Nadezhda Popova journalist atomic topics. "Night Witch" Nadezhda Popova, Hero of the Soviet Union. Painted on the Reichstag
Popova Nadezhda (Anastasia) Vasilievna - deputy commander of the air squadron of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (325th Night Bomber Aviation Division, 4th Air Army, 2nd Belorussian Front), Guards Senior Lieutenant.
She was born on December 17, 1921 in the village of Shebanovka, Vyshne-Dolzhansky volost, Livensky district, Oryol province (now within the boundaries of the village of Dolgoe, Oryol region). Russian. Birth name - Anastasia Vasilievna Popova. In 1938 she graduated from the 9th grade of the school at the Mushketovo station (now within the city of Donetsk, Ukraine) and the Stalin flying club (now the city of Donetsk), where she was left as an instructor pilot. In 1940 she graduated from the Kherson flight school Osoaviakhim. In 1940-1941 he was an instructor pilot of the Kramatorsk flying club (Donetsk region, Ukraine).
In August-November 1941, he was an instructor pilot at the Slavic Military Aviation School for Initial Pilot Training, which was evacuated in the city of Kattakurgan (Samarkand region, Uzbekistan).
In the army since November 1941. In February 1942 she graduated from courses at the Engels Military Aviation Pilot School. Since February 1942 - the commander of the women's night bomber aviation regiment, which was being formed in the city of Engels (Saratov region).
Member of the Great Patriotic War: in May 1942 - May 1945 - flight commander, deputy commander and commander of an air squadron of the 588th (from February 1943 - 46th Guards) night bomber aviation regiment. She fought on the Southern (May-July 1942) and North Caucasian (July-September 1942) fronts, as part of the Northern Group of Forces of the Transcaucasian Front (September 1942 - January 1943), on the North Caucasian Front (January-November 1943), as part of Separate Primorsky Army (November 1943 - May 1944) and on the 2nd Belorussian Front (June 1944 - May 1945).
She took part in the battle for the Caucasus, the liberation of the Kuban, the Kerch-Eltigen, Crimean, Mogilev, Bialystok, Osovets, Mlav-Elbing, East Pomeranian and Berlin operations.
During the war, she made 850 sorties on the U-2 (Po-2) bomber to deliver bombing strikes on enemy manpower and equipment.
For courage and heroism shown in the battles with the Nazi invaders, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 23, 1945, the guards senior lieutenant Popova Anastasia Vasilievna was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
After the war, until October 1945, she continued to serve in the Air Force as an air squadron commander of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (in the Northern Group of Forces; Poland). Since December 1945 - a communications aircraft pilot of the 163rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (in the Northern Group of Forces, Poland). Since February 1948, Captain A.V. Popova has been in reserve.
Wife of the Hero of the Soviet Union, in 1954 she changed her name from Anastasia to Nadezhda.
Since 1975, she headed the public commission for work among youth under the Soviet (since 1992 - Russian) committee of war veterans and military service. She was a member of the Presidium of the Council for Interaction with Public Associations of Veterans under the President of the Russian Federation.
People's Deputy of the USSR in 1989-1991.
She lived in Minsk, since 1972 - in Moscow. Died July 6, 2013. She was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR (1983), major (1975). She was awarded the Order of Lenin (02/23/1945), 3 Orders of the Red Banner (10/19/1942; 10/25/1943; 06/15/1945), 2 Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (08/30/1944; 03/11/1985), the Order of the Patriotic War 2- degree (05/2/1943), Russian Orders of Honor (05/04/2000), Friendship (04/01/1995), Ukrainian Order of Merit 3rd degree (08/15/2001), medals, foreign awards.
Honorary citizen of the city of Donetsk (1985; Ukraine).
Note: Awarded for completing 737 sorties (as of November 1944).
"WE WERE CONNECTED ... WAR"
They say every bride grows up for her groom. The time has come - I also met my fate, however, somewhat unusual, - said Nadezhda Vasilievna Popova. - On August 2, 1942, returning from a mission, I was shot down by a fascist fighter. Landed successfully, but the car burned down. I started looking for my regiment. In Cherkessk, she joined one of the retreating columns. Among the accumulation of equipment, horses, smoking camp kitchens, people exhausted by battles, a wounded pilot with a bandaged face, perched on a stump and reading The Quiet Flows the Don, seemed to me surprisingly calm. Terribly delighted - "his"!
“Pilot Sergeant Major Nadezhda Popova,” I introduced myself.
- Senior Sergeant Semyon Kharlamov. I fly fighter jets, what are you on?
- Oh, on the most complex material part ...
Kharlamov went through all types of aircraft, but did not guess.
“Well, we, men, are supposed to fight, but you girls don’t need anything ... It gets it,” he reasoned sedately.
This is how our acquaintance took place.
My heart was anxious: where to look for your part? How are things on other fronts? Oppressed and wafted after:
- How long will you retreat?
But we were twenty, and youth took its toll. There was a traffic jam on the road, and I ran to the ambulance. She brought the wounded man either an apple or a cake, recited poetry, sang all the songs that she knew.
On the eleventh day, parting, she gave her hand:
- Goodbye. Write to the 588th Aviation Regiment...
They didn’t agree on a meeting, and didn’t expect letters - then they were afraid to talk about serious things - there was a war ...
But the meeting was still and, of course, random. In Baku. I learned then that Semyon was on fire again, near Mozdok, wounded in the leg.
- I thought, you guessed it, you would come to the hospital. I heard at night how your planes flew. And so I waited...
And then, leafing through the newspaper for the twenty-third of February 1945, I did not believe my eyes: by one Decree, both of us were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
There was another date in our life, perhaps the most memorable. The day after the Victory. On May 10, a twenty-three-year-old regiment commander, captain, called for me, and I was already a captain, a squadron commander, to show Berlin.
