15. The Women of the 588th Frayed the Nazis’ Nerve by Keeping Them Up at Night
The physical harm inflicted by the 588th bomber raids was probably exceeded by the psychological damage visited upon the enemy. The incessant raids throughout the night kept exhausted Nazis from getting adequate rest, and the fear of a random bomb falling on one at any moment further frayed nerves that were often already at the snapping point.
The Germans nicknamed the Soviet aviatrixes Nachtexen, or “Night Witches”. It was reportedly because the whooshing noise of their wooden planes – whose engines the women pilots sometimes cut off so they could quietly glide to their targets and increase the chances of surprise – sounded like a sweeping broom. So feared and hated were the Night Witches, that any German who downed one was automatically awarded an Iron Cross.
