After her eldest brother was killed in a bombing raid on Leningrad in 1941, 20-year-old Roza Shanina, applied to join the army. Initially, the all-male Soviet leadership disregarded the idea of women joining the army, they eventually had no other choice if they wanted to defeat the Nazis. The Soviet Union alone recruited roughly a million women into the army, most of which served as tank commanders, snipers and pilots.
Shanina was sent to sniper school where she was found to be a natural with a sniper rifle. She went on to become one of Russia’s deadliest snipers. Shanina became well known for her ability to score “double hits” – taking out two enemies in quick succession. She was also the first female sniper to be awarded the Order of Glory for her bravery.
Roza Shanina died in combat in early 1945; . She had 59 confirmed kills. Despite the success of women in the Soviet army, following the war Soviet propaganda once again promoted that a woman’s primary duty to the state was motherhood.
