A Dance with Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Read Free Page B

took the 125th
through Belorussia and into the Baltic area, ending as far west as
eastern Prussia. On the way, the crews of the 125th flew up to three
bombing sorties a day-1,134 sorties for the duration of the war-and
dropped some 98o,ooo kilograms of bombs.24
    Perhaps the best known of all of the Soviet women's air regiments,
the 588th Air Regiment, later known as the 46th Guards Bomber Regiment, officially began operations in the spring of 1942. Commanded by
Yevdokiya Bershanskaya, the 46th regiment was the only one of the
three regiments formed from the 122nd Composite Air Group to remain entirely female throughout the war. The regiment received a
great deal of publicity both during and after the war. It was frequently
the subject of Western and Soviet journal articles, and after the war its members actively promoted the regiment's history through memoirs,
collected accounts, and even documentary and feature films.

    The 46th experienced a rather inauspicious start: the regiment had
already suffered the loss of two crews during training, an event that
delayed its departure for the front. Further, when the women arrived
at their new forward base of operations in May, 1942, they were discovered to be insufficiently trained and poorly prepared for aviation
combat conditions at the front. The divisional commander, D. D.
Popov, despaired at having the women sent to him. His superior,
however, advised patience and additional training for the regiment.-5
The women of the 46th were not to disappoint.
    The 46th was equipped with a modified version of the popular U-2
trainer. Though later redesignated as the Po-2, the aircraft remained
essentially unchanged from its original design in 1927. It was easy to
fly, its fuel consumption was low, and it was capable of landing virtually anywhere. It carried a crew of two and between six and eight
bombs-approximately one thousand kilograms-and was sometimes
armed with a machine gun in the rear cockpit.z6 Made predominantly
of wood and fabric, the aircraft was a fire hazard in combat. Many of
the accounts related by the crews of the night bomber squadrons are
focused on their fear of the aircraft catching fire.
    The regiment began its operations in the Don region, where it was
used to assault bridges, enemy strongholds, fuel and ammunition
dumps, and enemy troop concentrations. It saw action in the Crimea,
north through Belorussia and Poland, and as far west as Berlin. Between May, 1942, and May, 1945, the 46th Guards Bomber Regiment
flew an estimated twenty-four thousand combat sorties, through every kind of weather and conditions. The women-pilots and ground
crews alike-lived on the verge of physical collapse, managing a bit of
sleep or a meal whenever they could.27
    In February, 1943, the regiment was renamed the 46th Taman
Guards Bomber Regiment, thus becoming the first female "Guard"
unit. It was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner and Suvorov i i i
Class for skill and bravery. The most highly decorated of the three
women's regiments, the 46th regiment also produced twenty-three
Heroes of the Soviet Union.
    It should be noted that a significant proportion of the ground crews
attached to these regiments were women as well. Responsible for
maintaining and preparing the aircraft for their sometimes numerous
daily missions, the armorers and mechanics handled ammunition
boxes and machine-gun belts, made quick-time repairs, and attached heavy bombs, often working without cover in subzero weather. In the
course of one night the armorers with the 46th would haul up to four
tons of bombs each. In short, the ground crews were as dedicated as
their aircrews. They often became so close to their pilot and aircraft
that, if something happened to the plane, they felt they had failed
somehow. ("We worried until our planes returned.") 28

    Although there were some who viewed the women's regiments
with contempt and even made life difficult for the airwomen