Soviet women played an important role in World War II. While most toiled in industry, transport, agriculture and other civilian roles, working double shifts to free up enlisted men to fight and increase military production, a sizable number of women served in the army. The majority were in medical units. There were 800,000 women who served in the Soviet Armed Forces during the …

Soviet women played an important role in World War II (whose Eastern Front was known as the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union). While most toiled in industry, transport, agriculture and othker civilian roles, working double shifts to free up enlisted men to fight and increase military production, a sizable number of women served in the army.

13 Roles Soviet Women Filled in WW2 Pilots. Among the most famous combatants were the combat pilots who fought the Germans on the Eastern Front. Snipers. The other group who gained widespread fame were the snipers. Thousands of women took on this role and most of... Partisans. The partisans were ...

Soviet women were an important part of the Soviet military in WWII, by the end of 1943, more than 80,000 women were in the military service, about 8% of total personnel. Soviets were also the only female soldiers fighting outside the borders of their own country during WWII.

Soviet Women at War. by Roger Reese 11/1/2017. Share This Article. Eager to prove themselves, women served the Red Army as nurses, medics, cooks and clerks—but also as snipers, surgeons, pilots and machine gunners. On June 21, 1941, the day before Nazi Germany sprang its surprise invasion of the Soviet Union, Natalia Peshkova, a 17-year-old Muscovite, graduated from high …

12 Soviet women who contributed hugely to crushing Nazism Lidiya Litvyak. With 12 air victories, fighter pilot Lidya Litvyak was the best female hotshot not only of WWII, but of... Yekaterina Budanova. Yekaterina Budanova was female ace number 2, and a …

200,000 Soviet female soldiers received some kind of military decoration and 89 were named Heroes of the Soviet Union by the end of WWII. In the process, they suffered through not only the usual horrors of war but numerous instances of assault and widespread under-appreciation from the mass media and fellow soldiers.

Originally intended to be sent to defend the skies over Moscow, the women fighter pilots were reassigned to defend the industrial centre of Saratov, as the Germans shifted their focus to the south. On September 24, 1942, Valeria Khomyakova became the first woman in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft.