Posted on 02/06/2016 2:20:31 PM PST by beaversmom
Roza Shanina (1924--1945) Roza Georgiyevna Shanina was a Soviet sniper during World War II, credited with 54 confirmed kills, including 12 snipers during the Battle of Vilnius. Praised for her shooting accuracy, Shanina was capable of firing precise semi-automatic shots on moving enemy targets. She volunteered to serve as a marksman on the front line. She died from wounds at age 20. She served part of the time in an all-woman sniper unit. Before the war she worked as a kindergarten teacher. -
Roza Shanina
Roza Shanina
unknown
unknown
Lyudmila Pavlichenko
Lyudmila Pavlichenko, Soviet sniper during WWII. A student at the time, Pavlichenko was among the first to volunteer for the armed forced when the Soviet Union was invaded and declined the opportunity to serve as a nurse instead of a soldier so as to put her badass shooting talents to good use. She went on to record 309 kills, making her the most successful female sniper in history. After she was wounded in battle, Pavlichenko traveled to the United States.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko
Lyudmila Pavlichenko
Lyudmila Pavlichenko
Lyudmila Pavlichenko
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The Russian Army is notorious for its history of mass rapes where everywhere it deployed.
Putting these girls in small sniper units probably saved them from a great deal of discomfort.
This could have been just Stalinist propaganda. There’s no telling. The USSR liked to brag that women had made great advances under socialism and so there were women pilots and women shock workers etc. etc. How much of it was true is debatable.
“This could have been just Stalinist propaganda.”
Most likely.
We should have gone through and purged all the communists out of Russia in 1945-46.
Would be a different and better world today.
I found a web site several years ago in which two guys did a massive amount of research to determine the accuracy of the various nations claims for air to air victories.
They finally concluded that the Germans were the most accurate followed by the U.S. then Japan and last of all Russia.
Despite the fact that many of the Japanese claims turned out to be false, they did not think they were purposely lying. A lot of things happen in the fog of war which can cause mistakes.
The Russians tho were just plain making it up. Of course they really did shoot down a lot of German planes but their claims were way overstated.
I suspect the same is true of their sniper claims.
For instance the famous Stalingrad sniper battle between Major Koenig and Zaitsev actually never happened. That is not to say that Zaitsev (however you spell his name) was not a deadly sniper. I suppose there were a lot of those Russian female sniper who did indeed kill Germans, just the totals were not even close to being accurate.
The Red Army did use female snipers. And I would not have dated any of them.
The 4th one down is Kyra Petrovskaya Wayne; my wife sometimes includes her in historical displays honoring woman of WWII. She is 97 years old and lives near us. She managed to marry an American diplomat in 1946 and “escaped” from the Soviet Union.
She has written over a dozen books. My favorite is her autobiographical work about her experiences living through the siege of Stalingrad. Just about every relative she had in the Soviet Union died during WWII. It is a gripping tale. We have met many of her friends and relatives over the years. My wife has had limited contact with her through emails.
During WWII the Soviets calculated that women were less valuable soldiers than men. Women were often given assignments where the chance of survival was less than certain, rather than wasting a man.
Thanks.
We couldn’t even purge the Roosevelt and Truman administrations of communists.
Probably would have had a President Patton, too.
Well?
The Wehrmacht suffered huge casualties to snipers at Stalingrad. Every history of the battle documents this so I don’t think there is any doubt about it. The history of female snipers in the Soviet Army is also extremely well documented. As to real numbers in the fog of war - who knows?
Stalingrad was reduced to a rats maze of rubble and the fighting was often close range (less than 50m). The Soviets also “pushed” their troops through the initial barrage so that the German lines were continually penetrated and the Soviets used snipers the same way machineguns were used - to pin the enemy down. The number of snipers used by the Soviet military was impressive and they supported their pushes and came in on the back end to take up new positions. This was a source of study at the infantry school years ago (suspect it still is).
Snipers are an integral part of the infantry and their effectiveness is well documented. The Soviets also used them to protect their flanks, but then again Uncle Joe cared little about casualties. The Russians were reckless and brutal in the extreme and it is little wonder the Wehrmacht was terrified of them.
In Russia, female sniper hit you!
Very interesting. So great she is still alive and made it to the U.S. Thank you for sharing your account.
My nose burns from the water that just came out of it!
I am sorry though... it was the Siege of Leningrad that Kyra lived through... My wife just knocked me on the head.
Patton would have made a horrible President.
Yeah, she can aim at me anytime.
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