Sofia Rogova
Sofia Rogova was born in 1916 in the village of Novospasovka (in the Mariupol District, Yekaterinoslav Province; present-day Osypenko, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine), in a Jewish family.
Following the Nazi invasion of the USSR in late June 1941, the German army made a rapid advance toward Moscow, the Soviet capital. Those days saw the formation of a light bomber aviation regiment, which was the brainchild of the legendary pilot Marina Raskova, who would be killed in action in 1943. The regiment was commanded by Yevdokia Bershanskaya until the end of the war. The unit was nicknamed "Dunka's Regiment", while the German soldiers referred to it as the Nachthexen ("Night Witches"). They were so called because of their tactic of night bombing: the pilots would idle their engines, with the bomber gliding soundlessly over the target, and the bombs would then be released. It was an all-female regiment, and most of its members were aged 17-22.
In 1943, the unit was transformed into the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.
In May 1943, Sofia Rogova began to serve as a pilot in this regiment. Over the next several months, she made about seventy night sorties, dropping a total of over 8,000 kg of bombs on enemy targets.
On the night of July 31–August 1, 1943, the German command moved its Messerschmitt fighter aircraft into the operational theater of the 46th Regiment, in the area of the village of Krasny in the Kuban region. The first bomber from "Dunka's Regiment" to fly out was caught in the searchlights, which had been turned on suddenly, and was shot down on the spot. The flight missions took place at five-minute intervals, and there was no radio contact; thus, there was no way to warn the crews of the danger, and the next three bombers met a similar fate. Four pilots and four navigators of the 46th Regiment, including Sofia Rogova, were killed that night. The pilot Sofia Rogova was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class. Her little daughter survived the war, having been evacuated into the Soviet interior with her grandmother.
