Lyudmila Pavlichenko, woman sniper, personal biography. Life is a feat! hero of the soviet union sniper major pavlichenko lyudmila mikhailovna

At the age of 27, Kiev resident Lyudmila Pavlichenko became the Hero of the Soviet Union and the first female sniper to be awarded this title during her lifetime. And also the first Soviet woman received into the White House, which is what our story will be about. Of course, she didn’t even think about this. There lived a man, went to school, worked at the Arsenal plant. In 1937, Lyudmila entered the history department of the Kyiv State University named after T. G. Shevchenko, where she did not smoke menthol cigarettes with a bottle of rum-cola, but was involved in gliding and shooting. Thus, fourth-year student Pavlichenko was always ready for work and defense, and straight from summer practice in Odessa she went to beat the invaders.

As the media unanimously report, by July 1942, it was no longer a student, but a sergeant of the 54th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Chapaev Division of the Primorsky Army, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a participant in the battles in Moldova, the defense of Odessa and Sevastopol, who had killed 309 enemy soldiers and officers. Including 36 enemy snipers. Including, according to legend, a specialist with five hundred lives to his name. A lot, especially for a girl. 23rd place in the world in terms of performance, taking into account the fact that since 1942 Lyudmila Mikhailovna did not fight, but taught young people in the Shot courses.

Of course, among us there will be citizens who will have an idea about the unnatural nature of such activity, which will certainly develop into discussions about totalitarian education in the evil empire. According to the testimony of her partner on a trip to the USA and Great Britain in the fall of 1942, Vladimir Pchelintsev, a certain Jesse Storry took up the same issue. He outlined his impressions of communicating with Lyudmila Mikhailovna on the pages of the Canadian youth magazine New Advance: “I discovered an interesting fact that helps to better understand her anti-fascist character at breakfast in the White House, where Mrs. Roosevelt received the Canadian delegation. We were in the living room, casually talking with Mrs. Roosevelt, when she suddenly said that the day before she had received the Soviet delegation here. One of the questions Mrs. Roosevelt asked Lyudmila was: “How did she, a woman, manage to shoot at the Germans, seeing their faces at the moment of aiming? American women have a hard time understanding this!” Lieutenant Pavlichenko answered briefly: “I saw with my own eyes how my husband and my child died... I was nearby...”. This fact, it must be said, is not found in any biography.

But another fact is very well known: Lieutenant Lyudmila Pavlichenko, Senior Lieutenant Vladimir Pchelintsev and Komsomol leader Nikolai Krasavchenko fulfilled an important state mission - to shame the allies, who in every possible way avoided opening a second front. Just for the occasion, I dug up a couple more rare frames in the US Library of Congress, apparently not previously published. And as a bonus - a country song about a heroic sniper, composed by famous performer Woody Guthrie. He, like millions of ordinary Americans, was ashamed.

“A historian by training, a warrior by mentality, she fights with all the fervor of her young heart,” wrote the Krasny Chernomorets newspaper on May 3, 1942. Anyone who wants details can read the memoirs. The newspaper, surprisingly, did not lie. For a long time, after her partner Leonid Kutsenko was mortally wounded, Lyudmila went to “work” alone, until the evacuation from besieged Sevastopol. Although this often backfired on her. And in the fall of 1942, together with her colleague from the Leningrad Front, Vladimir Pchelintsev, and the propaganda secretary of the Moscow city Komsomol committee, Nikolai Krasavchenko, she went to the USA and then to England. With a propaganda trip, let's say.

From the front SVT. For work she had the usual "three"

Another photo “for the front-line newspaper”

Both companions are worthy of all attention. The son of a Kraskom who died of typhus in 1920, adopted by his mother’s second husband, an officer of the Red Army, the young man was brought up in the Spartan spirit. “In the 9th and 10th grades I do physical education and military affairs. I train at the OAH Shooting Club. I am in charge of military affairs at the school. At this time, I passed the standards for the GTO, VS, GSO, VS 2nd stage, PVHO badges. Repeatedly participated in shooting competitions. 10th grade was spent in a stubborn struggle for knowledge,” Vladimir wrote in his own hand in his autobiography. I had to fight because Pchelintsev studied in Petrozavodsk, where pests built their criminal nest. They forced young people to learn Finnish. “Only after the elimination of the enemies of the people could we study properly,” notes Vladimir, taking us into the difficult atmosphere of that time.

V. N. Pchelintsev with the rank of sergeant

Having entered the Leningrad Mining Institute to study as a geologist, he continued to shoot: from 02/22/1940 - 1st class shooter, from 03/14/1940 - Master of Sports of the USSR, from 04/27/1940 - category III shooting sports instructor. Of course, with the beginning of the war, Vladimir volunteered to join the active army, although senior students, starting from the third year, in 1941-42. had a deferment from conscription (imagine). He ended up in the 83rd fighter battalion of the NKVD, then in the 11th rifle brigade of the 8th army of the Leningrad Front. He is considered one of the “initiators” of the sniper movement. On February 6, 1942 he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. At this time, there were 102 enemy soldiers and officers on my personal account. The total score is 456, including 14 snipers.

As for the Komsomol member, he was included in the small delegation as an inspirer and a link between Soviet and non-Soviet youth. He also had some combat experience. As journalist and writer Leonid Mlechin tells us, in 1946, Stalin received an anonymous letter to the Central Committee aimed at the leader of Moscow, Georgy Popov. Nikolai, whom the Moscow authorities had just decided to promote further, also suffered from it: “The young careerist Komsomol member Krasavchenko went to the front, was captured by the Germans, and who knows where he got his party card. By unknown means he got out from behind enemy lines. He should belong in the camps. But Popov gave him a new party card, sent him abroad as a member of the youth delegation, and then made him secretary of the MK and MGK Komsomol. ...Popov persistently sought the election of Krasavchenko at the last Komsomol congress as secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee. But even young people saw through what kind of fruit Krasavchenko was and failed him.”

Delegates in all their glory. Photo from the archives of the US Congress Library

It happened near Smolensk, where a group of Moscow youth was sent to build defensive structures. The Germans advanced so quickly that people were captured. Krasavchenko, realizing what awaited him, buried his Komsomol card, not his party card (otherwise he would have been a communist) in some barn. But when he came out to his people, he honestly told how everything had happened, and they gave him a new one. And since he was released abroad, therefore, the party and government believed his story about what happened.

And the background of the trip is that a good friend of the Soviet people, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a telegram to Joseph Vissarionovich. In it, he (as always) expressed sincere sympathy for the courageous struggle of the Soviet people, spoke about the ever-increasing efforts of the allied states and about the great role of youth in the anti-fascist struggle, especially its leading part - the students. And already, as if casually, he announced that from September 2 to 5, the World Student Assembly was meeting in Washington, where the leading place should be taken by delegations of the allied powers - the USA, USSR, England and China. In general, send at least two or three delegates.

I am inclined to evaluate the ideological combination for the selection of delegates as extremely correct, which to some extent justifies the civilian suit of Comrade. Krasavchenko in difficult years for the country. The problem is obvious: the allies (primarily Great Britain) are openly pushing for a solution to a strategically important issue. Negotiations on the opening of a second front had been ongoing since June 1941, and specifically in the spring of 1942, People's Commissar Molotov flew to the USA, and then to England again on the same occasion. Everyone politely agreed, but in a letter to Stalin dated July 18, and then during negotiations with the head of the Soviet government in Moscow in August 1942, Churchill announced England’s refusal to open a second front in Europe in 1942. “This was also confirmed on behalf of the President F. Roosevelt and the US Ambassador to Moscow A. Harriman, who was present at the negotiations between W. Churchill and J. V. Stalin,” this is the information that can be gleaned from the pages of the publication “The Great Patriotic War. Questions and Answers.”

For a PR campaign in order to process public opinion in the dynamic countries, young and beautiful white people of the Caucasian race were chosen, representing the two main fraternal Slavic peoples and having a specific result. After the destruction of the airfields in 1941, things were still a bit tight with the pilots, the sailors and tank crews were also lagging behind, and in general things at the front were rubbish - it was not possible to recapture Kharkov, the landings near Kerch and Feodosia failed, the Germans were rushing to Stalingrad. And here, personally, with their own hands, 411 fascists were killed between them. Living Hero of the Soviet Union. Moreover, who came out with him to the American and English public? A weak girl, and already with the Order of Lenin, by the way! Moreover, Pavlichenko fought from the very beginning and was a unique phenomenon in her own way.

At the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, Pchelintsev and Pavlichenko quickly resolved the issue of clothing. In particular, the general's uniform was altered to fit. I can’t say for sure, but the lady was awarded the rank of junior lieutenant before the trip. And this can also be explained purely logically: it’s not like just a sergeant will represent a huge country! Again, a strange relationship of subordination: Pchelintsev was already a senior lieutenant. He recalled that the form was sorted out literally within a day.

Jr. Lieutenant Pavlichenko in a magnificent cap.

“Having tried mine on, I was pleased - everything fit. The general's buttonholes disappeared, and now in their place were sewn crimson infantry buttonholes with gilded edging, and three shiny ruby ​​“cubes” and infantry emblems were attached to them. Gold chevrons are sewn on the sleeves - three gold stripes with a break. From his tunic he hung the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. Lyudmila Pavlichenko also looked good in the uniform of a junior lieutenant with the Order of Lenin and the medal “For Military Merit.” They showed up in uniform to Mikhailov (First Secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee - TS). He liked our costumes. To our “regalia”, on behalf of the Deputy People’s Commissar of Defense, Colonel-General Shchadenko, he added two more modest awards - the gilded “Sniper” and “Guard” badges,” he recalled. They also gave out stylish “bottle” boots. I cannot remain silent: the presentation of guards badges in this case was pure window dressing, especially since the 25th Chapaev Division, in which Pavlichenko served, died in July 1942 and was by that time officially disbanded.

But for the Americans and the British this was completely unimportant; they did not understand Soviet military uniforms. But in terms of appearance, it was a winning move. The Guard is the Guard. And the trip across the USA, Canada and then the UK was extremely successful. Every time in a new place, guests from the fighting country of the Soviets felt the inexhaustible interest of the public. Literally from the first day, about which the hardworking Pchelintsev left a similar report. In addition to the daily report, he very colorfully described his sniper talents and somehow very noticeably rubbed Lyudmila - either she refuses to shoot (they were asked to do this all the time), then she gets fat from beer, or in general it turns out that she doesn’t exist.

At the Consulate in Washington

“Today is August 27th. It was 5:30, and no wonder we had difficulty getting up. But there was no time to idle. In just a few minutes our express arrived in Washington. At 5.45 he made the last turn of the wheels and stopped under the arches of the capital's station. It was dark, gloomy, there was a slight haze and dampness in the air. Imagine our surprise when, looking out the window, we saw many people greeting us on the platform. However, at that moment we were more occupied not with contemplating the crowd on the platform, but with the thought that we had finally arrived in Washington - the goal of our journey. We arrived on the 14th day of the journey, leaving several thousand kilometers behind. Whatever you say, this is impressive and remains forever in the memory,” writes Pchelintsev. And they stayed overnight in the White House, under the tutelage of Eleanor Roosevelt, whom they later spoke of with great feeling.

Gift photo of Eleanor Roosevelt. From the archive of V. Pchelintsev.

With officials. Even the gloomy Pchelintsev noted Lyudmila’s ability to make others laugh

And here is the TASS message from August 30: “In a conversation with journalists, Krasavchenko asked them to convey greetings to American youth and the entire American people from the Soviet people fighting at the front against the Nazi hordes. Krasavchenko briefly described the diverse participation of Soviet youth in the fight against the aggressor. He expressed the hope that the stay of the Soviet delegation in the United States would strengthen the friendship of American and Soviet youth and that the active participation in the war of the youth of all united countries would accelerate the final victory over Hitlerism. Lyudmila Pavlichenko conveyed fighting greetings from Soviet women to American women and spoke about the selfless work of Soviet women, inspired by hatred of the enemy. Pchelintsev spoke about the art of the sniper and concluded: “We can and will win. Stalin said so, so it will be.”

With Ambassador of the Soviet Union to the USA M. M. Litvinov

The program of the visit was extremely eventful - we traveled all over the country, met with students, trade unions, labor collectives and even the Furriers Association. Almost everywhere - with constant success. Here is what Vladimir Nikolaevich reports on this matter:

“By the end of the meeting, the ministers, already out of breath, bring paper sheets to the presidium and hand them over to us: “I don’t like communists, and all Russians are communists! I came here out of curiosity to see what kind of people you are? To be honest, I liked you! Please accept it from me.” a small amount and buy yourself a gift of your choice - in memory of this meeting" - signature. Here, on a narrow form, is a check. The first time, I remember, I turned it around in front of me in bewilderment and asked the translator:

What it is? He smiled:

Congratulations! This is a bearer check for one thousand dollars. A gift, as you can see from the note, you can give yourself a rich one!

As we stayed in America, we received more and more such bank checks. Of course, it never occurred to us to spend it on ourselves. In addition, we received a lot of checks that went to the aid fund, either for “Soviet Russia”, or for the “Red Army”, or for the “second front”. And so it happened that we began to attach “our” personal checks to all the others and transfer them wholesale to the embassy to M. M. Litvinov. The total amount soon reached an impressive size, on the order of several hundred thousand dollars!”

