The remarkable all-female flying team that helped defeat the Nazis – with wooden planes

A new episode of the Secret Heroes podcast of the history of the BBC focuses on the night witches, a group of Russian pilots who bombarded German forces under the cover of darkness.

World War II is full of so many extraordinary stories of heroism that not everyone has their due. Now the Podcast Secret Heroes of the history of BBC Radio 4, narrated by Helena Bonham Carter, set out to celebrate these unrecognized war heroes. And none, possibly, are more notable than the cutlery in a new episode: a squad of Russian pilots that flew under the cover of the night and carried out cover bombing missions.

The Germans would call these women That night hexagonor the night witches. They were an elite band of pilots, browsers, land and mechanical crew, whose passion for aviation and the strong sense of duty led them to break the gender barriers.

Those who were part of the squad included aspiring pilots and best friends Poina Gelman and Galya Dokutovich. Both had learned to fly when I was young, and when in October 1941, the order was given to the famous Soviet aviator Marina Rasko to recruit women in female flying units, including night witches, they took the opportunity.

“They were definitely addicted to adrenaline. They fly, they were crazy about flying,” says historian Lyuba Vingradova, author of Avenging Angels: Soviet Women Snipers in the Eastern Front (1941-45), of the two women. “And secondly, they were extremely patriotic. Then, both offered themselves as volunteers.”

His commander Raskova was an inspiration. “She was a great celebrity of her time. Her name, her photo, her face were known everywhere [the country]. She was a model to follow. She was a woman who showed that women are perfectly capable of this son of flying, “says Vinradova.

The night witches trained near the Volga River near Engels, Russia, and adjusted to what typically typically in three years of training in just three months. The women found themselves selected as browsers, instead of pilots, something that initially disappointed Dokutovich, although after he got up in the air, he became more positive about this result, writing a navy! Walk in a dream and I just want to go up to heaven again. “

In the upper part of that, they remain given by weapons, radios or parachute. As a result, they prioritized bombs.

When it comes to their airplanes, they used their limitations for their advantage: the PO-2 barely made noise, could not be tracked by the location of the radio and were too small to show infrared locators. Therefore, women could fly over German territory, turn off their engines and slide, and more easily release their bombs without detection.

According to Winestone, the rhythm of its operations was relentless: “Every four minutes, a plane took off, bombarded the goal and backed up, and the other plane would take its place.”

The Germans spread stories of the attacks in the areas they occupied, representing the night witches as a supernatural force. They were named That night hexagonOr the night witches, because their wooden planes were like brooms, while their tactics made him feel as if they could appear and disappear without a trace.

The victories of the witches of the night gained distinction, and in 1943 they officially became the forty and sixth aviation regiment of the bombers of the guards. However, in July 1943, the Germans surprised the pilots with a new tactic: they kept their anti -aircraft weapons in silence and, instead, they fought a nighttime attack against the bombers. Dokutovich was killed on July 31, along with seven of his companions “Bruges” in what Winestaging calls “the worst probable night in the entire history of the regiment.” However, women continued to fight until the allies declared victory in May 1945.

“They were on the airfield ready to fly a mission when they were announced,” says Vinradova on Gelman’s commitment and the other witches “with the cause.

In October 1945, the regiment was officially dissolved and would maintain the distinction of being the only unit within the Red Army that is still completely feminine at the end of World War II. Later, Gelman would join the Military Institute of Foreign Languages ​​and appoint his daughter’s gallery after her friend fallen.

Gelman died in 2005, and towards the end of his life he reflected on why the witches were so successful, accrediting the fact that they performed their duties voluntarily. Speaking to the historian Reina Pennington, Gelman said: “It was his free will, and that is done in the Call of the Heart always becomes better than what Wat is out of place.”

* This article is adapted from a script by Alex von Tunzelmann.