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586th Fighter Aviation Regiment
The 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment was one of the three Soviet women's aviation regiments founded by Marina Raskova at the start of the Second World War after she convinced Joseph Stalin to allow her to form three all-female aviation regiments. The regiment was originally equipped with Yakovlev Yak-1 aircraft and later acquired Yak-7 and Yak-9 aircraft in 1943. Sorties were conducted to patrol over military installations and carry out defensive missions. While the regiment was intended to be an all-female regiment it became coed with a preponderance of females after regimental commander Tamara Kazarinova transferred to another unit in October 1942 and was replaced by a man, Aleksander Gridnev. The regiment yielded two female flying aces, Lydia Litvyak and Yekaterina Budanova, who were posthumously awarded the titles Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of the Russian Federation respectively. Timeline and operations Twenty-five women who had joined the regiment graduated from Ya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yakovlev Yak-1
The Yakovlev Yak-1 (russian: Яковлев Як-1) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. The Yak-1 was a single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings; production began in early 1940.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978, p. 239. The Yak-1 was a maneuverable, fast and competitive fighter aircraft. The composite-wooden structure made it easy to maintain and the engine proved to be reliable.Snedden 1997, p. 71. It formed the basis for subsequent developments from the Yakovlev bureau. It was the founder of a family of aircraft, with some 43,000 being built.Gunston 1998, p. 88.Ethell 1995, p. 163. As a reward, designer Alexander Yakovlev was awarded the Order of Lenin (Russian ) (the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union), a 100,000 ruble prize, and a ZIS motor car.Jackson 2003, p. 160.Matricardi 2006, p. 77. Design and development Before the war, Yakovlev was best known for building light sports aircraft. His Yak-4 light bomber im ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Junkers Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called '' Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast for fighters of its era to intercept. It suffered from technical problems during its development and early operational periods but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war. Like a number of other ''Luftwaffe'' bombers, it served as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter and at the end of the war, as a flying bomb. Despite a protracted development, it became one of the ''Luftwaffe''s most important aircraft. The assembly line ran constantly from 1936 to 1945 and more than 15,000 Ju 88s were built in dozens of variants, more than any other twin-engine German aircraft of the period. Throughout production the basic structure of the aircraft remained unchanged.Angelucci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamara Pamyatnykh
Tamara Ustinovna Pamyatnykh (russian: Тамара Устиновна Памятных; 30 December 1919 – 26 July 2012) was a fighter pilot for the Soviet Air Forces during the Second World War. Following an action while on patrol on 19 March 1943, she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Career Pamyatnykh began flying gliders at 16, and soon qualified for a private pilot's license and instructor's certificate at the flight school in Ulyanovsk. When the Second World War began, she signed up for the Soviet forces. When Marina Raskova was asked to recruit female pilots in 1941, Pamyatnykh was sufficiently well known as a pilot that she was specifically approached. She underwent further flight training in Engels, Saratov Oblast in October 1941, and was subsequently assigned to the 586th Fighter Squadron alongside other female aces such as Lydia Litvyak, and worked as a duo with Galina Burdina. As a junior lieutenant, Pamyatnykh was on patrol with Raisa Surnachevskaya over a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later renamed to Volgograd) in Southern Russia. The battle was marked by fierce close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in air raids, with the battle epitomizing urban warfare. The Battle of Stalingrad was the deadliest battle to take place during the Second World War and is one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, with an estimated 2 million total casualties. Today, the Battle of Stalingrad is universally regarded as the turning point in the European Theatre of war, as it forced the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (German High Command) to withdraw considerable military forces from other areas in occupied Europe to replace German losses on the Eastern Front, ending with the rout of the six field armies of Army ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev stunned the communist world with his denunciation of his predecessor Joseph Stalin's crimes, and embarked on a policy of de-Stalinization with his key ally Anastas Mikoyan. He sponsored the early Soviet space program, and enactment of moderate reforms in domestic policy. After some false starts, and a narrowly avoided nuclear war over Cuba, he conducted successful negotiations with the United States to reduce Cold War tensions. In 1964, the Kremlin leadership stripped him of power, replacing him with Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin as Premier. Khrushchev was born in 1894 in a village in western Russia. He was employed as a metal worker during his youth, and he was a political commissar during the Russian Civil Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zuleykha Seyidmammadova
