Hero of the Soviet Union Pasko Evdokiya Borisovna
Evdokiya Borisovna Pasko was born in 1919 in the village of Lipetsk in the Jeti-Oguz district of the Kyrgyz SSR to a peasant family. She was Ukrainian. A member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). After graduating from high school in the city of Przhevalsk, she became a student at the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University named after Lomonosov in 1938.
In October 1941, at the call of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, she volunteered for the army. Until May 1942, she studied aviation at the Engels Military Aviation School for Navigators.
From May 1942 to May 1945, she fought as part of the 46th Guards Women's Aviation Regiment. She held the rank of Guards Senior Lieutenant and served as the navigator of a night bomber squadron. She completed 800 combat sorties to destroy enemy military equipment, personnel, and fortifications.
For her combat merits to the Motherland, E. B. Pasko was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner, the Patriotic War of the 1st class, and two Orders of the Red Star. On October 26, 1944, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
After the war, she graduated from Moscow State University and defended her candidate dissertation. For over 30 years, she taught at the Department of Mathematics at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. She is now enjoying a well-deserved retirement.
“SWALLOWS” IN THE SKY OF WAR
September of the fearsome 1941. Hitler's hordes are ruthlessly rushing towards Moscow. In this anxious time, at the suggestion of the famous pilot Marina Raskova, women's aviation units began to form. The Central Committee of the Komsomol appealed to young women Komsomol members to volunteer for the defense of the Motherland.
Among those who first responded to this call was Evdokiya Pasko, a student in her fourth year at the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University, originally from the village of Lipenki in the Jeti-Oguz district. She was enlisted in the aviation unit formed by Raskova and sent to the city of Engels, where a military navigator school was opened.
The autumn and winter passed in intense work. On the night of March 9, the last training flight was scheduled for a route and bombing practice. The girls successfully completed the first half of the assignment. But at the last stage, the weather suddenly deteriorated sharply; clouds covered the sky, and a snowstorm began.
In the blinding snowstorm, three crews lost their bearings and did not return to the airfield. One crew was saved by a miracle, while the other two perished. The girls walked around silently, depressed by what had happened — the fighting had not yet begun, but the first losses had already been incurred. This incident delayed the graduation of the military navigator school. Nevertheless, in May 1942, the world's first women's aviation regiment of night and light bombers joined the 218th Night Bomber Division, which was part of the 4th Air Army under General Vershinin.
This aviation regiment was unique because all its personnel — from the commander and political officer to the pilots and navigators, as well as technicians and armaments specialists — were women. The commander of the 46th regiment was Evdokiya Davydovna Bershanskaya, an experienced pilot of the civil aviation fleet. The political officer was Evdokiya Yakovlevna Rachkevich.
The secretary of the regiment's party organization was 29-year-old Maria Runt, sent by the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army, who had extensive experience in Komsomol work. They were the oldest in the regiment, both in position and in age.
The personnel of the regiment mainly consisted of young girls, recent students, factory and plant workers, graduates of aeroclubs, and athlete pilots.
It sounds formidable — a regiment of night light bombers. But in reality, the girls flew on “heavenly slowpokes” — the “PO-2.” The pilots affectionately called their slowpokes “swallows.” These very planes could appear unnoticed over the most important military targets of the enemy at night with their engines turned off, passing where heavy or medium bombers could not break through.
From the foothills of the gray Caucasus to fascist Germany, the glorious combat path of the “swallows” of the 46th aviation regiment was laid. In total, the brave pilots took to the night sky 23,672 times over 1,100 front-line days, dropping nearly three thousand tons of bombs on the enemy.
By the end of the war, there was not a single woman in the regiment who had not been awarded combat orders and medals, and 23 of them were honored with the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Among those awarded the highest honor of the Motherland was the crew of the “PO-2” consisting of pilot Zoya Parfenova and navigator Evdokiya Pasko.
We sit in a cozy Moscow apartment, and Evdokiya Borisovna, once again, recalls the harsh and sorrowful days of the war. I look at this short woman with a kind, wrinkled face, such a homely figure, and I can hardly believe that she has 800 combat sorties to her credit, night flights, and bombings of the enemy in the North Caucasus and near Taganrog, on the Don and near Sevastopol, on the Taman Peninsula and near Novorossiysk, in Belarus, Poland, East Prussia, and finally, in the skies over Berlin.
Here is Evdokiya Borisovna herself, sharing her thoughts, saying: “Today, recalling the past, the difficult days of the war, sifting through in my memory everything that Soviet people endured during those years, it’s hard to believe that it all happened.
Sometimes, involuntarily, you start to doubt, wondering if it was all just a dream.”
But no. It was not a dream. All of it happened. The Soviet people went through all of this, endured it all, and defeated the hated enemy, breaking the back of the fascist monster.
I ask my interlocutor which flight she remembers the most.
— It’s hard to say now, — Evdokiya Borisovna replies thoughtfully. — After all, there were 800 combat sorties. We had to fly almost every night, and sometimes we made several flights in one night. But, of course, the first sortie is unforgettable.
...One by one, the planes depart into the night. The aircraft of Parfenova — Pasko rolls onto the runway. Under the wings are several hundred kilograms of deadly cargo, and in the navigator's cabin — illuminating bombs.
Heavily lifting off the ground, the “PO-2” heads towards the front line. The pre-flight anxiety of the crew has settled.
The main thing now is to accurately guide the plane to the target. Judging by the flight time and navigator calculations, the target is somewhere nearby. And indeed it is. Illuminating bombs dropped from other planes burst into flames. Following, Dusya Pasko’s bomb reveals the target from the darkness. The main cargo can be dropped. Fires flare up below, and the terrified figures of the Germans scatter in panic. The first combat mission is accomplished. The count of combat sorties has begun.
From flight to flight, experience accumulated, and mastery matured. Strikes against the enemy became heavier and more palpable.
In the autumn of 1942, the Germans decided to seize Baku's oil at all costs. The Supreme Command set the task of thwarting the fascists' plans and holding the Caucasus. Experienced combat units, including the 46th aviation regiment, were sent to this front.
At one point, the regiment received an order to destroy a concentration of enemy personnel and equipment in the area of Grozny. This task was assigned to the crew of Parfenova — Pasko. Unfortunately, the weather was not suitable for flying. The sky was covered with leaden clouds, and when the plane took off, a storm broke out. The aircraft was tossed up and down, swayed from side to side. They could not break through the storm front. With heavy hearts, the girls returned. But an order is an order. It must be carried out. Zoya and Dusya took to the air again, but due to the difficult weather conditions, the target was again not found.
After consulting with the regiment command, Parfenova and Pasko decided to locate the target by orienting themselves with the course of the Terek River. Taking additional supplies of illuminating bombs, the pilots took their “PO-2” to the sky for the third time that night.
A strong headwind diminished their already low speed, confused all calculations, and complicated the flight.
Yet, thanks to persistence, skill, and accumulated experience, Pasko guided the plane to the target. But while the navigator was dropping the illuminating bomb, the wind blew the plane off course. However, the second approach was precise. All bombs hit the target, and the crew safely returned home.
More than once, Parfenova — Pasko's plane encountered the sharp and dangerous beam of a searchlight, and death in the form of an anti-aircraft shell whizzed by them within inches. More than once their “PO-2” returned to its home airfield with holes in the fuselage and wings. But each time, the courage, composure, endurance, and skill of the girls saved them.
After four months of front-line life, in September 1942, Evdokiya Pasko was awarded the Order of the Red Star for her courage and heroism displayed in carrying out command assignments in the fight against fascist invaders.
The combat merits of the “swallows” in the sky of war are evidenced by the fact that in early 1943, the 46th Night Bomber Aviation Regiment was awarded the title of Guards. The pilots were proud and happy with this high title and vowed to justify the trust — to strike the enemy like guards. And the girls kept their word. Very soon, the fascists in Kuban felt it, so to speak, on their own skin.
The regiment's flight to Kuban coincided with the appointment of Guards Lieutenant Evdokiya Pasko as the navigator of the squadron.
She had to switch to the aircraft of squadron commander Maria Smirnova. The squadron commander had a strict rule: to fly first on the most difficult and dangerous missions and only then send others.
The regiment arrived in Kuban during the heaviest battles for Novorossiysk. The defenders of “Little Land” earned everlasting glory. And this glory is rightfully shared with them by the pilots of the 46th aviation regiment. For seven months, the girls flew over Novorossiysk, helping the defenders. They smashed the enemy, dropping weapons, ammunition, food, and medical supplies to our paratroopers. The combat work of the aviation regiment's personnel near Novorossiysk was marked by gratitude from the Supreme Commander. For the liberation of the Taman Peninsula, the regiment received the honorary title of “Taman.”
In May 1944, the regiment was ordered to bomb the enemy airfield at Cape Chersonesus. Smirnova's aircraft was the first to take off. They quickly reached the assigned altitude of two thousand meters. Approaching the bombing area, they began to descend. But as they approached the airfield, the enemy set up such a dense curtain of covering fire that they could not break through it on either the first or second approach. Help unexpectedly came in the form of our heavy bomber. The fire of searchlights and anti-aircraft guns was redirected to it.
Smirnova and Pasko did not hesitate to take advantage of this. Appearing over the enemy airfield, they sharply reduced the throttle. Bombs fell down. They hit their target precisely. The fascist vulture that had rolled onto the runway to intercept the heavy bomber never took off.
Realizing their own blunder, the enemy unleashed fire on the daring “PO-2.” And here Pasko noticed with horror that she and Smirnova had gotten too carried away: their altitude was less than two hundred meters.
— Masha, let’s go up! Head to the sea! — the navigator shouted into the microphone.
With a successful maneuver, Smirnova took the plane out of the firing zone. With several holes in the fuselage, the night bomber returned to its airfield.
Recalling that long-ago episode today, Evdokiya Borisovna laughs: “A vivid example of front-line mutual assistance.
The heavy bomber first helped us, and then — we helped it.”
