In the Second world war Not only young seventeen-year-old boys, but also female students went to the front. Young beauties who just yesterday were preparing for exams, meeting guys and dreaming about wedding dress, today they fought for the lives of their compatriots and the freedom of the Motherland. Some of the brave girls became a military nurse, some became a scout, some became a machine gunner, and some became a military pilot. They fought against fascism along with men, often in the same regiment.

"Night Witches"

The most famous and at the same time the only women's regiment in Russian and world history is the 46th Guards Women's Night Bomber Regiment, affectionately called regular army Soviet Union“Dunka’s Regiment” and fearfully nicknamed “Night Witches” by fascist soldiers.

"Night witches" initially called German army only contemptuous laughter, since they flew on plywood U-2 planes, which in the event of a direct hit were not difficult to shoot down. However, during the battles, the fearless warriors were able to show what they were worth, instilling horror in the enemy before the “night swallows” (so girls named their planes).

The Women's Night Bomber Aviation Regiment made an invaluable contribution to the victory.

"U-2" - a cardboard corn truck or a combat "Heavenly Slug"?

"U-2" and "Po-2" are light plywood airplanes, the hulls of which were not protected from hits large-caliber weapons. They caught fire at the slightest contact with fire. Slow cars, whose speed limit was just above 100 km/h, gained altitude up to 500 meters, but in the skillful hands of female pilots they turned into a formidable weapon.

As darkness fell, the 46th Women's Aviation Regiment of night bombers appeared out of nowhere and bombarded enemy positions.

Rakobolskaya speaks with respect of Raskova, who turned an “unformed, shaggy, dirty-haired army” into a professional regiment of night bombers. With a laugh, ninety-year-old Irina Vyacheslavovna recalls her girlish resentment when she, like the entire female regiment, was ordered by the command to cut her hair short, and about the annoyance that arose when she found out what their battle brothers called their unit.

A woman who fought for the people, for the future of her children, talks with tears in her eyes about how the fate of some girls from the “Dunka Regiment” turned out after the war, because not every one of them found her calling in peacetime. However, the wise Irina Vyacheslavovna Rakobolskaya holds no grudge against either the authorities or the eccentric youth. She believes that if a war started in our time, young boys and girls, without a moment’s doubt, would go to defend their Motherland.

"Night witches" in art

Glory overtook the regiment in the field of art. Many films have been made about brave girls and many songs have been sung.

The first film about the 46th Guards Women's Regiment of Night Bombers with the title “1100 Nights” was shot by Semyon Aronovich back in the Soviet Union, in 1961. 20 years later, another film was released - “In the Sky “Night Witches”.

In the well-known and beloved work “Only Old Men Go to Battle,” the plot was based on the story “ Night Witch» Nadezhda Popova and pilot Semyon Kharlamov.

Some foreign groups, such as Hail of Bullets and Sabaton, glorify the 46th Guards Women's Regiment in their compositions.

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 fiction, and in the 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 Women's Aviation Regiment was founded , which in the future was dubbed “Night Witches”.

Marina Raskova is the founder of the women's air regiment.
In 1941, Marina Raskova was 29 years old.

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.

Natalya Meklin (Kravtsova), at the age of 20, was enrolled in the air regiment. Hero of the Soviet Union.

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 with female 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 “ feminine spirit“was manifested in everything: the neatness of the uniform, the cleanliness and comfort of the hostel, the culture of leisure, the absence of rude and obscene words, and 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 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. For one summer night We 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 bombs (shells were hung under the “belly” of the plane 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 bring 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 capable of protecting the crew from bullets, with a low-power engine that could develop maximum speed 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 language the plywood bomber Po-2 could be called a stealth aircraft. At night, at low altitude and low level flight, German radars could not detect him. German fighters they were afraid to press 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 the crew made 6-8 flights per night 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.

Before the battle for Novorossiysk, base near Gelendzhik

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 evenings, to which they invited aviators from a neighboring regiment, who also flew at night on low-speed aircraft.

Novorossiysk is taken - the girls are dancing

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.

