Customer Reviews

Heroines of the Soviet Union 1941-45 (Elite)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Quality can be expected from Osprey, which is why I was eager to receive this book from Amazon. It is about women combatants of the Great Patriotic War (WWll) who received the most prestigious title "Hero of the Soviet Union" (HSU). Note, that while over a million women fought and many were otherwise decorated, only about 100 were awarded the Gold Star of the HSU. This slim, 64-pg volume features a few examples from each of these categories: fighter-pilots, bomber aircrew, medics, machine gunners, snipers, scouts, tankists, partisans, and political officers. There are other books, such as "Women in War and Resistance", which provide greater in-depth information. But what sets this book apart, as with all Osprey publications, are the illustrations. On every glossy page are wonderful, rare photographs. And in the center are eight full-color plates of exquisitely detailed paintings by Christa Hook. Unexpectedly, the text contains numerous errors. Granted, most of these would be apparent only to readers familiar with the works of Kazimiera Cottam, Anne Noggle, and Reina Pennington. But one gaffe which is absolutely appalling, considering Osprey's reputation for historical excellency, jumps right off the first page: "[Stalin] wanted to showcase the advancement of women... His wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, headed the women's section of the Communist Party." Yikes! Krupskaya was, of course, the wife of Lenin, and outspokenly critical of her husband's successor. Stalin's hatred for her was mutual, to the point where he once suggested ominously that a more compliant widow might be "appointed for Comrade Lenin"! Moreover, Stalin contemptuously regarded women "like herring, only with ideas." Most importantly, though, the erronious text diminishes the extraordinary efforts of Marina Raskova to convince Stalin to allow the formation of her famous female aviation regiments. Normally, such inaccuracies would cost a book a review star. But the author, Henry Sakaida, earns the full five, just for being a hero in his own right! Mr. Sakaida, a collector of Soviet medals, has a superb (and highly recommended) website. Therein are the touching accounts of how he acquired and hand-returned -- to far away Uzbekistan and Buryatia Siberia! -- stolen Gold Stars to the families of two deceased HSUs. The author has taken a Russian language course because of his interest in his topic. He has journied to Ukraine expressly to visit HSU dive-bomber pilot Mariya Dolina, and to present flowers at the museum and monument to fighter-ACE Lilya Litvyak. And he has attended the annual May Day (veterans' day) celebration in Kiev. All these stories and photos are on his website, where his smile shows his pleasure at meeting the heroes of his book.

A wonderfully written and illustrated book about a heroic and under appreciated chapter of history. Author Henry Sakaida takes great pains in getting the stories correct, including vists with some of these Heroines and their equally heroic families. The artwork by Christa Hook is perfect! Happy to say I own the original work of Ace pilot Lilya Litvak! It's a brilliant little book, long overdue. Give it your attention please, it deserves it.

I did enjoy reading 'Heroines of the Soviet Union' and found it both very interesting and informative. The one thing that detracted from the overall good quality of the book was the poor quality of many of the photos in it. That is however excusable to a point, considering the low quality of most pictures taken by the Soviets during WWII. Maybe a research through German archives could have yielded better pictures, especially of those brave but unfortunate Soviet women and girls executed by the Germans. Still, I found the book a worthy buy.

I know the books of Sakaida and I know the subject of the Heroines of Ussr. As an author that wrote a book in Italian about the "Night Witches", I can assure You that this book is well done and originally researched. If someone thinks that Sakaida wrote this book - like many "historians" do, who never visited the battelfields and never met the veterans - is absoluterly wrong. There are several pictures of Sakaida with Masha Dolina, pilot of the 125 GvBAP, Hero of Soviet Union, of the Monument to Lydia Litvyak in front of the School n° 1 in Krasnyi Luch, in Ukraine. Sakaida was in Ukraine and visited, for instance, the supposed crash site of the Yak-1 of Lydia Litvyak near Dmitryevka.
I appreciated so much and quoted this book in mine, and I can advice it as a very good introductive book to the subject of Soviet Heroines. The only small defect that could be found is the same that all the English-written books about this subject have: to rely mostly on Soviet sources, while I discovered with my intensive research on German sources, for instance, that many of the successes credited to the Soviet Airwomen have never been achieved. Or that some Heroes that reportedly fell for accidents, were - actually - shot down by ordinary German fighter pilots, like the boyfriend of Lydia Litvyak that shot down many less aircraft than so far are credited to her. Go on, Henry, good job!

Excellent information, layed out in a very nice format.
Very recomended if this subject intrests you.

This book is a companion piece to author Henry Sakaida's Osprey 'Elite' book on winners of the Hero of the Soviet Union medal. In this interesting, well-written and well-illustrated book, Sakaida details the exploits of some of the 92 women awarded the HSU medal during the Great Patriotic War.

The Soviet Union was the only WWII combatant nation to use women in combat roles, their duties ranging from frontline medic to fighter pilot to sniper. Women also served in partisan groups. Sakaida describes the exploits of 27 HSU winners, dividing them into categories such as "Aircrew," "Field Medics," "Machine Gunners," "Snipers," "Resistance Fighters" and so on. Several were well-known such as fighter ace Lydia Litvyak and partisan hero Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya; most are unknown outside the Soviet Union.

Sakaida's book is an excellent introduction to a fairly unknown part of World War II history. As demonstrated in the book, Soviet women were just as brave and resourceful in battling the hated Nazis as their male counterparts.

While the stories are compelling I have the same reservation regarding the historical accuracy of those exploits as I did with the other HSU Osprey volume. Given Stalin's track record on truthfulness I am not convinced that what was reported in official government sources was, in fact, a true account of what these very brave women did.

So, read and enjoy the book but take it with a grain of salt.