Exultant, joyful, crazy was that day! End of the war! Defeated Berlin! Defeated Reichstag! And we signed it:
“Nadya Popova from Donbass. S. Kharlamov. Saratov.
And in the park for the first time he took my hand:
- We won, survived, let's not be separated anymore, we will be together for life!
So, since that very peculiar honeymoon trip, we are close. How old is that? Yes, the golden wedding is not far away! Have there always been only flowers in our family life? No, of course not. Semyon Ilyich did not immediately become Colonel-General of Aviation, Honored Military Pilot of the USSR. Like other officer families, we also had difficulties - our Sasha changed more than ten schools alone. I also had to give up a lot. But, I understand that my main thing is to be a wife, my job is to avert gloomy thoughts, maintain a good mood, not despair over trifles, and finally, sometimes, sometimes agree with my husband:
“Well, look, I’ll be born, as you tell me, I’ll do it,” I say and ... I do it my own way.
On Victory Day, when we gather with our grandson and granddaughter to meet with fellow soldiers, we put on military orders of our difficult youth. The Order of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, three Orders of the Patriotic War - these are my awards for 852 sorties. Semyon Ilyich has even more.
– And how are we, Senechka?! - for some reason, I certainly ask proudly fervently.
To which my restrained husband invariably replies:
“We didn’t turn gray at all, only our heads turned a little white ...
She was born on December 17, 1921 in the village of Shebanovka, now within the boundaries of the village of Dolzhansky, Dolzhansky District, Orel Region, in a working class family. She graduated from high school, Donetsk flying club, in 1940 - Kherson flight aviation school. Worked as an instructor. Since June 1941 in the Red Army. In 1942 she graduated from the Engels Air Force Pilot Improvement School.
Since May 1942 in the army. By December 1944, the deputy squadron commander of the 46th Guards Aviation Regiment (325th Night Bomber Aviation Division, 4th Air Army, 2nd Belorussian Front) of the Guard Senior Lieutenant A. V. Popova made 737 sorties, inflicted great damage enemy in manpower and equipment. She distinguished herself in the Belarusian operation of 1944; participated in the liberation of Mogilev, Minsk, Grodno.
On February 23, 1945, for courage and military prowess shown in battles with enemies, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
She made 852 sorties in total. Destroyed 3 crossings, an echelon, an artillery battery, 2 searchlights, dropped 600,000 leaflets behind enemy lines.
Since 1948, Captain A. V. Popova of the Guard has been in reserve. Lives in Moscow. Member of the Presidium of the All-Union Organization of War and Labor Veterans, Council of the Committee of War Veterans. Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR. Honorary citizen of the city of Donetsk.
Awarded with orders: Lenin, Red Banner (three times), Patriotic War 1st degree (twice), Patriotic War 2nd degree; medals.
***
In 1914, the crew of a small German submarine in one attack managed to sink 3 English cruisers at once ... A little later, an English pilot on a single-engine airplane dropped a series of small bombs on the German Zeppelin (airship): the enemy giant was destroyed in the blink of an eye by a terrible explosion. Soon, such blows began to be compared with the deadly bites of mosquitoes.
In 1942, the term "Russian mosquito aviation" first appeared. At the end of World War II, when studying German archival documents, it turned out that this is how the enemy christened the Soviet educational and training aircraft widely used in combat operations, on which “non-standard” weapons were installed.
The most famous among our "mosquitoes" was received, which the Soviet people affectionately called "corn", and the German soldiers dismissively, though only at first, "Russian plywood". Entire regiments were armed with these night bombers. The experience of their combat use is quite well studied and covered in many publications. But few people know that our pilots fought on other "mosquitoes", for example, on the training monoplanes UT-1 and UT-2 designed by A. S. Yakovlev, and even on the (completely outdated) I-5 biplanes!
At the same time, one of the regiments of "mosquito aviation" occupies a special place in the history of our aviation - we are talking about the 46th Taman Guards Aviation Regiment of Light Night Bombers. The pilots of this regiment were young girls, whom the enemy soon began to hate with hatred "night witches". One of the pilots of this regiment was the heroine of our story, Anastasia Vasilievna Popova.
Every year on May 2, veterans of the 3rd women's aviation regiments gather in the park near the Bolshoi Theater. For many years, Nadezhda Vasilievna, Hero of the Soviet Union, Captain Popova, has been coming here for a traditional meeting with fellow soldiers.
... In September 1941, a young, pretty girl, an instructor who arrived from Central Asia, turned to the women's aviation regiments who formed the women's aviation regiments in the city of Engels. It was Nadezhda Popova. She said:
I want to join the regiment that will be the first to go to the front!
The request was granted. The female regiment of night bombers flew to the front on April 1, 1942. Active combat work began for Nadia Popova and her friends.
On one of the cloudy September evenings in 1942, Popov's crew was given the task of attacking the crossing in the Mozdok area, where reconnaissance discovered a concentration of enemy troops. On approach to the target, the plane fell into continuous cloud cover. But the crew did not turn back and continued flying to the target area, overcoming a strong bumpiness.
Courage and skill were rewarded. Above the village of Ekaterinogradskaya, through a gap in the clouds, Popov and Ryabov saw the Terek and the enemy crossing.
They struck a bombing strike accurately, from the first approach, and safely returned to their airfield. A lot of the regiment's planes took to the air that night, but only the crew of pilot Nadezhda Popova and navigator Ekaterina Ryabova managed to reach the target and complete the combat mission.
Nadezhda Popova especially distinguished herself during the Belarusian offensive operation of the Red Army units in 1944, participated in the liberation of Mogilev, Minsk and Grodno.
