Olivia Kroth: Lessons of Russian History – Remembering heroic Soviet pilot Lydia Litvyak, 80 years after her death

Lessons of Russian History:

Remembering heroic Soviet pilot Lydia Litvyak, 80 years after her death

by Olivia Kroth

 In 1941, when the Nazi Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union, young people took up arms, trained as fighters and participated in the Great Patriotic War, to defeat the enemy and save the Motherland. One of those ancestors is the famous, successful female fighter pilot Lydia Litvyak, Senior Lieutenant and Hero of the Soviet Union. She died young, with 22 years, as she attacked Nazi planes in the Battle of Kursk, near Orel. She was born on the 18th of August 1921. Her plane was shot down, on the 1st of August 1943. Now, on the 1st of August 2023, it is time to remember and celebrate the memory of heroic Lydia Litvyak, 80 years after her death. 

Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak (Лидия Владимировна Литвяк; 1921-1943) was the best-known and most successful female fighter pilot in the Great Patriotic War. She was a member of the Komsomol youth. Posthumously she got promoted twice: to lieutenant, in 1943, and to senior lieutenant, in 1990. In the same year, she also became a Hero of the Soviet Union (1990). 

Lydia Litvyak was born in a Jewish-Russian family in Moscow, on the 18th of August 1921. Her mother Anna Vasilievna Litvyak was a shop assistant, her father Vladimir Leontievich Litvyak (1892–1937) worked as a railwayman. With 14 years, Lydia became engaged in a flying club. At the age of 15, she already undertook her first independent flight. After graduating from the Kherson Aviation School of Pilot Instructors, Lydia worked at the Kalinin Aero Club, where she trained 45 pilots.

In October 1941, Lydia Litvyak was drafted into the Soviet Army by the Komintern RVK of Moscow. In 1942, she was enlisted in the 586th female Aviation Regiment and flew a Yak-1 fighter. In September 1942, she was transferred to the 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment (287th Fighter Aviation Division, 8th Air Army, Stalingrad Front).

On September 14, in her second sortie over Stalingrad, she shot down a Yu-88 bomber and a Me-109 fighter. It is believed that the pilot of the downed Me-109 was the German baron who won 70 air victories, the Knight’s Cross holder Lieutenant Hans Fuss.

Yakovlev Yak-1 fighter:

On September 27, in a group air battle she hit another Yu-88 from a distance of 30 metres. At this time, a white lily was painted on the hood of Lydia’s plane at her request, and she received the nickname «White Lily of Stalingrad». «Lily» also became her radio call sign.

Soon, she was transferred to the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, a team of aces in the Soviet Air Forces, created to assist the USSR in gaining air supremacy over the Luftwaffe. While serving in this regiment, at the end of December 1942, Lydia Litvyak destroyed a Do-217 bomber near her airfield. 

In one of the air battles Lydia Litvyak’s plane was shot down. She landed on the territory, which was occupied by the enemy. When German soldiers tried to take her prisoner, one of the Soviet attack pilots came to her aid: with a machine gun he forced the Germans to lie down and and took Lydia on board.

On the 17th of February 1943, Lydia Litvyak received her first combat award: the «Order of the Red Star». On the 22nd of March, she participated in the interception of a group of German bombers in the region of Rostov-on-Don.

Noticing six Me-109s, Lydia entered into an unequal battle with them, allowing her comrades to complete their combat mission. During this battle, she was seriously wounded but managed to bring her damaged aircraft down to the airfield. After medical treatment, she was sent home to recover. A week later, she was back in her regiment.

On the 5th of May 1943, she flew out to escort bombers, she shot down an enemy fighter during this battle and shot down another one, two days later. At the end of May, Lydia Litvyak shot down an enemy balloon. She went deep behind the enemy’s lines and then from the depths, going against the sun, she shot down the balloon. For this victory, she received the «Order of the Red Banner».

«Order of the Red Banner»:

Lydia Litvyak flew in a pair with her friend Ekaterina Budanova. Due to the aviation tactics of that era, fighters always flew in pairs – a leader and a follower.

