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Lady Death

The Memoirs of Stalin's Sniper

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Lady Death

By: Lyudmila Pavlichenko, David Foreman, Martin Pelger, Alla Igorevna Begunova
Narrated by: Emily Durante
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About this listen

In June 1941, when Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, Lyudmila Pavlichenko left her university studies and ignored the offer of a position as a nurse to become one of Soviet Russia's 2,000 female snipers. Less than a year later, she had 309 recorded kills, including 29 enemy sniper kills. She was withdrawn from active duty after being injured. She was also regarded as a key heroic figure for the war effort.

She spoke at rallies in Canada and the US, and the folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote a song, "Killed By A Gun", about her exploits. Her US trip included a tour of the White House with FDR. In November 1942, she visited Coventry and accepted donations of £4,516 from Coventry workers to pay for three X-ray units for the Red Army. She also visited a Birmingham factory as part of her fundraising tour. She never returned to combat but trained other snipers. After the war, she finished her education at Kiev University and began a career as a historian. She died on October 10, 1974, at age 58, and was buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.

©2015 Alla Igorevna Begunova; David Foreman English-language translation copyright 2018 by Greenhill Books; Foreword copyright 2018 by Martin Pegler (P)2018 Tantor Armed Forces Eastern Europe Military Military & War Russia Special & Elite Forces Women World War II War Memoir Sniper Stalin Soviet Union Red Army Air Force
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Nothing to dislike. The book is so much more than I expected. The reading is done extremely well with a very gentle sentimental tone. A beautiful story with so many highs and lows. Highly recommend.

Fantastically truthful

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A first hand account by the Heroine herself of her life in the Red Army where she used her pre-war training as a 'sniper' at an OSOAVIAKHIM training school to eliminate at least 309 German and Romanian officers and men in the first years of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Her actual tally was likely closer to 500 if unconfirmed by a third party kills are taken into account.
Fancy turning up at the Odesa recruitment centre within days of the launch of Barbarossa on June 22nd 1941 in your street clothes not expecting to be sent straight to the front in them.
On arrival at her assigned unit she was issued with a uni-sex uniform and boots too big, plus her 'kit' of essential items and given behind the lines tasks. "perhaps you are a nurse ?" until she convinced her superiors of her skills with a rifle.
Her coverage of the retreat to Odesa, the fighting there and then evacuation to the Soviet naval fortress of Sevastopol in the Crimea are covered extensively and poignant detail.

A fleeting reference to her 'First Love' gives very little information about her first marriage, at perhaps 16 years old, except that she gave birth to a son -- whom she did not see during the 3 years or so she was active in the Red Army.

Her second husband, whom she met and married at the front, died from wounds within weeks of the marriage.

Her trip to America as part of a student delegation is covered extensively and is NOT IRRELEVANT to her story.

All in all a great memoir of life in pre-war USSR and the Red Army fighting the German invasion of the USSR. I have read perhaps 50 memoirs from veterans of both sides -- this is by far the most frank and most interesting.

Best Red Army memoir I have yet read. GRIPPING,

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This is one of the best war stories you are likely to read - Lyudmila is the complete package as soldier, historian and young Communist. She also ends up meeting all of the "Big Three" and even becomes a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Wonderful insight into the struggles of the Red Army and the evolution of the role of sniper on the Eastern Front.

Remarkable story - well told

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Book starts off well with the early life, training and entry into the battlefield, as well as some of the early battles in the infantry and as a sniper. But about halfway through, it becomes incredibly dry and I had to force myself to continue to listen to this. The final 2 hours picks up the pace again, but, I had already soured on the product as a whole. Narrator was excellent.

Starts off strongly, however dry writing kills it

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