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Night Witches: The Amazing Story Of Russia's Women Pilots in World War II
In 1941, as Nazi hordes swept east into the Soviet Union, a desperte call went out for women to join the Russian air force. The result—three entire regiments of women pilots and bombers—was a phenomenon unmatched in World II. Through interviews with these courageous pilots, the author uncovers their story. Soon to be a major motion picture.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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May 15, 2019
On 22, June, 1941, German bombers destroyed squadron after squadron of fighters and bombers, as Russia slept. These attacks gave Germany almost complete air control, but the Poliburo in Moscow, still thought they could reading with Hitler and get him to call off further airstrikes. The Soviet military was totally unprepared. With most of their sir power destroyed, and many Soviet bombers shot down, Russia suffered great losses. With not enough trained pilots left, those in power had no recourse but to call for the women pilots in their country to come and serve their nation. This call was heeded by a thousand women, many who had never left home before, but would now train the men to fly, but also to fly bombers and fighters.
I first heard about these women in a fictional book The HuntressThe Huntress. This book is one of female empowerment, women, many still in their teens, showed and willingness and bravery that was awe inspiring. As well as the history involved, the political situation, we come to know many of these women. Distinct personalities, manners of dress, comportment, their hopes and dreams made them personal to me. There is some humor, as when all the uniforms and boots, made for men, were way to large for these smaller bodies. They managed, showing their own individuality in the way they turned less than ideal situations to their benefit, using their own styles. They shared, became friends, fought together, so amazing these young women were. There were of course deaths, but their were many triumphs as well.
In a postscript the author updates her information by talking to some of the women who made it through. At the time of this writing, many were in their sixties. Kept a secret for do long, they were no longer.
I first heard about these women in a fictional book The HuntressThe Huntress. This book is one of female empowerment, women, many still in their teens, showed and willingness and bravery that was awe inspiring. As well as the history involved, the political situation, we come to know many of these women. Distinct personalities, manners of dress, comportment, their hopes and dreams made them personal to me. There is some humor, as when all the uniforms and boots, made for men, were way to large for these smaller bodies. They managed, showing their own individuality in the way they turned less than ideal situations to their benefit, using their own styles. They shared, became friends, fought together, so amazing these young women were. There were of course deaths, but their were many triumphs as well.
In a postscript the author updates her information by talking to some of the women who made it through. At the time of this writing, many were in their sixties. Kept a secret for do long, they were no longer.
September 6, 2025
The writing aside, this guy deserves 5 stars for the journalism. The stories of these women is surprisingly absent in the west and he got them right from the source. No small feat for a westerner during the cold war. Although certainly this was a safe topic to open up about, it celebrated Soviet heroism over Nazi Germany. By the time he was doing his research the pilots would have been in their 50s and 60s. They were proud of their service and wanted their story remembered. The fact that a Westerner wanted to document it may have felt like recognition after decades of being overshadowed by male-dominated war histories.
Still, it would have taken a lot of manoeuvring. A lot of coordination with the embassy and other Soviet institutions. Probably veteran associations and academic groups. Even if Myles was allowed to interview the veterans, it was almost certainly under supervision. The KGB wouldn’t have left him completely unchecked. Because this subject wasn’t about military secrets or criticizing the regime, the risk for the Soviets was low. But it would still have been a managed experience. He wouldn’t have been wandering around freely collecting stories.
But collect them he did, and they are great stories. The Night Witches have a built in cinematic electricity. Danger, darkness, and atmosphere. You’ve got these young women flying plywood and canvas biplanes at night, cutting their engines to glide over german camps, dropping bombs then vanishing back into the dark. The name alone - Night Witches - already sounds like pulp noir. How somebody with a camera and a studio hasn’t been on this is a mystery. If not as a drama then something Tarantino or even Ilsa style. At least a video game. C’mon.
Because I hate to say it but the writing here made it almost feel like a missed opportunity. It seems the author was also a pilot and so naturally would gravitate to the mechanics of flying and detailed accounts of aerial manoeuvres. That doesn’t always translate into good storytelling. Narrative history lives or dies on whether the writer can stage the scenes in your mind. If they lean too hard into cockpit mechanics or alternating testimony with adventure-style prose, the rhythm falls flat. The women’s voices alone could carry the book if framed right.