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

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 killed 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

1 of 28

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

Novorossiysk is taken - the girls are dancing

Memories of War

Maximum nights

Pilot Marina Chechneva, at the age of 21 became commander of the 4th squadron

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, 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 whole nights at the start, and during the day we repaired cars, preparing 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 entered new system maintenance - by shift teams on duty. Each mechanic was assigned specific operation on all planes: meeting, refueling or release... 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 pilots in some winter nights do 10–12 combat missions.”

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 bad language!
Don't 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 not bad, the acting is also good.

“Night witches” were called the 46th Guards Women’s Taman Aviation Regiment, which was part of the Air Force of the Soviet Union. It was formed by order of the People's Commissariat of Defense in 1941. The “night witches” were commanded by the experienced pilot Evdokia Bocharova (Bershanskaya in her first marriage). The regiment's political officer was Maria Runt.

Women's Aviation Regiment

Due to the purely female composition, as well as the name of the commander, male pilots sometimes called the 46th Regiment “Dunkin”. With such a humorous name, female pilots knew how to instill real terror in the enemy. It was the Nazis who called these fearless aces in skirts “night witches.” Pilots trained in Arkhangelsk. On May 27, 1942, the women's regiment arrived at the front consisting of 115 girls, who occupied absolutely all positions in the combat formation.

They were called night “witches” because they were part of the 218th Night Bomber Division and flew only at night. The young ladies received their baptism of fire two weeks after arriving at the front, on June 12. For the exploits that these fragile ladies accomplished, the regiment earned the title “Guards”. At the end of the war, he became part of the 325th, then 2nd divisions. Upon its completion, it was completely disbanded.

The combat path of the “night witches”

The first flight took place in the Salsky steppes region. Then the girls fought on the Don, in the area of ​​the Mius River and the city of Stavropol. At the end of 1942, the 46th women's regiment defended Vladikavkaz. The pilots then took part in severe clashes with the enemy on the Taman Peninsula, where the Red Army and Air Force liberated Novorossiysk.

“Night Witches” took part in the battles for Kuban, the Crimean Peninsula, Belarus and other regions of the Soviet Union. After Soviet troops crossed the border line, the pilots fought on Polish territory for the liberation of the cities of Warsaw, Augustow, and Ostrolenk from the occupiers. At the beginning of 1945, the 46th regiment fought on the territory of Prussia and in recent months war participated in the legendary Vistula-Oder offensive operation.

What did the guards fly and how did they fight?

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 bombs (shells were hung under the “belly” of the plane 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.

Merits of female pilots

The girls carried out their sorties very intensively, literally showering enemy positions with a hail of bomb attacks. The breaks between flights were usually only 5 minutes. In one night, each Po-2 made up to ten or more sorties. In the battle for the Caucasus, the girls carried out about 3,000 sorties, for Kuban, Novorossiysk and Taman - more than 4,600, for Crimea - more than 6,000, for Belarus - 400, for Poland - almost 5,500 sorties. Already in Germany, the guardsmen carried out about 2000 more sorties, thus flying almost 29 thousand hours.

"Night Witches" blew up 17 crossings, 46 ammunition depots, 86 enemy firing points, 12 fuel tanks, 9 trains, 2 railway stations captured by the enemy. In total, they dropped more than 3,000 tons of bombs on the heads of the Nazis. 32 pilots died heroically in the battles. The regiment suffered its heaviest losses in 1943, when it was unexpectedly fired upon by Messerschmitt Bf.110 fighters. Then 3 planes with crews inside exploded while still in the air.

For the liberation of the Taman Peninsula, the Red Banner 46th Regiment received the second name “Tamansky”. More than 250 pilots were assigned numerous awards. 23 became Heroes of the Soviet Union. Among them are Raisa Aronova, Vera Belik, Polina Gelman, Evgenia Zhigulenko, Tatyana Makarova, Evdokia Pasko and others.

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, despite weather conditions and all air defense systems, and a woman was invariably at the helm. About the most scoring aces 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 not respond to 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 the women’s aviation unit of Marina Raskova, and graduated from Engels military school pilots, and in May 1942 she 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 at the occupied lines it 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 female 46th fought guards regiment night bombers" - was written together 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 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.