During the war years, Nadya Popova flew out on combat missions on her faithful Po-2 852 times. She risked her life under the fire of anti-aircraft guns and enemy fighters in the sky over the Kuban, Crimea, Belarus, Poland, East Prussia. And there was no such thing that her crew did not complete the task. At the same time, 3 crossings, a military echelon, an artillery battery, 2 searchlights, a lot of manpower and other enemy military equipment were destroyed. The crew of Nadezhda Popova dropped 600,000 leaflets behind enemy lines.
I would like to say a few words about her fighting friend - navigator Ekaterina Vasilievna Ryabova. She was born on July 14, 1921 in the village of Gus - Zhelezny, Kasimovsky district, Ryazan region. In 1942 she graduated from the school of navigators. Since May 1942 on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. By January 1945, Guards Senior Lieutenant E. V. Ryabova made 816 successful night sorties to bombard enemy personnel and equipment. On February 23, 1945, together with her friend Nadezhda Popova, she became a Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war, she retired. Graduated from Moscow State University, worked at the Polygraphic Institute. Died September 12, 1974. She was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Nadezhda Popova and Semyon Kharlamov: two Heroes in one family.
Why do we remember such stories? In our world, which is rapidly losing spirituality, the memory of what those who forged the Victory were like, how they fought fearlessly, how they sincerely loved, helps to maintain respect for their history, and simply - to save themselves.
Only once did I get to see them together. With the Hero of the Soviet Union Nadezhda Vasilievna Popova, we were returning from Pskov from a meeting of young historians. The February blizzard was circling. When our train approached the Moscow railway station, a general with a bouquet of red roses appeared out of the whirlwind of snow. Nadezhda Vasilievna was met by her husband, Hero of the Soviet Union Semyon Ilyich Kharlamov. And I learned the story of their extraordinary meeting in the war much later.
That day, August 2, 1942, contained so many events that Nadezhda Popova remembered it to the smallest detail. At dawn, on her U-2, she flew out for aerial reconnaissance. The pilot had already turned the car towards the airfield when machine-gun bursts got their low-speed U-2. With the last effort, she was able to land the plane in the steppe. With the navigator, they barely managed to run away to the side, and the plane exploded. Now they wandered across the steppe, hoping for a passing car. Suddenly, a road was discerned ahead, along which trucks were driving, infantrymen were walking.
We got to the road and settled down in the back of a truck. The soldiers immediately shared their rations with us, - Nadezhda Vasilievna Popova recalled.
In the same places, a few days ago, fighter pilot Semyon Kharlamov, flying on a combat mission, shot down a German plane in an air battle. But he was also shot down. Blood flooded his face. The wounded pilot was able to land the riddled plane. In the medical battalion, the surgeon examined him: a fragment pierced his cheekbone, his nose was torn, fragments showered his body. After the operation, Semyon Kharlamov, along with other wounded, was sent to the hospital. He was driving an ambulance along the same steppe road that Nadya Popova and her navigator had accidentally stumbled upon.
We often stopped, - said Nadezhda Vasilievna. - And I saw a nurse passing between the cars. I asked her if any of the pilots were here - we had to sort out the situation. The sister answered: “There is one, wounded. Come with me!".
Gauze bandages covered his entire head and face. From under the bandages, only eyes and lips were visible - this is how I first saw Semyon Kharlamov. Of course, he felt sorry for him. I sat down next to you. Conversation ensued. Semyon asked: “What plane do you fly on?” "And you guess!" He listed all types of military aircraft. And I chuckled: “You didn’t guess!” When she said that we were flying the U-2, he was surprised: “Yes, this is a training aircraft. How can you fight on it? I told him that female crews fly on the U-2 in our regiment. At night we bomb enemy targets.
It was a difficult time of the war. Our troops retreated. Along the road - broken tanks, guns. The infantry marched in clouds of dust.
It was as if some kind of tender, magical thread stretched between us, - Nadezhda Vasilievna said. - But for some reason we did not dare to switch to "you". I remember and I wonder. There was an unsettling situation. And Semyon and I began to read poetry to each other. It turned out that we have similar tastes. We traveled together for several days. And to help Semyon endure heavy dressings, I began to sing my favorite songs and romances to him. There was a wonderful Palace of Culture in Donetsk. I studied in a vocal studio. She performed on stage. Listening to my songs, Semyon only repeated: "Sing some more ..."
"How it was! How coincidentally - war, trouble, dream and youth! - wrote the front-line poet David Samoilov, - this is about us.
There is so much mortal fear and hard, dangerous work in the war that one can lose the human in oneself, and here two people, who had miraculously escaped death the day before, read poetry to each other. And none of them could know how long they had left to live.
It seemed that we had known each other for a long time, - Nadezhda Vasilievna recalled. - They talked and could not talk enough. But I had to say goodbye. I was able to inform the regimental headquarters where we were. They sent a plane for us. The seeds were taken further to the hospital, the address of which he did not know. My soul was torn - it was so sad to leave him. We parted on the steppe road without any hope of meeting.
Nadezhda Popova turned 20, but she was already an experienced pilot. In Donetsk, she was trained at the flying club, successfully graduated from the Kherson flight school. Returning to Donetsk, she entered the Donetsk Military Aviation School. When the war began, together with the school, she was evacuated to the Samarkand region. Here, as an instructor, she began to train cadet pilots. In the fall of 1941, Nadezhda learned that the famous pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union M. M. Raskova, was recruiting girls in Moscow for military aviation. Popova writes one report after another. Sends a letter to Raskova with a request to enroll her in the women's flight unit.