This is understandable, since snipers had examples from life, and corresponding texts were prepared for them. In particular, Luda. “Lyudmila spoke before the International Student Assembly in Washington, before the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), as well as in New York, but many people remember her speech in Chicago.

Gentlemen,” a ringing voice rang out over the crowd of thousands of people gathered. - I am twenty five years old. At the front, I had already managed to destroy three hundred and nine fascist invaders. Don't you think, gentlemen, that you've been hiding behind my back for too long?! The crowd froze for a minute, and then exploded into a frenzied noise of approval....”

This is how numerous sources describe the most poignant moment of the trip, without, however, providing a link to the original source. We won't give it either.

It should be noted that Soviet snipers (and Komsomol members) traveled across the USA and Canada not alone, but together with representatives of other allies, specially selected by the American International Students Service committee. Traveling around the eastern states were Pavlichenko, the Chinese Yun-Wan (a former actress, a friend of Chiang Kai-shek’s wife, a student at Columbia University), Irena Morrey, the leader of the Washington ISS Committee, British pilots Peter Cachran and Scott Malden, as well as “representative of Holland Abdul Kadir, a native of Dutch West Indies". On the western side - Pchelintsev with Krasavchenko in the company of two more British pilots and a Dutch naval lieutenant.

In the middle - Captain Peter Cachran, Scotsman . Photofrom a book you know.

The delegation is almost in full strength. From the archive of V. Pchelintsev.

Pchelintsev cites an interesting episode about American democracy in connection with a visit to Pittsburgh, where one morning in a hotel corridor he met two policemen. “From his explanation, I understood that Pittsburgh is a special city in America: it is a city in which the overwhelming majority of the population are immigrants from Germany, Germans! Many in the city do not hide their sympathies for Hitler, they admire the successes of Hitler’s army on the Eastern Front, they hate Russians; there are many fascist thugs in the city. They learned from the press that there were two Russians in the youth delegation that came to the city. And all the newspapers are talking about the fact that one of them was a sniper who exterminated one and a half hundred of their compatriots! The reaction of the fascist elements is understandable, their unequivocal threats to “deal with the Russians” - that’s even how it happened.

The Furriers' Association kindly presented the envoys of the Red Army with bear jackets and another fur coat made from silver foxes.

And at the end of September, when the program was exhausted, the USSR Consul in the USA, Viktor Fedyushin, said that it was still too early to go home, since Prime Minister Churchill personally sent an invitation to visit Great Britain. “You must, my dears, correctly understand that your stay in America and your trip around the country brought enormous benefits that are difficult to overestimate. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in some matters the attitude towards us has now radically changed in the United States. Many issues are being resolved quickly and favorably, which until recently had to be resolved for weeks, or even months. “I’ll reveal a small “official secret” - Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov recently said at an embassy meeting in Washington that your youth delegation was an unexpected catalyst that accelerated and intensified many processes of Soviet diplomatic activity in the United States,” the consul admonished the snipers.

Farewell party at Hunter College, organized by a certain "Russian war relief". The second front is what we expect from you, gentlemen Americans, and you are talking about milk...”, Pchelintsev responded irritably about the slogan.

Running through the visit in italics, we will only say that Churchill received them personally, the snipers were given a visit to military units, presented with rifles, and at the end a meeting was organized with Charles de Gaulle. Everyone assured that the opening of a second front was not far off, everyone was ready and it was just a matter of time. And old de Gaulle boasted that his pilots are ready to fight fascism - just give them planes. The talk, of course, was about the future “Normandy-Niemen”. Well, and of course, meetings with working people.

I wonder what she has in her hand? She told De Gaulle that snipers don't smoke

“She was enthusiastically greeted by the workers of the plant she visited. At a rally in London, organized on November 22, 1942 by the Women’s Committee of Anglo-Soviet Friendship in honor of Pavlichenko, English women promised to be worthy of their Soviet sisters,” says the official website of the Russian Ministry of Defense on this occasion, which has not lost the sparkling style of the editorials of the formidable 40- x years.

I’m making a note to you, comrade Englishman. Your weapon hasn't been cleaned for a long time

Senior Lieutenant Pchelintsev did not like Uncle Winston. “The descendant of the Duke of Marlborough studied the officer standing in front of him. One thing the prime minister did not know was that before him there was also a descendant who, like himself, was proud of his pedigree, although it spoke of my common origin from a distant ancestor, a forest beekeeper, a “beekeeper.” But my great-grandfather died in Bulgaria, near Shipka, in 1877 in a battle with the Turks. Grandfather died in 1905 near Mukden, in Manchuria, in a battle with the Japanese. His father also laid down his head in 1920 near Kursk in the battle with the White Guards,” these are the thoughts that were born in his head with the limp handshake of the legendary prime minister and the terry anti-Soviet.

Let's talk about the results: interest in the Soviet Union and the war it waged single-handedly against all of Europe grew sharply. Of course, the Battle of Stalingrad played a key role in this, but Soviet snipers (and Komsomol members) gave an ironclad information lead. For example, American radio began to include stories about life in the USSR in national and local broadcasts and reported details of the heroic struggle of Soviet soldiers and partisans.

The British are boasting about tanks that are “about to go across the strait.” The overcoats are sewn to order through the efforts of Ambassador Maisky, the buttons and buttonholes are made-to-measure.

In November 1942, the newly created US Office of Information organized weekly radio broadcasts dedicated to the Soviet Union. And in 1942, I will tell you, in America there were more than 28 million radio points, which covered 82.8% of the entire population of the country. The Soviet documentary film “The Defeat of the Germans near Moscow” was shown in cinemas in Great Britain and the USA. In general, the public was very much in favor of helping the allies. But the second front was eventually opened when the collapse of Germany was obvious. But the famous film about the lost private will tell you about this better than I can.

And if I’m lying, then old man Woody Harty’s song “Miss Pavlichenko” does not at all resemble the deceitful fabrication of the Kremlin secret services. There are heartfelt lines in it: “The world will love your sweet face, just like me. After all, more than three hundred Nazi dogs died from your weapons.” What's it like?

Good afternoon, dear gossips. I would like to dedicate a series of posts to our military girls who defended our Motherland during the Great Patriotic War.

There is not a single family that has not been affected by the war. Some fought, some worked, defended borders, some suffered during the siege of Leningrad... My grandparents on my mother’s side - my grandfather guarded the border, and my grandmother was 15 years old when the war began. All the men, with the exception of two old men, went to the front. Not one returned. Grandmother, like everyone else in the village, women worked. She was unable to finish school because... There was simply no time to study. I regret that I didn’t ask her more about how they survived this terrible time. And now there is no one to ask. Only now I began to understand why my grandmother loved dolls and soft toys so much. There is always a bear and a dragon sitting on her grave.

But this is a preface. I want to tell you about the fates of the women who went to fight. And the first biographical story about Lyubov Pavlyuchenko (Belova), the best female sniper in world history.

Sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko (biography, 20 photos, video)

Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko (née Belova) is the best female sniper in world history. During the first year of the Great Patriotic War, she destroyed 309 fascists with a sniper rifle.

Biography of Lyudmila Pavlichenko

Lyudmila Belova was born on July 12, 1916 in the city of Belaya Tserkov, Kyiv province of the Russian Empire (now Kiev region of Ukraine). When she was 15, the family moved to Kyiv. At that time, Lyudmila was already married and bore her husband’s surname - Pavlichenko.
This is what senior researcher at the Kyiv Memorial Complex "National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" Vladimir Yakhnovsky says in an interview with the Ukrainian publication "Facts":
“At the age of fifteen, when Luda was in the eighth grade and lived with her parents in Bila Tserkva, the schoolgirl met at a dance a student at the Agricultural Institute - handsome and a favorite of women, Alexei Pavlichenko, who was much older than her. The girl fell in love at first sight and soon became pregnant. Lyuda's father (at that time an NKVD officer) Mikhail Belov found Alexei and forced him to marry. Lyudmila gave birth to a boy, whom she named Rostislav, Rostik. But Pavlichenko turned out to be a dishonest person and their life together did not work out.
Mikhail Belov was soon transferred to serve in Kyiv. Here the girl went to work at the Arsenal plant and graduated from evening school. Perhaps this is what made it possible to then write in questionnaires that her origin was from workers. The family tried not to advertise the fact that Lyudmila’s mother was from a noble family, was a highly educated woman, and instilled in her daughter a love of knowledge and foreign languages. In fact, it was the grandmother who raised her grandson, Lyuda’s son, in whom she doted on.
Lyudmila hated the father of her child so much that when he tried to repent, she turned him away and didn’t even want to say his name. I was going to get rid of the Pavlichenko surname, but the war prevented me from filing for divorce.”

In 1937, when her son was 5 years old, Pavlichenko entered the history department of the Kyiv State University named after T. G. Shevchenko. During my studies I was involved in gliding and shooting sports.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko. Student photo

When the war began, Lyudmila volunteered for the front.
To verify her ability to wield a weapon, the army gave her an impromptu test near a hill defended by Soviet soldiers. Lyudmila was handed a gun and pointed to two Romanians who were working with the Germans. "When I shot them both, I was finally accepted." Pavlichenko did not include these two shots in her list of winning shots - according to her, they were just test shots.
Private Pavlichenko was enlisted in the 25th Infantry Division named after Vasily Chapaev.
On her first day at the front, she came face to face with the enemy. Paralyzed by fear, Pavlichenko was unable to lift the rifle. Next to her was a young soldier whose life was instantly taken by a German bullet. Lyudmila was shocked, the shock prompted her to action. "He was a beautiful happy boy who was killed right in front of my eyes. Now nothing could stop me."

As part of the Chapaev division, it participated in defensive battles in Moldova and southern Ukraine. For her good training, she was assigned to a sniper platoon. From August 10, 1941, as part of the division, it participated in the defense of Odessa.
In mid-October 1941, the troops of the Primorsky Army were forced to leave Odessa and evacuate to Crimea to strengthen the defense of the city of Sevastopol, the naval base of the Black Sea Fleet. Lyudmila Pavlichenko spent 250 days and nights in heavy and heroic battles near Sevastopol.

Lyudmila’s partner was Alexei Kitsenko, whom she met before the war, in Kyiv. At the front, they submitted a report on marriage registration.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko and her lover Alexey Kitsenko. The photo was taken in February 1942 in Sevastopol, shortly before Alexei’s death

However, their happiness was short-lived; in February 1942, he was mortally wounded by shrapnel from a shell that exploded nearby during an artillery attack. Alexey sat with his hand on Lyudmila’s shoulders. When a shell exploded nearby, he received all the fragments - seven wounds. And one fragment almost cut off the hand, the same one that was lying on Lyudmila’s shoulder. If Alexey had not hugged her at that moment, the fragment would have broken Lyudmila’s spine.
After the death of her beloved, Pavlichenko’s hands began to tremble, and for some time she could not shoot.

Among the 309 fascists killed by Lyudmila were 36 Nazi snipers. Among them is Dunkirk, which destroyed 400 French and British, as well as 100 Soviet soldiers. A total of 500 people - more than Pavlichenko herself killed. It is worth noting that Lyudmila’s achievements surpassed several dozen male snipers of the Second World War. However, for a woman, her results were simply fantastic, especially considering that she spent only a year at the front, after which she was wounded, was evacuated from Sevastopol and never returned to the front, training other snipers.

There is a version that Lyudmila Pavlichenko had a special structure of the eyeball. In addition to stunning vision, she had a keen ear and excellent intuition. She learned to feel the forest as if she were an animal. They said that she was charmed from death by a healer and that she could hear everything within a radius of half a kilometer. And she memorized ballistic tables, accurately calculated the distance to the object and the correction for wind.

Many foreigners wondered how such a smiling woman could kill more than three hundred people in cold blood. In her autobiography “Heroic Reality” Lyudmila gives the answer to this:
"Hate teaches you a lot. She taught me how to kill my enemies. I'm a sniper. Near Odessa and Sevastopol, I destroyed 309 fascists with a sniper rifle. Hatred sharpened my vision and hearing, made me cunning and dexterous; hatred taught me to disguise myself and deceive the enemy, to unravel his various tricks and tricks in time; hatred taught me to patiently hunt for enemy snipers for several days. Nothing can quench the thirst for revenge. As long as at least one invader walks on our land, I will mercilessly beat the enemy.

In 1942, Lyudmila Pavlichenko went as part of the Soviet delegation to the United States. The Soviet Union at that time needed the Allies to open a Second Front in Europe. In her most famous speech, Pavlichenko, addressing the Americans, said: “Gentlemen! I am twenty-five years old. At the front, I have already managed to destroy 309 fascist invaders. Don’t you think, gentlemen, that you have been hiding behind my back for too long?!”
From another American speech by Pavlichenko: “I want to tell you that we will win! That there is no force that could interfere with the victorious march of the free peoples of the world! We must unite! As a Russian soldier, I offer you, the great soldiers of America, my hand.”

American country singer Woody Guthrie wrote the song "Miss Pavlichenko" about her. It says:

Miss Pavlichenko, her fame is known
Russia is your country, battle is your game
Your smile shines like the morning sun
But more than three hundred Nazi dogs died from your weapons.

Woody Guthrie - Miss Pavlichenko

Pavlichenko always performed in Russian, knowing only a few phrases in English. However, during a visit to the United States, she became friends with the wife of American President Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt. For the sake of communicating with her (they corresponded for many years, and in 1957 Mrs. Roosevelt came to visit Pavlichenko in Moscow) Lyudmila learned English.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko during a meeting with Eleanor Roosevelt. Left - US Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson

After the war in 1945, Lyudmila Mikhailovna graduated from Kiev University and married again. Husband - Shevelev Konstantin Andreevich (1906-1963). From 1945 to 1953, Lyudmila Mikhailovna was a researcher at the General Staff of the Navy. Later she worked in the Soviet War Veterans Committee. She was a member of the Association for Friendship with the Peoples of Africa and visited African countries several times.
Lyudmila Mikhailovna passed away in Moscow on October 27, 1974. She died hard, the wounds she received in battle hurt. The son quit his job to take care of his mother. He loved his mother very much. Lyubmila was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

stela on the grave of L. Pavlichenko, her mother Elena Belova, husband and son are buried next to her

Now about the film adaptation of her biography....

In April 2015, a joint Russian-Ukrainian film, “The Battle for Sevastopol,” dedicated to Lyudmila Pavlichenko, was released. The Ukrainian side financed the film for 79%, the Russian side - the remaining 21%. Filming took place from the end of 2013 until June 2014. Due to the annexation of Sevastopol to Russia in 2014, Ukrainian distributors abandoned the title “Battle for Sevastopol” and chose the title “Nezlamna” (Indestructible), which more accurately corresponds to the spirit of the film, because only part of the plot takes place in Sevastopol and the scale of the fighting for this city is not disclosed in the film.

The role of Lyudmila Pavlichenko in the film is played by Russian actress with Estonian roots Yulia Peresild. This choice should hardly be considered successful. Firstly, Lyudmila Pavlichenko was far from being of a fragile build, unlike Peresild. Secondly, the actress showed the character of Lyudmila Pavlichenko as exactly the opposite of what he really was. This was also noted by Lyudmila Mikhailovna’s relatives. Lyudmila Pavlichenko's granddaughter Alena Rostislavovna said about the heroine Peresild this way: " The actress, of course, does not look like a grandmother. Julia showed her to be very silent and cold. Lyudmila Mikhailovna was bright and temperamental. It's obvious that it's difficult for the actress to play her.".
The widow of Pavlichenko’s son, Lyubov Davydovna Krasheninnikova, a retired major of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, also noted the dissimilarity of Yulia Peresild from her legendary mother-in-law. " Lyudmila Mikhailovna was a sniper, but this does not mean that in life she is stern and reserved. On the contrary, he was a kind-hearted man. And the actress showed Pavlichenko silent and the same everywhere"What struck Lyubov Krasheninnikova most was the cold relationship between the on-screen Lyudmila Pavlichenko and her family -" as if she was guilty of something". "She loved her family very much and treated them with tenderness".

Yulia Peresild as Lyudmila Pavlichenko in the film "Battle for Sevastopol"

The film did not make such an impression on me as the biography of this brave woman. Those who have watched the movie and know the biography will notice all the inaccuracies. We can say that Lyudmila’s character has not been revealed; the title of the film in Russian distribution is also not clear.

When you start to think about what people had to live and overcome during the war, it becomes scary. Such biographies inspire me and make me stronger.

I hope you found it interesting.

During the war, the Nazis called our fellow countrywoman, the famous sniper, the Bolshevik Valkyrie, and American, Canadian and British journalists called the Queen of Fire, Lady Death and Sniper No. 1

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Victory over fascism, Russian and Ukrainian filmmakers gave our veterans and everyone who, in these troubled times, is not indifferent to the heroic past of the Fatherland, a gift - the feature film “Nezlamna” about the legendary sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who destroyed 309 fascist soldiers and officers during the war and trained dozens of new marksmen for the army.

The Ukrainian viewer is also interested in Lyudmila Mikhailovna because she is our fellow countrywoman, originally from Bila Tserkva, who lived and studied in Kyiv in the pre-war years, and left Odessa for the front. Why did a fragile girl choose the unfeminine profession of a sniper? How did the war affect her future fate? On the eve of the anniversary, he told a FACTS correspondent about this Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladimir Fedorovsky.

“The war prevented me from divorcing my unloved first husband and returning the Belov surname.”

— Luda’s youth passed in the 30s of the last century,— says Vladimir Fedorovsky. — As they say, the smoke of the civil war has not yet cleared, but the preconditions for a new war have appeared in the socio-political life of our and other countries. So that young people could master military specialties even before being drafted into the army, Osoaviakhim was created in the Soviet Union - the Society for the Promotion of Defense, Aviation and Chemical Construction. In its schools, flying clubs, and courses, young men and women learned to drive cars, fly gliders and airplanes, wield weapons, and studied radio engineering...

One day, while walking with fellow students in Shevchenko Park, Lyudmila (at that time a student at the Faculty of History at Kyiv University) looked into the shooting range to shoot with a small-caliber rifle. When the guys shot, the elderly owner of the shooting range asked whose fourth target was. “Mine,” Luda said embarrassedly. She had not yet seen her results and was afraid that she would be scolded. “For excellent shooting, Osoaviakhim will reward you with the right to take an additional free shot!” — the man said and handed the cartridge to the girl. Luda almost made it into the top ten again.

Soon she became a cadet at the Kyiv Osoaviakhim sniper school. The senior instructor of the school was the same shooting range employee - Alexander Vladimirovich Potapov, a former non-commissioned officer of the Life Guards Jaeger Regiment of the Tsarist Army, and during the Civil War - a Red commander, dismissed from service after being seriously wounded. By the way, Lyudmila’s father was also a participant in the civil war. He fought together with Vasily Chapaev and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Alexander Potapov turned out to be a good teacher. He taught Luda and her comrades how to move correctly on the battlefield, camouflage themselves, watch the enemy for hours, who also knows how to be invisible, how to detect the enemy by the smallest changes in the situation and terrain, and how to remember all the details. To do this, he forced girls and boys to observe, for example, a construction site, and then tell how many workers there were, who was doing what, and what they did that day. After such a tiring lesson, Potapov went with his charges to the forest, to Pushcha-Voditsa, where the cadets practiced shooting. One day, a teacher showed the kids a mind-blowing trick. It’s called “knock out the bottom of the bottle.” He placed a lemonade bottle on the stump so that the opening of the neck was facing the shooter, and fired from a fairly decent distance from an ordinary three-line Mosin rifle of the 1891/1930 model. The bullet passed through the hole and knocked out the bottom of the bottle so that the bottle itself remained intact. Pavlichenko soon also learned to repeat this trick.

In June 1941, Lyuda graduated from her fourth year and wanted to write a study about Bogdan Khmelnitsky. Immediately after the exams, she went to Odessa, where she lived in a student dormitory and worked in a public library.