The raw material was gold. Firsthand voices of the Night Witches are rare and invaluable. But the craftsmanship didn’t lift it to the level I was hoping. Full marks for bringing the story to us though.
Still, it would have taken a lot of manoeuvring. A lot of coordination with the embassy and other Soviet institutions. Probably veteran associations and academic groups. Even if Myles was allowed to interview the veterans, it was almost certainly under supervision. The KGB wouldn’t have left him completely unchecked. Because this subject wasn’t about military secrets or criticizing the regime, the risk for the Soviets was low. But it would still have been a managed experience. He wouldn’t have been wandering around freely collecting stories.
But collect them he did, and they are great stories. The Night Witches have a built in cinematic electricity. Danger, darkness, and atmosphere. You’ve got these young women flying plywood and canvas biplanes at night, cutting their engines to glide over german camps, dropping bombs then vanishing back into the dark. The name alone - Night Witches - already sounds like pulp noir. How somebody with a camera and a studio hasn’t been on this is a mystery. If not as a drama then something Tarantino or even Ilsa style. At least a video game. C’mon.
Because I hate to say it but the writing here made it almost feel like a missed opportunity. It seems the author was also a pilot and so naturally would gravitate to the mechanics of flying and detailed accounts of aerial manoeuvres. That doesn’t always translate into good storytelling. Narrative history lives or dies on whether the writer can stage the scenes in your mind. If they lean too hard into cockpit mechanics or alternating testimony with adventure-style prose, the rhythm falls flat. The women’s voices alone could carry the book if framed right.
The raw material was gold. Firsthand voices of the Night Witches are rare and invaluable. But the craftsmanship didn’t lift it to the level I was hoping. Full marks for bringing the story to us though.
Want to read
August 9, 2013There was an amazing obituary of Russian flyer Nadia Popova in a recent Economist. She was one of the "night witches" and just died at age 91. See the obit at ... http://www.economist.com/news/obituar...
October 15, 2017
Bruce Myles has done a wonderful job weaving all of the interviews he conducted together to make a gripping portrait of WWII Russia.
Before coming across this work, I never knew women flew for Russia during the second war! It is a historically important story and should be more commonly known!
Before coming across this work, I never knew women flew for Russia during the second war! It is a historically important story and should be more commonly known!
February 19, 2016
A thrilling account of Russia's women pilots in World War II. And really, in this country, who knew? The author conducted research and had personal interviews with several of the women themselves. Prior to the war Russian girls and young women participated in many private flying clubs, and in the early days of battle women were involved in training men in piloting, navigation and parachute jumping. Finally the word came that they, too, would be allowed to fly in battle, and three regiments of women took to the skies. Everyone involved was a woman, barring the highest level of command: women mechanics, navigators, radio operators, ground crews and more. Squadron commanders were women as well. One regiment flew fighter planes, Yaks, the most advanced Russian craft, and flew as free hunters. The second was assigned to the PE-2 light bomber, and flew mostly daytime bombing missions. The third, the night bombers, had the lowly PO-2's, the training biplanes they had known for years in the clubs, now outfitted with bombs. These could be flown very low to the ground, and moved slowly compared to other planes. Flying at night, they targeted enemy troops exhausted from the day's battle. Their distinctive sound came to terrorize the soldiers. Once word got around that they were being flown by women, enemy troops began calling them "Night Witches." And it was this group that was awarded the highest flying honor, becoming a Guards regiment. A number of women pilots became Aces, and some were awarded Hero of the Soviet Union honors. The writing here is simple and straight-forward, but the combination of factual background and personal stories make Night Witches a compelling read.
March 22, 2020
I'm not much on war history, but this is a good book about a little known bit of history. I never would have read it but for someone thrusting it into my hand and expecting me to tell him what I thought about it. I couldn't avoid it, so I just read it and got it over with. Not a waste of time in the end.
March 13, 2017
I really enjoyed this interesting read about an extraordinary group of women, but I read "A Dance with Death" afterward and a few of the women mentioned that much of this was fictionalized or exaggerated. So, while it was an entertaining and quick read, I'd take this work with a grain of salt.