October 1941. German generals are already looking at Moscow through telescopes, panic at Moscow railway stations, and in the building of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, Marina Raskova talks with every girl who has decided to join the military aviation unit. There were hundreds of them, young volunteers - students and employees of universities, factory workers. There were queues in the building. The commission, headed by Marina Raskova, selected, first of all, instructors and cadets of flying clubs. But they also accepted those who, according to the level of knowledge, could master flight specialties in a short time. Among them were those whose names would later go down in the history of the Great Patriotic War. and - students of the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University, instructor of the Central Aeroclub, student of the Moscow Aviation Institute, teacher ...
Young beautiful, brave girls. In those tragic days, selflessness seemed natural to them. The fate of the country, common to all, has become more important for them than their own lives.
Nadezhda Popova met her brother-soldiers already in Engels, where preparations for combat work began. She was assigned to the Women's Night Bomber Regiment. The training, which before the war took place in 3 years, the girls had to master in just 6 months. Worked for 12 hours. And sometimes more.
To imagine the full degree of risk that was associated with sorties on machines, not for nothing called "heavenly slug", let's talk about what the U-2 was. It was an aircraft of wooden construction, with percale skin, open cockpits. It had no radio. With a full combat load, the engine power made it possible to fly at a speed of only 120 kilometers per hour. While undergoing training, the girls knew in advance that they would have to fly out on combat missions at night. Because during the day their plane will become easy prey for German pilots.
In May 1942, the women's bomber regiment flew to the front.
Our flights were not only dangerous, but also difficult, - said Nadezhda Vasilievna. - On the U-2 there were no instruments that would help us distinguish objects on the ground at night. We had to see for ourselves from above the target on which we had to drop the bombs. And to do this, we had to go as low as we could. At this time, noticing us, the German anti-aircraft gunners immediately turned on the searchlights and opened fire. I had to squeeze myself into a ball in order to accurately drop the bombs, and even worse - not to turn aside. We bombed crossings, military depots, German trains. Returning to the airfield, they waited for the bombs to be hung, fuel was refueled, and again into the sky. We made 5-6 flights per night.
This aviation regiment was the only one in which only women fought. The technicians who serviced the aircraft also came out of the girls - volunteers, often restoring the hull pierced by shrapnel in just a day. But even these low-speed aircraft were not enough at that time, each one had to be protected. And the girls - armed men, straining from an unbearable burden, hung bombs. Every flight is like the last...
And in this whirlwind of battles in the life of Nadya Popova, an event occurs that cannot be called anything other than a miracle.
Our planes were stationed in the village of Assinovskaya. During the day, we sheltered our cars under the crowns of trees, - she said, - and in the evening they took the planes to a small area and took off. We only had enough fuel to fly to the front airfield where the fighters landed. There we refueled again, they hung bombs on us, and we flew away on missions.
On that day, I was already sitting in the cockpit, waiting for the command to take off. Suddenly a technician runs up to me: “Nadya! Someone is asking for you." The pilot approaches the plane. “Hello, Nadia! I am Semyon Kharlamov. Remember me?" That was the first time I saw his face. After all, when we were driving along the steppe road, it was in bandages. Semyon learned that female crews land at their airfield at night, and he had a hope of finding me. With joy that we met, I kissed him on the cheek, took out an apple from the cab and handed it to him. And then I got a signal - to fly out on a mission. Semyon was so excited that he went away from the airfield. Then he told me about it. The next evening I flew to this airfield joyful. I think I'll see Semyon now. But he wasn't. The pilots told me that during the day he was shot down in an air battle. He was wounded again, he was again taken to the hospital ...
She herself could not hope to survive. Too often in the sky it seemed that the last moments of life were flying away. Once she received the task - to deliver ammunition and food to the Marines, who landed in the Novorossiysk region.
I’m flying a plane, ”Nadezhda Vasilyevna said. - On the one hand - a mountainous coast, on the other - a stormy sea. A fiery front line passed under me. Black boxes of destroyed city blocks. I need to descend over the ruins so that I can see the prearranged signal that the sailors will give: they have seized a bridgehead and repelled enemy attacks. I had to fly the plane so low that I almost touched the factory pipes. And suddenly I see - flashes the light of a lantern. These are sailors. Dropping containers. And then I was discovered by German anti-aircraft gunners. Hurricane fire. Shrapnel hit the wing of the aircraft. I have one thought - if you die, then in the sea.
Most of all, we were afraid of being captured by the enemy. I turn the car to fly over the storm waves. It seemed to me that now the engine would wither and the plane would crash into the sea. But by some miracle the engine pulled. And we flew to our airfield. When we landed and got out of the cockpit, I couldn’t believe it myself - was it really all over, and we were still alive? Technicians inspected the plane - there were 42 holes on it. The plane was quickly patched up, and we flew out again on a combat mission.
And again fate takes an unexpected turn. Nadia is sent on a business trip to Baku. She goes to the hotel, towards - five pilots. And among them - Semyon Kharlamov ... "Hello, Nadia!" As she later found out, there were heavy losses in their regiment. A new formation of the regiment began.
In the evening, Semyon invited me to dance, - said Nadezhda Vasilievna. - We came to the hall. Around the girl in beautiful dresses, in shoes with heels. I stand among them in boots. An orchestra plays, laughter, smiles. And I have a lump in my throat. How could I forget that in these very moments my girlfriends - beautiful, young, lift planes into the air to fly to the front. I had no fun at this dance party. I was invited to the waltz. We went one lap. I said: “Something is not dancing” ... Semyon and I left the club. He says to me: “May I give you something?” He takes off a white silk scarf - they were given out only to fighter pilots. And he also gives me a handkerchief with embroidery, which he got by lot from the boss's package. "Take it as a memento." That evening, Semyon and I agreed to write to each other ...
