Biography. The blue line turned red

24.10.1919 - 29.11.2005
Hero of the Soviet Union

Polina Vladimirovna Gelman – chief of communications of the air squadron of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (325th Night Bomber Aviation Division, 4th Air Army, 2nd Belorussian Front), guard senior lieutenant.
She was born on October 24, 1919 in the district town of Berdichev, Kyiv province (now the regional center of the Zhitomir region, Ukraine). Jewish. Since 1920 she lived in the city of Gomel (now the regional center of Belarus). In 1938 she graduated from 10th grade school and the Gomel Glider School.
In 1941 she graduated from the 3rd year of the history department of Moscow State University. She combined her studies at Moscow State University with work as a pioneer leader at school No. 103 in Moscow.
In October 1941, she voluntarily joined the emerging air unit under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union, Major. In February 1942, she graduated from the navigator course at the Engels Military Aviation School of Pilots. On May 27, 1942, as part of the 588th night light bomber aviation regiment, she left for the front.
Participant in the Great Patriotic War: in May 1942 - May 1945 - gunner-bomber and communications chief of the 588th air squadron (from February 1943 - 46th Guards) night bomber aviation regiment. She fought on the Southern (May - July 1942) and North Caucasian (July - September 1942) fronts, as part of the Northern Group of Forces of the Transcaucasian Front (September 1942 - January 1943), on the North Caucasian Front (January - November 1943), as part of Separate Primorsky Army (November 1943 - April 1944), on the 4th Ukrainian (April - May 1944) and 2nd Belorussian (May 1944 - May 1945) fronts.
She took part in the battle for the Caucasus, the liberation of Kuban, the Kerch-Eltigen, Crimean, Mogilev, Bialystok, Osovets, Mlavsko-Elbing, East Pomeranian and Berlin operations.
During the war, she made 857 combat missions on the U-2 (Po-2) bomber to strike enemy personnel and equipment.
For courage and heroism shown in battles with the Nazi invaders, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 15, 1946, Guards Senior Lieutenant Gelman Polina Vladimirovna awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
After the war, until October 1945, she continued to serve in the Air Force as the communications chief of the air squadron of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (in the Northern Group of Forces; Poland).
In 1951 she graduated from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages. From October 1951 to April 1953, she served as an assistant to the head of the educational unit of the special faculty of accelerated training at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages, and from April 1953 to October 1956, she served as the head of the educational library of the military faculty at the Moscow Financial Institute. Since October 1956, Major P.V. Gelman has been retired.
From August 1959 to August 1962 she worked as a translator at the Central Komsomol School under the Komsomol Central Committee. From 1962 to 1990, she worked at the Institute of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU: as a translator of the Spanish language translation agency (1962–1964), teacher (1964–1969), senior lecturer (1969–1971) and associate professor (1971–1990) of the Department of Political Economy . She specialized in Latin American countries, in particular in Cuba, where she was on a scientific trip in 1965–1966.
Candidate of Economic Sciences (1970), Associate Professor (1973). She was awarded the Order of Lenin (05/15/1946), 2 Orders of the Red Banner (10/25/1943; 05/22/1945), 2 Orders of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (04/26/1944; 03/11/1985), 2 Orders of the Red Star (09/09/1942; 12/30/1945). 1956), medal “For Military Merit” (11/19/1951) and other medals.
In the city of Gomel, memorial plaques were installed on the building of the school where she studied and on the building of the regional DOSAAF organization.
Composition:
About battles, fires and friends and comrades... M., 1995.
Military ranks:
Sergeant (1942)
junior lieutenant (04/26/1943)
lieutenant (10/19/1943)
senior lieutenant (31.10.1944)
captain (08/28/1948)
major (04/25/1952)
reserve lieutenant colonel (04/27/2000)

Biography provided

She was born on October 24, 1919 in the city of Berdichev, now the Zhitomir region, in a working-class family. Since 1920 she lived in Gomel. Graduated from high school, 3rd year, Faculty of History, Moscow State University. In October 1941, she volunteered for the Red Army. In 1942 she graduated from navigator courses at the Engels Military Aviation Pilot School.