June 16, 2012
Here is another book that I love about flying because it is about a little-known group of Russian women pilots. Unlike the WASPs (for whom I have an enormous amount of respect, and many of these women lost their lives pulling live targets behind their planes for military student pilots to shoot at) these women flew combat missions. They were deemed more "expendable" than their male counterparts so were relegated to flying night missions. The enemy named them the "Night Witches", so good were they at striking terror into the hearts of their enemies on the ground. Two squadrons of fighter pilots and one squadron of bomber pilots.
I had the pleasure of meeting one of these women at a Ninety Nines gathering many years ago.
An incredible story.
I had the pleasure of meeting one of these women at a Ninety Nines gathering many years ago.
An incredible story.
November 8, 2009
Available at BBC Radio 4.
Lucy Ash tells the extraordinary but little-known tale of Russia's three all-female regiments that flew more than 30,000 missions on the Eastern Front during Second World War. At home they were celebrated as Stalin's Falcons, but terrified German troops called them the Night Witches.
Lucy travels to Moscow and Rostov-on-Don to meet a number of these formidable women, who are now grandmothers in their 80s and 90s. She discovers that their bravery has inspired aerobatic champions, comic book artists and even a Dutch heavy metal band.
Lucy Ash tells the extraordinary but little-known tale of Russia's three all-female regiments that flew more than 30,000 missions on the Eastern Front during Second World War. At home they were celebrated as Stalin's Falcons, but terrified German troops called them the Night Witches.
Lucy travels to Moscow and Rostov-on-Don to meet a number of these formidable women, who are now grandmothers in their 80s and 90s. She discovers that their bravery has inspired aerobatic champions, comic book artists and even a Dutch heavy metal band.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 20, 2017
Lily Litvak is my new woman crush! This book reads like a narrative more than a textbook list of facts, which was enjoyable. I'm sure the Night Witches enjoy more fame in Russia but I barely knew anything about them and there isn't much English material about them. Their stories are so inspiring and ought to be told more.
May 19, 2012
The writing isn't particularly good, but the stories about these women are so amazing that it is definitely worth reading. I decided to read this after going to yet another airplane museum with J and seeing one of the PO-2s that the Russian women flew during WWII.
November 1, 2021
June 1941 Germany attacked Russia - without provocation or any declaration of war - they invaded. Hitler's plan was to crush the Russians in a lightning ten-week summer campaign, like many before him, he failed to appreciate the vastness of the country and the spirit of her people.
Before the War many women belonged to flying schools and at the start of the war they were involved in training men in flying and parachute jumping. The German Luftwaffe outpowered the Russian air force and soon, the call came. 3 regiments of female pilots were being established and everyone was urged to write to Russia's most famous female aviator, Marina Raskova. The 3 regiments would be made up entirely of women - pilots, engineers, navigators, everyone except top command would be women.
Soon, the enemy calls them the Night Witches in their flying sewing machines.
The writer details the course of WWII in Russia through the eyes of these women, through interviews with the survivors, books the women have written and correspondence back home while they were away, their war stories are told. Instead of focusing on the hardship and atrocities through the war, the focus is on how individuals managed to survive and their drive to fight, on equal footing, to throw the invaders from their country.
Of course their has been books on the role women played in WWII, as spies, informers, sometimes assassins and certainly in the French underground, the contributions of women has always been celebrated. However, until finding this book I did not know that their were women actually fighting, as soldiers, to liberate their country.
A fantastic find if you like WWII novels.
Before the War many women belonged to flying schools and at the start of the war they were involved in training men in flying and parachute jumping. The German Luftwaffe outpowered the Russian air force and soon, the call came. 3 regiments of female pilots were being established and everyone was urged to write to Russia's most famous female aviator, Marina Raskova. The 3 regiments would be made up entirely of women - pilots, engineers, navigators, everyone except top command would be women.
Soon, the enemy calls them the Night Witches in their flying sewing machines.
The writer details the course of WWII in Russia through the eyes of these women, through interviews with the survivors, books the women have written and correspondence back home while they were away, their war stories are told. Instead of focusing on the hardship and atrocities through the war, the focus is on how individuals managed to survive and their drive to fight, on equal footing, to throw the invaders from their country.
Of course their has been books on the role women played in WWII, as spies, informers, sometimes assassins and certainly in the French underground, the contributions of women has always been celebrated. However, until finding this book I did not know that their were women actually fighting, as soldiers, to liberate their country.
A fantastic find if you like WWII novels.
