Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat
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- Опубликовано: 4 сен 2024
- Dr. Reina Pennington, Associate Professor of History Norwich University.
The Soviet Union was the first nation to allow women pilots to fly combat missions. During World War II the Red Air Force formed three all-female units--grouped into separate fighter, dive bomber, and night bomber regiments--while also recruiting other women to fly with mostly male units. Their amazing story, fully recounted for the first time by Reina Pennington, honors a group of fearless and determined women whose exploits have not yet received the recognition they deserve. Pennington chronicles the creation, organization, and leadership of these regiments, as well as the experiences of the pilots, navigators, bomb loaders, mechanics, and others who made up their ranks, all within the context of the Soviet air war on the Eastern Front. These regiments flew a combined total of more than 30,000 combat sorties, produced at least thirty Heroes of the Soviet Union, and included at least two fighter aces.
Litviak's story would make a hell of a movie, where are you, hollywood?
No need for Hollywood: The Russians have made remarkable movies (with poor English titles and subtitles). Watch "The Attackers" (the romanticized history of a Soviet fighter regiment, with a superb actress embodying Litviak.
Thanks. The foolishness of that dude, wanting Hollywood to put its commercial paws on a story about russian heroes.
If Hollywood made it, somehow all the characters would be American, ala The Great Escape, U571
She is a communist
They can not be heroes in a Hollywood film, only if they do not fight with the evil Soviet Union
Fantastic lecture. Thank you so much. Can't wait for my book to arrive!
Great presentation full of fascinating info
fald2000, I'M impressed with your ability to come off as someone who seems to have absolute disdain for what these women did in combat. While these women were doing this, other women in the world - were at best - assembling munitions and weapons of war if not scrubbing dishes and knitting sweaters.
These women were really brave. I think what they did was amazing! The soviet female snipers and pilots are truely heroic!
I must commend your work. This is just great. And especially coming from an American - no offense meant - becouse their work is usually full of ''propaganda'' received by the society that looks everything threw the eyes of politics. This is history in its purest form. Thank you for sharing this video. Want to wish much success to Dr. Pennington aswell. Will read your book for sure. Greetings from Slovenia P.S. In WW2 (Yugoslavia at the time) lots of women were combating too. After Soviet union it was the second state by the number of women fighting Axis powers so I definately support their effort. In partisans they were equal to the men - atleast during the war that is.
Title hero of Soviet Union, gold star and order of Lenin was in general awarded to fighter pilots not for particular singular bravery but for 10 confirmed kills. Service reprimands, wounds or accidents could have delayed the award. There was unspoken limit to three gold stars. It was popular outrage when Brezhnev basically awarded 4 to himself.
extremley good quality.....
These were all good pilots who did incredible things.
With only 6 months of training they were able to best pilots who had received much more training and combat experience. Proving that those Soviet women were superior to the German pilots that were shot down.
The best part is of course those times when German pilots refused to believe they had been shot down by a woman only to have the battle described to them in detail by the same woman and then the German would just stand there flabbergasted.
And of course the USSR was ahead of its time by allowing women to join the military when other nations would not even consider it.
These 'Nigh witch' chicks did not shoot anyone down let alone a German pilot. They flew slow, obsolete bi-planes. They dropped some bombs that hit jack shit, ever.
Night witches dropped bombs and they hit their targets, which were train tracks, transportation units, camps, not individual soldiers. Female fighter pilots fought in the air and were also successful in shooting down enemy planes.
ScarlettM "Night witches dropped bombs and they hit their targets," Fuck off they did, or it was once in a blue moon. It was mostly propaganda.
"..which were train tracks" They do not shoot back do they?
"transportation units" Really? The records show that they hit an ammo dump, once...luck alone did that (and 1000s of wasted bombs and energy).
"camps" At night with their engines turned off. They were useless.
" not individual soldiers."
"Female fighter pilots fought in the air and were also successful in shooting down enemy planes." Very, very few did any such thing, sometimes it was a Balloon, or they shared it with another pilot, big deal. Grow up. There is no equivalence. They just imitated Soviet pilots and did that badly in inferior planes.
I'm calling you a LIAR and a TROLL. You make things up and call truth "propaganda" because you can't back your words with facts. According to you everyone lies: both governments (Soviet and Nazi), all the soldiers, who were there (both Russian and German), civilians that were witnesses. Only you tell the truth? Yeah, right! You are either crazy or stupid, and hateful to boot. Don't bother with replies. This will be my last answer to your comments. I don't waste time on the likes of you.
+ScarlettM"
I'm calling you a LIAR.." What? How is that? I dare you to cut and paste any where what so ever that I lie about anything I said? WELL?
