The Germans are resting behind the lines of the Eastern front.
Their tents in neat rows.
All is in order in the quiet and still of the night.
It’s cold
and the winter snow crunches under the jack boot of a guard.
Looking up into the sky
the snow starts to drift down.
It’s peaceful here…
Was that a noise from the sky?
No, it's just the wind.
Suddenly piercing the still of the night
there’s an otherworldly scream
and a whoosh as a dark form speeds by…
and was that a woman’s laughter in the distance?
There are no engine sounds
and the suddenly fearful German soldier loses his footing
and whispers under his breath:
“Die Nachthexen.”
The world is all at once a bloom of fire and ash
and two more dark forms pass without a sound.
Hearing the whooping and celebration of these supernatural creatures
the guard shakes himself from his fear and calls out:
“Die Nachthexen! Die Nachthexen!”
The Night Witches!
In the sky above
3 planes of the soon to be famous 588th night bomber regiment,
their engines now running turn East for home.
Time to rearm and refuel for another mission!
Coming into land they’re greeted by their commissar Yevdokia Rachkevich.
The young girls that form the pilots and navigators
are between the ages of 17 and 26.
They are desperate to take the fight to the Germans,
and have travelled from all over Russia to join the all women regiments.
The 588th is where the least skilled of all the women are placed…
But that didn’t stop them from carving their name in history…
In the early days they were largely ridiculed by the Soviet Men.
Given men’s uniforms that were too big and shoes all of the same size,
the women did the best they could with the clothes
making them fit with belts or filling the large men's shoes with stuffing.
The equipment they were given was woefully out of date.
The Polikarpov PO-2 was a 2 man trainer,
underpowered and made of cloth and wood
these old “stringbags” were nicknamed crop dusters
or even more worse, sewing machines due to the noise their tiny engines made.
But the women of the 588th ignored the taunts
and despite the odds, turned the planes shortcomings to their advantage.
The planes at maximum speeds were far below the stall speeds of any of the German fighters.
Giving them a tight turning circle
they were almost impossible to hit.
They were susceptible to small arms fire and anti aircraft guns,
so their strategy was to attack in threes.
With a navigator in each plane,
at her signal the pilot would cut the engines and swoop in slowly, silently.
Dropping their bombs Dealing Death from above.
Unexpected, Undetected, Stealth perfected.
If necessary the other 2 would draw fire from the fighters or from the ground.
They slept during the day and rose a dusk to take their vengeance on the invaders.
This unnatural bravery and their stealth tactics
earned them their title – The Night Witches.
The German ace Johannes Steinhof said,
“We simply couldn’t grasp that the Soviet Airmen that caused us the greatest trouble
were in fact, women.
These women feared nothing.“
From the depths of hell in silence
Cast their spells, explosive violence
Russian night time flight perfected
Flawless vision, undetected
Pushing on and on, their planes are going strong
Air Force number one
Somewhere down below they're looking for the foe
Bomber's on the run
You can't hide, you can't move, just abide
Their attack's been proved (raiders in the dark)
Silent through the night the witches join the fight
Never miss their mark
Canvas wings of death
Prepare to meet your fate
Night Bomber Regiment
588
Undetected, unexpected
Wings of glory
Tell their story
Aviation, deviation
Undetected, Stealth perfected
Foes are losing ground, retreating to the sound
Death is in the air
Suddenly appears, confirming all your fears
Strike from witches lair
Target found, come around, barrels sound
From the battleground (axis aiming high)
Rodina awaits, defeat them at the gates
Live to fight and fly
Canvas wings of death
Prepare to meet your fate
Night Bomber Regiment
588
Undetected, unexpected
Wings of glory
Tell their story
Aviation, deviation
Undetected, Stealth perfected
Beneath the starlight of the heavens
Unlikely heroes in the skies (witches to attack, witches coming back)
As they appear on the horizon
The wind will whisper when the night witches come
Undetected, unexpected
Wings of glory
Tell their story
Aviation, deviation
Undetected, Stealth perfected
From the depths of hell in silence
Cast their spells, explosive violence
Russian night time flight perfected
Flawless vision, undetected
32 women, both pilots and navigators never came home.
The 588th became highly decorated and respected.
Flying more than 23,000 sorties,
dropping over 3,000 tons of bombs.
23 Night Witches were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union,
although they were disbanded just 6 months after the war
and not allowed to fly in the victory parade
given their planes were so slow.
From 1956 after she retired from active service
their Commissar Yevdokia Rachkevich
took it upon herself to find the site of every single one of her girls that was downed
to mark the place and to pay her respects to each one of the incredibly brave Night Witches.