October 3, 2017
Book 38 of my #2017readingchallenge is Bruce Myles' Night Witches: The Amazing Story of Russia's Women Pilots in World War II. It is incredibly powerful, emotional, terrifying and fucking badass. These young women enlisted after learning to fly at their hometown clubs, and they became national heroes. And when I say young I mean 17, 18, 20 year olds, fighting Nazis midair. They are SO inspirational.
This book was written in 1981 and is written by a man, so parts are a little sexist, but the crux of the book is how in awe the author is of these really strong women. Some of the injuries are nauseating, some of the stories made me cry in public on the bus, not everybody lives. Holy shit war is hell. And I'm glad this book goes into all the awful of it - ALL the awful of being a woman in war.
Is this a movie yet!?!?!?
This book was written in 1981 and is written by a man, so parts are a little sexist, but the crux of the book is how in awe the author is of these really strong women. Some of the injuries are nauseating, some of the stories made me cry in public on the bus, not everybody lives. Holy shit war is hell. And I'm glad this book goes into all the awful of it - ALL the awful of being a woman in war.
Is this a movie yet!?!?!?
December 25, 2020
Incredibly informative about patriotic women who helped their country by flying over enemy territory. Some of the women were only 16, but determined to make their home in the cockpit and be treated equally! Highly recommend this book.
January 25, 2025
A wonderful book telling of the women who flew and fought in WWII, the first women's regiment of pilots in the world. I couldn't put it down. Drawn from interviews with the women who lived it, their letters, diaries and memories of their closest friends from their regiment. It's funny, poignant, heartbreaking and thrilling. These amazing, strong women are my heroines and remind me that at one time Russia was an ally. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read. It has it all, romance, excitement, some mystery, friendship and a little bit of everything else. I devoured it almost one sitting.
May 21, 2025
It was a really interesting read, and I will definitely be reading more about women's efforts in WWII. The format and grammar weren't great, and the story line wasn't linear, so it made it confusing.
July 8, 2025
This is really almost a series of anecdotes, but I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the planes, about flying them, about what it took for those women to fly in warfare. The anecdotes the author picked gave a picture of the women, their camaraderie, their strength under stress. They were amazing.
July 13, 2016
At some point, somewhere along the line, I’d come to the arrogant assumption that there wasn’t much more in the modern history bracket that could interest me. There had been various brushes with WWII history in secondary school, specifically looking at Britain and the rise of Nazi Germany, which I’d happily researched around when particular areas caught my attention… Then my nonfiction historical reading skipped off to the distant past as I fell in love with archaeology and the Upper Palaeolithic.
So, when reading the sci-fi/fantasy novel Night Witches, I couldn’t believe that the afterword talked about the real-life inspiration for the book. I hadn’t come across these women, not even a whisper, even though I’d done spades of extra-curricular reading back in the day, in an all-girl environment no less, and had done a year of the Russian language to boot... Yes, I knew of female aviators in a general way, Amelia Earhart is a household name. But Lily Litvak meant nothing to me, never mind any other pilots from, or even the existence of, the three squadrons of female soviet fighter pilots. It’s the equivalent of going into your favourite childhood bookshop and only just discovering there was an upstairs!
A little bit of online searching gave me a shortlist of three books, but I eventually narrowed it down to this one… Bruce Myles is a journalist, his writing very readable (check) and this makes it a great starting place to sink your teeth into (check). He’s clearly done a great deal of research, including interviews with some of the survivors, allowing for the personal touches that really makes the book what it is.
It is bittersweet, at times funny (such as the ill-fitting uniforms, a poor mouse nesting in the wrong boot and the brief adoption of a non-orphan wolf cub) and at others exceptionally heart-breaking. It is, at its core, an oddly empowering read. These women were essentially girls when they went to fight for their country, they express how it didn’t feel quite real at first, how they faced their male counterparts who initially failed to respect them, the extreme cold, the fear, the loss… They tackled everything with an awe-inspiring strength of character.
All in, this is a beautiful book to curl up with. After hitting the photographs included in the centre, conscious I’d finish it within a day, I had to limit myself to just a few pages at a time to make it last. I honestly wish I had encountered this when I was younger, brimming with positive confident and entirely human role models. If any more girls spring up in the family, they’ll be finding a copy placed in their hands, and maybe they’ll pass on the false idols of reality TV (I can hope, anyway) … But first, I have a friend who will love this; it’ll be under her tree this Christmas and I know she’ll thank me.
