Yevgeniya, Drunk History, and Idaho
Yevgeniya Maksimovna Rudneva was born on May 24, 1921 in Berdiansk, Ukraine. Before the war, Rudneva was studying mechanics and mathematics at Moscow State University. With the German invasion of Russia, she volunteered for military service in the Red Army in October 1941. Rudneva studied navigation at the Engels aviation school and was deployed to the southern front in May 1942 with the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, the Night Witches. She flew with several different pilots, including Irina Sebrova.
In all, Rudneva flew 645 night combat missions over the 4th Ukrainian, North Caucasian, and Transcaucasion fronts. In an October 1942 letter to professor Sergey Blazhko, who was head of the astometry department of Moscow State University, Rudneva declared that the first bomb she dropped would be in retaliation from the bombing of the university the year before. She wrote that she was defending the honor of the university. On April 9, 1944 Rudneva and pilot Praskovya “Panna” Prokofyeva were shot down near Kerch during the Crimean Offensive. She was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union on October 26, 1944 and several monuments, street names, and an asteroid all bear her name.
The BBC put together the video below examining Rudneva’s diaries and letters and talked with current women enrolled at Moscow State University.
I’m sure I’m late to the game here, but I stumbled across this Drunk History episode with Eleanor Roosevelt and Lyudmila Pavlichenko. Enjoy.
I know this isn’t related to Soviet women, but for my day job and as a board member for the Idaho Association of Museums, I recently had the opportunity to discuss some of Idaho’s museums on the podcast “The Condition Report” from 42 Kites. Give it a listen if you’re interested in learning about 13 of Idaho’s museums.
Sapper and scout Sima Alexandra Dneprovskaya with her PPSh-41.