Zuleykha Seyidmammadova ( az, Züleyxa Mirhəbib qızı Seyidməmmədova, russian: Зулейха Мир-Габиб кызы Сеидмамедова; 22 March 1919 – 1994) was one of the first Azerbaijan female pilots and the first Azerbaijani woman to fly in combat. Seyidmammadova was born in Baku on 22 March 1919. She gained her pilot's license in 1935 at a flying club in her hometown and later at the aviation academy in Zhukovsky near Moscow. In 1938 she became qualified as a petrochemical engineer, but chose to pursue aviation as her main career. During World War II she was the regimental navigator of the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, one of the three women's military aviation regiments founded by Marina Raskova. Throughout the war, she fought in over 40 aerial battles and carried out over 500 missions. During the war she would inform the commissar as well as Tamara Kazarinova, the commander of her regiment, about the pilots attitudes towards their leadership. After th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hero Of The Russian Federation
Hero of the Russian Federation (russian: Герой Российской Федерации, Geroy Rossiyskoy Federatsii), also unofficially Hero of Russia (russian: link=no, Герой России, Geroy Rossii), is the highest honorary title of the Russian Federation. The title comes with a Gold Star medal, an insignia of honour that identifies recipients. The title is awarded to persons for "service to the Russian state and nation, usually connected with a heroic feat of valour". The title is bestowed by decree of the president of the Russian Federation. Russian citizenship or being in the service of the Russian state is not obligatory. The title was established in 1992 and, , was awarded more than 970 times, of which more than 440 were posthumously. History The title "Hero of Russia" is a successor to Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: link=no, Герой Советского Союза), which was established by Resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hero Of The Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. Overview The award was established on 16 April 1934, by the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union. The first recipients of the title originally received only the Order of Lenin, the highest Soviet award, along with a certificate (грамота, ''gramota'') describing the heroic deed from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Because the Order of Lenin could be awarded for deeds not qualifying for the title of hero, and to distinguish heroes from other Order of Lenin holders, the Gold Star medal was introduced on 1 August 1939. Earlier heroes were retroactively eligible for these items. A hero could be awarded the title again for a subsequent heroic feat wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinkel He 177
The Heinkel He 177 ''Greif'' (Griffin) was a long-range heavy bomber flown by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. The introduction of the He 177 to combat operations was significantly delayed, by both problems with the development of its engines, and frequent changes to its intended role. Nevertheless, it was the only long-range, heavy bomber to become operational with the ''Luftwaffe'' during the war. The He 177 had a payload/range capability similar to that of four-engined heavy bombers used by the Allies in the European theatre. Work on the design began in response to a 1936 requirement, known as Bomber A, issued by the RLM for a purely strategic bomber. Thus the He 177 was intended originally to be capable of a sustained bombing campaign against Soviet manufacturing capacity, deep inside Russia. In contrast to its heavy payload and very wide, planform, the specifications called for the design to have only two very powerful engines. To deliver the power ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The Dnieper
The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 in Ukraine on the Eastern Front of World War II. One of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost 4,000,000 troops at a time stretched on a front. Over four months, the eastern bank of the Dnieper was recovered from German forces by five of the Red Army's fronts, which conducted several assault river crossings to establish several lodgements on the western bank. Kiev was later liberated in the Battle of Kiev. 2,438 Red Army soldiers were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for their involvement. Strategic situation Following the Battle of Kursk, the Wehrmachts ''Heer'' and supporting ''Luftwaffe'' forces in the southern Soviet Union were on the defensive in the southern Ukraine. By mid-August, Adolf Hitler understood that the forthcoming Soviet offensive could not be contained on the open steppe and ordered construction of a series of fortifications along the line of the Dnieper ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history. The battle began with the launch of the German offensive Operation Citadel (german: Unternehmen Zitadelle), on 5 July, which had the objective of pinching off the Kursk salient with attacks on the base of the salient from north and south simultaneously. After the German offensive stalled on the northern side of the salient, on 12 July the Soviets commenced their Kursk Strategic Offensive Operation with the launch of Operation Kutuzov (russian: Кутузов) against the rear of the German forces on the same side. On the southern side, the Soviets also launched powerful counterattacks the same day, one of which led to a large armoured clash, the Battle of Prokhorovka. On 3 August, the Soviets began the second phase of the Kursk Stra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerial Ramming
Aerial ramming or air ramming is the ramming of one aircraft with another. It is a last-ditch tactic in air combat, sometimes used when all else has failed. Long before the invention of aircraft, ramming tactics in naval warfare and ground warfare were common. The first aerial ramming was performed by Pyotr Nesterov in 1914 during the First World War. In the early stages of World War II the tactic was employed by Soviet pilots, who called it ''taran'', the Russian word for "battering ram". A ramming pilot could use the weight of the aircraft as a ram, or they could try to make the enemy lose control of their plane, using the propeller or wing to damage the enemy's tail or a wing. Ramming took place when a pilot ran out of ammunition yet was still intent on destroying an enemy, or when the plane had already been damaged beyond saving. Most rammings occurred when the attacker's aircraft was economically, strategically or tactically less valuable than the enemy's, such as pilots f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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