"You make things up and call truth "propaganda" because you can't back your words with facts." ALL I have are facts. Like I said prove that anything I have said is not factual. I have pointed out that in the grand scheme of things Soviet females were virtually not involved in ANY significant way in Combat operations during WWII. There is no equivalence. 82% of Soviet males that turn 18 in 1941, did not survive the war. That does not apply to females does it? WELL? Show some respect. Men and women's contribution during that war was not equivalent.
"According to you everyone lies: both governments (Soviet and Nazi), all the soldiers, who were there (both Russian and German), civilians that were witnesses." TOO WHAT!? A handful of chicks IMITATING men, badly? So what? What is your point fuckwit?
"Only you tell the truth?" Yes I do and so do the historians I have read. I did not say a few chicks did not do this or that. What I am saying; is that it was not much of a contribution (to warfighting) and made no REAL or significant contribution to that war. 99.9% of warfighjting was done by 'Soviet" men. Female numbers were generally small and what a FEW of them did was not very significant. You have penis envy.
"You are either crazy or stupid," You are projecting, Muppet.
In unrelated matter that would help people to understand situation. Fighter part of Air force of different countries were based on different principles. Germany air might rested on the shoulders of about 400 men. Those were exceptional fighter pilots. They had amazing technology at their disposal. Some of them scored towards 200 kills. The highest scored Russian had about 63, American - 40 (mostly in Pacific). To counter that formidable force Red army Air Force send into battle several thousands of fighters. Most of planes were not a honest match to German Messerschmitt. Ingenuity of design compensated for technological gaps. It was not like bringing a knife to a gun fight, but very close to that. The German skeleton force held up well up until 1943. But after that numbers weighted in. One by one German aces were taken out of commission. Pilots that replaced them were hastily trained and were not able to take full advantage of technological superiority of their planes. French fighters (mainland) fought a very short war, and British fighters fought as interceptors and escorts.
Высокая результативность немецких летчиков давала результат только в первые годы войны ,а с 1943 года превосходство в воздухе было у русских . Эрик Хартман начал летать с 43 года и имел 350 побед но он не был лучше русских пилотов . Сбивая хромых уток не получишь превосходства в воздухе .
+gchernya
The Luftwaffe lost 30,000 pilots during the war. So no it did not only have 400 pilots.
The Germans would often lie about their kills, all that was needed for a confirmation was that another person said it happened and that was all. At first they required that the plane also be recovered on the ground however that was dropped quickly. So that is how you get the 200 or whatever claims to become "true"
On the flip side only if a Soviets pilot alone without any help shot down a plane did he/she get credit and only if it could be recovered, otherwise it was a "shared" kill, or if no recovery then it did not count. The best Soviet ace got over 100 real kills when you combine, personal plus shared and that is excluding those not recovered.
The Axis forces in the USSR had MORE planes than the USSR for a long time. Only from the end of 1943 did the USSR catch up.
The Yak 9s were the equal to any German fighter of the same time
period.
The Yak 3 planes were better than any german or axis plane until the jet showed up.
Erich Hartmann said that they were the easiest to shoot down.
They flew worst/slowest aircraft available. He would be easy to down in those also.
I am acquainted with Dr. Pennington and have her book. I highly value her work, but we disagree as to the fate of fighter pilot Lidya Litvyak, as I have solid evidence that she survived the war. Also it seems that Litvyak had less kills than did her friend Budanova.
To my knowledge Soviet air regiment was not quite equivalent in size to squadron in the U.S. (Soviet air regiment was larger.)
+Kazimiera Janina Cottam Do you have any proof that Lilja survived? Could you present some evidence? If not, please, do not talk about it. Respectively, if your evidence is based on statements of 3 rd persons (one watched Swiss TV broadcast and another - peasant woman with a parachute) it is not significant for me.
Ludmilla, I love you.
Need working subtitles here :(
the allied war effort began in may 1944...about 18 months after the ussr had defeated the hun
Wrong. the allied war effort began in March 1940... at a time when the USSR was allied with the Hun, and both had defeated Poland. Nazi Germany was already fighting on two fronts when Hitler foolishly attacked the USSR. Of course you'll never find this capital fact in pro-Soviet literature.
Fridomfry MJ The Soviet Union was the last country in Europe that signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, after years of opposing the Nazi regime. Poland was the first one (January 1934, the first major agreement signed by Nazi Germany with another country) and had supported Hitler's occupation of Sudeteland from Czechoslovakia in October 1938, in order to destroy the only Soviet ally in Europe. The occupation had greatly strengthened Germany's industry and military and turned Slovakia into Germany's ally, which invaded Poland together with Germany in 1939.
