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Books

As deadly as the male: female Russian pilots of the second world war were femmes fatales in every sense

In a review of Defending the Motherland by Lyuba Vinogradova, Charlotte Hobson celebrates the courage and stamina of Stalin’s ‘night witches’

11 April 2015

9:00 AM

11 April 2015

9:00 AM

Defending the Motherland: The Soviet Women who Fought Hitler’s Aces Lyuba Vinogradova, translated from the Russian by Arch Tait

MacLehose Press, pp.352, £20, ISBN: 9780857051929

The name Lyuba Vinogradova may not ring any bells, but her ferrety eye for spotting a telling detail may already have impressed you. As Antony Beevor generously acknowledges in his introduction to this book, her work as his researcher in various archives played an important role in the creation of his triumphant Russian histories; she has also assisted Simon Sebag Montefiore and Max Hastings, among others.

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