Since May 1942 in the active army. Participant in the defense of the Caucasus, the liberation of Kuban, the Taman Peninsula, Crimea, Belarus, Poland, and the defeat of the enemy in Germany.

By May 1945, the head of communications of the aviation squadron of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (325th Night Bomber Aviation Division, 4th Air Army, 2nd Belorussian Front) of the Guard, Senior Lieutenant P.V. Gelman, made 860 combat missions bombing of crossings, warehouses with ammunition and property, and airfields. She delivered food, ammunition, clothing, and medicine to paratroopers in the village of Eltigen (now within the city of Kerch, Crimean region). Caused significant damage to the enemy in manpower and military equipment. On May 15, 1946, for courage and military valor shown in battles with enemies, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In 1951 she graduated from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages. Since 1957, Guard Major P.V. Gelman has been retired. Since 1970 - Candidate of Economic Sciences. She worked at the Institute of Social Sciences under the CPSU Central Committee, Associate Professor of the Department of Political Economy. Lives in Moscow. Member of the Board of the Society of the USSR - Uruguay. She was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner (twice), the Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree (twice), the Red Star (twice), and medals.

Polina Gelman was born in the city of Gomel (Belarus), in a family of revolutionaries who took part in the Civil War. Polina does not remember her father: he died in the struggle for a new life. From her mother’s words, she knew that her father was a strong, strong-willed man, who least of all thought about himself, cared about the people around him, and gave his life for them. Mother - Elya Lvovna (1893 - 1976), a bookbinder at a printing house, raised her daughter alone. She managed to provide Polina with everything necessary for life, give her a good education and excellent upbringing.

For many years, Polina Vladimirovna’s reliable support in life was her husband, an officer of the Soviet Army, front-line soldier Vladimir Nikolaevich Kolosov (1921 - 1994). She married him while a student at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in 1948. Vladimir also studied at this educational institution. Daughter - Galina (born in 1949), graduated from the Faculty of History and graduate school at Moscow State University, works at the Financial Academy.

Polina Gelman spent her childhood and youth in Gomel, where she attended high school. Not content with the program, Polina went in for sports, mastered small arms, and passed the standards for the Voroshilov Shooter badge. In a word, she was preparing to defend the Motherland, as required by the situation at the end of the 1930s.

Best of the day

Polina was already in the 9th grade when the call “Youth, get on the planes!” was heard throughout the country. She didn't quite know what it meant, but the romance captivated her. Together with her best friend Galya Dokutovich, Polina went to the local flying club. She was accepted into the school of glider pilots, as well as into the parachutist circle. On August 25, 1937, Polina made her first parachute jump from an airplane. Soaring in the sky like a bird was romantic and exciting. She was happy.

Soon Gelman passed a theoretical course in aircraft navigation. Now there was one step left before independent flight. This is where the misfire occurred. She came to the flying club airfield, the instructor gave her final instructions, she could get into the car. Polina proudly sat down in the chair and... drowned in it: her legs couldn’t reach the pedals, she couldn’t see the instruments properly. The instructor looked at Polina with regret and said: “Get out, girl. There’s nothing for you to do here yet. Grow up if you can...”

Thus her plans collapsed. No matter how hard she tried to grow, she did not grow up. I had to part with aviation. In 1938, Polina entered the history department of Moscow State University, where she showed her best side and studied mostly excellently.

War broke out. On the same day, June 22, 1941, Komsomol students of Moscow State University at an extraordinary meeting declared themselves mobilized to fight the enemy. Everyone wanted to go to the front. Many guys succeeded. Girls at military registration and enlistment offices were refused, saying that war is not a woman’s business.