So, when reading the sci-fi/fantasy novel Night Witches, I couldn’t believe that the afterword talked about the real-life inspiration for the book. I hadn’t come across these women, not even a whisper, even though I’d done spades of extra-curricular reading back in the day, in an all-girl environment no less, and had done a year of the Russian language to boot... Yes, I knew of female aviators in a general way, Amelia Earhart is a household name. But Lily Litvak meant nothing to me, never mind any other pilots from, or even the existence of, the three squadrons of female soviet fighter pilots. It’s the equivalent of going into your favourite childhood bookshop and only just discovering there was an upstairs!
A little bit of online searching gave me a shortlist of three books, but I eventually narrowed it down to this one… Bruce Myles is a journalist, his writing very readable (check) and this makes it a great starting place to sink your teeth into (check). He’s clearly done a great deal of research, including interviews with some of the survivors, allowing for the personal touches that really makes the book what it is.
It is bittersweet, at times funny (such as the ill-fitting uniforms, a poor mouse nesting in the wrong boot and the brief adoption of a non-orphan wolf cub) and at others exceptionally heart-breaking. It is, at its core, an oddly empowering read. These women were essentially girls when they went to fight for their country, they express how it didn’t feel quite real at first, how they faced their male counterparts who initially failed to respect them, the extreme cold, the fear, the loss… They tackled everything with an awe-inspiring strength of character.
All in, this is a beautiful book to curl up with. After hitting the photographs included in the centre, conscious I’d finish it within a day, I had to limit myself to just a few pages at a time to make it last. I honestly wish I had encountered this when I was younger, brimming with positive confident and entirely human role models. If any more girls spring up in the family, they’ll be finding a copy placed in their hands, and maybe they’ll pass on the false idols of reality TV (I can hope, anyway) … But first, I have a friend who will love this; it’ll be under her tree this Christmas and I know she’ll thank me.
January 19, 2024
I had heard of this story before (most recently from the Sabaton song "Night Witches"), and the moment I laid eyes upon this book I knew I had to read it.
War is always terrible in nature as well as fascinating in the most horrifying way. But there are innumerous witness accounts, why spend time on this specific one? Well, I would say because it clearly stands out from the rest. This is about the second world war from the Soviet perspective, and three special women-only aviation regiments active in 1942-1945: the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment; the 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment; and the 588th Night Bomber Regiment.
Their very existence was by all means a sign of desperation, since women weren't allowed to fight in the army at the time. But as the casualties of war demanded more soldiers than the Soviet male population could muster, these young women were let into the military. The operations conducted by the three regiments got more and more impressive over time. Their success culminated in 1943 when the 588th was honored with the Guards designation, and they were reorganized as the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.
Night Witches is written by an American in 1981, and the bulk of the stories told is collected through the author's personal meetings with a number of the women soldiers - now 40 years older. For what it's worth, I deem the history to be truthfully told. It seems real. The combat is described brutally in places, as it probably was, but throughout the book I feel that the reader maintains a different connection to the combatants as to compared to many other works of literature about war. Is this because the soldiers are female? In either case, they are not described as static mindless pieces on a chess board. They are very much human.
The result is a very powerful book on war. A new favorite of mine, I recommended it.
War is always terrible in nature as well as fascinating in the most horrifying way. But there are innumerous witness accounts, why spend time on this specific one? Well, I would say because it clearly stands out from the rest. This is about the second world war from the Soviet perspective, and three special women-only aviation regiments active in 1942-1945: the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment; the 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment; and the 588th Night Bomber Regiment.
Their very existence was by all means a sign of desperation, since women weren't allowed to fight in the army at the time. But as the casualties of war demanded more soldiers than the Soviet male population could muster, these young women were let into the military. The operations conducted by the three regiments got more and more impressive over time. Their success culminated in 1943 when the 588th was honored with the Guards designation, and they were reorganized as the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.
Night Witches is written by an American in 1981, and the bulk of the stories told is collected through the author's personal meetings with a number of the women soldiers - now 40 years older. For what it's worth, I deem the history to be truthfully told. It seems real. The combat is described brutally in places, as it probably was, but throughout the book I feel that the reader maintains a different connection to the combatants as to compared to many other works of literature about war. Is this because the soldiers are female? In either case, they are not described as static mindless pieces on a chess board. They are very much human.
