Today's ode to kicking Nazi @ss...

[Cypress]

Meet the world's deadliest female sniper who terrorized Hitler's Nazi army

In early 1941, Lyudmila Pavlichenko was studying history at Kiev University, but within a year, she had become one of the best snipers of all time, credited with 309 confirmed kills, 36 of which were German*snipers.

Pavlichenko was born in 1916 in a small town in Ukraine. She was described as an independent, opinionated tomboy who was "unruly in the classroom," as the Smithsonian*notes. At the age of 14, Pavlichenko's family had relocated to Kiev, where she worked as a metal grinder in a munitions factory. Like many young people in the Soviet Union at that time, Pavlichenko participated in OSOAVIAKhIM, a paramilitary sporting organization which taught youths weapons skills and etiquette.*

“When a neighbor’s boy boasted of his exploits at a shooting range,” said Pavlichenko according to*the Smithsonian. “I set out to show that a girl could do as well. So I practiced a lot.”

On June 22, 1941, Hitler broke ties with Joseph Stalin and German troops poured into the Soviet Union. Pavlichenko rushed to join the Soviet army and defend her homeland, but she was initially denied entry into the army due to gender. "She looked like a model, with well-manicured nails, fashionable clothes, and hairstyle. Pavlichenko told the recruiter that she wanted to carry a rifle and fight. The man just laughed and asked her if she knew anything about rifles," Soviet-Awards.com*wrote of Pavlichenko's effort to join the*military.

Even after Pavlichenko presented her* marksman certificate and a sharpshooter badge from OSOAVIAKhIM, officials still urged her to work as a nurse.* “They wouldn’t take girls in the army, so I had to resort to all kinds of tricks to get in,”*explained*Pavlichenko. Eventually, the Red Army gave her an "audition" by giving her*a rifle and showed her two Romanians downrange who were working with the Germans. She shot down the two soldiers with ease, and was then accepted into the Red Army’s 25th Chapayev Rifle Division.

Pavlichenko then shipped out to the battle lines in Greece and Moldova. In very little time she distinguished herself as a fearsome sniper, killing 187 Germans in her first 75 days at war.

Snipers in these battles fought between the enemy lines, often far from their companies. It was extremely dangerous and careful work, as she had to sit perfectly still for hours on end to avoid detection from enemy snipers. After making a name for herself in Odessa and Moldova, Pavlichenko was moved to Crimea to fight in the battle of Sevastopol.

Her reputation earned her more dangerous assignments, eventually facing off one on one with enemy snipers. The Smithsonian reports that she dueled and killed 36 enemy snipers, some of whom were highly decorated themselves. “That was one of the tensest experiences of my life,” Pavlichenko*reportedly said.

She spent eight months fighting in Stevastopol, where she earned a praise from the Red Army and was promoted. On several occasions she was wounded, but she was only removed from battle after taking shrapnel to the face when her position was bombed by Germans who were desperate to stem the tide of her mounting kill count. She had become a well known figure in the war, as a protagonist in the Red Army's domestic propaganda, and the scourge of German soldiers all over the Eastern front. The Germans even went so far as to address her over loud speakers, offering her comfort and candy should she defect and join their ranks.

Pavlichenko became a sniper instructor and was soon invited to the White House.

full article http://www.businessinsider.com/lyudm...-female-sniper

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[ThatOwlWoman]

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That was awesome; thanks for posting it.

[Minister of Truth]

[Cypress]

That was awesome; thanks for posting it.

I visited some old Soviet war museums and it was very eye opening. Some incredible and harrowing stories, alongside some truly remarkable stories of human endurance. One has to have an eye to filter the propaganda from the reality, but there is no denying the Eastern Front of World War 2 was the most apocalyptic and punishing warfare in human history. I don't think Americans have any real appreciation for what the citizens of the Soviet Union were enduring, a true war of annihilation. The scale of death and destruction was really more than I can grasp.

The Soviets, for all their rhetoric about social equality, economic equality, and gender equality were not about to let women serve in combat units. But necessity is the mother of invention, as the saying goes. When the Soviet military realized they are about to be completely overrun by the German Army, I think having all able bodied and competent citizens get into the fight "suddenly" looked more appealing. I'm not sure if the Red Army was the first modern military to let women serve in combat, but it was certainly at the vanguard.

All in all, for a history buff like me, it is all quite gripping!

[Aarr!]

.Pavlichenko then shipped out to the battle lines in Greece and Moldova.

Greece?

[Cypress]

Greece?

