Marina Raskov A Brief History Of The Night Witches

World War II was greatly remembered for things like the Holocaust and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. While these are significant parts, many pieces of this history are left out or forgotten, just like the Night Witches. The major fight in World War II was fought between Germany, Italy, and Japan against the Allies, which was made of Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union, the home of the Night Witches. The real name of the Night Witches was the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, but the nickname was given to them by the Germans they bombed. Many Nazis believed the Night witches were either criminals or were given injections or pills to give the women special powers because there could be no other explanation of how they were so

The woman’s name was Marina Raskova who founded two other female bombing regiments along with the Night Witches. With Germany ready to attack and not enough defense on the Soviet side, laws were rethought about not letting women fight. Many women across the Soviet Union had been mailing letters to Marina about how they wanted to contribute more to the war effort and not just be nurses or food providers. The women wanted to fight, so Marina Raskova made that possible. She wrote a petition to the dictator of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, which allowed her to form an all-female bombing regiment. Marina formed not only one but three squadrons, but she created a way for women to feel they were included in the fight for freedom against the

A big thing that kept the Night Witches undercover was flying during the night. The planes the women flew could only carry two bombs at once and required the pilots to fly close to the ground. The pilots turned their engines down and glided towards their targets, which kept the sound of their engines quiet. The fact that their planes couldn’t use radios due to lack of funding in their department kept them off the map of radio locators. The fact that the plane’s maximum speed was so slow helped the pilots. Their flying was slower than the idling engine of the German planes. They had to be smart about how they bombed because they only had two chances, so to lure out their enemies the Night Witches would send a plane out as bait and the Germans would shine their spotlights upon that plane providing light for the planes planning to bomb. These tactics, due either to good ideas or money issues, helped immensely in the fight against the Nazis for these