Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko (née Belova). She was born on July 12, 1916 in Belaya Tserkov (now the Kyiv region) - she died on October 27, 1974 in Moscow. Legendary Soviet sniper. Destroyed 309 German soldiers and officers. The most successful female sniper in world history. Hero of the Soviet Union (1943).
Lyudmila Belova, who became known as Lyudmila Pavlichenko, was born on July 12, 1916 in the city of Belaya Tserkov, Vasilkovsky district, Kiev province (now Kyiv region).
Father - Mikhail Belov, an employee, later an officer of the NKVD.
The mother was of noble origin, was a highly educated woman, instilled in her daughter a love of knowledge, taught foreign languages.
Until the age of 14, she studied at secondary school No. 3 in the city of Belaya Tserkov. Then her father was transferred to serve in Kyiv.
After graduating from the ninth grade, she worked as a grinder at the Kiev plant "Arsenal" and at the same time studied in the tenth grade, completing her secondary education.
In 1937 she entered the Faculty of History of the Kiev state university named after T.G. Shevchenko. During her studies, she was engaged in gliding and shooting sports.
Demonstrated outstanding results in shooting. According to the assumption of some experts, Lyudmila had a special structure of the eyeball. In addition, she had excellent hearing and excellent intuition. A good memory also helped her - she remembered the ballistic tables by heart and accurately calculated the distance to the object, corrected for the wind.
When the Great Patriotic War began, she was in Odessa for graduation practice. From the very first days of the war, Lyudmila Pavlichenko volunteered for the front.
To make sure of her ability to wield weapons, at the sniper courses she was given an impromptu test near the hill, which was defended by Soviet soldiers. Lyudmila was handed a gun and pointed out two Romanians who were working with the Germans.
“When I shot them both, they finally accepted me,” she said. Pavlichenko did not include these two shots in her list of victorious ones - according to her, they were just trial shots.
Private Pavlichenko was enrolled in the 25th Infantry Division named after Vasily Chapaev.
On her first day at the front, she faced the enemy face to face. According to her, paralyzed with fear, she 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 wonderful happy boy who was killed right in front of my eyes. Now nothing could stop me,” she shared.
As part of the Chapaev division, she participated in defensive battles in Moldova and in southern Ukraine. She was assigned to a sniper platoon.
In mid-October 1941, the troops of the Primorsky Army were forced to leave Odessa and evacuate to the Crimea to strengthen the defense of the city of Sevastopol - naval base Black Sea Fleet. Lyudmila Pavlichenko spent 250 days and nights in heavy and heroic battles near Sevastopol.
During the first months of the war and the defense of Odessa, Lyudmila Pavlichenko destroyed 179 German and Romanian soldiers and officers. By June 1942, Pavlichenko had already 309 confirmed destroyed enemy soldiers and officers, including 36 enemy snipers. In addition, during the period of defensive battles, she was able to train many snipers, passing on her experience to the front-line soldiers.
In his autobiographical book "Heroic story" Lyudmila Pavlichenko wrote: "Hatred teaches a lot. She taught me how to kill enemies. I am a sniper. Near Odessa and Sevastopol, I destroyed 309 Nazis from a sniper rifle. Hatred sharpened my sight and hearing, made me cunning and dexterous; hatred taught me to disguise myself and deceive the enemy , in time to unravel his various tricks and tricks; 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 our land, I will mercilessly beat the enemy. When I went to fight, I first experienced only anger for the fact that the Germans violated our peaceful life.But everything that I saw later gave rise to a feeling of such inextinguishable hatred in me that it is difficult to express it with anything other than a bullet in the heart of a Nazi.When I walked through the streets Sevastopol, I was often stopped by children and asked: “How many killed yesterday?”
Weapons of Lyudmila Pavlichenko: Mosin rifle (now kept in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow); self-loading rifle Tokarev-40.
Lyudmila's accomplishments surpassed several dozen WWII male snipers. 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.
In June 1942 she was seriously wounded. From the besieged Sevastopol, she was evacuated to the Caucasus, and then completely withdrawn from the front line and sent along with a delegation of Soviet youth to Canada and the United States of America.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko in the USA (newsreel)
During her visit overseas, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, together with the secretary of the Moscow City Komsomol Committee Nikolai Krasavchenko and sniper Vladimir Pchelintsev, attended a reception with the President of the United States.
At the invitation of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, members of the Soviet delegation lived in the White House for some time. Later, Eleanor Roosevelt organized a trip around the country for Soviet representatives.
Lieutenant Pavlichenko delivered a speech before the International Student Assembly in Washington, before the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in New York, but many remembered her words spoken in Chicago: “Gentlemen, I am twenty-five years old. At the front, I have already managed to destroy three hundred and nine fascist invaders. Don't you gentlemen think you've been hiding behind my back for too long?" After these words, as the reporters described, the crowd froze for a minute, and then exploded into a frantic roar of approval.
From another American speech by Pavlichenko: "I want to tell you that we will win! That there is no such 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" .
In the USA, she was presented with a Colt pistol, in Canada - a Winchester rifle (the latter is on display at the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Moscow).
In Canada, the delegation of the Soviet military was greeted by several thousand Canadians who gathered at the Toronto Union Station (Union Station Toronto).
