Women in the Red Army

Nearly 800,000 women served in the ranks of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. Women served in the front line as medics, tank drivers, aircrew, mortar, artillery and heavy machine gun crew, radio operators, partisans and snipers (it being believed that women had a better temperament for this role than most men).

 

Unlike the other nations, Soviet women served in every role except that of riflemen in frontline rifle sections which were reserved for men, as it was felt that the men didn’t want their wives, mothers and sisters charging into battle alongside them.

 

Most feared by the Germans were the night bomber crews and the snipers. The

Night bombers flew in little U-2 biplanes that would cut their engines then silently glide over the target before releasing a cluster of small bombs which would descend on the Germans out the darkness. They were nicknamed the ‘Night Witches’ by the Germans.

The top sniper was Lyudmilla Pavlichenko who scored 309 kills in just over 10 months using a Tokarev SVT40 self loading rifle (see left, second picture from top). After being wounded she was sent to train others in the sniper’s art.

 

Altogether 92 women became ‘Heroes of the Soviet Union’ 50 of the awards being posthumous.

 

In keeping with historical accuracy, all roles within our recreated unit are open to the ladies (see Roles within the Unit) except that of rifleman in our rifle section.