We were soldiers but we were also women. (P. 230)
The result is a very powerful book on war. A new favorite of mine, I recommended it.
April 20, 2018
This story Night Witches by author Bruce Myles is a powerful account of what a few Russian women who had learned to fly in aviation clubs throughout Russia accomplished when the call went out for female volunteer aviators. Even though Nazi Germany had signed a peace treaty with Russia, which would guarantee peaceful coexistence Adolph Hitler broke it in a heartbeat by declaring all-out war on the world and Russia. Adolph Hitler wanted to dominate the world so at 3:15 a.m. on June 22, 1941 Operation Barbarossa was initiated without warning with a horrific artillery barrage along the whole front from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Adolph Hitler underestimated the will to fight of the Russian people on all levels of society. He thought that it would be a cake walk and it would be all over when the Artic winds would blow all over Motherland of Russia in a few months. But thanks to the world and these brave Russian female aviators; Adolph Hitler was dreadfully mistaken. This powerful and courageous story starts as the Soviet Union makes a desperate call for female aviators. The story shows how brave, how well these women took up the call, and demonstrated their skills in air combat with the seasoned German pilots. It was not without sacrifice and many of these women in antique planes did the impossible. But like in all wars many also gave their full measure of devotion and were lost. This definitive book depicts what these female aviators accomplished to be accepted by the male aviators and how well they succeeded in hitting their targets, which in the end drove the Nazi Army and Air force from their country all the way to Berlin. The heroic deeds may have been forgotten if this story had not been written. I really enjoyed this story and I salute all the brave and courageous woman flyers who were instrumental saving their homeland from a tyrannical horde of invaders lead by a leader who showed no mercy. So, as the old saying goes, "One reaps what one sows" and that is what Adolph Hitler did in the end. Now if you are looking for a great story; I highly recommend Night Witches by the author Bruce Myles---good reading.
December 26, 2015
This book originally published in 1981 and had the benefit of first-person sources: the surviving women who had served and who provided many anecdotes, personal accounts amid the ongoing story of the women's bomber and fighter regiments. The stories of the PO-2 regiment -- biplanes engaged in night-intruder raids and enemy-territory drops -- are hair-raising. The other two women's regiments, flying Yak-1 fighters and Pe-2 attack bombers, proved to be brave and capable pilots, with several women scoring impressive totals of German aircraft. All three regiments would fight in the biggest battles of the war -- Crimea, Stalingrad, Kursk, Berlin -- and one, the biplane unit, would be re-numbered as a Guards regiment, the highest unit award, and a number of women in all three regiments won the Hero of the Soviet Union medal, the highest individual honor. Well worthwhile for people interested in military history, Soviet history and women's studies. Highest recommendation for this unique book.
(Plane types are Yakovlev Yak-1, Petlyakov Pe-2, Polikarpov PO-2.)
ADDENDUM: I see two major movies in this, one about the biplane Night Witches regiment, and perhaps one about Lt. Lily Litvak, fighter ace and the White Rose of Stalingrad.
(Plane types are Yakovlev Yak-1, Petlyakov Pe-2, Polikarpov PO-2.)
ADDENDUM: I see two major movies in this, one about the biplane Night Witches regiment, and perhaps one about Lt. Lily Litvak, fighter ace and the White Rose of Stalingrad.
March 8, 2015
The true story of Russian women pilots during WWII. When Germany invaded Russia and all men had been called to the front, Russian women massively answered « yes » when they heard that volunteers were needed to save the country. The courses that might have lasted up to 2 years had been compressed to 6 months and they learned to fly at night, to navigate with only the most rudimentary of instruments and without any radio communication with the ground. The women were smaller than men and needed cushions to see out of the windscreen. Others needed special blocks put on the rubber pedals so that they could reach them with their feet. They approched their target at about 300 feet, cut the engine of their airplanes (which were basic trainers pressed into combat service), glided down through the darkness and dropped the bombs on the enemy . Flying at night with the distinctive popping engine sound and denying Germans to rest, the Russian women pilots were dubbed « night witches ».
Many of the Night Witches were lost in action. What a pity their story is not better known, and tought !