Her photo was published by all the leading media in America, she appeared on the cover of Life magazine.
American country singer Woody Guthrie wrote the song "Miss Pavlichenko" about her, in which the words sounded:
Miss Pavlichenko is well known to all of us,
Russia is your country, and fighting is a craft,
The whole world will love you forever and ever
For those three hundred Nazis who fell before you.
In the mountains and hollows, as quiet as a deer,
In the forests spreading, not knowing fear.
The sight rose - Fritz fell to the ground,
Three hundred Nazis fell before you...
After returning from a trip abroad, Lieutenant Pavlichenko served as an instructor at the Shot sniper school near Moscow.
After the end of the war, Lyudmila Mikhailovna defended her diploma at Kiev University and became a senior researcher at the Main Staff of the USSR Navy. In 1956 she went to work in the public organization "Soviet Committee of War Veterans".
In 1957, she met Eleanor Roosevelt for the second time, during the latter's visit to the USSR.
She died on October 27, 1974 in Moscow. She was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery, her mother Elena Belova, her husband and son are buried next to her.
In school number 3 in Belaya Tserkov there is a museum of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, created during the Soviet era.
In honor of Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko, streets in the cities of Sevastopol and Belaya Tserkov were named (on this street in Belaya Tserkov and is located high school No. 3, in which Lyudmila Mikhailovna studied).
The vessel of the Ministry of Fisheries was named after Lyudmila Pavlichenko. The ship was launched in 1976 and decommissioned in 1996.
Sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko
The growth of Lyudmila Pavlichenko: 156 centimeters.
Personal life of Lyudmila Pavlichenko:
She was married three times.
The first husband is Alexey Pavlichenko. She met him at the age of fifteen, when she was in the eighth grade and lived with her parents in Belaya Tserkov. Their meeting took place at a dance, he was a student at an agricultural institute, much older than her. Lyudmila fell in love and soon became pregnant. Luda's father, NKVD officer Mikhail Belov, found Alexei and forced him to marry.
In 1932, Lyudmila gave birth to a son, Rostislav (1932-2007).
However, family life did not work out, the husband turned out to be a dishonorable person. According to the stories of those who knew Lyudmila, she hated the father of her child so much that she did not even want to pronounce his name. She was going to get rid of the name Pavlichenko, but the war prevented her from filing for divorce.
The second husband is Alexey Kitsenko. They met before the war in Kyiv. He was her partner at the front. At the front, they filed a marriage registration report.
But their happiness was short-lived: in February 1942, Alexei was mortally wounded by fragments of an exploding shell during an artillery raid. As Lyudmila said, he essentially saved her life: Alexei sat with his hand on her shoulders, and when a shell exploded next to them, he got all the fragments, he received seven wounds. One fragment almost cut off Alexei's hand - the one that lay on Lyudmila's shoulder. If he had not hugged her, a fragment would have broken Lyudmila's spine.
For Lyudmila, the death of Kitsenko was a heavy blow, for some time she could not even shoot - her hands were trembling.
Third husband - Konstantin Andreevich Shevelev (1906-1963).
Son - Rostislav Pavlichenko died at the age of 76 from a stroke.
Granddaughter - Alena Rostislavovna, lives in Greece with two children and is a member of the Union of Artists of Greece.
The widow of Pavlichenko's son is Lyubov Davydovna Krasheninnikova, a retired major of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko with her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter
Her granddaughter Alena recalled her grandmother: “Grandma loved children very much and never punished me. We lived in perfect harmony. "I forgave. If I did something wrong, I raised an eyebrow and carefully looked into my eyes. It became clear that it was impossible to do this - it was the worst punishment! She was always busy with something - on the road. I still can’t imagine how she survived the horror of the war! We never talked about the war at home, and she didn’t want to talk about it either. It’s scary. Nevertheless, after all she managed to maintain tenderness, femininity and humanity. "
During her last visit to Russia, Alena almost ended up in prison. The fact is that she wanted to take her grandmother's relics with her to Greece - a dagger and a small revolver. But when they checked her luggage at Sheremetyevo, she was detained and accused of illegally transporting weapons. Some time later, an examination was carried out, which showed that the dagger and the revolver were a cultural value. Alena was charged with a criminal case under the article “Smuggling”, she was threatened with 7 years in prison.
Alena regretted: “Indeed, I didn’t think that I needed to document these things. Moreover, they were taken from me. After a while, I began to look for them, but they disappeared.”
The image of Lyudmila Pavlichenko in the cinema:
In 2015, a Russian-Ukrainian film was released "Battle for Sevastopol"(ukr. "Invisible") directed by Sergei Mokritsky, dedicated to the life story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko. The role of Lyudmila Pavlichenko in the film was played by a Russian actress. The release of the tape on movie screens was timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic war.
The plot of the film is based on real events. In addition to colorful battle scenes, much attention in the plot is given to emotional experiences heroes, a prominent place is occupied by a love line.
It is worth noting that Pavlyuchenko's relatives were critical of the film and the actress who played the famous sniper.
In particular, the granddaughter of Lyudmila Pavlichenko Alena Rostislavovna said about Peresild: "The actress, of course, does not look like a grandmother. Yulia showed her very silent and cold. Lyudmila Mikhailovna was bright and temperamental. It is clear that it is difficult for an actress to play her."