In October 1941, the Komsomol Central Committee announced the recruitment of girls into the newly created aviation units. Gelman managed to get her included in one of the regiments. The girls were sent to the Engels Military Pilot School. There they were trained in various aviation specialties. Polina became a navigator. Again I didn’t qualify as a pilot due to my short stature.

Gelman was enrolled in the U-2 night bomber regiment, which was later transformed into the famous 46th Guards. In May 1942, as part of this regiment, she flew to the front. Her combat journey began in the Caucasus near Mozdok and ended near Berlin.

The main weapon of the U-2 crew were bombs. The heavenly slug - its speed was just over 100 kilometers - almost silently flew up to the target at night and suddenly dropped a deadly load on the heads of sleeping enemies.

Polina got into all sorts of troubles when flying out on combat missions. As a rule, enemy targets were covered by dense anti-aircraft fire. Every flight is a duel with death. One hit and the wooden plane burst into flames. Over time, the crews learned to overcome the anti-aircraft screen and escape from the beams of searchlights. The latter were no less terrible than anti-aircraft guns. To fall into the rays of a spotlight means to be blinded and to lose orientation.

Once, it was near Novorossiysk on the Blue Line, Gelman went on a mission together with pilot Katya Piskareva. The plane has already approached the intended target. To make sure they weren't mistaken, Polina decided to throw a glow bomb. But to do this, it was first necessary to remove the fuse from the fuse. I took it off. She took the bomb in her hands, but could not throw it: the stabilizer got tangled in the strap of the leggings that hung around her neck. Polina took the leggings to warm her hands after working with metal.

At that moment, their plane was caught by searchlights. Immediately the anti-aircraft guns opened furious fire. An urgent decision had to be made: the navigator had only 10 seconds left, the fuse mechanism had already been activated.

With desperate efforts, Polina tore the strap from her neck and literally at the last second threw the bomb along with her leggings overboard. And only now did Piskareva begin to issue commands: “left”, “right”... The plane escaped from the shelling and, having successfully bombed, returned to its airfield.

Once such an incident occurred in Crimea, after the enemy had already been driven out of the Kerch Peninsula. The regiment was relocated to another area, closer to the place of hostilities. Pilot Rae Aronova and navigator Polina Gelman were tasked with finding a site for a field airfield. They took off. We circled over the area and found a flat place to the west of Kerch, covered with green grass. “This is what we need,” the girls decided and, without getting a good look at the site, they went to land. But as soon as the wheels touched the surface, splashes of water flew in all directions - this turned out to be a swampy place. Raya "gave full throttle." However, the plane's speed did not increase, and it could not get off the ground. It was necessary to lighten the car. But at what expense? There was no extra cargo on board. There is only one way out - the navigator gets out. Polina suggested this option to Raya. She rejected him at first, and then agreed.

“I get out of the cockpit onto the ground,” recalls Polina, “I run next to the fuselage. When the plane began to lift off from the ground, I grabbed the strut between the planes and climbed onto the lower plane, then on the fly with the help of struts, braces and steps of the ladder "I got to the side of the cabin. I fell into the cabin upside down. It was a funny incident, but for me it almost ended sadly."

Most eloquently about the exploits of Polina Vladimirovna is the award sheet signed in May 1945, two days after the end of the war, by the commander of the 46th Guards Aviation Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel E. D. Bershanskaya and the commander of the 4th Air Army, General K. A. Vershinin:

"Comrade Gelman P.V. has been on the front of the fight against the German invaders since May 1942. From an ordinary gunner - bombardier, she rose to the head of squadron communications. During the period of hostilities, she personally carried out 860 combat missions as a navigator on a Po-2 aircraft with 1058 combat raids hours. She dropped 113 tons of bombs, destroying enemy troops. Great damage was inflicted on the enemy."

Polina Gelman finished the war with the rank of Senior Lieutenant.