Many of the Night Witches were lost in action. What a pity their story is not better known, and tought !
December 17, 2014
As was similar with books such as A Higher Call, Night Witches delivers a fun, intriguing read. This is mostly delivered by a fair balance of historical data combined with interviews to make a beautiful tale that is fun for anyone to read, regardless on your thoughts of history. This book entails the tales of Russia's women pilots of World War 2, or, as they would be nicknamed by the Germans, Night Witches. The book gives a great attention to the sexism that at first existed for these women pilots, and their journey to prove themselves as expert pilots, navigators, and mechanics. This book also manages to convey the feelings of the women and men involved in the war, making it seem as if you were really seeing the world through their eyes, and therefore, this book deserves every one of its 5 stars.
October 5, 2015
This is an absolutely incredible book, well-researched and taken from the first-hand accounts of the remaining pilots. It tells an interesting, empowering, and heart-wrenching story.
The only negative is that it is hard to follow at times - it's told in a linear fashion and it can be difficult to remember who is who.
The story of these women, however, is incredible. It thoroughly discusses how they trained, made mistakes, succeeded, loved, failed, lost... their incredible talent, skill, bravery, and moments of heartbreak....
Anyone interested in history, warfare, or kickass women should do themselves a favor and read this.
The only negative is that it is hard to follow at times - it's told in a linear fashion and it can be difficult to remember who is who.
The story of these women, however, is incredible. It thoroughly discusses how they trained, made mistakes, succeeded, loved, failed, lost... their incredible talent, skill, bravery, and moments of heartbreak....
Anyone interested in history, warfare, or kickass women should do themselves a favor and read this.
August 12, 2018
This is a solid work of history, and any one of the stories told here would make an incredible film filled with hair-raising feats and terrified Nazis. It is, incidentally, a window into mid-20th century Soviet Union and the gender politics present at that time (and how simultaneously progressive and backwards it was). Shoutout to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast for making me aware of the Night Witches to begin with. Some of the language in the book is a bit dated, but nothing too off putting for today's readers. The topic sent my mind spiraling in many different directions and I think there's much more to explore here.
November 20, 2012
Excellent book about the women's regiments of the Soviet Air Force during WWII. The title refers to the night bombers, who flew unarmed biplanes over German lines and bombed them in the darkness, but the book covers all the different regiments (night bombers, day bombers, and fighters). The pilots include the only two female fighter aces in history, both of whom flew Yaks over Stalingrad during that epic battle. Many of the stories come first hand from survivors the author interviewed in the 80s. Recommended.
August 30, 2017
A captivating insight into the lives of Russian women pilots during WWII, based on interviews with those who survived.
A general account of their many fights is interspersed with entertaining shenaningangs (involving at times alcohol, inappropriate and flowery additions to their fighting gear and, once, a wolf cub), love stories, as well as horrors of war. Said horrors thankfully do not overwhelm the whole narrative, but rather remind the reader of the dangers civilians and soldiers faced in these conflicts.
Truly wonderful.
A general account of their many fights is interspersed with entertaining shenaningangs (involving at times alcohol, inappropriate and flowery additions to their fighting gear and, once, a wolf cub), love stories, as well as horrors of war. Said horrors thankfully do not overwhelm the whole narrative, but rather remind the reader of the dangers civilians and soldiers faced in these conflicts.
Truly wonderful.
August 6, 2012
The prose is a little plain, but sometimes the best thing a writer can do with a story like this is to get out of its way. I cannot believe they have not made a movie or three of this. There's romance, and fighting, and tragedy, and one of the greatest underdog stories I've ever seen drawn from real life. Much of the passages are drawn from witness accounts, and it shows, both in the spareness and the incredibly telling details.
September 14, 2023
In a time when, in the US, women were not allowed to fly, Russia thrust their women pilots into the job, where they proved that women can do the job as well as men! It's clear that Bruce Myles took some liberties with the storytelling but overall these women are very inspiring, and were vital components for winning the war. I appreciate the courageousness of these women and thank Bruce for sharing their stories.
January 26, 2015
Great book. It is nonfiction, but tells the stories of these brave women with so much detail and feeling that parts of it read like a great adventure novel. It made me feel like I was right there in the cockpit with some of these fascinating characters. This book was recommended by A Mighty Girl and I can see why.
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