The Great Patriotic War changed many destinies. People from young to old fought against the German-fascist invaders. Both women and men worked at the front and in the rear for the cause of the homeland, sometimes shouldering the burdens and hardships on their fragile shoulders.
Some women - warriors became so dangerous for the Nazis that some of them were hunted and a bounty was displayed. And some, even after their death, instilled fear in the fascists.
Machine gunner Manshuk Zhiengalievna Mametova volunteered for the front. She began her journey as a clerk, but then graduated from the machine gunner courses and was appointed the first number of the machine gun crew in the combat unit. On October 15, 1943, in the heavy battles of the Nevelsk offensive operation, Manshuk died a brave death, defending the dominant height alone. She remained behind a machine gun after being severely wounded in the head by a shell fragment, which claimed the lives of the rest of the crew. So she became the first Kazakh woman to receive the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union, unfortunately, post-mortem.
The pilot Lydia Litvyak has been at the flying club since the age of 14. At the age of 15, she has already made her first independent flight. Then she taught pilots at the Kalinin flying club. In 1942 she was enrolled in the 586th IAP "female air regiment". Over 168 combat missions, she won 12 personal and four group victories. In late July - early August 1943, there were heavy battles to break through the German defenses at the Mius River line, which closed the road to Donbass. The fighting on the ground was accompanied by a stubborn struggle for air superiority. On August 1, 1943, Lydia Litvyak made 4 sorties, during which she personally shot down two enemy aircraft and one in a group. She did not return from the fourth flight.
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Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko is the most successful female sniper in world history. On her account, 309 confirmed killed soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht, 36 of which are victories in sniper duels. You can read more about her in the article "Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko - The most successful female sniper in world history"
Tatyana Nikolaevna Baramzina graduated from the Central Women's School of Snipers during the Great Patriotic War and from April 1944 she fought on the 3rd Belorussian Front, destroying 16 enemy soldiers. Her vision let her down, starting to deteriorate, and she had to retrain to be a telephone operator. On July 5, 1944, Tatyana Baramzina, along with soldiers of the 3rd rifle battalion of the 252nd rifle regiment, was sent to the rear of the enemy to capture the road junction and hold it until the main forces arrived. However, on the march, the battalion collided with superior enemy forces and was defeated, and Tatyana Baramzina herself was captured and brutally killed. Before her death, Tatiana was tortured for a long time so that she could only be identified by the remnants of her uniform and by her hair.
Elizvaeta Ivanovna Chaikina, secretary of the Penovsky underground district committee of the Komsomol of the Kalinin region, during the war, became one of the organizers of the partisan detachment. On November 22, 1941, Liza Chaikina was sent to Peno with the aim of reconnaissance of the number of the Nazi garrison. On the way, she went to the Krasnoye Pokatishche farm to see her friend, scout Marusa Kuporova, where she was noticed by the head groom and his son, who reported to the Germans. The Nazis broke into the Kuporovs' house, shot the family, and Liza Chaikina was taken to Peno. Even under torture, she refused to give information about the whereabouts of the partisan detachment and was shot on November 23, 1941. Streets in many Russian cities are named after her.
Author: Sergey Sergeev