The widow of Pavlichenko's son, Lyubov Davydovna Krasheninnikova, also stated that Yulia Peresild did not look like her legendary mother-in-law: "Lyudmila Mikhailovna was a sniper, but this does not mean that she is harsh and restrained in life. On the contrary, she was a kind-hearted person. And the actress showed Pavlichenko silent and the same everywhere.
The Lyudmila-D rifle in the Destiny computer game and the Lyuda sniper rifle in the Borderlands 2 computer game are 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 name Pavlichenko.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko (née Belova) was born on June 29 (July 12), 1916 in the village of Belaya Tserkov, now a city in the Kiev region of Ukraine. Since 1932 she lived in Kyiv. After graduating from 9 classes, she went to work at the Arsenal plant, where she worked full course sniper school Osoaviahima. In 1932 she married Alexey Pavlichenko. Soon the marriage was annulled, and she returned to live with her parents. In 1937 she entered the Faculty of History of Kiev University, but due to illness she was forced to leave the 2nd year and leave for Odessa at the end of 1940 for treatment. On June 15, 1941, she was sent to one of the Odessa sanatoriums, where she met the war.
She voluntarily joined the Red Army and on June 28 was enrolled in one of the Odessa fighter battalions, which soon joined the 25th Chapaev division and received the name of the 54th rifle regiment. Lyudmila very soon proved that she is a worthy fighter of the legendary division. She participated in defensive battles in Moldova and in southern Ukraine. For good shooting training, she was sent to a sniper platoon. Since August 10, 1941, as part of the division, she participated in the defense of Odessa. In mid-October 1941, the troops of the Primorsky Army were forced to leave the city and evacuate to the Crimea to strengthen the defense of the city of Sevastopol.
April 24, 1942 received the first award - the medal "For Military Merit". By the spring of 1942, Senior Sergeant L. M. Pavlichenko had destroyed more than 250 enemies. By order No. 137 of July 16, 1942, she was already awarded the Order of Lenin by the troops of the North Caucasian Front.
By July 1942, a sniper from the 2nd rifle company of the 54th rifle regiment (25th rifle division, Primorskaya army, North Caucasian front) Lieutenant L. M. Pavlichenko destroyed 309 enemy soldiers and officers, including 36 snipers [some historians question these figures as clearly inflated], brought up dozens of good snipers. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 25, 1943, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 1218).
In August 1942, Lyudmila Pavlichenko and the famous sniper of the Leningrad Front Vladimir Pchelintsev were included in the Soviet delegation to the international anti-fascist student congress, which gathered in the United States, where they stayed until January 1943. This was the end of her combat work.
In 1943, Coast Guard Major L. M. Pavlichenko graduated from the Shot course. After the war, in 1945 she graduated from Kyiv State University. In 1945-1953 worked as a researcher at the Main Staff of the Navy. A participant in many international congresses and conferences, she did a lot of work in the Soviet Committee of War Veterans. Died October 27, 1974. She was buried in the columbarium of the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
She was awarded two Orders of Lenin (07/16/1942, 10/25/1943), medals, including "For Military Merit" (04/24/1942). The name of the Heroine was given to the vessel of the Ministry of Fisheries. A street in Sevastopol was named after L. M. Pavlichenko, at the beginning of which an annotation board was installed. In Odessa, a memorial plaque was installed on the building where she worked in 1941.
* * *From photographs of different years:
From the press materials of the war years:
Article by Oleg Kaminsky -
The image of Lyudmila Pavlichenko was idealized by the Soviet media. Few knew that the famous female sniper in the West was called "Miss Colt". Soviet censors excluded mistakes and mistakes from Pavlichenko's combat biography. And, according to modern historians, they exaggerated its achievements.
Childhood and youth
Pavlichenko became the most productive not only among Soviet snipers. By the number of enemies destroyed, a girl from a simple working family broke the world record. Among the relatives of Belova, such is the maiden name of the sniper, there were no military men. Father worked as a locksmith. True, he participated in the Civil War.
Pavlichenko's small homeland is Belaya Tserkov. In the early 1930s, the family moved to Kyiv. Lyudmila dreamed of becoming a history teacher. After school, she entered the university, but, while still a high school student, she worked at a factory. Lyudmila went to work at the insistence of her father, who believed that the working biography compensated for the shortcomings of her origin: Pavlichenko's mother had noble roots.
Lyudmila made a career at the plant. At first she did menial work, then she trained as a turner, and then became a draftswoman. AT youth environment in those years it was fashionable to acquire military specialties. Aviation sports were especially popular. Pavlichenko with early years I was afraid of heights, so I decided to try my hand at shooting.
At the very first lesson, yesterday's schoolgirl hit the target. The first success inspired. Lyudmila began to study in a shooting circle, successfully fulfilled the standards. Pavlichenko did not leave sniper classes even while studying at the Faculty of History. Later, Lyudmila was invited to a sniper school. Here she was among the best.
Pavlichenko was in Odessa when the war began. In the seaside town, which was soon at the mercy of the German and Romanian military forces, Lyudmila had an internship, in her free time she visited the local scientific library: she wrote a thesis about the Pereyaslav Rada.