Poland was also one of the few European countries that already had anti-Semitic laws before the Nazi occupation, and the Polish regime even wanted to erect a Hitler monument in Warsaw if he could expel the Jews from Poland, Hungary, Romania and the Baltic states.
I bet that Polish ass doesn't taste so great now :P
the Russian TV drama "Night Swallows" is all about these remarkable women.
Watch it (with English subtitles!) right here: ruclips.net/video/MFK9wAOatGE/видео.html
Dubbed "Night Witches" by the Germans these female pilots were the most feared in the Soviet Air Force.
Hyperbolic bovine excrement, but admirable none the less.
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he also doesn't realize that it was the Germans that gave the women that nickname in the first place."The Germans did not even know they existed." Shove that D back down your throat and shut the fuck up because obviously you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
The Germans did not give them that name unless you believe the Soviet Propaganda. The Germans make no mention of them anywhere in any account of that war. They are a defective meme. Just like the Amazons, were are not real. Joan of Arch was a teenage virgin girl. She never swung a sword in battle. Women need to show more respect for what millions of men have done in war and continue to not minimize it.
It seems like their was a lot of infighting among the female pilots, even during a time of war females find it hard to work together for their own survival.
+John doe
No, that is a deliberate twisting of reality.
There are female political people just as there are male political people, and it was these political individuals who created problems, both for men and women.
What? Like I said, have you got any actual proof of any of the stuff you have been saying. Not some crap you found on the inter-web either. The reason they often knew about each others exploits was because the read each others newspapers and listen to each others radio broadcasts.
No they where not. Your comment is just silly. Do some actual research.
US Propaganda concerning Mother Russia's treatment of women pilots during the war.
The total Military dead from WW2 was 22 to 25 million. Perhaps 0.1% of those were women. Not asking women to perform combat roles is not an act of sexual discrimination it is an act of decency. 'Good men protect women facing physical harm and good men know this' Are you saying that women could have been there (in war) all along. Like WW1? Up to their knees In the blood,mud,pus and misery of the western and eastern fronts. Really? Do you think they could have done that?
fald2000 sounds like someone who hates women and loves the D. When it comes down to it, any Russian woman who served it 7 quintillion times more brave then you'll ever be.
You really do not know what you are talking about do you? Those pilots of yours did not actually hit anything much did they? They where mostly flying around at night and not blowing things up. Their collective effect and affect on the German army etc was miniscule. Not exactly Dresden or Berlin is it?
No, they actually did hit targets. They were a "strategic bombing" squad. That's kind of what strategic bombing squads do. They bomb. The Soviet Union did not have such a plethora of resources that it could afford to waste precious fuel on women who were just "flying around at night." There are multiple primary sources that confirm that the 46th regiment did actual work and that they were quite effective at it: you should do your research. I agree with you that the 46th regiment alone did not destroy Germany, but neither did a handful of artillery soldiers, or a single ace pilot. Your logic is flawed. It was a collective effort and the 46th regiment contributed to this collective effort.
I am not disrespecting those women. You however, are disrespecting the 8-10 million Russian men that died in WW2 and the 14 million wounded, if you are saying that what a few dozen women did is somehow equivalent. It is not. War is not not so easy that a women could do it. What a few women did somewhere, sometime, in that war is not the same thing as what millions of men have done. It proves nothing. Women need to show more respect for what men have done and suffered in war(s).
What women did in combat? What women are you talking about exactly ? Got a percentage on that, got a photo? No? That is convenient.
Death Battalions... really? You mean the 2000 women that were sent to the front line in order to try and shame the men into going over the top on the Eastern Front in WW1. The men had had enough by then and said no way, they did not budge. Leaving the women to return to wherever they came from.. As for their number being reduced by the time they were disbanded. How many losses where the result of enemy action, any? More personal died from disease than enemy action in WW1.
what? men not doing equal share of domestic and child care duties? don't act like a thousand female pilot represents "equal share" of the defense of the soviet union, 8.7 Million Red Army soldiers died in WW2, by far most of them were men.
What is your point? Yes Russia won the second world war. But Western Europe, the Atlantic, Africa, Malta, Crete, Asia/Pacific etc etc etc. From Sept 1st 1939 there were no Russians in any of these battle fronts. No women either. The Soviet Union was still selling raw materials to Germany and taking half of Poland up until Germany invaded in 1941.
fald2000 "taking half of Poland". If you think that was wrong, why don't you tell Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine to give this territory back to Poland?
