(May 1942-May 1945)
One of three women’s air wings formed by Marina Raskova in October 1941 when male Soviet aircrews were unavailable and aircraft were outdated. Founded in Engels, near Stalingrad, the regiment was initially designated 588th Bomber Aviation Regiment. Its crews flew U-2 biplanes (redesignated Po-2 in 1944), former trainers used as short-range night bombers. The unit was the only women’s aviation regiment created by Raskova to remain all-female throughout the war. Initially consisting of two squadrons, the regiment would have two additional squadrons by mid-1943, of which the last functioned as a training squadron under the command of Marina Chechneva.
Personnel of this wing were credited with having flown in excess of 24,000 combat missions on the Southern, Trans-Caucasus, North Caucasus, 4th Ukrainian, and 2nd Belorussian fronts (Cottam 1997, 114). The unit went into action in Ukraine and subsequently operated in the foothills of the Caucasus, over the Kuban area of the North Caucasus, the Crimea, Belarus, and Poland, and finally reached Berlin. Initially subordinated to the 218th Bomber Aviation Division of the 4th Air Army in the Crimea (4th Ukrainian front), the regiment was temporarily attached to the 2nd Stalingrad Guards Bomber Aviation Division of the 8th Air Army. Returned to the 4th Air Army on the 2nd Be-lorussian front, it was included in the 325th Bomber Aviation Division.
In addition to bombing sorties delivered at the rate of five to eighteen per night, the regiment flew liaison, reconnaissance, and supply missions in support of Soviet ground troops. It was awarded the elite status of Guards on February 8, 1943, and the honorific "Taman" on October 9 for facilitating the German defeat on the Taman Peninsula. This unit was also awarded the Order of Suvorov III Class and the Order of the Red Banner. The unit was disbanded October 15, 1945.
The unveiling of a monument dedicated to its personnel, twenty-three of whom had, by that time, acquired the prestigious title of Hero of the Soviet Union, took place on the Taman Peninsula in October 1967. (In addition, the equivalent Hero of the Russian Federation was belatedly presented to former squadron navigator Tat’iana Nikolaevna Sumarokova in 1995.)
The regiment’s successes were due in part to the consistency of leadership provided by its sole commanding officer, Evdokiia Bershanskaia, a competent civil aviation pilot, and her good relationship with Evdokiia Rachkevich, the regimental commissar (deputy commander for political affairs) and one of the very few women graduates of the V. I. Lenin Military Political Academy. In addition, Bershanskaia was ably assisted by her deputy, Serafima Amosova, a former airline pilot; Irina Rakobol’skaia, her chief of staff; and three successive chief navigators: Sofia Burzaeva, Evgeniia Rudneva, and Larissa Rozanova.
