So I know this blog is quickly becoming a women of WWII blog, but there are just so many amazing, badass, well-documented gal heroes from this era that I simply cannot resist the temptation to cover more (sorry not sorry). So, for the third installment of the Badass Women of WWII blog series (see “The Night Witches” and “The White Mouse: Nancy Wake” for the first two installments) I present to you the most deadly female sniper who ever lived: Lyudmila Pavlichenko.
Growing up in the Soviet Union, Pavlichenko had a passion for shooting, and by the time she reached university she had earned virtually every civilian sharpshooter medal in existence in the USSR. When Nazis bombed her university, she was spurred into action. She went to her nearest recruiter’s office and demanded to be made a sniper. The men there, of course, were not too keen on this idea (Ew, a girl soldier? Shouldn’t you be, like, a nurse or something??). As she was one of the most qualified candidates they had ever seen, they couldn’t much argue with her credentials, however, and after training she was sent to the Eastern Front.
She was good at her job. Scary good. She tied mannequins to trees to draw enemy fire so she could locate her enemies and pick them out, tied distracting strips of red cloth to branches to disorient the enemy, and hunted in the rain to muffle her gunfire. She became so good that enemy snipers began to seek her out and target her.
On one occasion Pavlichenko was fired at by an enemy sniper, and although the bullet missed, to save herself she let go of the tree branch on which she was perched, fell 12 feet to the ground, and lay perfectly still for literally hours until night fell and she could safely crawl away. If that isn’t hardcore AF, please tell me what is. On another occasion she found herself in a duel with another sniper across a field. In order to protect herself she quickly hid in a nearby mass of briars. Yep, the sharp thorny kind that tears your skin apart. She waited for hours in this mass of briars watching the other sniper, with no food or water, no coat in the middle of Russian winter, and a literal battle raging around her. When the German sniper grew impatient and slipped up, Pavlichenko took her shot and won the duel. She killed 36 other snipers in all who unwisely tried to take her on over the course of the war. I literally cannot even express my level of fangirl over this woman.
During one battle, enemy shells severely injured her and killed all of the senior commanders present, but she immediately took charge over the remaining forces and fought on. Seeing her dole out orders with her injury, one soldier shouted at his compatriots: “Cowards! Look at this woman. Pavlichenko has the balls of a man.”
She was so deadly and hated by the enemy that the Nazis literally nicknamed her Lady Death. In other words she had THE COOLEST nickname of all time.
Like most shooters, she often worked in a spotter/sniper pair. She and her spotter, Sergeant-Major Leonid Kitsenko, fell deeply in love and were married for a short period of time. Her husband was too soon killed in the war, however, and after this, Pavlichenko’s work grew darker and crueler.
One of her moves was to shoot a German in the leg to draw out his comrades to assist him when he cried for help, and then murder anyone who dared venture out to help his dying compatriot. When she was finally forced to evacuate from battle due to unsustainable injuries, she had killed 309.
After her retirement from battle, the USSR sent her to America to build international support for the war. There, she became lifelong friends with the great First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Literally the coolest gal pals of all time.
Lady Death’s was the easiest story to write yet because she was so amazingly dedicated and badass that her story needed no embellishment or editing whatsoever. Cheers to one of the coolest ladies to have ever lived. It may not have been a very happy life, but it was sure as hell an inspiring one. Thank you for your sacrifice, Lyudmila Pavlichenko. May you rest in peace; Lord knows you deserve some.
This is so great; I just love learning about these amazing women! Your writing style is incredibly readable and makes these stories a joy. Thank you for sharing!
A great story of a deadly woman who brought intense fear into the heart of the enemy. And I must say, the series must continue. There are just so many women from the era who were amazing at their work. I feel your writing style is great and easy to read. Go on!
Hello! I’m a sociology major at UCLA writing a paper on how the historical accounts of women in World War II differ from their portrayal in pop culture, and how the discrepancies relate to the mis/representation of feminism today. I would really appreciate it if you could let me know what sources you used to write this article, as well as those from both your Night Witches and White Mouse articles, if you happen to have them available. I’ve already found several but I don’t know how much would overlap. Always great to find another enthusiast for female badasses, and your blog is awesome!
Thanks for reading!
I don’t have most of the sources available on-hand (I plan on going back soon and adding citations), but here are a couple of articles I read for Lyudmila:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/eleanor-roosevelt-and-the-soviet-sniper-23585278/
http://www.businessinsider.com/lyudmila-pavlichenko-female-sniper
Here are a few for Nancy Wake:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/world/europe/14wake.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/nancy-wake-white-mouse-of-world-war-ii-dies-at-98/2011/08/08/gIQABvPT5I_story.html?utm_term=.5ba231319798
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P332
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/08/nancy-wake-white-mouse-gestapo
The Night Witches:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/night-witches-the-female-fighter-pilots-of-world-war-ii/277779/
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/06/night-witches-wwii-female-pilots
mentalfloss.com/article/51823/lethal-soviet-%E2%80%9Cnight-witches%E2%80%9D-588th-night-bomber-unit
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/world/europe/nadezhda-popova-ww-ii-night-witch-dies-at-91.html
Aaaah!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to respond so quickly (and thoroughly)! While I’d never turn down more citations, this should be more than enough to go off of. 🙂
Absotutely amazing woman.Sad she died so young.But after being wounded 4 times,body must have been hurt.
Great movie that portrays this awesome hero “Battle of Sevastopol”
Hello! I thoroughly enjoyed this blog post, but I do have one question… why title it with “Femme Fatale”? I’m new to the blog so I’m not sure if that’s an ongoing title here, but to me, it seems a poor choice given that Lyudmila Pavlichenko spent almost all of her American propaganda press tour battling sexist ideas of what she was supposed to be/ look like. In her own words: “I am amazed at the kind of questions put to me by the women press correspondents in Washington. Don’t they know there is a war? They asked me silly questions such as do I use powder and rouge and nail polish and do I curl my hair? One reporter even criticized the length of the skirt of my uniform, saying that in America women wear shorter skirts and besides my uniform made me look fat. This made me angry. I wear my uniform with honor. It has the Order of Lenin on it. It has been covered with blood in battle. It is plain to see that with American women what is important is whether they wear silk underwear under their uniforms. What the uniform stands for, they have yet to learn.”
I would argue she was the furthers thing from a Femme Fatale. She was a ruthless, unrelenting soldier who killed innumerable men both in the heat of battle and in cold blood. There is nothing seductive or “man-eating” about this woman, and I think that she would resent the title. However, I really can’t make that claim seeing as she’s dead and neither of us will ever get to ask. This question about the title comes from a genuine place of curiosity, and desire for dialogue about a really cool lady.
The literal translation of “femme fatale” is “killer woman”. I cannot think of a better description of Pavlichenko than this.
this was a good blog thank you for helping me with my research in school.