This unexpected meeting brought them so much joy! A tender feeling warmed them both. But instead of happy dates, the sky of war awaited them.
That is why Nadezhda Vasilievna talks most of all about her friends, with whom she flew out on combat missions together.
I remember their faces. I felt like they were glowing from within. Each was a bright personality. Once upon a time, back in flying clubs, romance called us into the sky. But even in the war, despite all the horrors, my friends were able to maintain a high mood of the soul. We loved to read poetry and sing songs. And this is after dangerous, exhausting flights, when in the morning it seemed that there was no strength to get out of the cockpit. But youth took its toll. Especially if there were days without flights. We even began to publish our own handwritten magazine. It contained our stories, drawings, cartoons. But most of all there were poems. To some, our poems now might seem too pretentious. But we knew they were sincere. Natasha Meklin, who became a Hero of the Soviet Union, wrote the lines that we really liked: “We will win joy, sun, light!” Poems helped us get out of those shocks that we experienced every day in battle.
In the fiery sky, Nadia had to see the worst: her friends were dying before her eyes - they were burned alive in wooden planes.
I will not forget the tragic night of August 1, 1943. I went to the bombing, descending above the ground. Having dropped bombs over the target, she went to the side. And suddenly the German searchlights began to seize one by one our planes. Burning torches, they rushed to the ground: they were shot at close range by night fighters. My heart was breaking, but we could not help our friends. That night 4 of our crews were killed. Diaries, unsent letters from the dead girls remained in the duffel bags ... In April 1944, in the battles near Kerch, Zhenya Rudneva, the navigator of the regiment, burned down in an airplane. She was extraordinarily gifted, kind, courageous. She dreamed of becoming an astronomer. Our armed men then wrote on the bombs: "For Zhenya!".
In every flight - death was near. I remember that in Poland we were already returning to the airfield. Suddenly, in an instant, a fireball flashed over my plane. And at that very moment, the plane on which Tanya Makarova and Vera Belik were flying caught fire. The infantrymen then told us - they heard the girls screaming in a burning plane ... Their remains were identified only by orders. The mounds over the graves of our girls remained along the entire path of the regiment. And somewhere there are no mounds, only our memory of the dead is alive.
During the war, Nadezhda Popova made 852 sorties.
Amid the suffering and hardships of the war, a joyful event took place in the fate of Nadya Popova.
This was in February 1945. I returned from a flight. Girlfriends run to me with a newspaper. In it, the Decree - I was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. I read the lines of the Decree, and suddenly I see that it contains the surname and Semyon Kharlamov. He was also awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. This is necessary - we are in one Decree. I wrote to Semyon: “Congratulations! I wish you to live until the Victory!
Back in 1943, for military successes, the female air unit received the honorary name - the 46th Guards Taman Night Bomber Regiment. During the war years, very young pilots made 23,672 sorties. The regiment participated in combat operations in the North Caucasus, Kuban, Taman, Crimea, Belarus, Poland, Germany. 23 pilots received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Nadia and Semyon met after the Victory.
Semyon appeared in a car in our unit. We went to Berlin. We approached the Reichstag, on which our soldiers wrote their names. We also found a piece of brick and wrote: “Nadya Popova from Donbass. Semyon Kharlamov from Saratov.
Then we arrived at the park. Semyon picked a lilac branch and gave it to me. An unfamiliar silence swirled around. And suddenly Semyon said: "Nadya, let's be together all our lives." This is how our fate was decided.
On that happy day they sat among the empty trenches and trenches. The scent of lilac mingled with the smoke. And they dreamed of the future. They will have 45 years of happy life ahead of them. Semyon Ilyich will remain in military aviation. In a few years he will receive the rank of colonel-general. Now he is no longer alive. Their son Alexander is also in military aviation. He is in the rank of general. Nadezhda Vasilievna became a well-known public figure. For more than 40 years, she has been the head of the commission for work with youth in the Russian Committee of War Veterans.
The memory of their youth remained on the screen. The famous actor and director Leonid Bykov was preparing for the filming of the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle”. He invited Semyon Ilyich Kharlamov as a consultant for the film. Leonid Bykov, coming to Moscow, visited their hospitable house. Once at the table he heard an extraordinary story about the meeting of Nadezhda and Semyon in the war. Maybe this story also helped the director to express a poignant lyrical theme in the film. In this film, a Ukrainian song about “girl's eyes” sounds, one of those that Nadya once sang to a wounded lieutenant ...
Lyudmila Ovchinnikova - "War, trouble, dream and youth ..."
Last Saturday on the old Arbat, the Donetsk community organized a holiday in honor of the legendary "night witch".
Hero of the Soviet Union Nadezhda Popova celebrated her 90th birthday.
Random waltz
The birthday of the legend began in accordance with all the canons of an official reception: a queue of comrades “from the TV” lined up for the “night witch”, who was sitting in the lobby of the Cultural Center of Ukraine in Moscow: deputies, ambassadors, singers and artists. They gave flowers and gifts. And about. Ambassador of Ukraine Vyacheslav Yatsyuk read out a congratulatory telegram from Viktor Yanukovych.
The term "witch" somewhat did not correspond to the situation, but Nadezhda Vasilievna herself insisted:
- The Germans called us “Night Witches”, and this never offended me, it was even flattering: the Nazis were very afraid of us.
The office did not last long. People's Artist Alexander Shilov confessed his feelings:
I am in love with you and regret that I was not your peer.
Lyudmila Shvetsova, the former deputy mayor of Moscow, and now a deputy of the State Duma, not only recalled the biography of the birthday girl, but also appreciated her taste, sorting out the outfit. The age of the pilot was sometimes only reminded by the figure on the stage: 90. And Nadezhda Popova herself ordered the glasses to be filled to the bottom:
Meeting with friends is a breath of oxygen, you just want to live.
