Lyudmila Pavlichenko Female Sniper Queen

Lady Sniper-Ace Killed More Soldiers than Any other female marksman

Apr 28, 2009

The young Ukrainian girl, taking a summer off from college, took up a sniper rifle and killed no less than 309 Nazi soldiers.

During the dark years of the First World War, in the market city of Bila Tserkva (White Church) near Kiev in the Russian Ukraine, a young girl was born. This young girl, Lyudmila Mikhailivna Pavlichenko, would become the most dangerous women of the twentieth century. Into her crosshairs walked thousands of German invaders during the great campaigns of the Second World War's Eastern Front. Of those thousands, no less than 309 Axis soldiers met their end from a 7.62x54mm sniper's bullet from her gun. Lyudmila Pavlichenko is the highest scoring and most deadly female sniper in any army in any war.

Early Life

Born July 12, 1916 in the breadbasket of the Central Ukraine, Pavlichenko was born to a normal family. She attended State School Number 3 in Bila Tserkva until age 14 when her family moved to Kiev. There she worked at the Kiev Arsenal as a grinder until finishing her tenth grade education. While in school she was a member of the local Komsomol and its OSOAVIAKhIM organization. The OSOAVIAKhIM was akin to a mandatory JROTC-type organization in which millions of teenage Soviet youth received military instruction courses while in school. She excelled in these classes and was a remarkable natural shot. She earned a coveted Voroshilov Sharpshooter badge in regional rifle matches. In 1937 she was accepted to the Shevchenko State History University in Kiev as an undergraduate. By the time World War Two came Pavlichenko had finished four years at the university.

War Volunteer

The Russians were not new to women in combat, with thousands of females serving in the Tsarist Army in World War One. Pavlichenko volunteered in 1941 for war service. After turning down clerical jobs and nurse’s training she was accepted into the 54th "Stephan Razin" Rifles Regiment of the 25th "Chapayev" Rifle Division which was attached to Maritime Army.. The 25 year old Pavlichenko was made a private in the regiment's 2nd company sniper platoon due to her skill as a sharpshooter. She was issued a specially equipped Mosin-Nagant 91/30 rifle with a PE scope for her work. Her unit was already heavily involved in fighting in Moldavia and she joined them there. Forced to withdrawal to the Dniester, Pavlichenko was with the 54th during its fierce defense of the port of Odessa in August 1941 where she was promoted to Senior Sergeant. She was credited with taking over 100 German soldiers through sniping during this period while being wounded herself on several occasions. She would often work with an observer some 200-300 m ahead of her unit, sometimes camouflaged and unmoving for 18 hours at a time. When Odessa fell her unit was evacuated by the Black Sea Fleet to the besieged Crimean port of Sevastopol.

Sevastopol Siege 1941-1942

There for 250 days in a row the young sniper, now with a battlefield promotion to Junior Lieutenant was involved in the great siege of Sevastopol where she served as a front line sniper leader near the embattled Imgarmansky Lighthouse and in the instruction of sniper recruits. It was from this campaign that the rest of her 309 personal victories (which included more than 100 officers and no less than 36 German snipers) came from. She was wounded for the fourth time in June 1942 and evacuated via submarine to the mainland. Her division never made it out of Sevastopol. In July 1942 the 25th Rifles was combat ineffective and disbanded as a unit. Its banners were sunk into the Black Sea and its personnel were reassigned. Her husband, also serving with the Red Army, was killed in the siege.

Sources:

The Heroes of the Soviet Union: A brief biographical dictionary. ?.2. Voeniz.1988

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