Also in 1945, she entered the Military Institute of Foreign Languages. Hardworking and thoughtful, Polina tried to master every topic thoroughly. She was distinguished by her extraordinary responsiveness and was always ready to help a friend. Her rare modesty was especially striking. No one had ever heard her even hintingly boast about her military achievements. It’s as if she wasn’t a heroine and didn’t fight at the front.

Gelman graduated from the Institute successfully, having mastered the Spanish language perfectly and French quite well.

In 1957, she retired to the reserve with the rank of Major and took up her favorite activity - social sciences. Polina went to work at the Institute of Social Sciences as a teacher of political economy. She gave lectures in Spanish for listeners who came from Latin America and Spain. In 1970 she defended her dissertation, receiving the degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences. In 1973 she became an assistant professor at the Department of Political Economy. She served in this capacity until her retirement in 1990.

Retired

teacher, researcher

Polina Vladimirovna Gelman(October 24 - November 29) - communications chief of the aviation squadron of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment of the 325th Night Bomber Aviation Division of the 4th Air Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, Guard Senior Lieutenant. Flew 860 combat missions. Hero of the Soviet Union.

Biography

She graduated from school in Gomel and 3 years of the history department of Moscow State University.

Awards

Medal "Gold Star" (No. 8962).
Order of Lenin (awarded May 15, 1946).
Order of the Red Banner (twice awarded on October 25, 1943 and May 25, 1945).
Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (twice awarded on April 26, 1944 and April 6, 1985).
Order of the Red Star (twice awarded on September 9, 1942 and December 30, 1956).
Medals.

Family

Polina Vladimirovna Gelman's parents were revolutionaries. Her mother, Elya Lvovna Gelman (1893-1976), a member of the CPSU since March 1917, is also buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery, their memorial plaques are located nearby. Polina Vladimirovna did not remember her father, but from her mother’s words she knew about him as “a strong, strong-willed man who thought least of himself, cared about the people around him, and gave his life for them.”

While studying at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages, Polina Vladimirovna met her future husband, Soviet Army officer, front-line soldier Vladimir Nikolaevich Kolosov (1921-1994), buried at Vostryakovsky cemetery. They married in 1948.

On May 21, 1949, their daughter was born, Galina Vladimirovna Kolosova. Galina graduated from the Faculty of History of Moscow State University and works at the Financial Academy.

On May 29, 1982, Polina Vladimirovna’s grandson, Nikolai Vladimirovich Kolosov, was born. Nikolai is a lawyer, retired from public service in 2009 with the rank of 3rd class State Civil Service adviser, and now works in his specialty.

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Literature

Polina Vladimirovna Gelman // Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium I. N. Shkadov. - M.: Voenizdat, 1987. - T. 1 /Abaev - Lyubichev/. - P. 317. - 911 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN ex., Reg. No. in RKP 87-95382.
Aronova R.// Heroines: essays about women - Heroes of the Soviet Union / ed.-comp. L. F. Toropov; preface E. Kononenko. - Vol. 1. - M.: Politizdat, 1969. - 447 p.