Therefore the leader and the follower became the closest people at the front, the life of both depending on each other, on coherence, interaction and mutual understanding.

Ekaterina Budanova:

On the 15th of June 1943, Lydia Litvyak shot down a Yu-88. In this battle she was slightly wounded but refused to go to the hospital. On the 18th of July, Lydia Litvyak and her best friend Ekaterina Budanova were shot down by German fighter planes. Lydia Litvyak managed to jump out of her plane with a parachute, Ekaterina Budanova died.

In late July – early August 1943, heavy fighting was going on to break through the German defences at the turn of the Mius River, which closed the road to the Donbass. Fighting on the ground was accompanied by a stubborn struggle for air superiority. On the 1st of August 1943, Lydia Litvyak flew four sorties, during which she shot down two enemy aircraft. However, she never returned from the fourth flight.

In the post-war years, fellow soldiers continued to search for the missing pilot. Her body was found near the village of Dmitrovka, Shakhtersky district, in the Donetsk region. Her remains were discovered by local boys near the Kozhevnya farm. She got buried in the village of Dmitrovka as an «unknown pilot», on the 29th of July 1969.

In 1971, during search work carried out by the search team of the 1st school of the city of Krasny Luch, Lydia Litvyak’s identity was established. Her name was immortalized at the burial site, in July 1988.

In November 1988, by order of the USSR Deputy Minister of Defence, a change was made in paragraph 22 of the order of the Main Personnel Directorate of September 16, 1943, regarding Lydia Litvyak’s fate: “She went missing on August 1, 1943. It should be: She died, while performing a combat mission on August 1, 1943″.

On the 5th of May 1990, the President of the USSR signed a decree, awarding Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak posthumously the title «Hero of the Soviet Union». The medal «Gold Star» No. 11616 was given to the relatives of the deceased heroine.

Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov once noted:
«Everything happens by Divine Providence. If a leaf is turned over by a breeze, it is only because this has been specifically ordained by God to serve a particular function within the purpose of creation.»

The fact that Lydia stemmed from a Jewish family, makes her a heroine of World War II for the entire worldwide Jewish community, which suffered enormous losses under Hitler’s regime.

Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698 –1760):

The Jewish media J-Wire commerorated Lydia Litvyak’s death:

«On Aug. 1, 1943 (29 Tammuz 5703), during the throes of World War II, a Jewish fighter pilot was shot down over Ukraine. Lydia Litvyak was Russia’s—and the world’s—first female fighter ace. The date of her death corresponds to the Hebrew calendar date of 29 Tammuz 5703. She was born to a Jewish family in Moscow? on August 18, 1921.»

«In her brief career, Lydia was a menace to Nazi pilots, taking on Nazi fighter aircraft and bombers. She alone shot down 11 Nazi planes and is credited with three more kills, shared with other pilots. Jews in the Soviet Union played a significant role in World War II. Some 500,000 served during the war, and as many as 120,000 were killed in action.»

«The Soviet Union lost approximately 20 million people in World War II, among them some eight million in the Soviet Army, Navy and Air Force, and two million Jews killed in the Holocaust. Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Centre in Israel, has a special page devoted to Jews in the Red Army. Lydia, however, is not included on their web page, although many others are there» (J-Wire).

In the Accidental Talmudist she was also celebrated:

«Lydia had a rebellious character and loved to do flashy airplane acrobatics, which infuriated her commander. She was a feminine woman, who kept her blonde hair perfectly dyed, despite the privations of war. She loved flowers and carried fresh bouquets with her in the cockpit. Lydia was known as the White Lily of Stalingrad.”

«On August 1, 1943, Lydia left on a solo mission over southeastern Ukraine and never returned. She was shot down by German bombers. Lydia was only 21 years old.»

«For being the living embodiment of girl power, we honour Lydia Litvyak as this week’s Thursday Hero at Accidental Talmudist.»

Olivia Kroth: The journalist and author of four books lives in Russia.

Her blog:

https://olivia2010kroth.wordpress.com

Алла Иошпе и Стахан Рахимов, «Послевоенное танго» – Alla Yoshpe and Stakhan Rakhimov, «Postwar Tango»: