Red Sky, Black Death: A Soviet Woman Pilot's Memoir of the Eastern Front

Chronology

1917 Jul. 17, 1918 Sept. 23,1918 1918-21 1928-33 Chronology Tsar Nicholas II abdicates. The "Russian Revolution of 1917" begins. Bolsheviks seize power. Bolsheviks execute Tsar Nicholas II and his family. Yegorova is born in Volodovo, a village northwest of Moscow. Russian Civil War Stalin's First Five-Year Plan for rapid industrialization and collectivization of agriculture 1932-33 Height of Soviet famine, at its worst in Ukraine mid-1930s Yegorova works as a Moscow Metro construction worker and enters flight school. The first metro line opens in 1935. 1937 Yegorova is sent to Ulyanovsk Flying School (but is expelled in 1938). 1937-38 The "Great Purge" - Stalin's repression of perceived political enemies, including many high-ranking Red Army officers Aug. 23, 1939 German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact signed. Sept. 1, 1939 German forces invade Poland. Sept. 17, 1939 Soviet Union occupies eastern Poland. Nov. 30, 1939- "Winter War" between Finland and USSR Mar. 12, 1940 1939-41 Yegorova graduates from Kherson Flying School and becomes an instructor at the Kalinin Flying Club. Jun. 22, 1941 Operation Barbarossa: Hitler invades the Soviet Union. Summer,1941 Yegorova joins the 130th Air Liaison Squadron of tl1e Southern Front, flying delivery and reconnaissance missions in Polikarpov-2s ("U-2s" or "Po-2s"). Luftwaffe devastates Soviet Air Force in the first weeks. Germans overrun much of Belorussia, the Baltic States, and Ukraine. Sept. 8, 1941 Siege of Leningrad begins. xxviii Oct. 1941Jan . 1942 Dec. 7,1941 Dec. 11, 1941 1942 May Jun. 28 Jul. 28 Aug. 23 Early Nov. Nov. 22 1943 Jan. or Feb. Feb. 2 Mar. Apr.-May Jul.-Nov. Jul. 5 RED SKY, BLACK DEATH Battle of Moscow Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Hitler declares war on U.s.A. Second Battle of Kharkov: Russian offensive at Kharkov fails disastrously, resulting in encirclement of Soviet forces. A Messerschmitt sets Yegorova's plane on fire, forcing her down in the Kharkov sector. Operation Blau: German Army Group South launches summer offensive. (In July, Hitler orders the attack to be split into two simultaneous thrusts-one south toward the Caucasus and one eastward to Stalingrad.) Hitler issues Order 227: "Not A Step Backwards!" Germans advance to the Volga, just north of Stalingrad. During Yegorova's last mission in the U-2, she crashes in the Alagir region (Northern Caucasus) while under pursuit by Nazi figh ters. Red Army encircles more than 300,000 German troops at Stalingrad. Yegorova transfers to 805th Attack Aviation Regiment / 230th Attack Aviation Division /4th Air Army. Germans surrender at Stalingrad. Yegorova and the 805th join the Northern Caucasus Front at Taman. Height of the air war in the Kuban (Northern Caucasus); Yegorova's regiment flies many missions over the Taman and Kerch Peninsulas. Major Red Army advances in Northern Caucasus, Donbass, and Ukraine. Battle of Kursk begins. Sept. 16 Oct. 7 Nov. 6 1944 Jan. 27 May Mayor Jun. Jun. 6 Jul. Jul. 31 Aug. 1 Aug. 20 Aug. 25 1945 Jan. 17 Jan. 31 Feb. 4-11 Apr. 21 Apr. 25 Apr. 30 May 2 May7 May8 THE COLONEL'S COU RTSHIP xxix Red Army liberates Novorossisk ("Hero City" on the Black Sea). Taman Peninsula cleared of German troops. Russians retake Kiev. Leningrad blockade is broken. Russians liberate Sebastopol and clear Crimea of Germans. Yegorova's regiment joins 197th Attack Air Div. / 16th Air Army /1" Belorussian Front. D-Day: Western Allies invade Normandy. Russians liberate Maidanek concentration camp, near Lublin. (Yegorova tours the camp with a delegation from her regiment.) Red Army offensive reaches the Vistula, just south of Warsaw, and is stopped by fierce German resistance. Warsaw Uprising begins. Yegorova's Il-2 is shot down near Warsaw. Allies liberate Paris. Soviets capture Warsaw. Red Army liberates Kiistrin camp (where Yegorova is interned). Yalta Conference-meeting of the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin). Russians enter Berlin outskirts. Soviet troops meet Western Allied forces at Torgau, on the Elbe. Hitler commits suicide. Berlin capitulates to Soviet General Chuikov. Germany signs unconditional surrender. "V.E." Day xxx May9 Aug. 6 Aug. 8 Aug. 9 Sept. 2 RED SKY, BLACK DEATH "Victory Day" in the U.s.s.R. U.s.A. drops atom bomb on Hiroshima. U.s.s.R. declares war on Japan. U.s.A. drops atom bomb on Nagasaki. Japan signs surrender agreement. ...