An excerpt characterizing Gelman, Polina Vladimirovna

M lle Georges, with bare, dimpled, thick arms, wearing a red shawl worn over one shoulder, walked out into the empty space left for her between the chairs and stopped in an unnatural pose. An enthusiastic whisper was heard. M lle Georges looked sternly and gloomily at the audience and began to speak some poems in French, which dealt with her criminal love for her son. In some places she raised her voice, in others she whispered, raising her head solemnly, in others she stopped and wheezed, rolling her eyes.
- Adorable, divin, delicieux! [Delightful, divine, wonderful!] - was heard from all sides. Natasha looked at fat Georges, but did not hear anything, did not see and did not understand anything of what was happening in front of her; she only felt again completely irrevocably in that strange, crazy world, so far from the previous one, in that world in which it was impossible to know what was good, what was bad, what was reasonable and what was crazy. Anatole was sitting behind her, and she, feeling his closeness, fearfully waited for something.
After the first monologue, the whole company stood up and surrounded m lle Georges, expressing their delight to her.
- How good she is! - Natasha said to her father, who, along with others, stood up and moved through the crowd towards the actress.
“I don’t find it, looking at you,” said Anatole, following Natasha. He said this at a time when she alone could hear him. “You are lovely... from the moment I saw you, I haven’t stopped....”
“Come on, let’s go, Natasha,” said the count, returning for his daughter. - How good!
Natasha, without saying anything, walked up to her father and looked at him with questioning, surprised eyes.
After several receptions of recitation, M lle Georges left and Countess Bezukhaya asked for company in the hall.
The Count wanted to leave, but Helen begged him not to ruin her impromptu ball. The Rostovs remained. Anatole invited Natasha to a waltz and during the waltz he, shaking her waist and hand, told her that she was ravissante [charming] and that he loved her. During the eco-session, which she again danced with Kuragin, when they were left alone, Anatole did not say anything to her and only looked at her. Natasha was in doubt whether she had seen what he said to her during the waltz in a dream. At the end of the first figure he shook her hand again. Natasha raised her frightened eyes to him, but there was such a self-confidently tender expression in his affectionate gaze and smile that she could not look at him and say what she had to say to him. She lowered her eyes.
“Don’t tell me such things, I’m engaged and love someone else,” she said quickly... “She looked at him. Anatole was not embarrassed or upset by what she said.
- Don't tell me about this. What do I care? - he said. “I’m saying that I’m madly, madly in love with you.” Is it my fault that you are amazing? Let's start.
Natasha, animated and anxious, looked around her with wide, frightened eyes and seemed more cheerful than usual. She remembered almost nothing of what happened that evening. They danced the Ecossaise and Gros Vater, her father invited her to leave, she asked to stay. Wherever she was, no matter who she spoke to, she felt his gaze on her. Then she remembered that she asked her father for permission to go to the dressing room to straighten her dress, that Helen followed her, told her laughing about her brother’s love, and that in the small sofa room she again met Anatole, that Helen disappeared somewhere, they were left alone and Anatole, Taking her hand, he said in a gentle voice:
- I can’t go to you, but will I really never see you? I love you madly. Really never?...” and he, blocking her path, brought his face closer to hers.
His brilliant, large, masculine eyes were so close to her eyes that she saw nothing but these eyes.
- Natalie?! – his voice whispered questioningly, and someone painfully squeezed her hands.
- Natalie?!
“I don’t understand anything, I have nothing to say,” said her look.
Hot lips pressed against hers and at that very moment she felt free again, and the noise of Helen’s steps and dress was heard in the room. Natasha looked back at Helen, then, red and trembling, looked at him with frightened questioning and went to the door.
“Un mot, un seul, au nom de Dieu, [One word, only one, for God’s sake,” said Anatole.
She stopped. She really needed him to say this word, which would explain to her what had happened and to which she would answer him.
“Nathalie, un mot, un seul,” he kept repeating, apparently not knowing what to say, and he repeated it until Helen approached them.
Helen and Natasha went out into the living room again. Without staying for dinner, the Rostovs left.
Returning home, Natasha did not sleep all night: she was tormented by the insoluble question of who she loved, Anatole or Prince Andrei. She loved Prince Andrei - she remembered clearly how much she loved him. But she loved Anatole too, that was certain. “Otherwise, how could all this have happened?” she thought. “If after that, when I said goodbye to him, I could answer his smile with a smile, if I could allow this to happen, then it means that I fell in love with him from the first minute. This means that he is kind, noble and beautiful, and it was impossible not to love him. What should I do when I love him and love another? she told herself, not finding answers to these terrible questions.

