Polina Gelman

Polina Gelman
Native name	Поліна Володимирівна Гельман
Born	24 October 1919 Berdychiv,Ukraine
Died	25 November 2005(2005-11-25)(aged 86) Moscow,Russia
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Soviet Air Force
Years of service	1941–1957
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Unit	46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union

Polina Vladimirovna Gelman(Russian:Поли́на Влади́мировна Ге́льман,Ukrainian:Полі́на Володи́мирівна Ге́льман;24 October 1919 – 25 November 2005) was a flight navigator in the all-female 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment who was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1946 for having totaled 857 sorties duringWorld War II.

Early life

Born to a working-classJewishfamily from theUkrainiancity ofBerdychivin 1919, after the death of her father she lived inGomel,Belarus with her mother. In 1938 she completed her tenth grade of school and graduated from the Gomel glider school. Admitted to the history department ofMoscow State University,she attended some classes at the school before the war cut short her schooling.

World War II

A history major at MSU at the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Gelman was recruited byMarina Raskovato join the newly formed women's aviation group. Following training at Engels Military Aviation School, she was deployed to theSouthern Frontin May 1942 with the women's588th Night Bomber Regiment,later redesignated as the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment in 1943. Starting in September 1943, she began flying as navigator forRaisa Aronova,who also went on to become a Hero of the Soviet Union. By the end of the war she reached the rank of senior lieutenant and totaled 857 combat sorties, dropping 113 tonnes of bombs, having participated in bombing campaigns in the North Caucasus, Stavropol, Kuban, Novorossiysk, Crimea, Kuban, Kerch, Belorussia, Poland, and Germany across theSouthern,Transcaucasus,North Caucasus,4th Ukrainian,and2nd Belarusianfronts. The day after the end of the war she was nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union, which was awarded to her over a year later on 15 May 1946.

Postwar

Continuing her career as a professional military officer, she was sent for instruction as a military translator, graduating from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in 1951.

Gelman settled inMoscowfollowing her retirement from active service as amajorin 1957, and worked at the Institute of Social Sciences teachingpolitical economyas a college instructor until retiring in 1990. She attained the rank oflieutenant colonelin the reserves. A member of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Unionsince 1942, she was sent as an advisor and translator toCuba.She died in Moscow on 25 November 2005 and was buried in theNovodevichy Cemetery.

Honours and awards

• Hero of the Soviet Union(15 May 1946)
• Order of Lenin(15 May 1946)
• TwoOrders of the Red Banner(25 October 1943 and 22 May 1945)
• TwoOrders of the Patriotic War1st class (26 April 1944 and 11 March 1985)
• TwoOrders of the Red Star(9 September 1945 and 30 December 1956)
• Medal "For Battle Merit"(19 November 1951)
• campaign and jubilee medals

See also

• 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment
• List of female Heroes of the Soviet Union
• List of Jewish Heroes of the Soviet Union
• Polikarpov Po-2

References

Bibliography

• Simonov, Andrey;Chudinova, Svetlana (2017).Женщины - Герои Советского Союза и России.Moscow: Russian Knights Foundation and Museum of Technology Vadim Zadorozhny.ISBN9785990960701.OCLC1019634607.
• Cottam, Kazimiera (1998).Women in War and Resistance: Selected Biographies of Soviet Women Soldiers.Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co.ISBN1585101605.OCLC228063546.