title: Bomb-Dropping Bombshells: An Analysis of the Motivations and Accomplishments of the All-Female 46th Taman Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment
abstract: The 46th Taman Guard Bombers Aviation Regiment was an all-female regiment of bomber pilots enlisted by the Soviet military during World War II. Nicknamed the Night Witches by Germans soldiers, they flew over 24,000 combat missions in three years and produced twenty-four Heroes of the Soviet Union. Although gender equality in Soviet Russia made this regiment possible, equality was not what made them successful. To understand their achievements, their motivations must be examined. When the Germans
journal: JMU Scholoraly Commons (James Madison University)