The morning came with its worries and bustle. Everyone stood up, moved around, started talking, the milliners came again, Marya Dmitrievna came out again and called for tea. Natasha, with wide eyes, as if she wanted to intercept every glance directed at her, looked around restlessly at everyone and tried to seem the same as she had always been.
After breakfast, Marya Dmitrievna (this was her best time), sitting down in her chair, called Natasha and the old count to her.
“Well, my friends, now I’ve thought about the whole matter and here’s my advice to you,” she began. – Yesterday, as you know, I was with Prince Nikolai; Well, I talked to him... He decided to shout. You can't shout me down! I sang everything to him!
- What is he? - asked the count.
- What is he? madman... doesn’t want to hear; Well, what can I say, and so we tormented the poor girl,” said Marya Dmitrievna. “And my advice to you is to finish things off and go home to Otradnoye... and wait there...
- Oh, no! – Natasha screamed.
“No, let’s go,” said Marya Dmitrievna. - And wait there. “If the groom comes here now, there won’t be a quarrel, but here he will talk everything over alone with the old man and then come to you.”
Ilya Andreich approved this proposal, immediately understanding its reasonableness. If the old man relents, then all the better it will be to come to him in Moscow or Bald Mountains, later; if not, then it will be possible to get married against his will only in Otradnoye.
“And the true truth,” he said. “I regret that I went to him and took her,” said the old count.
- No, why regret it? Having been here, it was impossible not to pay respects. Well, if he doesn’t want to, that’s his business,” said Marya Dmitrievna, looking for something in her reticule. - Yes, and the dowry is ready, what else do you have to wait for? and what’s not ready, I’ll send it to you. Although I feel sorry for you, it’s better to go with God. “Having found what she was looking for in the reticule, she handed it to Natasha. It was a letter from Princess Marya. - He writes to you. How she suffers, poor thing! She is afraid that you will think that she does not love you.
“Yes, she doesn’t love me,” said Natasha.
“Nonsense, don’t talk,” Marya Dmitrievna shouted.
- I won’t trust anyone; “I know that he doesn’t love me,” Natasha said boldly, taking the letter, and her face expressed dry and angry determination, which made Marya Dmitrievna look at her more closely and frown.
“Don’t answer like that, mother,” she said. – What I say is true. Write an answer.
Natasha did not answer and went to her room to read Princess Marya’s letter.
Princess Marya wrote that she was in despair over the misunderstanding that had occurred between them. Whatever her father’s feelings, Princess Marya wrote, she asked Natasha to believe that she could not help but love her as the one chosen by her brother, for whose happiness she was ready to sacrifice everything.
“However,” she wrote, “don’t think that my father was ill-disposed towards you. He is a sick and old man who needs to be excused; but he is kind, generous and will love the one who will make his son happy.” Princess Marya further asked that Natasha set a time when she could see her again.
After reading the letter, Natasha sat down at the desk to write a response: “Chere princesse,” [Dear princess], she wrote quickly, mechanically and stopped. “What could she write next after everything that happened yesterday? Yes, yes, all this happened, and now everything is different,” she thought, sitting over the letter she had begun. “Should I refuse him? Is it really necessary? This is terrible!”... And in order not to think these terrible thoughts, she went to Sonya and together with her began to sort out the patterns.

Polina Gelman Career: Aviator
Birth: Ukraine, 10/24/1919
Guard Senior Lieutenant P.V. Gelman made 860 combat missions to bomb crossings, warehouses with ammunition and property, and airfields. She delivered food, ammunition, clothing, and medicine to paratroopers in the village of Eltigen (now within the city of Kerch, Crimean region). Caused significant damage to the enemy in manpower and military equipment. 0 year for courage and military valor shown in battles with enemies, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Since May 1942 in the active army. Participant in the defense of the Caucasus, the liberation of Kuban, the Taman Peninsula, Crimea, Belarus, Poland, and the defeat of the enemy in Germany.

