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LIUDMILA PAVLICHENKO:
In central Ukraine, into a normal Russian family, the one who would later become the most lethal sniper in history would be born on July 12, 1916: Liudmila Pavlichenko.
She attended State School No. 3 in Bila Tserkva until the age of 14, when her family moved to kyiv. There she worked at the kyiv Arsenal as a mill operator until she finished her tenth grade studies. At school she was a member of the local Komsomol and its compulsory organization OSOAVIAKhIM.
The OSOAVIAKhIM was an organization in which millions of young Soviet teenagers received military training courses, in addition to school courses. Lyudmila excelled in these classes, displaying a remarkable natural ability to fire firearms at great distances. This prowess earned him the coveted Voroshilov Sniper Badge at regional rifle competitions.
In 1937 she was accepted to the Shevchenko State University in kyiv. At the start of World War II, she had finished four years of college.
She volunteered for the army in 1941. After refusing office jobs and training as a nurse, she was accepted into the 54th Rifle Regiment of the 25th Rifle Division. The 25-year-old joined the 2nd platoon of the regiment's sniper company because of her skill and dexterity. As part of her outfit, she was issued a Mosin-Nagant 91/30 rifle with a PE scope.
Her unit was already heavily involved in the fighting in Moldova, where the young fighter joined it. Forced to retreat to the Dniester, Pavlichenko participated in their fierce defense of the port of Odessa in August 1941, where she was promoted to the rank of sergeant. By that date she had been credited with the deaths of over 100 German soldiers, having been wounded on several occasions. When Odessa fell into German hands, her unit was evacuated by the Black Sea Fleet to the besieged port of Sevastopol.
In Sevastopol, the young sniper was in combat for 250 days as part of the siege of the city. She received a promotion to second lieutenant while serving as lead sniper of the line and in sniper recruit training near the Imgarmansky Lighthouse. It was from this campaign that the rest of her 309 personal victories (which included over 100 officers and no fewer than 36 German snipers) were officially tallied.
She was wounded for the fourth time in June 1942 and evacuated by submarine to the mainland. Her husband, also a member of the Red Army, died in the siege.
For her efforts in battle Pavlichenko received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union from Mikhail Kalinin, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Due to the publicity received by her, it was decided to create a symbolic icon to boost the morale of the fighters, so she never returned to the front lines. She was assigned to recruiting and training duties for the rest of the war.
In September 1942, she joined the Soviet military delegation that visited the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. She was the first Soviet citizen to be received at the White House, where she dined with President Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor. As part of the delegation, she visited 43 cities and gave hundreds of speeches. In New York she was presented with a Colt 1911 pistol at Madison Square Garden by union officials from the Colt factory, located in Hartford, Connecticut. In Toronto, Canada she was issued a Winchester model 70 rifle with a Weaver sight.
After the war, she finished her studies at kyiv University and started her career as a historian. From 1945 to 1953, she was a research assistant at the Soviet Army Headquarters. Later, she was active in the Soviet Committee of War Veterans. She died on October 10, 1974 at the age of 58, and was buried at the Novodevichye cemetery in Moscow.
