On the Eastern Front of World War II, German soldiers learned to fear a sound — or rather, the absence of one. In the dark hours before dawn, they would hear a faint whooshing noise, like a broomstick cutting through the air, followed moments later by the explosion of bombs. The attackers were invisible, their engines cut, gliding silently through the night sky in obsolete biplanes made of plywood and canvas. The Germans called them the Nachthexen — the Night Witches.
The Night Witches were the women of the Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment, one of the most extraordinary military units of World War II. Flying aircraft that belonged in a museum rather than a combat zone, these young women flew over 30,000 combat missions and dropped approximately 23,000 tons of bombs on German positions. They were the most highly decorated female unit in the Soviet Air Force, and their story is one of the most remarkable in military aviation history.
Marina Raskova’s Vision
The Night Witches owed their existence to Marina Raskova, the Soviet Union’s most famous female aviator. Raskova was the Soviet equivalent of Amelia Earhart — a national hero who had set long-distance flight records and become the first woman to serve as a navigator in the Soviet Air Force.
When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Wehrmacht advanced with devastating speed. By autumn, German forces were approaching Moscow. The situation was desperate, and the Soviet Union needed every resource it could muster. Raskova, who had received thousands of letters from young women volunteering for combat duty, petitioned Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to authorize the creation of all-female aviation units.
Stalin agreed, and in October 1941, Raskova was authorized to form three all-female air regiments — the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, the 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment, and the 588th Night Bomber Regiment. The women were given a few months of training and sent to the front.
The Aircraft
The 588th was equipped with the Polikarpov Po-2, a biplane designed in 1928 as a training and crop-dusting aircraft. By 1942, it was hopelessly obsolete. Built from plywood with canvas stretched over the wings, the Po-2 had a maximum speed of approximately 94 miles per hour — slower than the stall speed of the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter. This meant that German fighters literally could not fly slowly enough to engage the Po-2 without stalling and crashing.
The Po-2 had no radar, no radio, no guns, no armor, and no parachutes. The two-person crew — a pilot and a navigator — sat in open cockpits exposed to the elements. In Russian winters, temperatures at altitude could drop below minus 40 degrees. The women suffered frostbite on their faces and hands, and the freezing wind at altitude was a constant source of misery.
The aircraft could carry only two bombs at a time, one under each wing, weighing approximately 100 kilograms each. This meant that multiple missions per night were necessary to deliver any significant amount of ordnance. Pilots typically flew eight to eighteen missions per night, returning to base after each bombing run to reload.
Tactics: The Silent Approach
The Night Witches developed a devastatingly effective tactic that exploited their aircraft’s limitations and turned them into advantages. Approaching their targets at low altitude, the pilots would cut their engines and glide silently over German positions. The only sound was the whisper of wind over the canvas wings — the sound the Germans compared to a sweeping broomstick, which gave the unit its fearsome nickname.
The silent approach made the Night Witches extremely difficult to detect. Without engine noise, the aircraft were invisible to sound-detection equipment. Their small size and wood-and-canvas construction made them difficult to spot on radar. By the time German searchlights and anti-aircraft guns located the aircraft, the bombs had already fallen and the pilot had restarted her engine and escaped into the darkness.
The tactic was not without risk. Gliding without engine power meant the aircraft had no ability to climb or accelerate if things went wrong. If caught in searchlights, the pilot had to fly straight through the anti-aircraft fire with no evasive capability. A single incendiary bullet could ignite the canvas-and-plywood aircraft, which would burn like a torch in seconds.
The Women
The women of the 588th were young — most were between 17 and 26 years old when they joined. They came from all across the Soviet Union and from diverse backgrounds. Some were university students, some were factory workers, some were flight school graduates. What they shared was determination, courage, and a fierce desire to defend their homeland.
Life at the regiment’s bases was harsh. The women lived in primitive conditions, often sleeping in dugouts or tents near the front lines. Supplies were chronically short — uniforms were men’s sizes that had to be altered, boots were too large and stuffed with newspaper, and equipment was always inadequate.
Despite these conditions, the regiment’s morale was extraordinary. The women developed deep bonds of friendship and mutual support. They sang songs, told stories, wrote poetry, and maintained a fierce esprit de corps that sustained them through years of combat.
Casualties and Courage
The Night Witches’ service was not without heavy cost. Thirty-two women of the regiment were killed in action during the war. Several more were seriously wounded. Given the nature of their aircraft — unarmored, highly flammable, and lacking parachutes — being hit by anti-aircraft fire was almost always fatal.
One of the regiment’s most celebrated incidents involved pilot Nadezhda Popova and her navigator, who were caught in searchlights during a bombing run. Their aircraft was hit multiple times, and the canvas caught fire. Popova managed to extinguish the flames and fly back to base, but the aircraft was so badly damaged it was declared beyond repair. She flew another mission that same night in a different aircraft.
Popova flew 852 combat missions during the war — more than any other woman in the regiment. She survived the war and lived until 2013, passing away at the age of 91.
Recognition and Legacy
The 588th Night Bomber Regiment was awarded the honorary designation “Guards” in 1943, becoming the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment — one of the highest honors in the Soviet military. Twenty-three members of the regiment received the title Hero of the Soviet Union, the country’s highest award for valor.
The Night Witches flew from 1942 until the end of the war in May 1945. They participated in some of the war’s most important campaigns, including the battles of the Caucasus, the Crimea, and the final advance into Germany. By war’s end, the regiment had logged over 30,000 combat missions.
After the war, the women of the 588th returned to civilian life. Many became engineers, teachers, doctors, and scientists. Their wartime service was celebrated in the Soviet Union, but the full story of the Night Witches remained relatively unknown in the West for decades.
The Night Witches’ story endures as one of World War II’s most remarkable chapters — a testament to courage, ingenuity, and the extraordinary things that ordinary people can accomplish when they refuse to accept that something is impossible. Flying obsolete aircraft made of wood and canvas, with no weapons and no protection, these young women terrorized one of history’s most powerful military machines and earned a nickname that still resonates nearly a century later.