46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Red Banner Taman Order of Suvorov 3rd Class Regiment.
The only all-female regiment (there were two more mixed regiments, the rest were exclusively male), 4 squadrons, this is 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). They made 23,672 combat missions (that's almost five thousand TONS of bombs). It was mostly the front lines that were bombed, so if a German fell asleep he risked not waking up. The accuracy of the combat is amazing, the flight is silent, and is not visible on radar. That’s why the U-2 (Po-2), initially contemptuously called “Russian Plywood” by the Germans, very quickly turned into a literal translation into a regiment of “night sorceresses.”

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

First of all, let's dispel the myth about losses. They flew so efficiently (the Germans had almost no one fly at night) that during the entire war, 32 girls died in sorties. Po-2 gave the Germans no rest. In any weather, they appeared above the front line and bombed them at low altitudes. The girls had to make 8-9 flights per night. But there were 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 was the case on the Oder. The female pilots were literally taken out of the cockpits and carried in their arms; they could not stand on their feet.
Tanya Arms Master remembers Shcherbinin

The bombs were heavy. It’s not easy for a man to deal with them either. Young front-line soldiers, pushing, crying and laughing, attached them to the wing of the plane. But first, it was necessary to figure out how many shells would be needed at night (as a rule, they took 24 pieces), accept them, take them out of the box and unlock them, wipe off the grease from the fuses, and screw them into the infernal machine.

The technician shouts: “Girls! For manpower!” This means we need to hang fragmentation bombs, the lightest ones, 25 kilograms each. And if they fly to bomb, for example, railway, then 100-kilogram bombs were attached to the wing. In this case, we worked together. They will only raise you to shoulder level, your partner Olga Erokhin will say something funny, they will both burst out laughing and drop the infernal machine to the ground. You should cry, but they laugh! They take up the heavy pig again: “Mom, help me!”

There were happy nights when, in the absence of the navigator, the pilot invited: “Get into the cockpit, let’s fly!” The fatigue disappeared as if by hand. There was wild laughter in the air. Maybe this was compensation for the tears on earth?

It was especially difficult in winter. Bombs, shells, machine guns are metal. Is it possible, for example, to load a machine gun while wearing mittens? Hands freeze and are taken away. And the hands were girlish, small, and sometimes the skin remained on the frost-covered metal.
Regimental commissar E. Rachkevich, squadron commanders E. Nikulina and S. Amosova, squadron commissars K. Karpunina and I. Dryagina, regiment commander E. Bershanskaya
Moving bothered me. The girls will build only niches and dugouts with roll-ups, camouflage them, cover the planes with branches, and in the evening the regiment commander shouts into a bullhorn: “Girls, prepare the planes for redeployment.” We flew for several days, and then moved again. In the summer it was easier: they made huts in some forest, or even just slept on the ground, wrapped in a tarpaulin, and in the winter they had to clear the frozen soil and clear the runway of snow.

The main inconvenience is the inability to clean up, wash, or wash. A holiday was considered the day when a “voshetka” arrived at the unit’s location - tunics, underwear, and trousers were fried in it. More often they 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 regiment commander Bershanskaya

Navigators. Assinovskaya village, 1942.

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

Nina Khudyakova and Liza Timchenko

Olga Fetisova and Irina Dryagina

in winter

For flights. Spring thaw. Kuban, 1943.
The regiment flew from a “jump airfield” - located as close as possible to the front line. The pilots traveled to this airfield by truck.

Pilot Raya Aronova near her plane

Soldiers insert fuses into bombs
4 bombs of 50 or 2 of 100 kg were suspended from the plane. Over the course of a day, the girls each hung several tons of bombs, as the planes took off at intervals of five minutes...
On April 30, 1943, the regiment became a Guards regiment.

Presentation of the Guards Banner to the regiment. Two crews

At the well

All three frames were filmed in the village of Ivanovskaya not far from Gelendzhik before the assault on Novorossiysk.

