Night Witches – all-female Soviet aviator regiment WW2

(en.wikipedia.org)

39 points | by gverrilla 3 days ago

6 comments

  • msabalau 1 hour ago
    There is also a (very niche) TTRPG about the Night Witches by Jason Morningstar.
    • mbrd 20 minutes ago
      And also a board game that I'm looking forward to coming in Fall 2026 by Liz Davidson and David Thompson (art by Ian O'Toole): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/388558/night-witches
    • jpmoral 1 hour ago
      Love the premise but couldn't get the night phase to work when I ran a one-shot. It quickly became repetitive thought that may have been just my lack of experience with the game.
  • HelloUsername 37 minutes ago
    In the Apple TV series "Star City" the head of the KGB surveillance department is referred to as the "Night Witch"
  • cjs_ac 22 minutes ago
    There's a pretty good depiction of them in David L. Robbins' Last Citadel.
  • archerx 51 minutes ago
    “An attack technique of the night bombers involved idling the engine near the target and gliding to the bomb-release point with only wind noise left to reveal their presence. Allegedly, German soldiers likened the sound to broomsticks and hence named the pilots "Night Witches".”

    That’s an interesting story behind the name.

  • gustavus 1 hour ago
    Sabaton, a swedish historical power metal band, also wrote a song about these women if you're into that kind of thing.

    https://www.sabaton.net/discography/heroes/night-witches/

  • bebe9494i4 56 minutes ago
    [flagged]
    • delichon 43 minutes ago
      From a military perspective, fertile women are also useful for producing more soldiers, logistics workers, and taxpayers, making males preferrable draftees where their warfighting qualities are similar.

      Russia has suffered ~1.4M casualties in Ukraine. If around half of those were fertile women it would increase the rate of their current demographic collapse by several percentage points.

      • bebe9494i4 3 minutes ago
        Quite opposite, if Russia drafted women, there would be a baby boom in Russia.

        Based on data from US military (professionals, not draftees), female service members are very likely to get pregnant, just before combat deployment.

        So drafting women is a double win, it increases number of soldiers and increases fertility.

      • derektank 19 minutes ago
        Also, men are just physically stronger, which makes them more effective as infantry forces. The advent of mechanical warfare and the creation of roles like pilot or sensor technician or satellite operator which don’t require physical strength have provided a lot more opportunities for women to serve effectively in conflict.
    • zulban 48 minutes ago
      No need to put down men to talk about how awesome this women's pilot team sounds.