By May 1945, the communications boss of the aviation squadron of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (325th Night Bomber Aviation Division, 4th Air Armed Forces, 2nd Belorussian Front) of the Guard, Senior Lieutenant P.V. Gelman, had completed 860 combat missions to bomb crossings, warehouses with ammunition and property, and airfields. She delivered food, ammunition, clothing, and medicine to paratroopers in the village of Eltigen (now within the city of Kerch, Crimean region). Inflicted significant damage to the enemy in active strength and military equipment. On May 15, 1946, for courage and military valor shown in battles with enemies, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Polina Gelman was born in the city of Gomel (Belarus), in a family of revolutionaries who took part in the Civil War. Polina does not remember her father: he died in the struggle for a new existence. From her mother’s words, she knew that her dad was a strong, strong-willed man, who least of all thought about himself, cared about the people around him, and gave his existence for them. Mother - Elya Lvovna (1893 - 1976), a bookbinder at a printing house, raised her daughter alone. She managed to provide Polina with everything necessary for life, give her a good education and excellent upbringing.

Polina was already in the 9th grade when the call “Youth, get on the planes!” was heard throughout the country. She didn't fully understand what it meant, but the romance captivated her. Together with her best friend Galya Dokutovich, Polina went to the local flying club. She was accepted into the school of glider pilots, and also into the circle of paratroopers. On August 25, 1937, Polina made the initial parachute jump from an airplane. Soaring in the sky like a bird was romantic and exciting. She was happy.

Soon Gelman passed the theoretical vector of movement in aircraft navigation. Now there was only one step left before independent flight. This is where the misfire occurred. She came to the Aero Club air terminal, the instructor gave her final instructions, and she was allowed to get into the car. Polina proudly sat down in the chair and... drowned in it: her legs couldn’t reach the pedals, she couldn’t see the instruments properly. The instructor looked at Polina with regret and said: “Get out, girl. There’s nothing for you to do here yet. Grow up if you can...”

Thus her plans collapsed. No matter how hard she tried to grow up, she did not grow up. I had to part ways with aviation. In 1938, Polina entered the history department of Moscow State University, where she showed her best side and studied mostly excellently.

The thunderclap rang out. On the same day, June 22, 1941, Komsomol students of Moscow State University at an extraordinary meeting declared themselves mobilized to fight the enemy. Everyone wanted to go to the front without fail. Many guys succeeded. Girls at the military registration and enlistment offices were refused, saying that battle was not a woman’s occupation.

In October 1941, the Komsomol Central Committee announced the recruitment of girls into the newly created aviation units. Gelman ensured that she was included in the only regiment. The girls were sent to the Engels Military Pilot School. There they were trained in various aviation specialties. Polina became a navigator. I didn’t qualify as a pilot again due to my short stature.

Gelman was enrolled in the U-2 night bomber regiment, which was later transformed into the famous 46th Guards. In May 1942, as part of this regiment, she flew to the front. Its combat route began in the Caucasus near Mozdok and ended near Berlin.

The main weapon of the U-2 crew were bombs. The celestial slug - its speed was barely more than 100 kilometers - almost silently flew up to the target at night and unexpectedly dropped a deadly load on the heads of sleeping enemies.

One day, it was near Novorossiysk on the Blue Line, Gelman went on an errand together with pilot Katya Piskareva. The plane has already approached the intended target. To make sure they weren't mistaken, Polina decided to throw a glow bomb. But to do this, first of all it was necessary to remove the fuse from the fuse. I took it off. She took the bomb in her hands, but could not throw it: the stabilizer got tangled in the strap of the leggings that hung around her neck. Polina took the leggings to warm her hands after working with metal.

At that very moment, their plane was caught by searchlights. Immediately the furious heat of anti-aircraft guns opened up. An urgent decision had to be made: the navigator had only 10 seconds left, the fuse assembly had already been activated.

