After Mariya Oktyabrskaya’s husband died in battle during World War 2, she became a tank driver in the Red Army.
Wikimedia CommonsMariya Oktyabrskaya avenged the death of her hubby by lead into battle herself
despairing times call for desperate measure and when the Nazis betrayed the Soviets in 1941 after sign a non - aggression pact , every Russian citizen was called upon to play his ( or her ) part in “ The Great Patriotic War . ” That include Mariya Oktyabrskaya .
Women In The Red Army
It ’s count on that about 800,000 Soviet women served in the Red Army during World War II , many in anti - aircraft battalions where they would be on the front lines , but somewhat protected from the most brutal of the fight . Other woman served right in the thick of the action at law , flying fight missions or driving tanks into conflict . Although the Soviets badly needed as many soldiers as possible , even during the most heroic of times not every male soldier was thrilled to be joined by women on the battlefield .
Mariya Oktybrskaya was one of those Russian women who did n’t require towatch the warfrom the sidelines .
She would also be one of the womanhood who would make skeptical serviceman to eat their parole .
Wikimedia CommonsMariya Oktyabrskaya avenged the death of her husband by going into battle herself
Born into a poor Crimean bucolic menage , Oktybrskaya reportedly sky-high embrace the apotheosis get hitched with by the loss leader of the Russian Revolution as a steady communist . Some accounts body politic that she first became concerned in military matters after marry U. S. Army officer Ilya Oktyabrskaya , declare , “ conjoin a man , and you serve in the army . ”
Mariya Oktyabrskaya Buys A Tank
Oktyabrskaya would soon find herself rather literally fulfilling her own declaration .
When her husband Ilya was belt down during the German attack on Kiev , she sell all of her belongings and bribe a T-34 tank , which she dubbed “ Fighting Girlfriend . ” Rather than donate the tank to the army , the write up goes that to see to it she would be capable to pilot it herself , Oktybrskaya went straight to the top : Joseph Stalin .
In a alphabetic character to the valet of steel asking permit to contend for her state , she stated , “ My husband was stamp out in natural action defending the country of origin . I want retaliation on the fascistic dogs for his end and for the dying of Soviet multitude tortured by the fascistic barbarians . ”
Wikimedia Commons/RIA Novosti ArchiveOktyabrskaya sold all her possessions to purchase her own T-34, which she christened “Fighting Girlfriend.”
Stalin chop-chop granted his approval ( perhaps realizing the publicity value of a loyal communist wife unforced to crusade to the destruction ) . Oktyabrskaya underwent a five - calendar month training program before being get off to the front .
Wikimedia Commons / RIA Novosti ArchiveOktyabrskaya sold all her possession to purchase her own T-34 , which she christen “ Fighting Girlfriend . ”
Baptism (And Death) By Fire
When Mariya Oktyabrskaya and “ Fighting Girlfriend ” joined the sixteenth Guards Tank Brigade in 1943 , her male comrades view her as something of a joke .
However , it was n’t long before she would show her nerve in armed combat . During her first tank fight in October of 1943 , Fighting Girlfriend was the first tank to go against enemy logical argument destroying artillery and play general havoc against the Germans . The manlike soldier fighting alongside Oktyabrskaya were sufficiently impressed and she show her courage in fight again a month afterwards when she leapt out to fix her tank in the middle of heavy foeman fire .
Far from seeing her enthusiasm for payback dim by the fucking experience of actual armed combat , Oktyabrskaya is said to have write her sister , explaining , “ I ’ve had my baptism by ardour . I stick the bastards . Sometimes I ’m so angry I ca n’t even breathe . ” Although she sure as shooting got her revenge on the foe that killed her darling husband , Oktyabrskaya ’s Nazi - slaughtering spree came to an precipitous closing in January of 1944 .
Wikimedia Commons/RIA Novosti Archive/Boris KudoyarovAlthough Oktyabrskaya took part in the Leningrad-Novgorod Offensive, it was to be her last time in combat.
Wikimedia Commons / RIA Novosti Archive / Boris KudoyarovAlthough Oktyabrskaya took part in the Leningrad - Novgorod Offensive , it was to be her last time in combat .
In the thick of an attack to take out a bastioned enemy position , Fighting Girlfriend took a unmediated hitting . Perhaps fueled by the unreasoning ire she had write her sister about , Mariya Oktyabrskaya disobeyed the order of magnitude to remain inside the tank and get out to try and repair the damage .
This time she was not able-bodied to dodge the enemy flaming and was knocked unconscious by fly shrapnel . The fearless tank captain continue in a coma for two months before succumbing to her injuries in 1944 . Mariya Oktyabrskaya was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union , the highest purity the state had to tender .
Enjoying reading about Mariya Oktyabrskaya ? Next , check the true tale behindBuford Pusser and Walking Tall . Then learn aboutBenjamin Saloman , the dental practitioner who killed 98 Nipponese soldiers during World War II .
