Free Republic

The name alone would strike terror into the hart of even the most battle-hardened German soldier: The Night Witches. Although these women were not Americans, we decided that since they fought as allies against Nazi soldiers and their story is not commonly known, we would give them an honorable mention in our Forgotten Americans section. Named for the sound of their rudimentary, plywood biplanes as they cruised slowly overhead at low altitude dropping bombs, the Night Witches were the all-volunteer, all-female air raid squad that the Soviets deployed against the Third Reich. The spooky “whoosh” as they circled overhead reminded...

Interesting war documentary video on YouTube about the 1,200 WWII Soviet female Bomber Regiment nicknamed, "The Night Witches", by the Germans. The all-female 588th Bomber Regiment dropped more than 23,000 tons of bombs on Nazi targets. And in doing so, they became crucial to the Soviets winning their portion of the war against Germany. Their job was to harass the Germans at night so they could not rest from the war. While the Russians fighters rested, the women would fly all night dropping bombs and forcing the germans to be alert 24/7. Germans nicknamed them the Nachthexen, or “Night...

Night Witch commemorative stamps (Photo: toysworld.od.ua)In the Nazi-occupied Soviet Union, German soldiers had a very real fear of witches.Namely the Night Witches, an all-female squadron of bomber pilots who ran thousands of daring bombing raids with little more than wooden planes and the cover of night—and should be as celebrated as their male counterparts.This month marks the 73rd anniversary of the start of their pioneering service. In June of 1941, the Axis powers pushed into the Soviet Union using the largest invading force in the history of warfare. The infamous Operation Barbarossa saw over four million troops wade into Russia from...