Of course this game will have a flow chart, but here’s one I cooked up to think about the various procedural elements as I redesign the game’s card handling. It’s pretty helpful to lay this stuff out. I blame Daniel Solis.
I knew I wanted something to give a broad overview of the war as of November 1941, but I didn’t know Stalin had already done my work for me. Thanks, Stalin!
STALIN, via Radio Moscow: The dangerous threat to our country continues to increase. The enemy has seized a large part of the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Moldavia Lithuania, Latvia, Esthonia and a number of other regions, has forced his way into the Donetz Basin, hangs like a black cloud over Leningrad and is threatening our glorious capital, Moscow. The German-fascist invaders are destroying the towns and villages created by the labors of the workers, peasants and intellectuals. The Hitlerite hordes are murdering and outraging the peaceful inhabitants of our country, having no mercy on women, children or old people.
Streams of enemy blood have been spilt by the men and women of our Army and Navy, who are defending the honor and freedom of our Motherland, courageously beating off the attacks of the bestial enemy and displaying examples of valor and heroism. But the enemy stops at no sacrifice. He is straining all his efforts to capture Leningrad and Moscow before the advent of winter.
In four months of war we have lost 350,000 in killed, an equal number missing missing, and our wounded number one million. In the same period the Hitlerite bandits have in killed, wounded and prisoners lost more than four and a half million men.
All that, of course, is true. But it is likewise true that our army is suffering temporary reverses, and is obliged to surrender a number of regions of our country to the enemy. What are the reasons for the temporary military reverses of the Red Army?
One of the reasons is the absence of a second front in Europe against the German-fascist troops. The fact of the matter is that at the present time there are still no armies of Great Britain or the United States of America on the European continent to wage war against our shared enemy.
The other reason is our lack of an adequate materiel, particularly aircraft. Our aviation is superior in quality to that of the Germans, and our valiant pilots have covered themselves with glory as fearless fighters. But we still have fewer aircraft than the Germans.
Herein lies our present task. We must crush the military might of the German invaders, we must destroy, to the last man, the German forces of occupation who have intruded into our country for the purpose of enslaving it. (Long and prolonged applause)
Only when we have accomplished this task and routed the German invaders can we achieve a lasting and just peace.
For the complete rout of the German invaders! (Loud applause) For the liberation of all the oppressed peoples groaning under the yoke of Hitler’s tyranny! (Loud applause)
Long live the unshakable friendship of the peoples of the Soviet Union! (Loud applause)
Long live our Red Army and our Red Navy! (Loud applause)
Long live our glorious Motherland! (Loud applause)
Our cause is just—victory will be ours! (Loud applause. All rise. Shouts: “Cheers for the great Stalin!” “Long live Comrade Stalin!” Prolonged applause. The Internationale is sung.)
Today I will speak to you not as soldiers, but as women.
It is a well-known fact that the Soviet Union has achieved exceptional successes in drawing women into the active construction of the state. This generally accepted truth is not disputed even by our enemies. The Soviet woman is a full and equal citizen of her country.
We have justified the trust and concern shown to them by our state. We have shown a high degree of heroism during armed battle against the Nazi invaders. Equally worthy of mention are the enormous achievements of the Soviet peasant women, who bear on their shoulders the burden of agricultural labor while this war rages.
We have mastered professions that have long been considered the exclusive domain of men. There are women engine-drivers, women lathe operators, women pipe-fitters, well-qualified women workers in charge of the most complex mechanisms. You are living proof of this, sisters!
Since the treacherous invasion by Hitlerite aggressors, Soviet women are seeing with their own eyes the need to wage a tireless battle against the stain of fascism until every trace of it had been removed. Only this will spare the world the threat of new wars.
The struggle for democracy and lasting peace, the struggle against reaction and fascism, is the main task we face today. To cut women off from this basic and important task can only weaken the women’s democratic movement. Only the victory of democracy can ensure women equality!
We, the women of the Land of Soviets, are devoting all our energy to the fulfillment of the monumental tasks set before us by comrade Stalin, knowing that in so doing we are strengthening the bulwark of peace throughout the world – the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
In closing, let me remind you that we must also be on the alert for intrigues by the reactionaries and expose their plans and intentions, their attempts to divide the ranks of democracy. The unity of all the forces of democracy is our most reliable weapon in the struggle against reaction, in the struggle for freedom and peace throughout the world.
I’m such a dork! I went digging around and found an erratic scan of a 1937 Polikarpov technical manual. It’s a beautiful object and I hope that the layout and typography can influence Night Witches if/when it comes to fruition. I know The Mad Irishman is a huge Russian nut so signs point to yes.
Technical manual pages | A typical page
All this in lieu of actually finishing the game. That’s how I roll! One thing absorbing this manual has given me is perspective - for all the talk about how clumsy and simple the PO-2 is, any airplane is an incredibly complex machine. Keeping them flying in brutal weather and primitive conditions was a triumph in itself. Go, lady mechanics!
PILOT’S TECHNICAL BRIEFING
Listen up!
The Polikarpov PO-2 was designed twenty years ago as a sturdy utility aircraft. It is slow, stable, and tough as nails. A skilled pilot can put one down almost anywhere, including village streets and muddy wheat fields – remember this, because it can save your life. The PO-2 is a pilot’s plane - you literally cannot put this aircraft into a spin accidentally, and if you enter one by choice it will level out automatically if you release the stick. You can almost turn within your own wingspan, and the controls are very responsive.
The PO-2 can be repaired with simple tools when it needs to be repaired at all. The airframe is a lattice of wood and steel, with fabric-covered twin wings, and is agreeably easy to work with. PO-2’s serve as trainers, liaison aircraft, artillery spotters, air ambulances, crop dusters, and even loudspeaker-equipped “voices in the sky”. They also serve the Motherland as light bombers in the PO-2LNB configuration, which is what you will be flying from now on. Welcome to the 588th.
In addition to yourself and your navigator, your PO-2 is rated for a 200 kilo payload. Happily, our light weight as females allows us to increase this to 250 kilos. The aircraft can be loaded in a variety of configurations, but most of the time we will be dropping FAB-25 gravity bombs.
Your PO-2 is your home now, so treat it well. You will be in that seat from dusk until dawn every night, flying sorties from forward airbases less than ten kilometers from the front. With care, your plane will give you everything you ask of it, and more.
This is not a technical point, but it bears mentioning – we are the hope and pride of Soviet women everywhere. All eyes are on us, including those of Marina Roskova herself. You’ve been assigned aircraft by tail number. Dismissed.
NAVIGATOR’S TACTICAL BRIEFING
Our mission is harassment. Let the high-value targets go to our sisters in the 587th Day Bomber Regiment. We want to drop our bombs where they won’t be expected. We want them to fear us. It’s true that your job is to get your pilot to the target and home again, but it’s also to rein her in and keep her from trying to be a hero.
I’m not going to lie to you – these are good planes, but they are obsolete. You’ll have to work to get even 100 horsepower out of the Shvetsov M-11 engine, and it is deafening in flight, which makes surprise attacks somewhat challenging. You will not out-run or out-fight any plane in the German arsenal. We work around these difficulties. Some of these disadvantages we turn into strengths.
First, we fly at night. The PO-2 is small and not easily observed in the darkness, from the ground or from RADAR-equipped night fighters. Night flying is dangerous and stressful, and you will need to be accurate and efficient in your navigation. You won’t have enough fuel for mistakes, and your pilot will have her hands full keeping you in the air. And we fly slowly – by necessity, but this curse is also a blessing. We can’t even reach the stall speed of a Messerschmidt 109. At our best, we’re flying at 150 kilometers per hour, and they are too fast to catch us. The Germans can fly circles around us, but they can’t disappear into a fire break like we can, only meters off the ground.
The Shvetsov engine is loud, but that’s easily remedied – we turn them off and glide to the target. It takes some getting used to, but the silent approach sows fear and uncertainty. Do you know what they call us? Night Witches. Wear that name with pride, girls. Let them lose sleep listening for us. Let them die in terror. Let them view the wreckage we leave in our wake and say “the Night Witches have spoken”.
You’ve each been attached to a pilot; check your crew roster on the duty board. Good luck, girls. Dismissed.
