MrsMonkey and Dolomite'sWeezy: One for the ladies

[Pete123]

A true tale of badassery.

 

Roza Shanina was a Russian sniper in WW2.  Here are a few highlights from her story.

 

• Age 14 - Dis-obeys her parents and walks 100 miles across a Russian tundra to go to college.
• Volunteers for the military.  Women had many obstacles to getting a combat role.  She overcame them all.
• Dis-obeyed orders more than once to be able to fight.
• Was known for being fast enough with her Mosin that she commonly took out two enemy at the time.
• Died at the age of 20 shielding a wounded comrade.

 

 

 

When a college-educated kindergarten teacher walked into a Soviet Union military center during the fire and rage of World War II, it did not seem as strange then as it may sound now. It was late 1941, a year that ended with the death of her first brother during the siege of Leningrad. She was initially turned away by the local military commissariat who knew how hot it was at the front, but after losing two more siblings, in 1942 Roza Shanina finally succeeded in joining the 2,484 Soviet women serving their motherland as snipers.

“The key thing about the Soviet snipers was their impact on Soviet morale,” said David H. Lippman, author of World War II Plus 75: The Road to War. “They provided the ‘workers’ state’ with ‘workers’ heroes.’” But after Shanina made it through the Central Female Sniper Academy, military deployment plans nearly kept her away from the raging battle entirely — despite a widely held Soviet military belief that women soldiers made good snipers because of their greater physical flexibility and, true or not, their cunning, patience and ability to endure combat hardships better than their male counterparts.

Not one to be deferred or diverted after her initial attempts, Shanina began what would be a very short but significant march to greatness. It may feel strange to measure greatness by numbers of other humans killed, but the Soviets faced a fairly existential dilemma: Win or perish. It was April 1944, near Vitebsk, where Shanina killed her first Nazi soldier. Within a month, she had taken out about 17 more.

Shanina ignored orders and continued to support advancing infantry columns.

Under heavy artillery fire, her commanders decided to withdraw, but Shanina ignored orders and continued to support advancing infantry columns — and not just as a sniper. She captured German soldiers and was wounded herself. Her exploits earned her military commendations and wide renown among her countrymen, as well as in the West. She returned to battle soon thereafter, fighting in a battalion that lost 72 out of its 78 soldiers. A battle she survived.

Though not for long. Shanina was finally felled in January 1945, her chest torn open by an exploded artillery fragment. But before her death at the age of 20, she had managed 54 — some sources say 59 — confirmed kills in less than a year’s time.

By April the war was over: Nazi Germany was defeated and in flames, and Shanina had secured a legacy for the ages. And when you consider other significantly grim records of sniper success — 109 confirmed kills by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Adelbert Waldron over two years in Vietnam and the estimated 255 kills by Navy SEAL Chris Kyle (of American Sniper fame) during his 10 years of service — Shanina stands out for dispatching the most in the least amount of time.

The Soviet Union was still fighting when she died, and all told, over the course of the conflict, Soviet women snipers were collectively responsible for 11,280 kills, by conservative estimates. But if history notes anything in Shanina’s case, it is not so much her kill number but the fact that she eagerly pursued a difficult, dirty and dangerous job for a cause: the continued existence of her homeland.

M.G. Sheftall, technical adviser on the History Channel series Dogfights and author ofBlossoms in the Wind: Human Legacies of the Kamikaze, points out that Shanina’s desire to fight was so fervent that she made the bold decision to go over her superior officers’ heads and write to Stalin personally to ask that she be deployed to the front lines. Says Sheftall, “It shows a level of stones and guts that makes the lack of a major motion picture about her damned near confounding.”

 

 

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

The story is amazing. The picture makes it even better! Thanks for sharing this one, and the person is right, a movie about her would probably be good if done right.

[runco]

She has man hands.  :stare:

[Garufa]

She has man hands.  :stare:

 

I think she has two different hands.

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

She has man hands. :stare:

I must have Goliath hands then. My family is German and Dutch. My wedding ring size is an 11. All the better to shoot with, since man hands are stronger and what not. ;)

[hipower]

I must have Goliath hands then. My family is German and Dutch. My wedding ring size is an 11. All the better to shoot with, since man hands are stronger and what not. ;)

 

Remind me to NEVER piss you off. Depending on the day and blood pressure. I'd go about an 8 and 1/2 on rings. It sort of hacks off my wife, but I don't wear a wedding band. Not because I don't want to. I just cannot stand anything on my hands and fingers. Been that way all my life. Thankfully she understands.

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

I don't wear my band either. I'm a non jewelry person although I do have a very simple bar necklace I wear that has the date we met in Roman numerals. The funny thing is, my hands don't look huge. People are shocked when I tell them my ring size.

[whitewolf001]

She has man hands.  :stare:

 

Meh, I'd let her grope me.  :dirty:

[Fourtyfive]

Maybe she reloads in the field ....

[No_0ne]

Lyudmilia Pavlichenco, 309 confirmed kills, including 187 during two and a half months of fighting at Odessa.  Wounded in 1942, she was withdrawn from combat after her recovery and later toured the US and Canada to bolster support for a second front.

 

 

While she might not be as attractive as Roza Shanina she remains the deadliest female sniper in history.

