15916. Brave Girls
It was 1942. We had not put aside our weapons for almost a year.
My sniper’s rifle had become my third eye and my third hand; it
helped me to search for, locate and annihilate the enemy. I gained
experience in trench warfare, which I perfected with every passing
day – in duels with German snipers, in the art of camouflaging
myself and detecting camouflaged Nazis, and in shooting both by
day and by night.
I willingly shared my experience not only with my comrades –
already experienced snipers – but first and foremost with marksmen
who were just starting out. I instructed many officers and men in
the sniper’s art during this period. My pupils also included women.
It is no secret that, even back in peacetime, women were allowed
to serve, albeit rarely, in the ranks of the Red Army. They became
particularly numerous during the war. They held various posts –
from the humble duties of typist, medical orderly in a detachment,
cook, laundress and wireless operator, to those of pilots and tank
crew, to say nothing of the women who were doctors, interpreters,
teachers, investigators, and so on.
Everybody knew the name of the legendary partisan Zoya
Kosmodemyanskaya, from the village of Vederevshchina in the
Tambov region, who was posthumously awarded the lofty title of