Hearing an announcement on the radio about the beginning of the war, a student of Kiev University went to the military registration and enlistment office. There, just looking at the girl, they said that doctors would be called up later. No one wanted to hear the explanation that she was not a doctor at all, but a sniper. But five days later, an order was issued to call up graduates of sniper circles. Pavlichenko took the oath on June 28.
War
Lyudmila carefully kept the badge received after graduating from the shooting school. When the war began, she decided that she would become a sniper and would certainly apply her skills in a real battle. However, she was at the front without a rifle.
The recruits were not given weapons. It simply didn't exist. Once, a soldier was killed in front of 25-year-old Pavlichenko. The rifle of the deceased became the first combat weapon. According to Pavlichenko's biographers, she shot accurately, and already in the first battles she showed amazing results. Soon she was given a sniper rifle.
Each rifle company had two snipers. Pavlichenko went on assignment with Leonid Kitsenko. In early August, the German-Romanian troops were already approaching Odessa. In the first days of the defense of the city, Pavlichenko accomplished a feat that for some reason was not noted. Soviet command. On a mission, she destroyed 16 Nazis in 15 minutes. The second time, Lyudmila fired ten successful shots. Among the dead were two German officers.
How did a young woman manage to take so many cold-blooded shots? This is the most frequent question asked by foreign journalists to Pavlichenko. The woman, who accounted for 309 deaths, once told a story that would be further replicated by the Soviet media. Before her eyes, a soldier died, for whom she managed to feel sympathy. This event gave rise to hatred for the enemy in Lyudmila, for which later, in the foreign press, she was nicknamed "Lady Death".
Pavlichenko's achievements are controversial today. Some historians argue that the effectiveness of an attractive female sniper, a favorite, is exaggerated. Others believe that Pavlichenko did not enjoy the attention of the opposite sex, and therefore was able to realize herself in the war.
Lyudmila spent eight months in Sevastopol. She participated in battles and destroyed as many enemies as no sniper who participated in the defense of the Crimean city could manage. According to official information, Lyudmila spent a year at the front, and after that she trained young snipers.
In her autobiographical book, Pavlichenko tried to reveal the origins of her rare gift as a sniper. Accuracy, intuition and other qualities taught Lyudmila hatred of the enemies who came to her native land and disrupted peaceful life. In the villages that she managed to recapture from the enemy, Pavlichenko saw the dead bodies of children and adults. What he saw affected the consciousness of the young woman. There is an assumption that Pavlichenko had an unusual structure of the eyeball.
The exploits of "Miss Colt" today are questioned. In the first months of the war, Pavlichenko shot 187 Germans and Romanians. Photos of a 25-year-old woman with slogans and appeals were distributed at the front to raise fighting spirit. But having killed more than 200 enemies, Pavlichenko did not even receive a medal. And in 1941, even representatives of non-military specialties who had not been on the front line were awarded.
Not a single experienced sniper could boast of Pavlichenko's achievements. However, her name did not appear on the award list until April 1942. Only then Pavlichenko received a medal. She became a Hero of the Soviet Union later - in 1943.
The army suffered losses and, of course, needed serious replenishment. There were not enough men at the front. To attract girls to the front, a heroic female image. The exploits of the young partisan, who burned both houses with the Germans and the stables belonging to civilians, in 1943 impressed few people. New heroes and heroines were needed.
In 1942 Pavlichenko visited the USA. Here she met and even became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt. And most importantly, she delivered an appeal to the Americans, who “hid behind her back for too long.” Ludmila was warmly applauded. This scene was used in the 2015 film and, with the help of filmmakers, it turned out to be so spectacular that many viewers believed that Senior Sergeant Pavlichenko managed to change the course of the war.
The delegation included Vladimir Pchelintsev. The sniper already had the highest military award. Although in 1942 his results were much more modest than the results of Lyudmila (114 killed soldiers). Pchelintsev willingly satisfied the curiosity of the Americans by demonstrating his shooting skills. Pavlichenko, a more experienced sniper, refused.
Personal life
Ten years before the start of the war, 15-year-old Lyudmila met Alexei Pavlichenko. The young man was older than her. The romance has gone too far. Soon Lyudmila found out that she was expecting a baby. Rumors about the pregnancy of a 15-year-old schoolgirl quickly spread around the district. Later, Pavlichenko did not like to talk about this fact from her biography.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko and her second husband Alexei Kitsenko
Father Pavlichenko by that time worked in the NKVD. Fearing trouble in the service, he insisted on registering the marriage. In 1932, the son Rostislav was born. However, family life did not work out, and soon the girl returned to the bosom of the family. Pavlichenko did not like to remember her first husband.
In 1941, Lyudmila met Lieutenant Kitsenko. She was going to marry him. But Kitsenko died at the beginning of 1942. Lyudmila received severe injuries and a strong nervous shock.
Shortly after the vacation, she received a second concussion. Numerous injuries and mental shock are the facts that supporters of the version of the exaggerated achievements of the female sniper refer to.
Little is known about Pavlichenko's personal life after the war. Lyudmila Mikhailovna married Konstantin Shevelev, but she had no more children.
