39. The Night Witches
Things got rough in the USSR during the days and months following Operation Barbarossa, the sudden German onslaught in the summer of 1941 that came within a hair’s breadth of crushing the communist state. The Soviets threw all they could lay their hands against the invaders, in a desperate attempt to stop or at least slow down the Nazis. Yet, even in those dire times, the authorities were reluctant to use women in the front line.
Women were initially barred from combat, but after repeated appeals, most notably from Major Marina Raskova, who made the case directly to Stalin, permission was granted to form female combat units. On October 8th, 1941, three female aviation units were formed, commanded by Raskova. They were consolidated into the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, later redesignated as the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, and commonly known as The Night Witches.