Forty years have passed since the end of the war. Much has been forgotten. But the flights to Cape Eltingen, a small piece of land on the Kerch Peninsula, do not fade or erase from Evdokiya Borisovna's memory. The girls had to fly under very difficult conditions. But it was here that the pilots felt most acutely how much depended on them, what a wonderful and all-conquering feeling — front-line mutual assistance, brotherhood in arms.
In the area of Eltingen, our paratroopers captured a small foothold. For five days, the fascists continuously attacked the handful of brave souls, trying to throw them into the sea. The paratroopers had to fend off 15-20 attacks a day.
Recalling those fiery days and nights, the former commander of the 318th Rifle Division, whose soldiers landed at Eltingen, retired Major General V. Gladkov writes: “The paratroopers lacked food, ammunition, and medical supplies. The brave pilots from the 46th Guards Women's Aviation Taman Regiment provided us with great assistance. The courageous girls flew over on their “PO-2s” every night across the strait, descended to the ground, and dropped bags of ammunition and food at the designated spot...”
The flights became incredibly complicated because this time the girls had a very inconvenient airfield. A narrow strip of sea shore, pressing against the sea from the north and against a high-voltage power line from the south. In the impenetrable Crimean November nights, the pilots were required to have extraordinary skill and sniper precision. And there were also constant strong winds, torrential rains, and fog. Yet every night, the girls flew to the rescue of their “brothers,” as the girls called the paratroopers, who eagerly awaited their “sisters,” simultaneously worrying about them.
Despite the danger lurking at every turn, the girls flew without parachutes: their desire to take more cargo for their “brothers” was so great.
— Perhaps, as a journalist, you might find it interesting to know, — says Evdokiya Borisovna, — that with this landing at Eltingen, front-line correspondent Sergey Borzenko also landed. He received a hero title for Eltingen. The courage of our paratroopers is evidenced by the fact that today there is no such name as Eltingen on the Kerch Peninsula. There is Heroevskoe.
In October 1944, the newspaper “Pravda” published a photo of the brave pilot with a terse but very eloquent text: “Evdokiya Pasko, Guards Senior Lieutenant, navigator of the squadron. In the Red Army since October 1941.
Awarded two Orders of the Red Star, the Order of the Red Banner, and the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st class.
On her combat account — 157 strong explosions, 109 fire outbreaks, 4 destroyed fuel depots, 2 ammunition depots, and many enemy soldiers and officers killed.”
This was written shortly before Evdokiya Borisovna Pasko was awarded the Order of Lenin and the “Golden Star” of the Hero in the Kremlin.
In early May 1945, the regiment was finishing off one of the German groupings in the port of Swinemünde on the Baltic.
Here, the fascists had formed a huge concentration of troops and equipment. Hasty loading onto ships was ongoing around the clock.
And likewise, the Soviet aviation bombed the port around the clock. But on May 6, all flights were canceled, and it became unusually quiet. There were no combat missions in the following days.
And on May 9, when dawn was just beginning, the duty officer of the regiment, Rimma Prudnikova, burst into the bedroom:
— Girls, get up! Get up! Victory! Girls, peace! Victory!
The girls, half-asleep, did not understand what was happening. They thought it was another alarm. But when they realized it, they made such a racket, as if everyone had gone mad. Pistols, machine guns, flares — everything was put to use. The May dawn sky lit up with flashes of red, green, and white rockets. Probably, there were many such spontaneous salutes on that May day of 1945 across the front.
War is not a woman's occupation. How tired the girls were of it after 1,100 long days. How many times they saw themselves in dreams and visions not in tunics and boots, but in light dresses. Did the dreams really come true?
Along with the joy of victory, Dusya Pasko felt the bitterness of irretrievable losses. She remembered her brothers. Six went to the front. Five did not return.
At the end of 1945, Evdokiya Pasko said goodbye to her regiment, and in the autumn of 1946, she returned to the university. During the war years, some things were thoroughly forgotten. She had to go back to the third year. After graduating from university, Pasko entered graduate school.
For more than 30 years, Evdokiya Borisovna worked as a lecturer at the Department of Higher Mathematics at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. Her son Alexander followed in his mother's footsteps, graduating from the same Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University. Her daughter Nadezhda grew up and became a mother herself.
On May 2 and November 8 in Moscow, a group of women gathers in the square near the Bolshoi Theatre. Each has combat orders and medals on their chests. Some have the “Golden Star” of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Almost all come with grandchildren. And looking at them, it is hard to imagine that these grandmothers are brave combat pilots, navigators, technicians, and armaments specialists of the Guards Taman Aviation Regiment of light night bombers.
Often, comrades-in-arms sing:
Where the infantry cannot pass,
Where the armored train cannot rush,
Where the heavy tank cannot crawl,
There flies the steel bird.
Propeller, sing your song louder,
Carrying outstretched wings,
For eternal peace in the last battle
Flies the steel squadron.
And the wrinkles smooth out, the eyes shine brightly, and the shoulders straighten. To everyone witnessing this always moving meeting, it seems that the very combat youth of the veterans of the 46th aviation regiment enters the square to tell of soldierly loyalty, courage, bravery, love for the Motherland, and hatred for its enemies.
V. TIMIRBAEV