Lyudmila Pavlichenko
| Lyudmyla Mykhailivna Pavlychenko (Людмила Михайлівна Павличенко) |
|
|---|---|
 |
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| Nickname(s) | Lady Death |
| Born |
July 12, 1916 Bila Tserkva, Russian Empire (now Bila Tserkva, Ukraine) |
| Died | October 10, 1974 (aged 58) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Moscow, Russian Federation) |
| Allegiance |
 Soviet Union
|
| Service/branch |
 Red Army
|
| Years of service | 1941 – 1953 |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | 25th Rifle Division |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards |
Order of Lenin (twice) Hero of the Soviet Union Medal for Battle Merit Medal "For the Defence of Odessa" Medal "For the Defence of Sevastopol" Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" |
| Other work | Soviet Committee of the Veterans of War |
Liudmyla Mykhailivna Pavlychenko (Russian: Людмила Михайловна Павличенко; July 12, 1916 – October 10, 1974) was a Red Army Ukrainian Soviet sniper during World War II. Credited with 309 kills, she is regarded as one of the top military snipers of all time and the most successful female sniper in history.
Born in Bila Tserkva on July 12, 1916, Pavlichenko (née Belova) moved to Kiev with her family at the age of fourteen. There she joined a OSOAVIAKhIM shooting club and developed into an amateur sharpshooter, while working as a grinder at the Kiev Arsenal factory. In 1937, as a student of Kiev University she completed a master's degree in history, focusing on the life of Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
In June 1941, 24-year-old Pavlichenko was in her fourth year studying history at the Kyiv University when Germany began its invasion of the Soviet Union. Pavlichenko was among the first round of volunteers at the recruiting office, where she requested to join the infantry and subsequently she was assigned to the Red Army's 25th Rifle Division; Pavlichenko had the option of becoming a nurse but refused; "I joined the army when women were not yet accepted". There she became one of 2,000 female snipers in the Red Army, of whom about 500 survived the war. She made her first two kills as a sniper near Belyayevka, using a Tokarev SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle with 3.5X telescopic sight.
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