Postwar years and death
Pavlichenko completed her studies and became a historian. However, she did not go to school. She spent eight years in the status of a researcher at the military headquarters. Engaged in social activities.
She died in 1974. She was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Memory
- In the city of Bela Tserkov, a school was named after Lyudmila Pavlichenko.
- The name of the famous sniper was given to a street in Sevastopol.
- American singer Woody Guthrie sang the song "Miss Pavlichenko" in 1946.
- The film "Battle for Sevastopol", she performed the role of the famous female sniper. The script is based on the memoirs of Eleanor Roosevelt.
- In honor of Pavlichenko, the Lyuda rifle is named in the computer game Borderlands 2.
Awards
- 1942 - medal "For Military Merit"
- 1943 - the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union"
- Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War"
- Award weapon - pistol "Colt"
She was born on July 1, 1916 in the village of Belaya Tserkov, now a city in the Kiev region, in the family of an employee. After graduating from school, she worked for 5 years at the Arsenal plant in Kyiv. Then she graduated from the 4th year of Kiev State University. While still a student, she graduated from the school of snipers.
In July 1941, she volunteered for the army. Fought first near Odessa, and then near Sevastopol.
By July 1942, the sniper of the 2nd company of the 54th rifle regiment (25th rifle division, Primorskaya army, North Caucasus Front) Lieutenant L. M. Pavlichenko from a sniper rifle destroyed 309 enemy soldiers and officers, including 36 snipers.
On October 25, 1943, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for courage and military prowess shown in battles with enemies.
In 1943, Major of the Coast Guard Lyudmila Pavlichenko graduated from the Shot course. She did not participate in the hostilities any more.
In 1945 she graduated from Kyiv State University. In 1945 - 1953 she was a researcher at the Main Staff of the Navy. A participant in many international congresses and conferences, she did a lot of work in the Soviet Committee of War Veterans. Author of the book "Heroic Reality". Died October 27, 1974. Buried in Moscow.
Awarded with orders: Lenin (twice), medals. The name of the Heroine is carried by the vessel of the Marine River Economy.
In the fighting Sevastopol, the name of the sniper of the 25th Chapaev division, Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko, was well known. The enemies, with whom Sergeant Pavlichenko had his own scores, also knew her. She was born in the city of Belaya Tserkov, Kiev region. After graduating from school, she worked for several years at the Kiev plant "Arsenal", then entered the history department of Kiev State University. As a student, she mastered the skill of a sniper in special school Osoaviakhima.
She came from Kyiv to Odessa to complete her thesis on Bogdan Khmelnitsky here. Worked in the city scientific library. But the war broke out and Luda volunteered for the army.
The future most productive sniper woman received her first baptism of fire near Odessa. Here, in one of the battles, the platoon commander was killed. Lyudmila took command. She rushed to the machine gun, but an enemy shell exploded nearby, and she was shell-shocked. However, Lyudmila did not go to the hospital, she remained in the ranks of the city's defenders, boldly smashing the enemy.
In October 1941, the Primorsky Army was transferred to the Crimea. 250 days and nights she, in interaction with Black Sea Fleet heroically fought with superior enemy forces, defended Sevastopol.
Every day at 3 o'clock in the morning, Lyudmila Pavlichenko usually went into an ambush. She either lay for hours on wet, damp ground, or hid from the sun so that the enemy would not see. It often happened: in order to shoot for sure, she had to wait a day, or even two.
But the girl, a courageous warrior, knew how to do it. She knew how to endure, knew how to shoot accurately, knew how to disguise herself, studied the habits of the enemy. And the number of Nazis destroyed by it grew all the time ...
In Sevastopol, a sniper movement was widely deployed. In all parts of the SOR (Sevastopol defensive region), specialists in marksmanship were allocated. With their fire, they destroyed many fascist soldiers and officers.
On March 16, 1942, a rally of snipers was held. Vice-Admiral Oktyabrsky, General Petrov spoke at it. The report was made by the chief of staff of the army, Major General Vorobyov. This rally was attended by: a member of the Military Council of the Fleet, Divisional Commissar I. I. Azarov and a member of the Military Council of the Primorsky Army, Brigadier Commissar M. G. Kuznetsov.
Hot speeches were made by snipers, well known in Sevastopol. Among them was Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko, who had 187 exterminated fascists in Odessa and already 72 in Sevastopol. She undertook to bring the number of killed enemies to 300. The famous sniper Noy Adamia, sergeant of the 7th brigade, also spoke marines, and many others. All of them undertook obligations to destroy as many fascist invaders as possible and to help train new snipers.
From the fire of snipers, the Nazis suffered heavy losses. In April 1942, 1492 enemies were destroyed, and only in 10 days of May - 1019.
One day in the spring of 1942, a German sniper brought a lot of trouble on one of the sectors of the front. It was not possible to liquidate it. Then the command of the unit instructed Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who by that time was already a recognized shooter, to destroy him. Lyudmila established that the enemy sniper acts like this: he crawls out of the trench and moves closer, then hits the target and retreats. Pavlichenko took a position and waited. I waited a long time, but the enemy sniper showed no signs of life. Apparently, he noticed that he was being watched, and decided not to rush.