Her nine-year-old son asked to go to the city by the sea with her. By the way, the film does not mention that the 25-year-old student had a child. The fact is that Lyudmila’s personal life was not easy. At the age of fifteen, when Lyuda was in the eighth grade and lived with her parents in Bila Tserkva, the schoolgirl met at a dance a student at the Agricultural Institute - handsome and a favorite of women, Alexei Pavlichenko, who was much older than her. The girl fell in love at first sight and soon became pregnant. Lyuda's father (at that time an NKVD officer) Mikhail Belov found Alexei and forced him to marry. Lyudmila gave birth to a boy, whom she named Rostislav, Rostik. But Pavlichenko turned out to be a dishonest person and their life together did not work out.

Mikhail Belov was soon transferred to serve in Kyiv. Here the girl went to work at the Arsenal plant and graduated from evening school. Perhaps this is what made it possible to then write in questionnaires that her origin was from workers. The family tried not to advertise the fact that Lyudmila’s mother was from a noble family, was a highly educated woman, and instilled in her daughter a love of knowledge and foreign languages. In fact, it was the grandmother who raised her grandson, Lyuda’s son, in whom she doted on.

Lyudmila hated the father of her child so much that when he tried to repent, she turned him away and didn’t even want to say his name. I was going to get rid of the Pavlichenko surname, but the war prevented me from filing for divorce. Already at the front, near Sevastopol, she met a new, true love - her commander and sniper, also Alexei, Kitsenko. Luda only called him Lesha or Lenya.

Kitsenko died soon after. Having covered Lyudmila with himself during artillery shelling, he was mortally wounded. The profession of a sniper is very dangerous. It happened that after the very first shots the enemy opened targeted return fire. If the sniper did not have time to change position in time, it could cost him his life.

“The Nazis often shouted: “Lyudmila, come to us!” With us you will not need anything..."

— In 1942 (at that time Lyudmila was already famous), Pavlichenko and another sniper, Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Pchelintsev, were sent to America as part of a delegation of Soviet youth to an international student forum,- continues the historian. — There, Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of the US President, really liked the fragile girl in military uniform. The First Lady invited Lyudmila to stay for a few days in the White House - she wanted to get to know a Soviet woman better. And one day, when Lyuda was changing clothes, seeing four terrible scars on her back, the first lady of the country began to cry quietly. Pavlichenko had several wounds and a concussion. Enemy snipers were hunting for her.

*Pavlichenko, who came to America with the Soviet delegation in 1942, really liked Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of the US President. And the first lady invited Lyudmila to live for a few days in the White House

One day, none of our snipers and observers could determine for a long time where the enemy shooter was hiding. And only Lyudmila managed to detect him. In such cases, she often resorted to a rather risky method - she called fire on herself: she lifted a helmet or a rag doll wearing a commander’s cap over the parapet of the trench on a shoulder blade. After the Nazi shot, she or her observer partner spotted the target and returned fire. But then Pavlichenko discovered a completely incomprehensible tactic: the enemy skillfully camouflaged himself and, having found a victim, left his cover, approached the target, ending up where no one was waiting for him, then shot and just as quickly disappeared. Of course, he did not escape Lyudmila’s bullet. From his documents we learned that this fascist had been fighting in Western Europe since 1939, and had more than five hundred (!) killed officers and soldiers.

During the first months of the war and the defense of Odessa (and Luda came to the military registration and enlistment office on June 22), she destroyed 179 fascists. By July 1942, that is, within a year, she brought the count to 309. Unfortunately, there are currently no official documents confirming this achievement.

But the fact that the young woman really fought bravely is a fact. Often, together with other snipers or scouts, she went to enemy lines and destroyed the enemy there. One day, thanks to her accurate shooting, her comrades destroyed the headquarters of a German military unit and seized valuable documents. The fame of her exploits spread on many fronts. The commander of the Primorsky Army, General Ivan Efimovich Petrov, gave Lyudmila a personalized semi-automatic rifle SVT-40 (Tokarev self-loading rifle) with an optical sight. It had a ten-round magazine; there was no need to jerk the bolt after each shot, which made it possible to significantly increase the rate of fire. We see Pavlichenko with this rifle in most newspaper photographs. But on combat missions, Lyudmila and other experienced snipers took the good old “three-line” - simpler and more reliable, with greater destructive power. This weapon was not afraid of sand and dirt that got into the mechanism.

By the way, in the Central Museum of the Russian Armed Forces, among the personal belongings of the famous sniper, there is a Canadian hard drive with an optical sight and even an ordinary boy’s slingshot, which the Sevastopol pioneers gave to Lyudmila with the words: “Aunt Lyuda, if you suddenly run out of cartridges...”

Not only our people knew about Lyudmila Pavlichenko, but also those who could become her new victims. The Nazis often shouted to the sniper: “Lyudmila, come to us! With us you won’t need anything...” But they received bullets in response...

In the summer of 1942, after a failure on the Kerch Peninsula, the Soviet command surrendered Sevastopol to the enemy, which our soldiers, sailors and officers defended for 250 days and nights. Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who by that time had received another wound, was ordered by General Petrov to be evacuated by submarine. After treatment, she was no longer allowed to go to the front; she worked in the rear.

“Gentlemen, don’t you think you’ve been hiding behind my back for too long?”

— The United States, as you know, was in no hurry to open a second front, says the scientist. — Volunteers were sent to the UK - pilots, sailors, and air defense specialists. And America helped the Soviet Union only with material resources, supplying tanks, planes, cars, and food products under Lend-Lease. Despite this, it was very difficult for the Soviet country to fight: Hitler, for whom the industry of occupied Europe worked, reached Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad and the Caucasus. Therefore, the Soviet government sent both diplomats and representatives of various organizations to the United States, who were supposed to form public opinion about the need to provide military assistance to the USSR.

The Americans received Soviet guests mostly friendly. But there were also those who considered the Union exclusively a breeding ground for Bolshevism. They tried to shorten the program of meetings and speeches of our delegations. “Miss Pavlichenko,” said the mayor of Chicago to Lyudmila, who came to the United States in 1942. “You are so young, you should enjoy life, and not waste time on long and fruitless conversations.” You will have time when you get old. Three minutes will be enough for you...” “Even one minute will be enough for me, Mr. Mayor,” the girl smiled. “Gentlemen! - Luda addressed the crowd of thousands from the podium. “I’m 25 years old, and I’ve already managed to destroy 309 fascists at the front. Don’t you think you’ve been hiding behind my back for too long?” The crowd froze, and a minute later burst into applause.

...In 1944, Lyudmila continued her studies at the university. But even after graduation she remained in the army for some time. She rose to the rank of major. She taught sniper fire tactics in military schools. After being transferred to the reserve, she switched to public work: she was a member of the presidium of the Soviet Women's Committee and the Soviet Peace Committee.