With desperate efforts, Polina tore the strap from her neck and, almost at the last second, threw the bomb, along with her leggings, overboard. And only at the present moment did she begin to issue commands to Piskareva: “left”, “right”... The plane escaped from the shelling and, having successfully bombed, returned to its air terminal.

Once a similar incident occurred in Crimea, after which the enemy had already been driven out of the Kerch Peninsula. The regiment was relocated to another area, closer to the place of hostilities. Pilot Rae Aronova and navigator Polina Gelman were entrusted with finding a site for a field airfield. They took off. We circled over the area and found a flat location to the west of Kerch, covered with green grass. “This is what we need,” the girls decided and, without getting a good look at the site, they went to land. But as soon as the wheels touched the surface, splashes of water flew in all directions - this place turned out to be a swampy location. Raya "gave perfect gas." However, the aircraft's speed did not increase, and it could not leave the ground. It was necessary to lighten the car. But at what expense? There was no extra cargo on board. The only way out is for the navigator to get out. Polina suggested the same option to Raya. She initially rejected him, but later agreed.

“I get out of the cockpit onto the ground,” recalls Polina, “I run next to the fuselage. When the plane began to take off from the ground, I grabbed the strut between the planes and climbed onto the lower plane, then on the fly with the help of struts, braces and steps of the ladder "I got to the side of the cabin. I fell into the cabin upside down. It was a funny incident, but for me it almost ended sadly."

What speaks most eloquently about Polina Vladimirovna’s heroic deeds is the award sheet signed in May 1945, two days after the end of the war, by the commander of the 46th Guards Aviation Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel E.D. Bershanskaya and the commander of the 4th Air Army, General K.A. Vershinin:

“Comrade Gelman P.V. has been on the front of the fight against the German invaders since May 1942. From an ordinary gunner-bombardier, she rose to the head of squadron communications. During the period of combat operations, she personally carried out 860 combat missions as a navigator on a Po-2 aircraft with a combat raid 1058 hours. Dropped 113 tons of bombs, destroying enemy troops. Enormous damage was inflicted on the enemy."

Polina Gelman finished the war with the rank of Senior Lieutenant.

Also in 1945, she entered the Military Institute of Foreign Languages. Hardworking and thoughtful, Polina tried to master every topic thoroughly. She was distinguished by her extraordinary responsiveness; she was ready to help her comrade all the way. Her rare modesty was especially striking. No one has ever heard her even hint at bragging about her military achievements. It’s as if she wasn’t a heroine and didn’t fight at the front.

Gelman graduated from the Institute successfully, mastering the Spanish language perfectly and French quite well.

In 1957, she retired to the reserves with the rank of Major and took up her favorite activity - social sciences. Polina went to work at the Institute of Social Sciences as a teacher of political economy. She gave lectures in Spanish for listeners who came from Latin America and Spain. In 1970 she defended her dissertation, receiving the academic level of Candidate of Economic Sciences. In 1973 she became an assistant professor at the Department of Political Economy. She served in this capacity until her retirement in 1990.

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Guard Senior Lieutenant P.V. Gelman made 860 combat missions to bomb crossings, warehouses with ammunition and property, and airfields. She delivered food, ammunition, clothing, and medicine to paratroopers in the village of Eltigen (now within the city of Kerch, Crimean region). Caused significant damage to the enemy in manpower and military equipment. On May 15, 1946, for courage and military valor shown in battles with enemies, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Since May 1942 in the active army. Participant in the defense of the Caucasus, the liberation of Kuban, the Taman Peninsula, Crimea, Belarus, Poland, and the defeat of the enemy in Germany.

Gelman was enlisted in the U-2 night bomber regiment, and was subsequently promoted to

formed into the famous 46th Guards. In May 1942, as part of this regiment, she flew to the front. Her combat journey began in the Caucasus near Mozdok and ended near Berlin.

Polina Gelman finished the war with the rank of Senior Lieutenant.

Gelman graduated from the Institute successfully, having mastered the Spanish language perfectly and French quite well.

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