Roza Shanina
Roza Yegorovna Shanina | |
|---|---|
| File:Roza Shanina.jpg Shanina in 1944, holding a 1891/30 Mosin–Nagant with the 3.5x PU telescopic sight. | |
| Nickname(s) | Horny |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union |
| Service/ | Red Army |
| Years of service | 1943 – 1945 |
| Rank | Senior Sergeant |
| Unit | 184th Rifle Division 3rd Belorussian Front |
| Battles/wars | World War II (Eastern Front) |
| Awards | Orders of Glory 3rd and 2nd Class Medal for Valor |
Roza Yegorovna Shanina (Russian: Ро́за Его́ровна Ша́нина; 3 April 1924 – 28 January 1945) was a Soviet sniper during World War II. She was responsible for 54 confirmed kills, including 12 snipers during the Battle of Vilnius.[1][2]
Nicknamed Horny,[3] Shanina was described as "the unseen terror of East Prussia" by the Allied newspapers Ottawa Citizen and Leader-Post.[4][5] She was one of the first Soviet female snipers to be awarded with the Order of Glory 3rd and 2nd class.[2]
Early life
Roza Shanina was born in the Russian village of Yedma to kolkhoz milkmaid Anna A. and logger Egor Mihailovich. She was taller than average, with light brown hair and blue eyes.[6] At the age of fourteen, Shanina, against her parents' wishes, walked Template:200 across the taiga to the railroad and traveled to Arkhangelsk to study in the pedagogical college.[6] On the eve of war, Soviet secondary schools instituted tuition fees, while the scholarship fund was cut.[7] Shanina received little from home, so on September 11, 1941, she took a job in the kindergarten.[7]
As recalled by Shanina's friend Anna, Roza sometimes returned from her friends to her hostel at 2-3 a.m., but as the entrance by that time had been closed, several bedsheets were tied together to help Roza climb into her room.[7]
Tour of duty
On June 22, 1943, Shanina was accepted for Vsevobuch (military training). She was not eligible for military service due to her age, but after several tries, she was allowed by the military commissariat to enroll in the Central Female Sniper Academy in Podolsk.[6] She graduated with honors.
On April 2, 1944, she joined the 184th Rifle Division, where a separate female sniper platoon was formed. Three days later, Shanina fired her first shot in combat south-east of Vitebsk. From the second half of May, 1944, she was praised as a precise and brave soldier.[7] During her tour of duty, Shanina crawled each dawn through a muddy communications trench to a specially camouflaged pit from which she could overlook German-controlled territory.[4]
On June 22, 1944, the Soviets started a large-scale offensive in the Vitebsk region. According to an order, the female snipers during such battles were to remain in the rear, but Shanina pressed to be sent to the front line. She wanted to be attached to the battalion or reconnaissance company and finally turned to the commander of the 5th Army, Nikolay Krylov. He ultimately allowed Shanina to serve on the front.[6] On June 18 of the same year, Shanina was awarded the Order of Glory and again on September 22. Around that time, Shanina captured three Germans.[6] In September 1944, the Ottawa Citizen and Leader-Post in particular reported that, according to an official dispatch from the Sezupe River front, where Soviet troops advanced into German-controlled territory, Shanina killed five Germans in a single day as she crouched in a sniper hideout.[4][5] In the fall of the same year, Shanina was given a short furlough and visited Arkhangelsk. On October 17, Shanina went to the front line again for one day and later received a honorable certificate from the Central Committee of Komsomol.[6]
On December 12, Shanina was shot in the shoulder.[7] She reported in her diary that one day before that, she had had a prophetic dream where she was wounded in the shoulder.[6] On December 27, Shanina was awarded the Medal for Valor among the first woman snipers[8] for the repulse of a counter-offensive.
Later, in the second half of January, Shanina used white military camouflage, although at some point its color appeared to be outshining amid bad weather conditions.[6] At that time, Shanina joined the infantry offensive amid rocket mortar fire. Several days later she experienced a friendly fire from Katyusha rocket launchers and confessed in her diary, "Now I understand why the Germans are so afraid of Katyushas. What a petty fire!"[6] Ten days before her death, Shanina wrote in her combat diary:
I'm sitting and pondering about fame. They call me a famed sniper in the newspaper Unichtozhim Vraga, and Ogonyok has my portrait on the first page. It's strange even to imagine how those I know look at my picture... I know that I'm doing little so far... I have done no more than is my duty as a Soviet citizen, having stood up to defend the motherland.[7]
After the war, Shanina wanted to go to university, or, if that was not possible, to raise orphans.[6] Shanina's last diary entry was made on January 24, 1944.
Death
On January 17, 1944, severe fighting broke out in East Prussia. Around that time, German fire had become so intense that the Soviet troops, including Shanina herself, were forced to shelter inside the self-propelled guns.[6] In one of her letters, Shanina noted she might die soon because her battalion had lost 72 out of 78 people.[7] Shanina died in a battle near the estate Richau, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south-east of the East Prussian village of Ilmsdorf. She was initially buried under a sprawling pear tree on the shore of Allya River, now called Lava.[7]
Shanina's combat diary, consisting of three thick notebooks, and several letters have been published. Streets in Arkhangelsk and in the settlements of Shangaly and Stroyevskoye were named after her. In 1985, Russian author N. Zhuravlyov published the book Posle boya vernulas (Returned After Battle). Its title refers to the Shanina's phrase "I will return after the battle", uttered upon receiving a note from battalion commander's messenger, which urged her to return to the rear immediately.[9]
Personal life
On October 10, 1944, Shanina wrote in her diary, "I'm recalling Misha Panarin, what a good guy! Has been killed... He loved me, I know, so did I. [...] It's hard, I'm twenty, but there is no close friend".[6] Later, in November Shanina noted, that she "is hammering into the head that loves" a certain Nikolai, although he "doesn't shine in upbringing and education".[6] Shanina, however, noted in the same record, that she does not think about marriage because "it's not the time now".[6]
Shanina had one sister, Yuliya, and four brothers: Mikhail, Fyodor, Sergey, and Marat. Mikhail died during the Siege of Leningrad in 1941, while Fyodor was killed the same year during the Battle of Crimea. Sergey was also killed, leaving Marat as the only surviving brother.
Notes
- ^ "The Sniper Log Book". Sniper Central. Retrieved 2008-10-21.
- ^ a b "Women snipers of the Great Patriotic War" (in Russian). State History. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
- ^ Brayley, Martin (2001). World War II Allied Women's Services. Osprey Publishing. p. 37. ISBN 1841760536.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c "Red Army Girl Unseen Terror Of East Prussia". Ottawa Citizen. Sep 20, 1944. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b "Woman sniper's total now 46". Leader-Post. Sep 25, 1944. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Sniper Roza Shanina" (in Russian). Armoury Online. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Yevgeny Ovsyankin (2004). "Sniper Roza Shanina". Arkhangelsk Pedagogical College (in Russian). Arkhangelsk: ZAO "Arkhconsult". Retrieved 2008-10-21.
- ^ P. Molchanov (1976). "Жажда боя". Снайперы (compilation) (in Russian). Moscow: OAO "Molodaya gvardiya". Retrieved 2008-10-21.
- ^ "Scenario of the broadcast, dedicated to the Victory Day celebration in Arkhangelsk" (in Russian). Festival.1september.ru. Retrieved 2010-12-27.