+fald2000 "From Sept 1st 1939 there were no Russians in any of these battle fronts" For Stalin, the war in Europe started in March 1939, with Hitler's annexation of Bohemia and Moravia, ethnic Czech lands. Before this he annexed Austria and the German-populated part of Czechia, which united all German speakers in one state. The March 1939 occupation was the first time he had occupied non-German, Slavic territory, which showed that he was going to create a German empire in Slavic countries.
And where were Poland, France, and UK when Hitler started his assault on the Czech state? As a continental power, the French were more worried about German aggression than the British, so in 1935 they signed an agreement with Stalin to defend Czechoslovakia. But in May 1938 the Poles told the French that they were going to oppose any attempt by the Soviet forces to defend the Czechs.
So the British and the French invited Hitler -- but not the Czechs or their Soviet ally -- to a conference in Munich and told him he could have Sudetenland. Without firing a single shot, Hitler disbanded the Czech army, one of the best in Europe; gained 3 million ethnic Germans who were even more fanatical Nazis than the ones in pre-1938 Germany; conquered the Czech mountains and border fortifications which would have cost many German lives to take by force; took over massive Czech industries, especially Skoda, Europe biggest arms' factory after Germany's Krupp works; in March 1939 Slovakia became a Nazi puppet state which joined Hitler's invasion of Poland 6 month later.
Stalin didn't have any moral obligation toward Poland, France and UK after they allowed Hitler to destroy the only Soviet ally in Europe and greatly strengthen his military with Czech industries. Poland, France and UK did nothing to prevent Hitler from seizing Czech arms, why should Stalin send his soldiers to be killed with them?
+fald2000 "From Sept 1st 1939 there were no Russians in any of these battle fronts." Soviet-Japanese fighting in Mongolia continued until 16 September. As for the other fronts, there were also no Americans, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Greeks, Romanians, Belgians, Slovaks, Dutch, Norwegians etc. These countries were either Nazi allies (like Italy) or "neutral" (like Switzerland, which supplied Germany with weapons and locomotives). Why single out the Soviets?
Because they did not actually do anything. Similar female units were also formed in WW2 but never saw action and were created for propaganda purposes. See my post below about your night witches, The Germans did not even know they existed. Why would they?
Russian women were very brave during the war. But they were outnumbered 1000plus to 1 when it came to warfighting and danger from enemy action. Allied women working in factories were outnumbered 8 to 1 in those factories by men. If you put all of the activities of women from all over the world on a scale next to what men did in WW2 the scales would not move. I am criticizing the hubris of women not the bravery of the 1 percent that were somewhere near the front line at some point in the war.
Don't spend your time on this filthy nazi.
If you go through the examples of women in the war one at a time it would sound like a lot. Which is what this women does. The Soviets lost about 77 000 planes and the Germans lost 70 000. A chick that did that thing that time is meaningless. 1000, 10 000, 100 000 men did that thing repeatedly. Women's contribution in WW2 was miniscule compared to men. Soviet propaganda is not fact is it. She also goes on and on about 1 or 2 pilots, so what.
That does not prove that he new who they were at the time. They were just some Russian planes that he shot down at night. He did not go out there to kill the "Night Witches" as you dishonestly imply. Your evidence that the Germans knew of them is just some un-cited pseudo essay on the inter-web. My evidence is from the historian Anthony Beevor and Russian war corespondent Vasily Grossman "A writer at war". Have you actually read any military/war non-fiction. I have read a book case full.
This lecture is post modern pseudo feminist twaddle. As for Nightwitches, please. The Germans did not even know they existed. They make no mention of them anywhere in their accounts of the war. They flew bi-planes, turned off their engines and dropped a few bombs at night to keep the Germans awake. Big deal. Talk about passive aggressive.
Combat missions by allied flyers was much more dangerous than what those women did. Flying around at night and turning your engine off before you dropped a bomb is not that dangerous is it? Those Allied pilots faced death from fighter planes an AA as they approached their targets and as they returned. Many never made the number of sorties required. 10 000s died. Stop disrespecting what those Allied men did. How dare you. Answer my other questions. Where did you get all that rubbish from?
Where did you get your information from? 23 000 sorties, landing and taking off again? 3 000 000kg of bombs? 3000 tonnes? What? Where did you get that from? A citation please. 600 sorties/ Again a citation please. Allied bombers were in much greater danger on any given day than those women saw in the entire war. There is no equivalence with what men did in WWII compared to women.
Death Battalions... really? You mean the 2000 women that were sent to the front line in order to try and shame the men into going over the top on the Eastern Front in WW1. The men had had enough by then and said no way, they did not budge. Leaving the women to return to wherever they came from.. As for their number being reduced by the time they were disbanded. How many losses where the result of enemy action, any? More personal died from disease than enemy action in WW1.