They Called Us Night Witches

This book is dedicated to the legendary 46th Guards Tamanskaya, a twice-decorated night bomber regiment, which was formed in October 1941. In the history of the Great Patriotic War, this regiment is known as the "night witches": it consisted entirely of women — from the regiment commander to the technician. Mostly, they were very young girls, recent schoolgirls and students. During the war years, the girls made 24,000 combat sorties: bombing the Germans on the Don, in Stavropol, in the Caucasus, in Kuban, in Belarus, Poland, and East Prussia. 25 pilots and navigators were awarded the title of Hero. Their feats are recounted by Irina Rakobolskaya, the chief of staff of the regiment, and Hero of the Soviet Union Natalia Kravtsova (Meklin), the commander of the flight that dropped 147 tons of bombs on the enemy.