Deputy Mayor Alexander Gorbenko gave Popova a sweet gift: a heavy package with 852 cookie stars - according to the number of her sorties.
For comparison: Kozhedub and Pokryshkin, our two most productive pilots, both three times Heroes of the Soviet Union, made 880 sorties during the war years. For two.
By the way, we know Nadezhda Popova better than we think.
During the war, fighters flew to the airfield of the "night witches" regiment for a short time, - said Iosif Kobzon. - Night dancing to the harmonica, alarm, parting. The poet and composer Mark Fradkin was at this airfield, and then he received a letter from a fighter pilot: I want to find the girl with whom I danced, but I don’t even know the name. So it was with Nadezhda Vasilievna.
Shortly after the Battle of Stalingrad, Konstantin Rokossovsky invited Fradkin to a meeting of the Military Council of the front, presented him with the Order of the Red Star, and was interested in new songs. Fradkin, together with Evgeny Dolmatovsky, spoke about the work on the song "Officer's Waltz". During a trip to the front-line units, including the airfield of the female regiment of night bombers, the song was completed. Today we know it under a slightly different name - "Random Waltz":
"The night is short
The clouds are sleeping
And lies in my palm
Your unfamiliar hand..."
Painted on the Reichstag
In the film "Only "old men" go into battle, Romeo's lover fighter dies. Maestro, Makarych and Grasshopper go to the airfield of the women's regiment to tell his beloved Masha this news, but they find the grave of the pilots: Masha and her navigator Zoya.
In real life, both Romeo and Masha survived. The plot was based on a real love story: the deputy commander of the 46th guards female regiment of night bombers Nadezhda Popova and the fighter pilot of the 821st fighter regiment Semyon Kharlamov. The film by Leonid Bykov, filmed in 1973, was advised by Romeo himself: Colonel-General Semyon Ilyich Kharlamov.
My father became a regiment commander at the age of 23, - says Alexander Kharlamov. - He was shot down several times, he met his mother in the summer of 1942, near Maikop, all in bandages, she didn’t even see his face - only his eyes. I fell in love with them.
Sergeant Kharlamov's nose was cut off with a shrapnel, a surgeon was found who, under "krikaiin", performed the operation, sewed his nose on as best he could, then removed the bullet from his cheek.
What is a "cricket"? - specifies Kharlamov. - A glass of moonshine and your own cry instead of anesthesia. My father's leg was severely burned to the bone, and on another occasion the surgeon removed fifty fragments from it. 756 sorties, most of them for reconnaissance. Rokossovsky said about him: the eyes and ears of the front. And I was born after the war. Mom and dad have not yet been painted, so we can say: illegitimate.
In fact, his parents were painted three times. Stalin was the first to "paint" them.
After meeting at the front airfield, the war scattered them, but on February 23, 1945, they met in absentia: in one decree on conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, - clarifies Yevgeny Tyazhelnikov (in 1968-1977, the first secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee. - Ed.).
And then together in May of the 45th they ended up in Berlin. A splinter left signatures on the wall of the Reichstag: "Nadya Popova from Donbass" and "Semyon Kharlamov. Saratov."
They lived together for 45 years. Semyon Kharlamov died in 1990.
Falcon on "Stork"
In 1945, the regiment of "night witches" was disbanded, most of the pilots were demobilized. Nadezhda Popova remained in aviation: she left as a flight commander for her husband in the regiment.
And I started flying before I was born, - Alexander Kharlamov laughs. - In the mother's stomach, almost up to 9 months, she flew the same Po-2.
The son of the heroes, Alexander Kharlamov, is now a military pensioner and lives in Belarus. He also flew on the Po-2 and believes that flying on a "heavenly slug" cannot be compared with anything:
On the Su-27 - work, but here the incredible feeling of flying.
Shortly after the birth of his son, the father reminded his wife of an aviation parable: three pilots in the family are too much, expect trouble. A fighter was already growing in the family. Alexander Kharlamov Sr. took Alexander into the cockpit as a child. He had at his disposal captured German communication aircraft Fieseler Fi.156 "Storch" ("Stork").
On the Storch, my father and I flew, ”recalls Alexander Kharlamov. - My father critically assessed my abilities, said: so-so from you a fighter. I told him: "Dad, but I'm still in the 3rd grade!" - "And what of the fact that in the 3rd? And where are the habits of a fighter ?!"
Later, my father relented: he said that, perhaps, you would make a good pilot.
The fighter from Alexander turned out: 2900 flight hours, Major General of Aviation.
Father, like all real heroes, did not like to talk about the war.
I was already a general, I say: dad, tell me how you fought. And he, after a pause, so quietly: son, it was scary.
From the history of the regiment of "night witches"
The regiment was formed in October 1941, Marina Raskova led the formation. All positions - from mechanics and technicians to navigators and pilots - were occupied only by girls. Their average age is from 17 to 22 years. Four of us hung 100-kilogram bombs from the planes.
23,672 sorties were made, sometimes the breaks between them were 5 minutes. The regiment destroyed 17 crossings, 9 echelons, 2 railway stations, 46 warehouses, 12 fuel tanks, 2 barges, 76 vehicles, 86 firing points, 11 searchlights, and caused 811 fires. 32 "night witches" died. Until August 1943, they did not take parachutes with them, preferring a few more bombs instead. 23 girls were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In her statement, Popova indicates that on December 31, 2011, the investigation department in the Argumenty Nedeli newspaper was closed, in which she worked, preparing materials “on expensive and failed projects”, which are a floating nuclear power plant, a fast neutron reactor, as well as wrote about the ugly state of many nuclear facilities. “After my publication, the fourth power unit at the Kalinin NPP was urgently shut down, and even earlier, significant changes were made to the project of a floating nuclear power plant,” the journalist writes.
