“I FELT NO PITY”
“THESE WOMEN FOUGHT IN HORRENDOUS CONDITIONS ACROSS THE EASTERN FRONT AND MANY WERE KILLED, EITHER IN COMBAT OR IN GRUESOME CIRCUMSTANCES IF THEY WERE CAPTURED”
During WWII over 800,000 women served in the armed forces of the Soviet Union. Although most acted as medics or nurses, many also served as combatants. Their roles ranged from pilots, tank crew members and machine-gunners but female personnel were also formidable snipers. The most famous female sniper of the war, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, was credited with 309 kills in a relatively short period between August 1941-June 1942. This included 36 enemy snipers and her total tally made her one of the deadliest snipers in military history. As Pavlichenko explained, “We mowed down Hitlerites like ripe grain.”
Because of the success of individual sharpshooters like Pavlichenko, women were officially approved to be trained as snipers in December 1942. From May 1943 recruits were trained at what eventually became known as the Central Women’s Sniper School.
By the end of the war 1,885 female snipers had graduated from this institution into the Red Army. Between them these indomitable soldiers were crack shots who achieved approximately 10,000-12,000 kills.
Nevertheless these women fought in horrendous conditions across the Eastern Front and many were killed, either in combat or in gruesome circumstances if they were captured by vengeful German forces. One of those who survived was Junior Sergeant Yulia Konstantinovna Zhukova.
Aged only 18 when she joined the Red Army, Zhukova saw extensive action during the Soviet advance into East Prussia between November 1944-May 1945. She was still in her teens when her military service ended and is now a highly decorated veteran.
Zhukova recalls in vivid detail her short, sharp military career from trench combat, killing
