Nadia of the Night Witches by Tom Townsend

This is an action-packed adventure story of courage, determination and romance, the story of young women at war in unprecedented aerial combat during World War Two. There is dramatic fighting action, superb story line and character development.

Although the book is a work of historical fiction, the Night Witches were very real. Following the German invasion of Russia in the summer of 1941, the Soviet Government authorized the formation of three squadrons of female pilots. One of these, the 588th Night Bomber Squadron, became known as the Night Witches. Equipped with obsolete, open-cockpit biplanes built in the 1920’s, they flew some of the most daring combat missions of World War Two. Their story has, for the most part, remained untold outside of the Soviet Union.

17-year-old Nadia Tarachinko has just graduated from flight school and for whatever short time she believes she has left to her life before being killed by the advancing Germans, she would kill Germans— nothing else mattered. The action begins immediately. In a flashback we see Nadia’s family farm being bombed, her family being killed and a near crazed and bloodied Nadia being rescued from two German soldiers by Lilly, who swoops out of the air in a PO-2 and flies the girl, sitting on the body of her bloodied and dead back-cockpit navigator, to the safety of the Night Witches base. Missions, battles and innermost thoughts of the fighting young women play from the pages. Although this is Nadia’s story, it is also a riveting look at patriotism and love and war through the eyes of young women at war.

Those in battle are afraid to care for anyone because death is so imminent. Yet, Townsend shows us love in various combinations: Lilly and Nadia (both Night Witch pilots); Shenya (Nadia’s navigator) and Nicholai (a Russian flight captain); Nadia and Misha (a tank command sergeant), and the Night Witches' compassion for a surviving young German boy who they are determined to keep incognito and hand to the safety of the Allied forces as soon as they can at war’s end.

This is the time of Stalin and Mother Russia and The Young Communists League. All Russians fought. The open cock-pit PO-2 biplane was simple enough for peasant girls to fly, and cheap to build and repair. And, training women for air battle freed up the men to fly the more important missions of the Great Patriotic War.

Nadia Of The Night Witches is dedicated to the memory of all those pioneer women, both Allied and Axis, who flew military aircraft in World War Two.

Tom Townsend is a noted historian with 28 books to his credit. He has won literary and video awards, and has worked on significant made-for-television and big-screen films. He resides with his family in Texas.

Tom Townsend's personal web site.