"When the offensive against Novorossiysk began, it was to help ground troops and landing Marine Corps aviation was sent, including 8 crews from our regiment.
...The route passed over the sea, or over mountains and gorges. Each crew managed to make 6-10 combat missions per night. The airfield was located close to the front line, in a zone reachable by 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

Deputy regiment commander S. Amosova sets the task for the crews assigned to support
landing in the Novorossiysk area. September 1943

"It has arrived last night before the assault on Novorossiysk, the night of September 15-16. Having received combat mission, the pilots taxied to the start.
...All night the planes suppressed pockets of enemy resistance, and already at dawn the 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 combat missions. The command awarded the pilots, navigators, technicians and armed forces with orders and medals.

From the book “The Sky Remains Ours” by M. Chechneva

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

"...At that moment, spotlights came on ahead and immediately caught the plane flying in front of us. In the crosshairs of the beams, Po-2 looked like a silver moth caught in a web.
...And again the blue lights started running - right into the crosshairs. Flames engulfed the plane, and it began to fall, leaving behind a winding strip of smoke.
The burning wing fell off, and soon Po-2 fell to the ground, exploding...
...That night four of our Po-2s burned out 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 join forces with units of the 4th Ukrainian Front. At night, the regiment launched massive attacks on the retreating columns of the Nazis. We carried out a record number of sorties - 194 and dropped about 25 thousand kilograms of bombs.
The next day we received orders to move to Crimea."
M.P. Chechneva "The sky remains ours"

Panna Prokopyeva and Zhenya Rudneva

Zhenya studied at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University, studied astronomy, and was one of the most capable students. I dreamed of studying the stars...
One of the small planets in the asteroid belt is called “Evgeniya Rudneva”.
After the liberation of 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 formed to present awards.
Here I will step back a little from history, keeping in mind photography lovers. This photo is middle part a 9x12 photograph that I discovered in Bershanskaya’s album. I scanned it at 1200 resolution. Then I printed it on two 20x30 sheets. Then on two sheets of 30x45. And then... - you won't believe it! A photo 2 meters long was taken for the regiment museum! And all the faces were readable! That was optics!!!
Fragment of the far end of the photograph

I return to the story.
The regiment fought its way west. The flights continued...

Poland. For flights.

Winter 1944-45. N. Meklin, R. Aronova, E. Ryabova.
By the way, if anyone remembers the film “Night Witches in the Sky”, it was directed by Natalya Meklin (after Kravtsov’s husband). She also wrote several books. An interesting book Raisa Aronova also wrote about her 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 a task for the crews.
And the crews are already wearing custom-made ceremonial dresses. The photo is, of course, staged. But the flights were still real...
Two photos from the album of regiment commander Evdokia Bershanskaya.

The commanders receive a combat mission on April 20, 1945.

Berlin has been taken!

Combat work finished.

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

Evdokia Bershanskaya and Larisa Rozanova

Marina Chechneva and Ekaterina Ryabova

Rufina Gasheva and Natalya Meklin

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

The famous and legendary creator of the regiment even before the war and the founder of the very idea of ​​using 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 to liberate Feodosia.

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

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

Malakhova Anna

Vinogradova Masha

Tormosina Lily

Komogortseva Nadya, 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 during landing April 1, 1943, Pashkovskaya

Pashkova Yulia
died on April 4, 1943 after an accident in Pashkovskaya

Nosal Dusya
killed on an airplane April 23, 1943

Vysotskaya Anya

Dokutovich Galya

Rogova Sonya

Sukhorukova Zhenya

Polunina Valya

Kashirina Irina

Krutova Zhenya

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

Belkina Pasha

Frolova Tamara
shot down in 1943, Kuban
Maslennikova Luda (no photo)
died in a bombing, 1943

Volodina Taisiya

Bondareva Anya
lost orientation, Taman, March 1944

Prokofiev Panna

Rudneva Zhenya
burned 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 on December 13, 1944, Poland

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

Those wishing to receive statistics on the regiment- in Wiki.