Twice a year - on May 2 and November 8 - veterans of the legendary 46th Guards Regiment meet in the square near the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. They commemorate the names of their dead comrades and friends, including their dear and glorious Tatyana Makarova. Since 1960, Bolotnaya Street, where Tatyana Makarova, the Hero of the Soviet Union, lived, was renamed in her honor, but then everything was returned back. It was decided to name a street in a new district of Moscow after her. Some of her letters are still preserved in the archives of the Central Committee of the Komsomol.
Tatiana Makarova: biography
Tatyana was born in Moscow in 1920, on September 25, in the family of a simple employee. First, she graduated from the “seven-year plan” of secondary school No. 12, then in 1939 she studied at the technical school of the food industry. Makarova devoted all her free time to the flying club and soon began working as an instructor pilot.
The war broke out, and Tatyana joined the ranks of the Soviet army in the autumn of 1941. In 1942, this courageous girl continued her studies at the aviation school in the city of Engels. She becameparticipant in the battles for the Crimean Peninsula, the North Caucasus, Belarus and Poland.
Tatiana was the commander of the 46th Guards Bomber Regiment. On account of the guard lieutenant T. Makarova 628 sorties. She dropped 96 tons of bombs, destroyed 2 anti-aircraft points, 2 crossings, 2 ammunition depots. All this was vital to the Germans. She died with her friend Vera Belik.
Dream
Tatyana Makarova (her photo is presented in this article) dreamed of becoming a pilot since childhood. She loved to skydive, she was very attracted to the sky, and she really wanted to fly. Her father did not understand such unfeminine passions of his daughter. However, a strong and courageous girl at the age of 19 acquired a new profession for herself, became a civil aviation pilot, took up teaching practice and trained young cadets.
With the beginning of the war, the flying club was re-equipped into a military flight school, and Makarov was retrained as a military pilot. This profession was not easy, but the persistent and purposeful girl knew how to overcome difficulties.
Childhood of Tatyana Makarova
It should be noted that her childhood was far from cloudless. Tatyana Makarova's father was an invalid from the First World War and worked as a postman. He was often sick, and then my mother was engaged in delivering mail. Tatyana was very lively and active, for which her peers loved her.
Tatyana went to war without hesitation for a long time, and served in the 46th Aviation Regiment. world history is notknew analogs of the situation when the entire composition of the regiment consisted of only women. They flew sorties on light-winged U-2s. The division commissar called them "heavenly Amazons", they fought on an equal footing, and sometimes better than men. They "threw the gauntlet" to the men, and Tatiana was the initiator. She was an authority among her fighting girlfriends, she was trusted, flying with her was considered an honor. The Germans were afraid of them and called them "night witches".
Once they retreated to the foothills of the Caucasus, the death of their friends did not break the fighting spirit of the pilots, but only rallied them even more. At the village of Assinovskaya, an order was received to stand with the chest for Grozny and Ordzhonikidze. The Nazis were not supposed to get to the Soviet oil bases. There were a lot of night flights. The girls flew under the motto: "Die yourself, but help your comrade out!" The conditions were very difficult, the enemies were often blinded by searchlights.
Mutual assistance
Veteran of the regiment and Hero of the Soviet Union M. Chechneva recalled that once Tatyana's plane came under hurricane fire, it was not possible to escape from the blinding searchlights, but squadron commander S. Amosova came to the rescue. She picketed towards the searchlights and almost lost control, as she was thrown up hard. To the side, one of his own threw a light bomb, this distracted the Nazis for a minute, and all the pilots escaped safely. Such sharp and deadly moments they experienced several times in each battle.
Once Makarova, having knocked out all the targets, she herself received a direct hit, but was able to cope withmachine and save the crew. In September 1942, K. A. Vershinin, general of the 4th Air Army, awarded Tatyana the Order of the Red Banner of Battle, her other friends were also awarded this award.
In January 1943, their 588th Bomber Regiment was renamed the 46th Guards.
And then there was the liberation of Stavropol, Novorossiysk, Feodosia, Taman (by the way, for this the regiment was given the honorary name - Tamansky). Then the regiment moved to Belarus. The plain and swampy forests had almost no landmarks. Tatyana was already a flight commander, she had followers and students. She did not spare herself and made 8-9 sorties every night. In 1944, she was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner, then the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st class
Fate
On one of the sorties in Poland near the city of Ostrolenki on August 25, 1944, Tatyana and her navigator Vera Velik were returning after a successful bombardment. On the way back, they were suddenly overtaken and attacked by an enemy fighter. The plane of Tatyana Makarova caught fire, and then the pilots flew without parachutes (it would have been better for them to take an additional bomb load). Therefore, there was no chance to escape.
Her body rests in a mass grave in the city of Ostroleki (Poland). Posthumously, she received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In Moscow there is a museum of Tatiana Makarova at the address: 6th Radialnaya, house 10.