Popova reports that the head of Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, has repeatedly tried to prevent the publication of sharp materials on nuclear topics. “And in September 2011, he finally succeeded: a financial agreement was signed between the editorial office of the Argumenty Nedeli newspaper and Rosatom State Corporation. Sharp investigations have ceased to go to print. The newspaper turned out to be a servant of Rosatom,” says Nadezhda Popova.
The journalist tells the story that she repeatedly informed the editor-in-chief of "AN" Uglanov about the emergency at the Kalinin nuclear power plant, but he refused to publish an alarming report. “Instead of him, “travel notes” went to the strip, in which Rosatom PR people put down paragraphs about how well the Kalinin nuclear power plant works,” reports Nadezhda Popova. According to her, not a single media outlet, to which she addressed, except for the Special Letter Internet portal, dared to print truthful material about the situation at the Kalinin NPP. 24 hours after the publication of the Rosatom Reaction material, the emergency unit was stopped. The journalist notes that today there are still many problems at the Kalinin nuclear power plant. They are again preparing to launch the fourth power unit, which is "sewn" from old parts brought from the Belene nuclear power plant (Bulgaria). Atomic scientists also talk about many other problems, but "Kiriyenko's state of emergency and the National Assembly are hard at work hiding it from the public."
Popova reports that her appeals to the press service of Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin did not give any results, there was not even a response.
At the board meeting, Popova shared her opinion that the AN investigation department was closed precisely because of a change in the editorial policy of the newspaper. This was preceded by several events, in particular, the tragedy at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Rosatom began to cling to every bad word said about it and significantly increased the amount of payments to the media for positive articles about its activities. In addition, after the events in Japan, nuclear investigations have practically ceased to go on.
“I became aware of the financial agreement between the editorial office of the newspaper and Rosatom on September 16, 2011. I was summoned to the editor-in-chief's office, and A. Uglanov informed me that from now on, the editorial office will work in conjunction with the Communications Department of Rostom.
“Today I figured out this: A. Uglanov needed a hot “atomic” topic in order to put a new, unknown edition on its feet. ... Nuclear investigations were very scandalous: after the publication of "The floating nuclear power plant - the" lame "duck" of Rosatom, Kiriyenko's department made changes to the draft nuclear "float" (...). The publication about the "lame" duck was reprinted by more than 130 publications. And after the sharp publication of "The Adventures of the Slow-moving Arabeli" (it was also reprinted by more than a hundred publications), the subscription to the "AN" in the "nuclear" regions of Russia increased significantly. But when the newspaper became saturated with sharp topics and gained weight, Uglanov went to conclude a criminal deal with Rosatom.”
“We all live in one country, nuclear power plants operate everywhere. Kalininskaya from Moscow - only 280 km. What's going on, why are you all silent? ... I urged to stop, asked: is it really only about money? ... Uglanov said: let's wait three months, until the New Year. They pay good money, but the editors need money, - says the journalist. - 27.12 I wrote a letter of resignation. And after the New Year, I found out that a new contract had been signed with Rosatom.”
In turn, O. V. Zheltov, General Director of CJSC SVR-Media Projects, said that recently the editorial office began litigation based on Popova’s materials due to the fact that Nadezhda Vasilievna could not submit documents that would satisfy the court, and the editorial office began serious financial loss. Zheltov also admitted that he perceives the materials of the journalist "as inciting panic."
“When they tell you that there is radiation there, and now everything will explode there, it looks like a hysteria. Yes, there certainly is a moral responsibility; we must warn people about possible danger, this is the mission of the media. But there is another mission of the media: not to shout “wolves, wolves” all the time because people get tired. And when the wolves really come, people just won't pay attention to them. Just because they shouted about it a hundred times, but nothing happened, ”said Zheltov.
Nuclear safety expert I. N. Ostretsov defined Popova’s work as “extremely qualified”, spoke of her materials as “extremely acute and relevant”, and determined the reason for leaving the editorial office, without looking back at the article “of his own free will”, rigidly : "It was removed." Outlining his view on the background of the Japanese nuclear power plant disaster, the expert noted: “Popova was removed immediately after Fukushima, since she was, in fact, the only person who would raise this topic in the press. The rest of the press will remain silent. Therefore, she was removed. This is an objective indicator of the relationship between the press and the journalist around the nuclear industry.”
Concerning the topic of the “atomic” lawsuits lost by the newspaper, I.N. Ostretsov spoke clearly: “I think that the editorial staff of the newspaper behaved unskillfully. (...) It was the problem of the editorial board - it was necessary to summon qualified experts to court. You understand what it means for a journalist to present evidence on the nuclear issue. This needs a very serious investigation. Nadezhda Vasilievna said that she was working with investigators today; those are not allowed to access the materials. Therefore, such a claim cannot be made against her.”
The Public Collegium for Press Complaints admitted that the conflict in question can be classified as an internal editorial, i.e. within the purview of the editor-in-chief. At the same time, the Collegium did not agree that the factor of court cases lost by the newspaper played a decisive role in the actual summing up by the editorial management of the journalist Popova to leave the newspaper, drawing attention to the fact that only two “actually “atomic” lawsuits were found among such claims. And the amount of financial losses, the real costs of the editorial office on them, given at the Board meeting (200,000 rubles), is obviously not comparable with the cost of the “atomic” “contract” of the newspaper’s editorial office (2,700,000 rubles).
The collegium did not recognize as worthy of a publication that has a department of journalistic investigations the situation of the actual self-elimination of the editorial board from serious preparations for trials. The fact that the necessary documents were not requested in a timely manner, received and analyzed by the legal department of the newspaper, that the management of the publication shifted the task of ensuring the appearance of expert witnesses to the journalist himself, can be considered as unacceptable and unreasonable negligence.
Nadezhda Popova, the legendary pilot, the last of the "night witches", has died.
91 years old All clear. A long way has been passed, worthy, beautiful. Probably happy.
And yet, and yet...
While these old people find the strength to come to the Bolshoi Theater on May 9, to stand in the wind during the parade with carnations shaking in their hands, to march discordantly along Red Square, strumming their medals more and more quietly, we have a rear.
We are supported by a foundation, albeit a fragile one.
It seems that we are still someone's children.
I knew them all.
Film director Yevgenia Zhigulenko was a flight commander of that very famous 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. She graduated from VGIK at the age of 50 and shot only two films - the autobiographical Night Witches in the Sky and our joint work Without the Right to Fail.
Evgenia Zhigulenko and Sasha Lebedev. "Without the right to fail", Film Studio. M. Gorky, 1984, director E. Zhigulenko.
Flight commander of the legendary 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, Regiment of "Night Witches", Guard Lieutenant, Hero of the Soviet Union, Cavalier of two Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, two Orders of the Red Star and two Orders of the Red Banner Evgeny Zhigulenko.
By November 1944, she made 773 night sorties, inflicting heavy damage on the enemy in manpower and equipment.
Order Book of Evgenia Zhigulenko.
Heroes of the Soviet Union E. Zhigulenko, I. Sebrova, L. Rozanova. 1945 year.
Night Witches.
So the Germans called the pilots of the 46th Guards Taman Regiment of night bombers. The girls flew on the U-2 (Po-2) - light plywood corncobs without a top at low speed. "Heavenly slug" - people said about them, but the girls gave a more tender name - "swallow".
"Heavenly slug" over the Reichstag
They worked mainly at night, in conditions of almost zero visibility, in order to avoid anti-aircraft fire, for which they received the nickname "night witches".
Natalia Meklin and Rufina Gasheva
They themselves considered themselves beautiful. It is a pity that the clothes were all men's, right down to the underwear. But even in the war I wanted to be irresistible.
Once, two of the most resourceful opened a luminous air bomb left after flights, took out a parachute and sewed bras and panties for themselves.
Someone found out, informed, it came to the tribunal. The girls were given 10 years each, but their friends stood up, and they were allowed to serve their sentence in the regiment.
Later, one of the navigators died in battle, while the other remained alive.
Pilots at the front-line dugout in Gelendzhik. Sitting: Vera Belik, Ira Sebrova, Nadya Popova is standing.
Katya Ryabova and Nadia Popova
They flew without parachutes, preferring to take another 20 kg of bombs instead, so that if the plane was shot down, they were burned alive. The number of flights reached 16-18 in one night, as it was on the Oder. Breaks between flights - 5-8 minutes.
Only the most experienced fascist aces went into battle with the pilots: an iron cross was relied on for the downed "night witch".
During the war years, the combat losses of the regiment amounted to 32 people ...
Vera Belik, Zhenya Zhigulenko and Tanya Makarova. 1942
Vera and Tanya Inseparable friends.
Belik was the squadron navigator, but, not wanting to be separated from Tanya, she asked to be demoted to flight navigator. Her request was granted.
The girls were burned together in an airplane on August 25, 1944.
They were buried under maple trees in the Tik-tak estate, not far from the Polish city of Ostroleka.
Standing: squadron navigator and adjutant Maria Olkhovskaya and flight navigator Olga Klyueva. From left to right, pilot Anya Vysotskaya, photojournalist for Ogonyok magazine Boris Zeitlin, navigator Irina Kashirina, squadron commander Marina Chechneva. Photo a few days before the death of Anya and Irina. July, 1943, Kuban.
Zhenya Rudneva. Muscovite. Gentle, soft, very quiet.
In the regiment she was called "stargazer" - before the war she worked in the All-Union Astronomical and Geodetic Society in the Department of the Sun and spent nights and nights at the observatory on Presnya.
Zhenya with her beloved friend Dina Nikulina.
She died north of Kerch on April 9, 1944.
That night, Zhenya made her 645th flight with pilot Pana Prokopyeva. As the navigator of the regiment, she was not supposed to fly, she had to control the work of the flight navigators at the start. But, following her rule, Zhenya always tried to support young female pilots in their first flights. With her, they were not so afraid.
The girls did not return from that mission.
Pan and Zhenya were missing for 20 years.What happened that night was only established in 1966. Regiment commander Evdokia Rachkevich learned that an unknown pilot was buried in the Lenin Park in Kerch. For complete clarity, they conducted an exhumation and confirmed that Zhenya Rudneva was buried there. Then Evdokia Rachkevich found witnesses to the fall in Kerch and realized that, as an unknown soldier, Pana was buried in a mass grave.
It turned out that the girls' plane was shot down over Kerch. Pan burned down in the car, and Zhenya was thrown several meters away. Residents of the city found only large boots on the plane, decided that it was a man, and buried the girl as an unknown soldier in a mass grave.
Zhenya was buried in the Lenin Park in Kerch.
And Zhenya's beloved friend Dina Nikulin died half a century later at the hands of a modern fascist. He came to her house, calling himself a friend of a front-line comrade, attacked Dina, beat her and her three-year-old granddaughter, took military awards and disappeared. Dina died soon after.
Nadezhda Popova and Semyon Kharlamov. Prototypes of Masha and Romeo in Leonid Bykov's film "Only Old Men Go to Battle".
