(19 16-1974)
Leading Soviet female sniper of World War II with 309 kills, including 36 enemy snipers. Li-udmila Pavliuchenko (Pavlichenko is the Russian version of the name) served with the Second Company, Second Battalion, 54th Razin Regiment, 25th "V. I. Chapaev" Division of the Independent Maritime Army.
Born in Belaia Tserkov, now in the Kyiv (formerly Kiev) region, Pavliuchenko trained in small arms fire with a military club of the Arsenal Factory, her employer in Kyiv, earning a civilian sharpshooter’s badge. She was also trained in machine-gun firing by Osoaviakhim (Society for Assistance to Defense, Aviation, and Chemical Industry). In 1937, as a student at the State University of Kyiv, she successfully defended her master’s thesis on hetman (chieftain) Bohdan Khmel’nitsky, a Ukrainian nationalist, soldier, politician, and diplomat.
Pavliuchenko volunteered for combat duty in June 1941. When her 54th Razin Regiment went into action on the near approaches to Odessa on August 8, 1941, Pavliuchenko scored her first two kills. On October 9, 1941, after her platoon commander was killed in the crucial Dal’nitsky sector, and his deputy was wounded, Pavliuchenko assumed command. Wounded and her face covered with blood, she struggled to remain conscious. Considered one of the best snipers of the Independent Maritime Army, Pavliuchenko scored 187 kills in about two months, before Soviet troops were evacuated from Odessa.
In mid-October 1941 the Independent Maritime Army was transferred to the Crimea to fight for Sevastopol alongside the Black Sea Fleet. Operating in mountainous terrain in the Sevastopol area, Pavliuchenko usually began her vigil at 3:00 a.m., waiting a day or two for her prey. Lying motionless under a bush or in a foxhole for up to eighteen hours, she was accompanied by an observer with binoculars who gave her the reference points and monitored the state of her victims. Inspired by her sense of mission, Pavliuchenko stoically withstood hardships greater than those experienced by ordinary soldiers.
She was an exceptional sniper. Her exploits were publicized by the army, and were imitated. In Sevastopol, where the Germans not only had all enemy sniper positions marked and under fire, but also knew Soviet snipers by name, she managed to impart her skill even during the most difficult situations. She was wounded four times, twice seriously. Finally, in June 1942, she was evacuated from Sevastopol on board a submarine. Invited by Eleanor Roosevelt, Pavli-uchenko toured the United States in August 1942 after her final wound had healed.
In 1943, following graduation from the Vys-trel Courses for Officers, she earned the rank of major. A master sniper instructor, she trained 80 snipers who scored over 2,000 kills. From 1942 to 1953 she served as research officer for the Main Naval Staff. Meanwhile, having graduated from the University of Kyiv in 1945, she became a military historian and journalist. She was awarded the highest Soviet military decoration, Hero of the Soviet Union, on October 25, 1943, and two Orders of Lenin. She died at the age of 58 and was buried at the prestigious Novode-vich’e Cemetery in Moscow.
