Defending the Motherland: The Soviet Women Who Fought Hitler's Aces Paperback – Import, 7 April 2016

The book is readable and striking, it is still on my mind months after reading it! It ticks three important boxes to me, which are: it is a pleasure to read, it taught me something and it is written in a beautiful language.Admittedly I picked it up initially with some hesitation as I am no fan of horror stories, and one can easily see the potential for a book about war turning rather horrific. However, despite an obviously gloomy subject, the story is presented delicately and tastefully; sometimes I found myself smiling through tears but thankfully not suffocating with grief. I got to find out more about the war history in general, and more importantly developed a sense about those people on the ground fighting the battle of Stalingrad, what brought them there, what their daily routines were like - all from a simple human point of view. It turns out that even heroes at the midst of deaths and chaos sometimes get bored, fed up, fall in love and require a supply of flirty underwear!In retrospect, I have also found that this is a wonderful self-help book (bear with me). Whenever I feel tired, low, finding things too hard or life unfair - I only need to think back about those brave women, and suddenly all my struggles appear to be... a privilege, my life seems full of comfort and freedom in comparison to those who sacrificed their youths and lives, in order that we can live in peace.

An extraordinary book portraying a unique piece of aviation history that may be unfamiliar to some. The Soviet Women pilots were brave and tenacious and the book chronicles many detailed courageous episodes between 1941 and 1943. Defending the Motherland is valuable addition to my library and includes detailed maps and a very good collection of black and white photographs. Several pics show happy, smiling and quite beautiful girls - some in flying kit next to their aircraft - it’s so sad that many did not make it through the conflict. Well-written and highly recommended - especially for the aviator and Russian specialist.

An interesting account of the only female combat pilots in WW2, though it felt a little light on detail. I started to get invested in the stories of these brave women but the book stops abruptly in August 1943. What happened in the nearly 2 years left of the war?

Disturbing as much as thrilling, the dark side of Stalin's reign is evident as much as the courage and determination of both the subject female aviators and crews and their male comrades/competitors.

Had this book from library and wanted to keep a copy so bought it. We hear much less about the heroism of women in WW2 so this book I hope will be read by my grand-daughter and passed on.