"From the depths of hell in silence
Cast their spells, explosive violence
Russian nighttime flight perfected
Flawless vision, undetected"
-"Night Witches", performed by Sabaton, 2014
And you thought that Milunka Savic is going to be the only war time story focusing on female soldiers. As evidenced by this piece, there are many stories of women in warfare. One of which is the story of the Soviet Bombing Squadron made of exclusively women. They are known for their stealth missions dropping bombs to unsuspecting German army camps in Soviet Union. They gain infamy among the German ranks with the name Die Nachthexen, in English, it translates to "The Night Witches".
The Night Witches was the name given to the Soviet's 588th Bombing Regiment, first established in October 1941 by Major Maria Raskova. Raskova herself, up to that point was heralded as "the Russian Amelia Earhart", due to her establishing several records for long-distance non-stop flights. During Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, many women joined the ranks at the army, either as nurses, signalers, and anti-aircraft gunners. The recruitments also included all the female pilots, but they mostly ended up as instructors and advisors for male pilots in training. They are also barred from flying the planes themselves, arguments being that there are many male pilots available at the time. Raskova, being the Hero of the Soviet Union, pleaded to, and subsequently granted permission by Josef Stalin to create three all-female flying unit. Those three being the 586th Fighter Regiment, the 587th Heavy Bomber Regiment, and the 588th Night Bomber Regiment.
Compared to the other two units, the 588th Regiment with the command chain comprised of regiment commander Yevdokiya Bershanskaya and her deputy Serafima Amosova, commissar Yevdokiya Rachkevich, and chief of staff Irina Rakobolskaya was arguably the youngest in age, being between 17 to 26 years of age and the most inexperienced. For one, due to the demographic of the soldier being mostly male, the girls were given out oversized clothes and boots, and constantly mocked by their male peers. This is not limited to their appearances either. Equipment-wise, they are given one of the most outdated aircrafts in service, the Polikarpov U-2 biplanes, nicknamed (condescendingly) by the German Wehrmacht as "The Coffee Grinder", a two-crew plane produced in 1927 as a training plane, with wings made of wood and canvas, known for its notoriously slow airspeed, its susceptibility of being shot down by even a small arms fire, and only able to fly in lower altitudes. Hell, the planes could only carry up to 350 kg (770 pounds) of bombs for each mission, so eight or more missions a night is not uncommon. But the slow nature of the Polikarpov planes were compensated for its unbelievable maneuverability, making it the hardest target to hit by German fighter pilots, with all those Messerschmitt and Focke-Wulf F190 planes. In comparison, the 587th Heavy Bombers were equipped with the SU2, nicknamed "The Bitch", due to the plane's extremely difficult to master.
The way these pilots carried out their missions is quite unique, even for the standard of modern warfare. For starters, they could only carry out their missions during the night. Sometimes, multiple missions could be carried out during that same night. Second, with each target hit, they have to immediately return to base and rearm and refuel immediately to be sent back out again. And the third, they have to use these Polikarpovs in the most effective ways as possible, without revealing too much of their locations to the Germans. So, they devised a unique way to attack, by flying low while cutting out the notoriously noisy engine and drop the load as they glide in the sky. Several German troops recounted hearing the sound of woman laughing and the gust of wind, along with silhouettes akin to a witch riding a broom before the heavy bombardment commenced. From all these accounts, the German army refer to these women as die nachthexen, translated to "the night witches"
From 1942 to the conclusion of the second world war in 1945, The Night Witches partake in several offensives, with their baptism by fire took place on the Southern Front. Other operations included the Battle of the Caucasus, the Crimean Offensive, and the East Prussian offensive. During those missions, they accumulated approximately 23.672 sorties. In detail, they collectively accumulated 28,676 flight hours, dropped over 3,000 tons of bombs and over 26,000 incendiary shells, damaging or completely destroying 17 river crossings, nine railways, two railway stations, 26 warehouses, 12 fuel depots, 176 armored cars, 86 firing points, and 11 searchlights. In addition to bombings, the unit performed 155 supply drops of food and ammunition to Soviet forces. Casualties for the 588th included 32 dead and 28 aircrafts being written-off. There are also accolades given to the night witches, with the regiment itself was bestowed the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Suvorov. Honored personnel included 23 members being named Hero of the Soviet Union, two personnel named Hero of the Russian Federation, and one personnel named Hero of Kazakhstan. The regiment disbanded on the 15 October 1945 following the conclusion of World War 2. Former commissar Yevdokiya Rachkevich then took it upon herself to search every single crash site of her fellow night witches, in order to provide the most accurate detail as possible.
It seems like in every conflict, there is bound to be a stealth aspect of some sort, and the night witches embodied the very definition of stealth warfare. Throughout their service they've been undetected, unexpected, and unpredictable, dropping bomb after bomb as they terrorize the invading armies of the third Reich and push them back to the brink of defeat, one stealth mission at a time. And to close this piece, I want to offer my salute in admiration to these brave women who survived the war, and also for the ones who never made it back home.
“I think that during the war, when the fate of our country was being decided, the bringing in of women into aviation was justified."
-Irina Rakobolskaya, in Miriam Mencej, "Styrian Witches in European Perspective", 2017
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