Lyudmila Pavlichenko Sniper Super Star

Hero of the Soviet Union and Legendary Marksman

Apr 28, 2009

Lyudmila Pavlichenko became a legend during the Sieges of Odessa & Sevastopol in 1941-42. Her story made her an international celebrity and furthered the war effort.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko spent the first year of World War Two in constant combat as a front line sniper with the 54th Rifles Regiment. Wounded four times she survived the terrible sieges of Odessa and Sebastopol by taking some 309 axis soldiers with her rifle. This made her the highest scoring female sniper ace in any war. She was evacuated from the Crimea by submarine and was one of the few members of her unit who survived the siege.

For her efforts in the battle Pavlichenko was very publically given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union from Mikhail Kalinin, President of the USSR Supreme Soviet. Due to the publicity making her an icon that could not be risked in the front lines, she was placed on recruiting and training duties for the rest of the war. In September 1942 she embarked with the Soviet Military Delegation to the United States, Canada and Great Britain. She was the first Soviet citizen to be received at the White House where she had dinner with President Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor who took very well to the Soviet soldier. She visited 43 North American cities and gave hundreds of speeches. In New York she was presented with an engraved Colt 1911 pistol in Madison Square Garden by Union leaders from Colt's factory in Hartford Connecticut. In Toronto Canada she was given a similarly embellished Winchester model 70 Rifle with a Weaver scope. She was immensely popular in the western media and the American Folk Singer Woodie Guthrie wrote the song "Miss Pavilichenko" about Pavlichenko. She was given space in the 1943 comic “War Heroes” which embellished her figure but not her deeds.

Return to the Soviet Union

She was awarded the Order of Lenin with "Gold Star" (? 1218) by decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, October 1943. She spent the rest of the war as an instructor and was an example to the nearly 2000 female soviet snipers at the front. She was attached to the Central Women’s Sniper Training School near Moscow, created by the Chief Directorate for Universal Military Training of the Commissariat of Defense. The school produced some 1885 female snipers. Many photos of her in circulation are from this period where she was a trainer. Pavlichenko had used a Mosin Nagant bolt action rifle during her front line service but in pictures taken while as an instructor she is shown with a purpose-made snipers cloak and SVT-40 rifle. She was discharged with the rank of major in 1945.

Post War

After the war she moved to Moscow and continued her education. She became a historian, publishing several articles and at least one book. From 1945-53 she was a historian to the General Staff of the Navy. She was later very active in the Soviet Committee of Veterans of War. In 1957 while on a trip to Moscow, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt demanded to meet her old friend from the War. She was eventually taken to Comrade Pavlichenko’s two room apartment and the joyful but awkward reunion was recorded in Mrs. Roosevelt’s diary. She died Oct. 27, 1974 and was buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery (Section 119) with full military honors. Pictures of the sniper appeared on numerous Warsaw Block era postage stamps, posters and post cards. In 1976 the 334-foot ton Soviet Ministries of Fisheries vessel Pavlichenko was named in her honor.

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

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