Friday 6 July 2018

Night Witches


"Order of the People's Commissar of Defense #0099
October 8th, 1941
Moscow

Contents: on the formation of female aircraft regiments of the Red Army VVS

In order to utilize female pilots and technical ranks, I order that the following must be formed by December 1st, 1941:
  1. 586th fighter regiment equipped with Yak-1 aircraft according to TO&E #015/174 located in Engels.
  2. 587th bomber regiment armed with Su-2 aircraft according to TO&E #015/159. Form the regiment within the 10th reserve aircraft regiment in Kamenka.
  3. 588th night air regiment with U-2 aircraft according to TO&E #015/186 located in Engels.
  4. The commander of the Red Army VVS must equip the aforementioned regiments with aircraft and women personnel from the VVS,  Civilian Air Fleet, and OSOAVIAKhIM.
  5. Retraining of personnel with their new materiel will be done at:
    1. Pilots: at the formation sites of the air regiments.
    2. Technicians: at the collection point of technical personnel in Moscow.
    3. Navigators and staff: 2nd Post-Secondary Ivanovo Navigator Academy.
  6. The Chief Intendant of the Red Army and Chiefs of the Central Directorates of the NKO are to arm the air regiments with all necessary equipment.
People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR
I.Stalin."

3 comments:

  1. Is't it sweet that Stalin had the time to micromanage everything in the Soviet Union.

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    Replies
    1. You don't get to be a successful tyrant by being lazy. :P

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    2. You kind of do, most of the documents bearing Stalin's signature were prepared by someone else and just went through him for approval, sometimes with corrections or remarks.

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