In the evening, Pavlichenko ordered her observer. leave The night has passed. The German was silent. When dawn broke, he began to cautiously approach. She raised her rifle and saw his eyes in the scope. Shot. The enemy dropped dead. She crawled up to him. In his personal book it was recorded that he was a high-class sniper and during the fighting in the west he destroyed about 500 French soldiers and officers.
"A historian by education, a warrior by her mindset, she fights with all the fervor of her young heart" - so on May 3, 1942, the newspaper Krasny Chernomorets wrote about her.
Once Lyudmila entered into combat with 5 German machine gunners. Only one managed to escape. Another time, a brave girl - a warrior and sniper Leonid Kitsenko was instructed to get to the German command post and destroy the officers who were there. Having suffered losses, the enemies from mortars fired at the place where the snipers were. But Lyudmila and Leonid, having changed their position, continued to conduct well-aimed fire. The enemy was forced to leave his command post.
In the autumn of 1942, a delegation of Soviet youth, consisting of the secretary of the Komsomol Committee N. Krasavchenko, L. Pavlichenko and V. Pchelintsev, at the invitation of youth organizations, left for the USA and then for England. At that time, the Allies were greatly concerned about the need to carry out not only military training, but also the spiritual mobilization of youth forces. The trip should have contributed to this goal. At the same time, it was important to establish links with various foreign youth organizations.
The Soviet people were greeted with extraordinary enthusiasm. Everywhere they were invited to rallies and meetings. Newspapers wrote about our snipers on the front pages. The delegation received a stream of letters and telegrams. In the United States, Pavlichenko met with the president's wife. Eleanor Roosevelt was very attentive to Lyudmila.
Both in the United States and in England, the trip of the delegation of Soviet youth received a very great response. For the first time during the war years, the British met representatives of the youth of the struggling Soviet people. Our envoys carried out their lofty mission with dignity. The speeches of the delegates were full of confidence in the victory over fascism. The people who brought up such youth cannot be defeated - there was a unanimous opinion of the British ...
Lyudmila Mikhailovna was distinguished not only by high sniper skills, but also by heroism and selflessness. She not only destroyed the hated enemies herself, but also taught other warriors the art of sniping. Was wounded. Her combat score - 309 destroyed enemy soldiers and officers - is the best result among female snipers.
In 1943, the brave girl was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (the only one among female snipers who was awarded this title during her lifetime. Others were awarded posthumously).
In everyday life, Lyudmila was simple, did not boast of her merits. In the museum Armed Forces there is an exposition dedicated to Lyudmila Pavlichenko. There are presented gifts to the famous sniper - a woman: a rifle, an optical sight and much more. But the most touching gift is an ordinary slingshot from children.
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Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko is a sniper whose biography contains a huge number of facts proving her invaluable contribution to the victory over the Nazis in the Great Patriotic War. On account of her destruction of 309 German soldiers and officers. Moreover, among the liquidated opponents there were 36 enemy snipers.
Childhood and youth
Date of birth - July 12, 1916. Place of birth is the Ukrainian city of Bila Tserkva. She studied at school number 3 located near the house. And when Lyudmila was 14 years old, the family moved to live in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv.
From childhood, the girl was distinguished by her fighting character and courage. She did not like games for girls, communicating mainly with boys. The father of Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko (nee Belova), who always dreamed of a son, was glad that his daughter was in no way inferior in strength and endurance to her peers - boys.
At the end of the ninth grade, Lyudmila went to work at the Arsenal plant, where she worked as a grinder. She was able to successfully combine labor activity and studying in the 10th grade.
Lyudmila got married early. At the time of marriage, she was only 16 years old. Soon the young couple had a son, Rostislav (died in 2007). But family life did not work out: having lived together for several years, the couple divorced. But Lyudmila did not refuse the surname of her husband. The husband of Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko died at the beginning of the war.
First training
While working at the Arsenal plant, L. M. Pavlyuchenko began to visit the firing range frequently. More than once she heard the boastful conversations of the neighbor guys who talked about their exploits at the training ground. At the same time, they argued that only boys can shoot well, and girls cannot do it. The story of Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko as a shooter began precisely with the fact that she wanted to prove to these boastful guys that girls can shoot just as well, or even better ...
In 1937, L. Pavlyuchenko went to study at Kyiv University. Entering the Faculty of History, she dreamed of becoming a teacher or scientist.
When the war broke out
At the time of the invasion of the USSR by the Germans and Romanians, Lyudmila, the future hero of the USSR, lived in Odessa, where she arrived for graduation practice. She decided to go to the army, but the girls were not taken there. To get into the army, she had to prove her courage and willingness to fight enemies. One day the officers gave Lyudmila a strength test. She was given a gun in her hands and pointed to two Romanians who collaborated with the Nazis. She was overcome by anger at these people, bitterness for those whom they had taken their lives. Then she shot them both. After this impromptu assignment, she was finally accepted into the army.
In the rank of private Pavlyuchenko, Lyudmila Mikhailovna was assigned to the 25th rifle division them. Vasily Chapaev. She wanted to get to the front as soon as possible. Realizing that she would have to shoot to kill there, Lyudmila did not yet know how she would behave when faced with the enemy face to face. But there was no time to think and reflect. On the first day, she had to raise her weapon. Fear paralyzed her, the Mosin rifle (caliber 7.62 mm) with a 4-fold increase trembled in her hands.
