The Night Witches

image taken form Armed Forces History Museum

The Night Witches were three all-female  aviation regiments, one of the most notorious one being the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, of the Soviet Union during WWII. They were labeled "Night Witches" by the Germans because of two main reasons:

1. they only attacked at night
2. and the sound of their planes (Polikarpov Pro-2s) allegedly sounded like a witch's broomstick to the Germans (NPR- Night Witch Flew Bomber Planes During World War II).

 These regiments, these women their stories, and the fact that they were told to withhold their stories will be the focus of my research project. 

I suppose I will be approaching this topic with a sociological and perhaps even psychological academic lens. At some other points I might try compiling answers through a linguistic disciplinary approach (the term "witches" is at the forefront of my mind). 

The types of question I wish to attempt to answer are along the following lines:

• What was the thought process behind of implementing female regiments in what most Americans believed to be a backwards and barbaric country (the Soviet Union)  when other 'progressive' countries would not even attempt to have active female units until years later?
• Why the label "witches"?
• What cultural forces/ beliefs were in play when after their service, these women were asked not to talk about their missions?

Possible Research Artifacts

In a past lecture, titled "Women in the Military"presented by Professor Carol Burke two pictures were presented side by side. These two images were Michelangelo's Isaiah and Rockwell Rosie. 

Image was taken from Professor Burke's lecture slides. 

When I saw these two works of art I was immediately surprised and intrigued. The character Rosie the Riveter, Rockwell's illustrated World War II character, often championed as a symbol of women's strength, independence, and ability was fashioned on an image of a man. I find this incredibly fascinating and I believe this might need further investigation. 

Another possible artifact would be the evolution of weapons, specifically the gas chamber. I understand the gas chambers have been used in the past to execute condemned prisoners and most notorious were in operation in concentration camps in the Holocaust. The gas chamber is something that caught my interest because while I was interviewing my high school JROTC teacher we focused in on his time in basic training. I asked him what was one thing he didn't like doing and he answered going into the gas chamber. The armed services has a course in which recruits must go into a gas chamber without any protective gear(masks) and try to withstand the ordeal.

Another possible artifact would be an instructional video from the Cold War era. I think it would interesting to find out who produced these instructional videos and where they where shown. Today, at any given moment (as long as WiFi is available) a person can access a video, movie, episode from their phone, computer, and other electronic devices. This was not the case in the 1950-1980s. 

Choosing an Interviewee

When first given this assignment of interviewing someone with some connection to a war, I immediately flash backed to those Family Tree projects in which you had to research your genealogy and create some nice graphic delineating your finds.

What I mostly remember of those projects was that my parents had little to tell me. I knew my grandparents' names and only the first names of my great-grandparents. That is as far as I ever learned of my family history. My family just does not keep records. 

So when I heard we had to interview someone in connection to a war, I panicked. Who was I suppose to interview? No one in my family had connections to war or the military. 

After some initial moments of panic, I remembered that while no one in my family had a connection to war/ the military I did know at least two people who did. These persons were my high school's U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (J.R.O.T.C) Instructors: Major Frederick Merz and First Sergeant Marvin Herbert. 

This picture was taken at my Senior Awards Night.
Major Merz is pictured at the right end holding a manila envelope.
First Sergeant Herbert pictured is at the left end . In between, in uniform,
are Let III cadets who were part of the Color Guard that night.  

These two men were not only my instructors for four years, but my mentors. I have already contacted both by email and both are willing to be interviewed.

As this assignment [the literary journalism project] continues, I hope to learn more about my past-instructors. I knew that First Sergeant was a Jumpmaster during his time in the military and that Major  held a staff position in a brigade (a brigade has five main staff members that work directly with the Brigade Commander, each staff member has his or her own assistants) during his time.  I never really pried into their past military lives (I was mostly concerned with not being chewed out or fired from my own staff position during the time I knew them) because I wanted to respect their privacy. However, with this assignment it seems I will have no choice but to delve into their pasts. I can only hope that they will be forthcoming with their stories.