But the opportunity arrives in 1941, with Hitler’s army massing on the border, and she is one of the few female recruits allowed to train at the Chelyabinsk Military Aviation School. She has always had an interest in flying, dreaming of it as an escape from her rural home. The heroine here is Ekaterina Ivanova, known as Katya. Their tactic of cutting their engines before beginning their bombing run, allowing them to arrive in silence, helped earn the regiment the nickname from the Nazi soldiers of “nachthexen” – Night Witches. It flew bombing and harassment missions of German forces, using extremely light aircraft, so slow the German fighter planes were unable to follow them without stalling. While the characters in this are fictional, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, comprised entirely of woman, did exist. This book aims to redress that balance, at least somewhat. But few of their stories have ever been covered in any depth.
As we’ve already covered, they operated on the front lines in positions ranging from sniper to tank commander. No army in recent military history has made more use of women than the Soviets during World War 2.
It comes from decades of being told we can’t do a thing while knowing we can. That can’t be taught or disciplined into anyone.
“They seem like nice enough boys, but they haven’t the hunger my ladies do.
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