Specifications rifle sniper rifle arr. 1930:
caliber: 7.62 mm;
weight: 4.27 kg;
· starting speed bullets: 865 m/s;
length: 1230 mm;
magazine capacity: 5 rounds;
sighting range: 1300-2000 m;
rate of fire: 10 rounds per minute;
loading type: manual.
Sight characteristics:
magnification: 3.5x;
Exit pupil diameter: 6 mm;
field of view: 4° 30';
removal of the exit pupil from the surface of the eyepiece lens
· is 72 mm;
Resolution power: 17″;
sight length: 169 mm;
sight weight: 0.270 kg.
But when she saw how a young soldier fell dead next to her, struck by a German bullet, she gained self-confidence and fired. Now nothing could stop her.
First tasks
Lyudmila firmly decided to go to sniper courses. Having successfully completed them, junior lieutenant Pavlyuchenko opened her combat account. Then, near Odessa, she had to replace the platoon commander who fell in battle. She, sparing no effort, destroyed the hated Nazis, until she received a concussion from a shell that exploded near. Her fighting spirit was not broken even by hellish pain. She continued to fight on the battlefield...
In October 1941, the Primorsky Army was transferred to the Crimea, where Lyudmila, along with her colleagues, began to defend Sevastopol.
Day after day, as soon as the sun began to rise, Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko went out “hunting” - a sniper whose biography is filled with events proving her loyalty to the Motherland. For hours on end, and in the heat, and in the cold, she was in ambush, waiting for the appearance of the "target". There were cases when I had to duel with venerable cruel German snipers. But thanks to endurance, endurance, lightning-fast reaction, she again and again emerged victorious even from the most difficult situations.
The snipers of the Great Patriotic War are poetically called the angels of death, and one glamorous magazine recently ranked them among the bloodiest killers. But you peer into Pavlichenko's face - beautiful, feminine, looking for the seal of death, and stumble upon the soft gaze of large and as if luminous eyes.
In addition to stunning vision, the sniper Pavlichenko had a keen ear and developed intuition. She learned to feel the forest as if she were a beast. Time after time she returned unharmed from the neutral zone, slipping out from under the very nose of the Fritz. They chatted as if the sniper had been charmed from death by a sorceress and as if she could hear everything within a radius of half a kilometer. And she remembered the ballistic tables by heart, calculated the distance to the object and the correction for the wind in the most accurate way.
Unequal fight
Often, Luda went on combat missions with Leonid Kutsenko. They began serving in the division almost at the same time. Some of their colleagues said that Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko was the front-line wife of Leonid Kutsenko. Her personal life before the war did not work out. It is possible that these two heroic people were indeed close.
Once, having received an order from the command to destroy the enemy command post discovered by the scouts, they quietly made their way to the indicated area, lay down in a dugout and began to wait for a convenient moment. Finally unsuspecting German officers appeared in the field of view of snipers. They did not have time to approach the dugout, as they were struck down by two accurate shots. But the noise from the fall was heard by other soldiers and officers of the Nazi army. There were quite a lot of them, but Lyudmila and Leonid, changing positions, destroyed them all one by one. After laying down many enemy officers and signalers, the Soviet snipers forced the enemy to leave their command post.
Death of Leonid Kutsenko
German intelligence systematically reported to the command about the activities of Soviet snipers. A fierce hunt was conducted behind them, numerous traps were arranged.
Once a couple of brave Russian snipers, who at that moment were in ambush, were found. Heavy mortar fire was opened on Pavlyuchenko and Kutsenko. A mine exploded nearby, Leonid's hand was torn off. Lyudmila carried out a seriously wounded friend and made her way to her. But no matter how hard we tried field doctors, Leonid Kutsenko died from severe wounds.
The bitterness of the loss of a loved one strengthened Lyudmila even more in her desire to exterminate her sworn enemies. She not only took on the most difficult combat missions, but also taught shooting to young fighters, trying to give the maximum of her invaluable sniper experience.
During the defensive battles, she brought up more than a dozen good shooters. They, following the example of their mentor, rose to the defense of their Motherland.
In the mountains
Winter was coming on the rocky territory near Sevastopol. Acting in the conditions of mountain warfare, L. Pavlyucheno went into an ambush under the cover of night. From three o'clock in the morning she hid either in dense fog, or in mountain ledges, or in damp hollows. Sometimes the wait dragged on for many hours, and even days. But there was no hurry. It was necessary to follow the path of patience, calculating each step in advance. If you find yourself, then there will be no salvation.
