34. Keeping the Nazis Up at Night
The psychological damage of the 588th bomber raids might have exceeded the physical harm. The incessant raids throughout the night kept exhausted Nazis from getting adequate rest, and the fear of a random bomb falling on one at any moment further frayed nerves that were often already at the snapping point.
The Germans nicknamed the Soviet aviatrixes Nachtexen, or “Night Witches“, because the whooshing noise of their wooden planes – whose pilots sometimes cut off the engines and glided to their targets to increase the chances of surprise – sounded like a sweeping broom. So feared and hated were the Night Witches, that any German who downed one was automatically awarded an Iron Cross.