Egorova, Anna Alexandrovna

Childhood

She was born on September 23, 1916 in the village of Volodovo (now a village in the Kuvshinovsky district of the Tver region ) in a peasant family. There were 8 children in the family (and another 8 died in childhood). Father - Alexander Egorov (1876-1925), a peasant. Due to a lack of funds, he was forced to earn extra money, engaged in latrine fisheries (seasonal work). He participated in the First World War , fought in the civilian (on the side of the Soviet government). Participation in hostilities undermined his health, died in 1925 at the age of 49, and after that one mother raised children.

She graduated from 7 classes of an incomplete secondary school in the village of Nove, since then there was no school in Volodovo. In the prewar years, she worked at Metrostroy , graduated from the Metrostroy flying club in Maly Vyazemy , raising 26 Heroes of the Soviet Union. In 1938 she was sent to the Ulyanovsk school of pilots of Osoaviakhim , but after the arrest of her elder brother, Vasily was expelled as a relative of the “enemy of the people." I left for Smolensk , got a job at a flax mill , studied in a flying club. She got a referral to the school of pilots in Kherson , after which in 1939 she was an instructor at the Kalinin Aero Club.

Participation in the Great Patriotic War

At the beginning of the war, she was enlisted as a pilot in the 130th Separate Aviation Communications Squadron (UAE) of the Southern Front . On a plane, the U-2 (Po-2) made 236 sorties ^[3] (communications, reconnaissance, and search for surrounded units behind enemy lines). In February 1942 she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner .

In 1942, she achieved a transfer to attack aircraft . He fought as part of the 805th assault aviation regiment ( 230th assault aviation division 4th air army North Caucasian front , 197th assault air division 6th attack air corps 16th air army , 1st Belorussian front ) navigator regiment . Piloted IL-2 . She fought over the Taman Peninsula , Malaya Zemlya . For participating in the breakthrough of the Blue Line near Novorossiysk, she was presented to the second Order of the Red Banner.

She participated in the liberation of Poland . She was the only female pilot in the regiment; later, together with the gunner, Dusey Nazarkina, they made up the first female crew in attack aircraft. In total, during the Great Patriotic War, Anna Alexandrovna Egorova made 277 sorties .

Captive

On August 22, 1944, in an aerial battle over the Studzyanki, she was shot down and seriously injured. Burnt, unconscious was captured . Her air gunner, Evdokia Alekseevna Nazarkina, died and was presented posthumously to the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union. Timofeeva went through several concentration camps . In January 1945, she was freed by the tankers of the 5th shock army from the Kyustrinsky concentration camp "ZTs" , where she was kept in a separate, constantly guarded punishment cell. Through the efforts of prisoners of war, the party card and Yegorova’s awards were saved, and she herself was almost incapacitated. First, the medical officer Julia Krashchenko helped her to heal the wounds, who was captured during the battles at the Magnushevsky bridgehead near Studzyanki, which were supposed to help defend the attack aircraft of the 805th ShAP; in Sonneburg - a second-level military doctor Georgy Fedorovich Sinyakov , who was captured back in August 1941 near Kiev, and Pavle Trpinac, professor at the University of Belgrade . After being released from the camp, she was tested for 10 days during interrogations at the Smersh counterintelligence unit of the 32nd Rifle Corps of the 5th Strike Army. In her memoirs, Anna Egorova talked about those days. Every night she had to go up to the second floor for questioning by Major Fedorov, who shouted at her, demanding to admit, “where she took the orders and party membership card,” “why she surrendered”, and so on. Anna Egorova recalled: ^[4]

Every night I had to go upstairs. And there: “Stand! B ...! Stand! ”And I am falling. “How did you get to the Germans? Where did she get the orders from? ”They broke the awards ...

On the tenth day of such interrogations, Anna demanded to stop mocking her. It turned out that comrades in German captivity had been looking for her for a long time, but counterintelligence was in no hurry to let her go, because "it is very suspicious of such orders to save orders and, moreover, a party ticket." However, she was released and even offered to stay at the Smersha work, but she refused.