It happened somehow that on Bezymyannaya she was alone against six submachine gunners. Noticing her the day before, when Pavlyuchenko destroyed many of their soldiers in an unequal battle, the Germans sat down over the road. It would seem that Lyudmila is doomed, because there were six Nazis, and at any moment they could notice her and destroy her. But even the weather stood up for her. A thick fog descended on the mountains, which allowed our sniper to find a convenient place for an ambush. But it still needed to get there. Moving in a plastunsky way, Lyudmila Mikhailovna crawled towards her cherished goal. But the Germans did not lose their stubbornness and persistently fired at her. One bullet almost hit the temple, the other went through the top of the cap. After that, having instantly assessed the location of the opponents, Pavlyuchenko fired two accurate shots. She answered both the one who almost hit her in the temple, and the one who almost put a bullet in the forehead. The surviving four Nazis continued their hysterical shooting. They pursued her, but as she crawled away, she killed three more, one after the other. One of the Germans ran away. She saw the bodies of the dead, but, fearing that one of them was pretending to be dead, she did not dare to immediately crawl up to them. At the same time, Lyudmila was aware that the one who ran away might just about bring other submachine gunners. And the fog thickened again. She nevertheless decided to crawl up to the enemies struck by her. They were all dead. Having picked up the weapons of the dead (automatic and light machine gun), she disappeared in time in an ambush. Several more German soldiers approached. They began to fire randomly again, and she fired back at once from several types of weapons. Thus, the Soviet sniper tried to convince the enemies that more than one person was fighting with them. Gradually moving away, she was able to hide from her opponents and survive in this unequal battle.
Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko - Hero of the USSR
TTD SVT40
- rifle caliber - 7.62;
- the weapon weighs 3.8 kg without bayonet and ammunition;
- cartridge caliber - 7.62x54 mm;
- rifle length - 1 m 23 cm;
- standard rate of fire - from 20 to 25 rounds per minute;
- initial bullet speed - 829 meters per second;
- sight range - up to 1.5 km;
- magazine holds 10 ammo.
Sight PU
Magnification : 3.5x
Field of view: 4°30′
Exit pupil diameter: 6mm
Aperture: 36
Eye relief: 72mm
Length: 169 mm
Weight: 270 g
Resolution power: 17′′
Pavlyuchenko was soon transferred to a neighboring regiment. Hitler's sniper operated on its territory, killing a lot of Soviet soldiers and officers. Also, two snipers of the regiment were killed by his bullet. For more than a day there was a silent battle between a German shooter and a Soviet sniper. But the Nazi fighter, accustomed to sleeping in a dugout, exhausted himself faster than Lyudmila. And although her whole body ached from cold and dampness, she turned out to be more agile, literally a fraction of a second ahead of the enemy aiming at her.
Having hit him with a deadly bullet, Lyudmila Alexandrovna crawled up and took out a sniper book from the pocket of the fascist. From it, she learned that it was the famous Dunkirk, which killed more than 500 British, French and Soviet soldiers.
By that time, numerous injuries and contusions worsened Lyudmila's condition so much that she was forcibly sent on a submarine to the mainland.
Since October 25, 1943, Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko has been a Hero of the Soviet Union. Later, on the direction of the Main Political Directorate, she traveled with the Soviet delegation to Canada and the United States of America.
During her visit overseas, Pavlichenko attended a reception with the President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt and even lived for some time in the White House at the invitation of his wife Eleanor Roosevelt.
The women became friends. One remarkable fact. Not knowing English, Lyudmila always performed in Russian. But for the sake of communication with Eleanor Roosevelt, she learned English. Then there was a long-term correspondence. In 1957, an American came to visit Pavlichenko.
In the meantime, the president's wife, as the first lady of America, organized a trip around the country for Soviet representatives. Ludmila performed in Washington, New York.
The delegation was received by President Roosevelt. At the press conference, Lyudmila made a splash. "What colour underwear you prefer?" - the journalists' questions were one more provocative than the other. The sniper was not at a loss: “For such a question in our country, you can get a face in the face. Come on, come closer ... ”The next day, all the US newspapers wrote about her.
But most of all she was remembered in Chicago. It must be said that by that time Soviet Union, more than ever, needed the opening of the Second Front. Western partners in the anti-fascist coalition were in no hurry to open it. Pavlichenko spoke about this. “Gentlemen,” she declared, “I am twenty-five years old. At the front, I managed to destroy 309 fascist invaders. Don't you think you've been hiding behind my back for too long?! The crowd of thousands froze, and then exploded with applause and shouts of approval.
In America, she was given a Colt, and in Canada, a Winchester.
"Lady Death"- the Americans admiringly called her, and country singer Woody Guthrie wrote the song “Miss Pavlichenko” about her.
AT summer heat, cold snowy winter
In any weather you hunt down the enemy
The world will love you cute face, same as me
After all, more than three hundred Nazi dogs fell from your weapons ...
In Canada, the delegation of the Soviet military was greeted by several thousand Canadians who gathered at the United Station in Toronto.
Upon returning, Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko, a sniper whose biography has become an example for many brave fighters, serves as an instructor at the Shot sniper school.
Postwar years
After the war, after graduating from Kyiv University, this legendary Soviet woman works as a researcher at the General Staff Navy. She worked there until 1953.
Later, her work was related to helping war veterans. She was also one of the members of the Association of Friendship with the Peoples of Africa, visiting many African countries more than once.
Memory
Until the end of her life, it was Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko who was the symbol of heroism, stamina and courage of a Russian woman. The children from the pioneer organization, with whom she often spoke, loved to listen to her stories about the war. They gave her a slingshot, which was kept in the small museum of L. Pavlyuchenko for many years. In addition to this memorable gift, awards and souvenirs presented to Lyudmila on numerous business trips were kept there.
The grave of Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlyuchenko, who passed away on October 27, 1974, is located in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery.