describe the feat of the mechanics who had to work around the clock. Aircraft refueling at night, aircraft maintenance and repairs during the day.

“...The flight lasts about an hour, and mechanics and armed forces are waiting on the ground. They were able to inspect, refuel a plane, and hang bombs in three to five minutes. It’s hard to believe that young, thin girls hung up to three tons of bombs each with their hands and knees, without any equipment, throughout the night. These humble pilot assistants showed true miracles of endurance and skill. What about the mechanics? We worked all night at the start, and during the day we repaired cars and prepared for the next night. There were cases when the mechanic did not have time to jump away from the propeller when starting the engine and her hand was broken...

...And then we introduced a new service system - shift teams on duty. Each mechanic was assigned a specific operation on all planes: meeting, refueling or releasing... Three soldiers were on duty at the cars with bombs. One of the senior AE technicians was in charge.

Fighting nights began to resemble the work of a well-functioning factory assembly line. The plane returning from the mission was ready for a new flight within five minutes. This allowed the pilots to make 10–12 combat missions on some winter nights.”

A minute of rest

“Of course, the girls remained girls: they carried kittens on airplanes, danced in bad weather at the airfield, right in overalls and fur boots, embroidered forget-me-nots on foot wraps, unraveling blue knitted underpants for this, and cried bitterly if they were suspended from flights.”

The girls made up their own humorous rules.
“Be proud, you are a woman. Look down on men!
Don't push the groom away from his neighbor!
Don't be jealous of your friend (especially if he's dressed up)!
Don't cut your hair. Save femininity!
Don't trample your boots. They won't give you new ones!
Love the drill!
Don't pour it out, give it to a friend!
Don't use foul language!
Do not get lost!"

The pilots in their memoirs describe their baggy uniforms and huge boots. They did not immediately sew uniforms to fit them. Then two types of uniforms appeared - casual with trousers and formal with a skirt.
Of course, they flew out on missions in trousers; the uniform with a skirt was intended for ceremonial meetings of the command. Of course, the girls dreamed of dresses and shoes.

“After the formation, the entire command gathered at our headquarters, we reported to the commander about our work and our problems, including the huge tarpaulin boots... He was also not very pleased with our trousers. And after some time, they took everyone’s measurements and sent us brown tunics with blue skirts and red chrome boots - American ones. They only let water through like a blotter.
For a long time after this, our uniform with Tyulenevskaya skirts was considered, and we put it on according to the order of the regiment: “Dress uniform.” For example, when they received the Guards Banner. Of course, it was inconvenient to fly in skirts, or hang bombs, or clean the engine ... "

In moments of relaxation, the girls liked to embroider:
“In Belarus, we began to actively “get sick” of embroidery, and this continued until the end of the war. It started with forget-me-nots. Oh, what beautiful forget-me-nots you would get if you unraveled the blue knitted pants and embroidered flowers on thin summer foot wraps! You can make a napkin from this and use it for a pillowcase. This disease, like chickenpox, took over the entire regiment...

During the day I come to the dugout to see the armed forces. The rain has soaked her through, pouring from every crack, and there are puddles on the floor. In the middle there is a girl standing on a chair and embroidering some kind of flower. Only there are no colored threads. And I wrote to my sister in Moscow: “I have a very important request to you: send me colored threads, and if you could make a gift to our women and send more. Our girls care deeply about every thread and use every rag for embroidery. You will do a great job, and everyone will be very grateful.” From the same letter: “And this afternoon we have a company: I’m sitting embroidering forget-me-nots, Bershanskaya is embroidering roses, cross-stitching, Anka is embroidering poppies, and Olga is reading aloud to us. There was no weather..."

Memory and newsreel about the 46th Aviation Regiment

Poems about night witch pilots

Under snow, rain and in good weather
With your wings you cut the darkness above the ground.
“Night Witches” on “Heavenly Slugs”
They are bombing fascist positions in the rear.

Also in terms of age and temperament - girls...
It's time to fall in love and be loved.
You hid your bangs under the pilot's helmets
And they rushed into the sky to beat the enemy of the Fatherland.

And immediately take off into the darkness from the desks of flying clubs
Without a parachute and without a gun, only with a TT.
You probably loved the starry sky.
You are always on top even at low level.

For your fighters you are “heavenly creatures”,
And for strangers - “night witches” on Po-2.
You brought fear over the Don and Taman,
Yes, and on the Oder there was a rumor about you.

Not everyone, not everyone will return from the night battle.
Sometimes the wings and body are worse than a sieve.
Miraculously, we landed with a pile of enemy holes.
Patches - during the day, and at night again - “From the screw!”

As soon as the sun sets in its hangar for a third and
The winged apparatus will be serviced by technicians,
The “night witches” are taking off along the runway,
To create a Russian hell for the Germans on earth.

Song from the film "Night Witches in the Sky"

Watch the film “Night Witches in the Sky” (1981)

“Night Witches” or “Night Swallows” TV series 2012

This is a film about women in aviation who fought in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War along with men.
The cast is well chosen and the acting is also good.