Presumably a reference to the Red Army's advances through Bulgaria, Macedonia (historical Greece), and Yugoslavia.
Apparently, Stalin had a deal with Churchill to not advance into Greece, but the Red Army was advancing through Macedonia, and undoubtedly there must have been fighting on the Greek periphery.

[Guno צְבִי]

the red army putting bullets into the fascist hoards skulls

[Aarr!]

Presumably a reference to the Red Army's advances through Bulgaria, Macedonia (historical Greece), and Yugoslavia.
Apparently, Stalin had a deal with Churchill to not advance into Greece, but the Red Army was advancing through Macedonia, and undoubtedly there must have been fighting on the Greek periphery.

In 1941-42?

[Legion]

In 1941-42?

Didn't the Soviets collude with Hitler and grab other nations' territory from the east while Hitler grabbed from the west?

[Aarr!]

Didn't the Soviets collude with Hitler and grab other nations' territory from the east while Hitler grabbed from the west?

Yes, Stalin grabbed the Baltic states, eastern Poland, and Bessarabia (I think). That was before June 1941 when Hitler invaded.

[Legion]

Yes, Stalin grabbed the Baltic states, eastern Poland, and Bessarabia (I think). That was before June 1941 when Hitler invaded.

It would seem to be a mis-characterization of Soviet policies to categorically assert that red Russia was acting from any motivation other than self-preservation when they were forced to fight the Germans led by Hitler, wouldn't it?

There was also a secret protocol to the pact, revealed only after Germany's defeat in 1945,[90] although hints about its provisions were leaked much earlier, e.g., to influence Lithuania. According to the protocol, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland were divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence". In the north, Finland, Estonia and Latvia were assigned to the Soviet sphere. Poland was to be partitioned in the event of its "political rearrangement": the areas east of the Pisa, Narev, Vistula and San rivers would go to the Soviet Union, while Germany would occupy the west.[90] Lithuania, adjacent to East Prussia, would be in the German sphere of influence, although a second secret protocol agreed to in September 1939 reassigned the majority of Lithuania to the USSR. According to the protocol, Lithuania would be granted its historical capital Vilnius, which was under Polish control during the inter-war period. Another clause of the treaty stipulated that Germany would not interfere with the Soviet Union's actions towards Bessarabia, then part of Romania; as a result, not only Bessarabia, but Northern Bukovina and Hertza regions too, were occupied by the Soviets, and integrated into the Soviet Union.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov–Ribbentrop_Pact

[fandango]

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The delete for this one doesn't work.

[fandango]

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Give me a Nazi over a jew ass licking Bolshevik any day. Russian communists are said to have caused the untimely deaths of 80 to 100 million people! I will include a picture of a head of the NKVD and what he said. He is said to have orchestrated the deaths of at least 10 million people. I will also include a picture of a Russian Nobel Laureate. Who was a Russian historian and novelist. I will also include a picture of an American General who's shoes you aren't fit to kiss.

[Cypress]

The Holocaust, Stalin's Great Terror, and the enslavement of black Africans by the United States are the top three crimes against humanity in recent human history, IMO.

That is a topic for a different thread, and no one is stopping you from starting one.

The USSR was invaded by Nazis, and the citizens of the Soviet Union had every right to self-defense. A basic human right everyone recognizes. The Nazi's stated goal was a war of annihilation against the purported subhuman Slavs. Lyudmila Pavlichenko had every right to waste as many Nazis as she could with her sniper rifle.

You know what another crime against humanity was? The Nazi occupation of Ukraine, Belorussia, and western Russia. A brutal and inhumane occupation that resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Soviet citizens.

[fandango]

The Holocaust, Stalin's Great Terror, and the enslavement of black Africans by the United States are the top three crimes against humanity in recent human history, IMO.

That is a topic for a different thread, and no one is stopping you from starting one.

The USSR was invaded by Nazis, and the citizens of the Soviet Union had every right to self-defense. A basic human right everyone recognizes. The Nazi's stated goal was a war of annihilation against the purported subhuman Slavs. Lyudmila Pavlichenko had every right to waste as many Nazis as she could with her sniper rifle.

You know what another crime against humanity was? The Nazi occupation of Ukraine, Belorussia, and western Russia. A brutal and inhumane occupation that resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Soviet citizens.

You are parroting nothing but lies. Do you think you could handle the truth? But a better question would be if this forum would allow it to be spoken. As for the holocaust, I will start a thread about it. Next, terror in Russia was going on before Stalin came on the scene. Next, it was negroes in Africa that enslaved other negroes. (In places, it is STILL going on over there) The U.S. just bought the slaves from them. Next, Germany invaded Russia because they found out that Russia was getting ready to invade them. One historian I was reading about said that Germany beat Russia to the punch by only one day!