She got married and raised a son. True, in the film the boy is shown as the son of her husband, Alexei Kitsenko, who died near Sevastopol. To emphasize the optimistic, life-affirming idea of ​​the picture, its creators in this case resorted to artistic fiction.

Hero of the Soviet Union Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko died early - in 1974, at 58 years old. The health of the fragile woman was undermined by long periods of lying on the cold damp ground, stress, wounds and concussions. And in peacetime there are numerous meetings and receptions. No, war is still not a woman’s business.

100 years ago, on July 12, 1916, Lyudmila Pavlichenko was born - the most successful female sniper in world history, who had 309 confirmed fatal hits on enemy soldiers and officers, for which she received the nickname “Lady Death.”

Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the most prolific female sniper of World War II, had to face misunderstanding during a visit to the United States, where she was nicknamed “Lady Death.” But American reporters, greedy for sensation, expecting to see a “killing machine” in female form, discovered that in front of them was an ordinary young woman who had suffered terrible trials that failed to break her will.
She was so sweet and friendly. Looking at Lyudmila Pavlichenko, it was impossible to imagine that she was an experienced sniper, who had killed hundreds of Wehrmacht soldiers and officers...
Once on the front line, Lyudmila Pavlichenko could not bring herself to shoot a man. How is this even possible?! The first fight took away all the sentiment. The young neighbor, sitting nearby in the trench, suddenly jerked, spreading his arms, and fell on his back.
"He was a beautiful happy boy who was killed right in front of my eyes,- Lyudmila later recalled. - Now nothing could stop me."

Original taken from tverdyi_znak

Lyudmila Belova was born on July 12, 1916 in the city of Belaya Tserkov, Kyiv province of the Russian Empire. Pavlichenko's mother was an English teacher. Father is an NKVD major. Until the age of 14 she studied at secondary school No. 3 in the city of Bila Tserkva.

Ordinary life was changed by first love, which ended in early marriage and the birth of a son, Rostislav, who was born when Lyuda was only 16 years old. Having met 25-year-old student Alexei Pavlichenko at a dance at the age of 15, the naive schoolgirl simply lost her head. And when the tall handsome man departed in an unknown direction, she still had no idea how this would turn out for her. My mother was the first to notice her rounded belly. That same evening, Lyuda confessed to her parents about her relationship with Pavlichenko. Finding him and forcing him to marry his deceived daughter was not difficult for NKVD Major Mikhail Belov. But you won’t be nice by force. Although Lyudmila married Alexei Pavlichenko in 1932, this did not save her from gossip. As a result, the family moved to Kyiv. Quarrels, reproaches, scandals - a short marriage led to mutual hatred, and then to divorce. Lyudmila returned to live with her parents. Having bore the surname Belova as a girl, after the divorce Lyudmila retained the surname Pavlichenko - it was under this name that, without exaggeration, the whole world recognized her.

The status of a single mother at such a tender age did not frighten Luda - after the ninth grade she began studying at evening school, while simultaneously working as a grinder at the Kiev Arsenal plant. Relatives and friends helped raise little Rostislav.

In 1937, Lyudmila Pavlichenko entered the history department of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv State University. Like most students of the anxious pre-war period, Lyuda was preparing, “if there was war tomorrow,” to fight for the Motherland. The girl was involved in gliding and shooting sports, showing very good results.

Historians and experts who have studied the military exploits of Lyudmila Pavlichenko are inclined to think that she owes her military victories to her amazing abilities. It is believed that the girl had a special eye structure that allowed her to see a little more than others.
In addition, Pavlichenko had a keen ear and amazing intuition; in some incomprehensible way she felt the forest, the wind, and the rain. She also knew ballistic tables from memory, with the help of which she calculated the distance to an object.

In the summer of 1941, fourth-year student Lyudmila Pavlichenko underwent pre-graduation internship at a scientific library in Odessa. The topic of the future diploma has already been chosen - the reunification of Ukraine with Russia. Eh, who then could have imagined that the paths of Russia and Ukraine would diverge?

When the war began, Lyuda immediately went to the military registration and enlistment office, presented documents about her rifle training, and asked to be sent to the front. According to the specialty she received, the girl was enlisted as a sniper in the 25th Rifle Division named after Chapaev. The soldiers, who had already sniffed the gunpowder, smiled bitterly: “It falls to us for nuts, why did they send a woman to such hell?”
The company commander was more restrained, but did not hide his skeptical attitude towards the newcomer. Especially when she was taken out of the trench in a state of shock after the German attack. He waited until the girl came to her senses, and then led her to the parapet and asked: “Do you see the Germans? There are two Romanians next to them - can you shoot them?!” Pavlichenko shot both of them, after which all the commander’s questions disappeared.

War is not the best place for love. But times don't choose. Lyuda Pavlichenko was 25 years old, and the thirst for life desperately argued with death triumphant around her. In war, when your nerves are strained to the limit, and the closest and dearest is the one who helps you survive, this happens. For Lyudmila, the commander, Junior Lieutenant Kitsenko, became such a person. In December 1941, Lyuda was wounded, and Kitsenko pulled her out from under fire. The report to the unit commander with a request to register the marriage was a logical continuation of the front-line romance. But life had other plans...
The profession of a sniper is full of dangers. Often after his shots, the enemy opened hurricane fire from cannons at the intended square. This is exactly how Kitsenko died in February 1942. His death happened before Lyudmila’s eyes. The lovers were sitting on a hill when artillery shelling suddenly began.
Shell fragments pierced the groom's back, and one cut off the hand with which he was hugging the bride. This is what saved the girl, because if not for her hand, the fragment would have broken her spine. Kitsenko’s arm was torn off, and now Lyuda pulled him out from under the fire. But the wounds turned out to be too severe - a few days later he died in the hospital in her arms.

The death of her beloved did not pass without a trace for Lyudmila. For some time she was in shock, her hands were shaking, there was no question of shooting. But then it was as if something died in this smiling girl. Now she went into the “green zone” in the dark and returned when dusk fell over the positions. Her personal count of destroyed Nazis grew at an unprecedented pace - one hundred, two hundred, three hundred...

Moreover, among those killed were not only soldiers and officers, but also 36 fascist snipers. Quite soon, the German positions learned about the deadly Frau. She was even “given” a nickname - the Bolshevik Valkyrie. To neutralize it, an ace sniper arrived near Sevastopol at the beginning of 1942. The German used unexpected tactics for snipers.
Having discovered the target, he left cover, approached and shot, after which he disappeared. Pavlichenko had to work hard to win the sniper duel against him. When she opened the notebook of the shot enemy, she read the inscription - Dunkirk and his personal score - 500.

But death was constantly hovering next to Pavlichenko. Shortly before the fall of Sevastopol, in June 1942, Lyudmila Pavlichenko was seriously wounded. She was evacuated by sea. Thanks to this, she avoided the tragic fate of several tens of thousands of defenders of the city, who, deprived of the opportunity to evacuate, died or were captured after the capture of Sevastopol by the Nazis.
The legendary 25th Chapaev Division, in which Lyudmila Pavlichenko fought, died. Its last fighters sank the banners in the Black Sea so that they would not fall to the enemy.

By the time of the evacuation from Sevastopol, Lyudmila Pavlichenko had killed 309 enemy soldiers and officers. She achieved this stunning result in just a year of war.
Moscow decided that she had served her Motherland enough on the front line, and there was no point in throwing a repeatedly wounded, shell-shocked woman who had suffered personal losses into the heat again. Now she had a completely different mission ahead of her.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko and I. Maisky's wife at a reception at the Soviet embassy in Great Britain

Soon, Pavlichenko, as part of a delegation of Soviet youth, was sent on a business trip to the United States to convince the Americans to open a second front. Contrary to popular belief, Lyudmila did not know English, but her exploits spoke for themselves.
The news that a Russian woman who personally killed more than 300 fascists was coming to the United States caused a sensation. It’s unlikely that American journalists understood exactly what a Russian heroine should look like, but they certainly didn’t expect to see a pretty young woman whose photo could easily grace the covers of fashion magazines. Apparently, this is why the thoughts of the reporters at the first press conference with Pavlichenko’s participation went somewhere very far from the war.

What color underwear do you prefer? - one of the Americans blurted out.

Lyudmila, smiling sweetly, answered:
- For a similar question in our country you can get a slap in the face. Come on, come closer...

This answer captivated even the most “toothed sharks” of the American media. Admiring articles about the Russian sniper appeared in almost all American newspapers.

“Lady Death” - the Americans called her admiringly, and country singer Woody Guthrie wrote the song “Miss Pavlichenko” about her.
In the summer heat, cold snowy winter
In any weather you hunt down the enemy
The world will love your sweet face just like I do
After all, more than three hundred Nazi dogs died from your weapons...

Even the wife of the US President, Eleanor Roosevelt, could not resist the spontaneity of this girl: she invited her to live in the White House.

Later, Eleanor Roosevelt invited Lyudmila Pavlichenko on a trip around the country. Lyudmila spoke before the International Student Assembly in Washington, before the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), and also in New York, but many people remember her speech in Chicago.
"Gentlemen, - a ringing voice rang out over the crowd of thousands of people gathered. — I am twenty five years old. At the front, I had already managed to destroy three hundred and nine fascist invaders. Don’t you think, gentlemen, that you’ve been hiding behind my back for too long?!”
The crowd froze for a minute, and then exploded into a frenzied roar of approval...

In America she was given a Colt, and in Canada a Winchester (displayed in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces).

In Canada, the Soviet military delegation was greeted by several thousand Canadians gathered at the Toronto Joint Station.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko among the workers of the small arms factory in Liverpool. 1942.

After returning, Major Pavlichenko served as an instructor at the Vystrel sniper school. After the war in 1945, Lyudmila Mikhailovna graduated from Kiev University. From 1945 to 1953 she was a research fellow at the General Staff of the Navy. Later she worked in the Soviet War Veterans Committee.
Her post-war personal life also turned out well - she got married, raised a son, and was involved in social activities. Lyudmila Mikhailovna died in October 1974, finding peace at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
The Lyuda sniper rifle in the computer game Borderlands 2 is named after Lyudmila Pavlichenko. Also, in honor of Lyudmila Mikhailovna, the main character of the second season of the 2009 anime series “Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini” bears the surname Pavlichenko.

The image of Pavlichenko is embodied in the film by Sergei Mokritsky “The Battle for Sevastopol / Nezlamna” (2015), in which the main role was played by Yulia Peresild.

Biography, life story of Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko

Front

With the beginning of the war, Lyudmila, who was doing an internship in one of the Odessa libraries, went to the military registration and enlistment office. She ended up in the most famous formation of the Red Army, namely the 25th Chapaev Rifle Division, units of which very soon had to take on the main burden of defending Odessa from the advancing Germans and Romanians. Pre-war marksmanship training, coupled with excellent hearing and vision, as well as unusually developed intuition, allowed her to very quickly become the most effective sniper. In the first few months of the war, she managed to destroy about two hundred enemy soldiers and officers. Since the count of those killed was replenished almost daily, very soon rumors began to circulate on the other side of the front about the extraordinary abilities of a female sniper, capable of hearing any rustle half a kilometer away, killing 10 people in one shot, and also sneaking up absolutely unnoticed directly to the German trenches, and then unnoticed hide.

Despite Lyudmila's successes, in the fall of 1941, Soviet troops were evacuated to Crimea to defend Sevastopol. The main base of the Black Sea Fleet was under threat of capture by the Germans under the command of Mantstein. In Crimea, a “cold-blooded killing machine” fell in love with his partner Leonid Kutsenko. In December, the couple applied for marriage registration. Unfortunately, this event was not destined to happen. In March 1942, the future newlyweds were discovered by the Germans and attacked with mortars. Leonid was seriously wounded from one of the mines and subsequently died in hospital a few days later. Because of this tragedy, Lyudmila’s hands began to tremble, but she managed to cope with it, after which her personal account again began to be intensively replenished. A considerable part of the killed Nazis were the best snipers of the Wehrmacht. According to some reports, there were several dozen such duels. They all ended in Lyudmila's victory.

CONTINUED BELOW

In America

Lyudmila was sent overseas as part of a delegation of Soviet student front-line soldiers. Here she quickly gained fame, since Russian women who personally sent three hundred soldiers to the next world rarely come to the country. Combined with direct behavior in communicating with American journalists, this led not only to popularity, but also to interest from the US leadership. She was received personally by the president of the country, and the girl became friends with his wife Eleanor Roosevelt; this relationship lasted several decades.

The famous phrase, thanks to which Lyudmila Pavlichenko was remembered overseas for decades to come, was uttered in Chicago at one of the many rallies. Her words caused many in the West to change their minds about the war that was raging in the Old World. One of them was the famous country singer Woody Guthrie, who wrote a song in honor of the fearless 25-year-old female sniper.

After the front

Having completed her overseas “tour”, Lyudmila returned to military service, starting to train snipers. At the end of 1943 she became a Hero of the Soviet Union, and two years later she became a major and a history student. After graduating from the university in Kyiv, she remarried and worked for many years as a research assistant at the General Staff of the Navy.

The life of Lyudmila Pavlichenko was cut short on October 27, 1974. The incredible strain of just one year at the front took its toll, as well as repeated wounds and concussions, due to which one of the most successful snipers of the Second World War died at the age of only 58 years.