Raisa Yermolayevna Aronova (russian: Раиса Ермолаевна Аронова; 10 January 1920 – 20 December 1982) was a Soviet

Polikarpov Po-2 The Polikarpov Po-2 (also U-2, for its initial ''uchebnyy'', 'training', role as a flight instruction aircraft) served as an all-weather multirole Soviet biplane, nicknamed ''Kukuruznik'' (russian: Кукурузник,Gunston 1995, p. 292. NAT ...

navigator and pilot of the

588th Night Bomber Regiment "Night Witches" (german: die Nachthexen; russian: Ночные ведьмы, ) was a World War II German nickname for the all-female military aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, known later as the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviat ...

, later renamed 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. She received the title of

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

on 15 May 1946 for completing 914 night bombing missions against Axis forces.

Early life

Aronova was born in 1920 to a Russian peasant family; her father, who was a railway employee, abandoned the family in 1936. Her mother worked as a washerwoman and was poorly educated, but Aronova went on to complete secondary school in 1938, and became a recipient of the Voroshilov Sharpshooter badge. She then applied to the air force, but was rejected. She was eventually accepted into the Saratov Institute of Agriculture and studied at the local OSOAVIAKhIM aeroclub in her spare time before moving to Moscow, after which she continued flight training at the Moscow aeroclub until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. She became a member of the Communist Party in 1942.

World War II

Several months after Germany invaded the Soviet union with the launch of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

, Marina Raskova was granted permission to form three women's aviation regiments. After joining the military in October 1941 she began navigation training at Engels Military Aviation School, and in May 1942 she was deployed to the Southern front with the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, which was later honored with the guards designation and renamed to the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. Throughout the war she saw combat throughout the Eastern front including on the Ukrainian and Byelorussian Fronts as well as the Battle of the Caucasus, Crimea, Kuban, Kerch, Poland, and Germany, gaining 1,148 flight hours at night and flying 914 combat sorties. During a bombing mission on 28 March 1943 over the village of Kievskaya in Krasnodar she was wounded by a shell fragment fired by ground-based anti-aircraft artillery. Despite her injury she continued navigating so the plane could safely. When she went to the hospital seventeen shrapnel fragments were removed from her body, but she returned to flying in May less than two months later. That same year she attended an accelerated piloting course and became certified to fly as a pilot on the Po-2 and soon began flying missions as a pilot. Her bombing missions destroyed an estimated four artillery batteries, three searchlights, three ferries, two warehouses of fuel and ammunition, and eight cars.

Later life

From May to October 1945 Aronova remained in Poland where her regiment was assigned until it was disbanded in October 1945, but Aronova remained in the military until 1962. After graduating from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in 1952 she held various positions in the Communist party and the Soviet government, becoming a senior officer in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in May 1953. She later worked for the KGB starting in 1954 where she encrypted agency correspondence, attaining the rank of Major in 1960 before retiring in 1961. After retiring from the military she wrote a book about her experiences in the war titled ''Ночные ведьмы'' ("Night Witches") which was published in 1969. She died in December 1982 and was buried in the

Kuntsevo Cemetery The Kuntsevo Cemetery (russian: Ку́нцевское кла́дбище, kúntsevkoye kládbishche) is a cemetery servicing Kuntsevo, Moscow. It is located on the bank of the Setun River, to the south of the Mozhaisk Highway (the continuation ...

Awards

(15 May 1946) *

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

(15 May 1946) * Two Orders of the Red Banner (25 October 1943 and 22 May 1945) *

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star (russian: Орден Красной Звезды, Orden Krasnoy Zvezdy) was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 193 ...

(9 September 1942) *

Medal "For Battle Merit" The Medal "For Battle Merit" (russian: Медаль «За боевые заслуги») was a Soviet military medal awarded for "combat action resulting in a military success", "courageous defense of the state borders", or "successful military ...

(19 November 1951)

References

Bibliography