Marina Raskova and the Night Witches: Heriones of the Soviet Union

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     The 1930s in Russia was a time of great change. With the rise of industrialization, what it meant to be a woman was being rapidly redefined. Stalinist development prompted major strides in what is often referred to as a type of "social liberalization." Women began to enter the workforce and efforts to provide women with education equal to men were being made.

     Despite these changes, at the onset World War II, very few women were being accepted to serve in the Soviet Armed Forces. Their applications were often blocked or turned down in an effort to prevent women from serving until absolutely necessary. However, due to the steadfast determination of women as well as desperation in response to losses to the Germans, the number of women being accepted to serve began to increase vastly.

     One woman in particular, Marina Raskova, paved the way for women serving in aviation with the Soviet Armed Forces by persuading the military to allow her to form three "all-female" combat regiments, the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment aka "the Night Witches" being the most famous of the three. One of the first women to be crowned "Heroine of the Soviet Union," she has often been regarded as a "Russian Amelia Earheart."

     Raskova was born into a middle-class family in Moscow on March 12, 1912. Although she aspired to be an opera singer throughout most of her childhood, Raskova instead sought a career in another of her talents, chemistry. After graduating in 1929, Raskova accepted a position at the Navigation Laboratory of the Air Force Academy, jump-starting her career in aviation. 

  When Raskova became the first woman in the Soviet Union to earn the diploma of professional air navigator in 1933,  she started to pave a way for women to enter the Air Force by proving that women could excel in aviation. Over the course of the next decade, Raskova continued to challenge barriers. Some of her most famous successes include breaking two women's long-distance flight records, surviving an emergency landing where she was left stranded for 10 days without food and water, and forming three women's combat aviation regiments, one of which she commanded until her death. 

     Of the three women's regiments formed by Raskova, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment is arguably the most well-known. Comprised primarily of women in their late teens and early 20s, the regiment is better known as the "Night Witches" because the "whooshing" sound that their planes made could be likened to the sound of witches flying on broomsticks overhead. In order to meet demands, Raskova took on the task of teaching these young women four year's worth of training in just a few short months.

Paul Wanke, a history instructor at OSU, said, "The Soviets will use women in combat positions; they weren't just pilots. The 'Night Witches' is a cleaned up version of what the Germans actually called them (rhymes with 'witches')." 

     The Night Witches flew slow, outdated Po-2 biplanes, made of canvas and wood. They were able to make the best of what they had, however, by designing techniques that took advantage of the planes' exceptional maneuverability. They would idle their engines as they approached their target and then drift over their bombing location undetected. They also devised a strategy in which they began to fly in sets of three and two of them would fly off in different directions as soon as they were discovered. 

    Raskova passed away before ever experiencing combat due to an unprecedented crash landing on Jan. 4, 1943.  Although she did not live to see many of the regiment's successes, it is clear that her spirit held strong among the young women. As the only regiment to remain a woman-only group, the Night Witches flew over 24,000 missions and cultivated 24 women that followed in Raskova's footsteps to receive recognition as Heriones of the Soviet Union. Though their efforts are not well-known, there is no doubt that the Night Witches were an incredible group of women.

At a Glance:

• Due to the steadfast determination of women as well as desperation in response to losses to the Germans, the number of women being accepted to serve in World War II began to increase vastly.
• Marina Raskova, one of the first women to be crowned "Heroine of the Soviet Union" and first to earn the diploma of professional air navigator, started to pave a way for women to enter the Air Force by proving that women could excel in aviation. 
• They flew Po-2 biplanes made of canvas and wood. 
• Marina was born in 1912 and passed away in 1943.
• Learn more about Marina Raskova, the Night Witches, and Po-2 biplanes.