After the medical board, which did not allow her to fly, she returned to Moscow to Metrostroy . She married Vyacheslav Arsenievich Timofeev , the former commander of the 197th assault aviation division . In 1961, Anna Yegorova became the hero of the publication “Egorushka” in the Literary Newspaper , and in 1965, from the third presentation for the award, she was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, to whom she had already been represented during the war.

She became a member of the Council for interaction with public associations of veterans, reserve officers and retired under the President of the Russian Federation . In May 2006 she was awarded the honorary public title “National Hero” and awarded the order “For Honor and Valor” (All-Russian Prize “Russian National Olympus”). Member of the society "Knowledge" ^[5] . She died in Moscow on October 29, 2009. She was buried at Danilovsky cemetery ^[6] .

She was awarded the Order of Lenin , 2 Orders of the Red Banner , 2 Orders of the Patriotic War of 1 degree , the Polish Silver Cross and more than 20 medals.

Award sheet compiled by the command after reporting the death of the crew of Egorova:

Surname, name, patronymic - Egorova Anna Alexandrovna.
Rank and position - senior lieutenant, navigator of the 805th assault regiment.

Partisanship - member of the CPSU (b) since 1943.

Since when in the Red Army - since 1941.

Summary of combat feat or merit. It made 277 successful flights on Po-2 and Il-2 aircraft . Personally destroyed (a long list of tanks, guns, mortars, cars, barges , wagons with cargoes, enemy manpower ...).

Fearless pilot, in battle flew boldly and confidently. On the battlefield, she behaved courageously, heroically. As a navigator of the regiment, she was well-versed in any weather conditions and in various terrain.

For the heroic deeds shown in the battles to destroy enemy manpower and equipment, and the excellent fulfillment of command assignments on the fronts of the Patriotic War, for the skillful leadership of subordinates, for the ten combat missions performed as the leading lossless wingman, she deserves to be presented with the highest government award - Hero of the Soviet Union

• Timofeeva-Egorova A. A. Hold on, little sister! - M .: Military Publishing , 1983 .-- 176 p. - 100,000 copies.
• Timofeeva-Egorova A. A. I am Birch, how do you hear me? - M .: MBOF "Victory", 1999.
• Timofeeva-Egorova Anna. Sky, "attack aircraft", girl. “I am the Birch! How do you hear me? ... ” - M .: Yauza , Eksmo , 2007 .-- 368 p. - (War and we. Soldier diaries). - 4000 copies. - ISBN 5-7117-0074-X .

• Timofeeva (Egorova) Anna Alexandrovna // Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium I. N. Shkadov . - M .: Military Publishing , 1988. - T. 2 / Love - Yashchuk /. - S. 575. - 863 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-203-00536-2 .
• Krol T. Stars are looking for people // Heroes: essays on women - Heroes of the Soviet Union / ed. L. F. Toropov; foreword E. Kononenko . - Vol. 2. - M .: Politizdat , 1969 .-- 463 p.
• Timofeev V. A. Comrades pilots. - M .: Military publishing house of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR , 1963. (memoirs of her husband, commander of the 197 ShAD).
• Valery Denisov. Anti-aircraft guns hit the lead. - M .: Moscow Worker , 1974. - 136 p.
• Henry Sakaida. Heroines of the Soviet Union 1941-45, Osprey Publishing (2003), ISBN 1-84176-598-8 , 9781841765983, p. 20 (English)
• Anne Noggle. A Dance With Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II College Station, Texas A&M University Press, 1994

• Egorova, Anna Alexandrovna (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• Anna Alexandrovna Timofeeva (Egorova) on the site “ Corner of the sky ”
• “277 sorties by Anna Egorova” - Learn the article by user russos .
• Timofeeva-Egorova Anna Alexandrovna. "I am Birch, as you hear me . "