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

Lyudmilia Pavlichenco, 309 confirmed kills, including 187 during two and a half months of fighting at Odessa. Wounded in 1942, she was withdrawn from combat after her recovery and later toured the US and Canada to bolster support for a second front.

While she might not be as attractive as Roza Shanina she remains the deadliest female sniper in history.

Actually, I'm partial to brunettes and she is beautiful. Clearly a badass as well! I can respect that for sure! Edited December 27, 2015 by MrsMonkeyMan2500

[peejman]

I'd say most any working class Russian woman in the 40's had "man hands" by modern standards.

[Pete123]

Both of these women are very attractive and very badass.  

 

What's with the focus on hands?  Roza was college educated and was a school teacher.  I like her hands.  

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

Both of these women are very attractive and very badass.

What's with the focus on hands? Roza was college educated and was a school teacher. I like her hands.

Someone stated she had "man hands". I have seen men with very tiny hands and some with very large hands. But I guess hers appeared large to him? Dunno.

[No_0ne]

Both of these women are very attractive and very badass.  

 

What's with the focus on hands?  Roza was college educated and was a school teacher.  I like her hands.  

 

 

That pic is more flattering than most of Pavlichenco, and likely taken later since the majority of her combat experience happened prior to the introduction of the 91/30 PU series.  My guess is that it's a publicity photo, taken either while she was touring in support of the Soviet efforts or while working as a sniper school instructor later in the war.

[Clod Stomper]

She took out two enemy at the same time because she was so fast with her Mosin.

Wow. Forget her hands. She must have had gorilla arms. I have to unshoulder a Mosin to work the bolt. I'm not tall, but I'm not super short either.

Not like a SMLE. Those really are fast.

[Hershmeister]

Actually, I'm partial to brunettes and she is beautiful. Clearly a badass as well! I can respect that for sure!

She was immortalized in song by Woody Guthrie


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SHKjOl9ocR0

[Ron_TN]

Here are my hero's.... "AMERICAN WOMEN"

 

 

https://youtu.be/GGXuf0B7DnE

 

 

 

 

[TMF]

Women who kill people get a 2-3 pt boost on the scale, generally speaking. I knew one in Iraq who did the kinetic targeting in our battlespace. Though not directly, she's responsible for the deaths of untold numbers of jihadis. If she wanted a JDAM dropped on a house, a JDAM got dropped on a house. I met with her once a week for targeting, and the way she nonchalantly discussed killing insurgents was hot. I can't explain it. Perhaps it was how non emotional she was about it; not celebratory or remorseful. Most dudes will at least talk with a degree of celebratory attitude after taking out a bunch of bad guys. She just treated it like a job, and the lives of these savages were nothing to her. So hot.

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

Women who kill people get a 2-3 pt boost on the scale, generally speaking. I knew one in Iraq who did the kinetic targeting in our battlespace. Though not directly, she's responsible for the deaths of untold numbers of jihadis. If she wanted a JDAM dropped on a house, a JDAM got dropped on a house. I met with her once a week for targeting, and the way she nonchalantly discussed killing insurgents was hot. I can't explain it. Perhaps it was how non emotional she was about it; not celebratory or remorseful. Most dudes will at least talk with a degree of celebratory attitude after taking out a bunch of bad guys. She just treated it like a job, and the lives of these savages were nothing to her. So hot.

So, just to clarify, it was hot? LOL Not luke warm. Not frigid. Hot. Check. :)

[TMF]

So, just to clarify, it was hot? LOL Not luke warm. Not frigid. Hot. Check. :)

The only thing hotter would be if she tried to stab me... or successfully stabbed me for that matter.

I've also known a few female interrogators. Holy crap they were twisted. On such a level I couldn't possibly put into words.

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

The only thing hotter would be if she tried to stab me... or successfully stabbed me for that matter.

I've also known a few female interrogators. Holy crap they were twisted. On such a level I couldn't possibly put into words.

No need, I know women, I've got no doubts. There's a level of multi-tasking/thinking that most women are really good at. Men think they're pervs, ha, sit in on a conversation between women. I've had to leave conversations before. Women are ten times grosser than men if not more.

[TMF]

No need, I know women, I've got no doubts. There's a level of multi-tasking/thinking that most women are really good at. Men think they're pervs, ha, sit in on a conversation between women. I've had to leave conversations before. Women are ten times grosser than men if not more.

I believe that the brains of men and women differ when it comes to certain things, which may have a lot to do with our chemical differences, and this is where the sexes have their own unique flaws and talents. Interrogation, not torture, seems to be one of those talents which women are better suited for (at least based on my observation). Something to do with women being more methodical, less distracted, and better suited for mental warfare. But the things I saw, I could have never been creative enough or twisted enough to come up with them. As with most things, the man solution would have been to achieve their goals with a blunt object.

[btq96r]

I've also known a few female interrogators. Holy crap they were twisted. On such a level I couldn't possibly put into words.

 

I knew one who worked the SERE course at Bragg in between assignments at the 101st.  She was a helluva NCO, and later Warrant Officer.  Plus the parties at her house became folklore within the unit. 

[TMF]

I knew one who worked the SERE course at Bragg in between assignments at the 101st. She was a helluva NCO, and later Warrant Officer.

Yeah, but they still hit like a girl.