Roza Shanina
Encyclopedia
Roza Yegorovna Shanina was a Soviet sniper
during World War II
, credited with 54 confirmed kills, including 12 snipers during the Battle of Vilnius
. Praised for her shooting accuracy, Shanina was capable of firing precise semi-automatic
shots on moving enemy manpower. Being highly courageous, she volunteered to serve as a marksman
on the front line
.
The Allied
newspapers Ottawa Citizen
, Leader-Post and U.S. News described Shanina as "the unseen terror of East Prussia
". She became the first Soviet female sniper to be awarded the Order of Glory
and the first servicewoman of the 3rd Belorussian Front
to receive it.
in Arkhangelsk Oblast
) to kolkhoz
milkmaid Anna Shanina and logger
Yegor Mikhailovich Shanin, who had become disabled from a wound received in World War I
. Roza was above average in height, with light brown hair and blue eyes, and spoke in a drawling Northern Russian dialect
. As there was no school transport at the time, Roza and her friend in grades five through seven had to walk 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) to the village of Bereznik to attend school. At the age of fourteen, Shanina, against her parents' wishes, walked 200 kilometres (124.3 mi) across the taiga
to the rail station and rode to Arkhangelsk
to study in the college there. Arkhangelsk became Shanina's hometown and later in her combat diary she recalled the town's stadium Dinamo, the theater and the cinemas, Ars and Pobeda. As recalled by Shanina's friend Anna Samsonova, Roza sometimes returned from her compatriots of Ustya Raion to her college hostel at 2–3 a.m., but as the doors by that time were locked, several bedsheets were tied together to help Roza climb into her room.
In 1940 the Soviet secondary education institutes introduced tuition fees, and the scholarship fund was cut. Shanina received little from home, and on September 11, 1941, she took a job in kindergarten №2 (lately known as Beryozka) in Arkhangelsk. Shanina graduated college in the 1941–42 academic year, obtaining her certificate.
for one of her brothers, nineteen year-old Mikhail, arrived, and Roza went to the military commissariat
to ask for permission to serve herself. At that time the Soviet Union had been deploying numerous female snipers, owing to them having small statures and flexible limbs, as well as being both patient and cunning. They were also reckoned to be more resilient under combat stress than the men, and more resistant to cold. In February 1942, Soviet women between the ages of 16 and 45 were made eligible for the military draft, but Shanina was initially refused. On June 22, 1943, Shanina was accepted in Vsevobuch
military training while still living in the hostel. After applying several times, she was allowed by the military commissariat to enroll in the Central Female Sniper Academy, which was moved to Podolsk
in the fall of 1943. In the academy she met Aleksandra "Sasha" Yekimova and Kaleriya "Kalya" Petrova, who became her closest friends; they were referred to by Shanina as the "vagrant three". Of the three, only Petrova survived the war. Shanina scored highly in training, and graduated from the academy with honors.
On April 2, 1944 Shanina joined the 184th Rifle Division
, where a separate female sniper platoon
had been formed. Three days later south-east of Vitebsk
, Shanina fired her first combat shot. By Shanina's own words recorded by an anonymous author, her legs gave way upon that first kill and she slid down into the trench, saying, "I've killed a man." The other girls ran up concernedly, saying, "That was a fascist you finished off!" Seven months later Shanina wrote in her diary that she was now killing the enemies in cold blood, and saw her current meaning of life in that. Shanina noted that if she had to do everything over again, she would still strive to enter the sniper academy, and would go to the front again.
In May 1944, Shanina became credited with 17 confirmed enemy kills, and in the second half of May was praised as a precise and brave soldier. Around that time she became a squad
commander in the female sniper platoon. During her tour of duty
, Shanina crawled each day at dawn through a muddy communications trench to a specially camouflaged pit to overlook German
-controlled territory. Shanina also successfully used counter-sniper tactics
against German cuckoo sniper
.
For her actions in the 1944 battle for the village Kozyi Gory (Smolensk Oblast
), Shanina was awarded the 3rd Class Order of Glory
. According to the report of the commander of the 1138th Rifle Division, Major Degtyarev, between April 6–11, Shanina killed eighteen enemy soldiers while subjected to artillery and machine gun fire. Two months later, on June 22, the Soviets started a large-scale Operation Bagration in the Vitebsk region. The female snipers were to be retracted, but continued to voluntarily support the advancing infantry. Shanina also pressed to be sent to the front line despite Soviet policy of sparing snipers. Shanina was sanctioned for wilfully and unwarrantedly going to the front line but did not face a court martial. She wanted to be attached to the battalion
or a reconnaissance company
, and finally turned to the commander of the 5th Army, Nikolai Krylov
. He ultimately allowed Shanina to continue to serve at the front. On June 9, 1944 the Soviet newspaper Unichtozhim Vraga featured Shanina's portrait on the first page. Later that year, from July 8 to July 13, Shanina and her sisters-in-arms participated in the fightings for Vilnius, which has been under German occupation from June 24, 1941.
Shanina loved writing and used to send letters to her home village and to the other girls in Arkhangelsk. In August 1944, Shanina started writing her war diary
, and around that time captured three Germans. Although writing diaries was strictly prohibited in the Soviet military of that period, there were some exceptions (like Front Diary of Izrael Kukuyev and The Chronicle of War of Muzagit Hayrutdinov). To preserve military secrecy in her diary Shanina termed the killed and wounded "blacks" and "reds", respectively.
By August 31, 1944, Shanina's battle count reached 42 kills. In that month the advancing Soviet troops had reached the borders of East Prussia
and in September crossed the Šešupė River. In September 1944, the Ottawa Citizen
and Leader-Post newspapers reported that, according to an official dispatch from the Šešupė River front, Shanina killed five Germans in a single day as she crouched in a sniper hideout. By that month her sniper tally had reached 46 kills, and on September 17 Unichtozhim Vraga credited Shanina with 51 hits. In the fall of 1944, Shanina was given a short furlough
and visited Arkhangelsk. On October 17, Shanina returned to the front again for one day and later received an honorable certificate from the Central Committee of Komsomol
. In the same year Shanina was awarded the 2nd Class Order of Glory for her sniper actions during the fighting for Lithuania
and Belarus
.
Some time afterwards, on December 12, 1944, Shanina was shot in the right shoulder by an enemy sniper. She noted in her diary that she had not felt the pain – "the shoulder was just scalded with something hot." Although the injury, described by Shanina as "two small holes", seemed minor to her, an operation was needed and she was incapacitated for several days. She reported in her diary that a day before, she had seen a prophetic dream in which she was wounded in exactly the same place. Later that month, on December 27, Shanina was among the first female snipers to be awarded the Medal for Valor
for the repulse of a counter-offensive
.
Together with divisional logistics, by January 15, 1945, Shanina reached the town of Eydtkuhnen (now Chernyshevskoye
). On that day she used white military camouflage
, although its color was judged to be too conspicuous during bad weather. At the time Shanina joined the infantry offensive despite enemy fire from rocket mortars. Several days later she experienced friendly fire
from Katyusha rocket launcher and wrote in her diary, "Now I understand why the Germans are so afraid of Katyushas. What a fire!" At the border of East Prussia, Shanina eliminated 26 enemies. The last unit she served in was the 144th Rifle Division. According to the Book of Memory of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Shanina served in the 205th Special Motorized Rifle Battalion of that division. Shanina had hoped to go to university after the war, or if that was not possible, to raise orphans. Her last diary entry was made on January 24, 1945, four days before her death. It reports tough German resistance and inability to shoot due to the heavy enemy fire. The last sentence stated that Roza and three scouts had been the first to break through into the next house.
Shanina's achievements were acknowledged particularly by Ilya Ehrenburg
and in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda
. The latter noted that Shanina was one of the best snipers in her unit and that even the veteran soldiers were inferior to her in shooting accuracy. Yet Shanina paid no special attention to her popularity and once noted that she had been overrated. Ten days before her death she 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 front 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." In the diary Shanina noted in particular:
, which prompted severe battles in East Prussia
, as the Germans tried to strengthen every location. In a letter dated January 17, Shanina noted she might die soon because her battalion had lost 72 out of 78 people. Her last diary entry reported that German fire had become so intense that the Soviet troops, including herself, were forced to shelter inside the self-propelled gun
s. Shanina was ultimately heavily wounded and despite medical efforts died near the estate Richau (subsequently the Soviet settlement Telmanovka) 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south-east of the East Prussian village of Ilmsdorf (Novobobruysk). As recalled by nurse Yekaterina Radkina, Shanina, while talking with her, said she regretted having done so little. Shanina was initially buried under a sprawling pear tree on the shore of Allya River, now called Lava. She is the only person killed in these locations whose body was not transferred in 1953 to the mass grave
of Soviet soldiers in Znamensk, Kaliningrad Oblast
.
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 have been named after her. Recurring competitions among DOSAAF
shooters for the Roza Shanina Prize were organized in Arkhangelsk, while Novodvinsk
organized the open shooting sports
championship in memory of Shanina. The Russian village Malinovka started to hold the annual cross-country skiings for the Roza Shanina Prize. 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.
Pyotr Molchanov, who had frequently met Shanina on front, described her as a person of unusual will and genuine, bright nature. Shanina marked herself as "boundlessly and recklessly talkative" during her college years and described her own character as that of Mikhail Lermontov
. According to Shanina's sister-in-arms Lidiya Vdovina, Roza used to sing her favorite war song
"Oy tumany moi, rastumany" ("O My Mists" in Russian) each time she cleaned her weapon. Most of all, Roza valued courage and absence of egoism in people. She once told a story (subsequently published in 2006 by the newspaper Pravda Severa
), when "about half a hundred frenzied fascists with wild cries" attacked the trench accommodating twelve female snipers, including Shanina herself: "Some fell from our well-aimed bullets, some we finished with our bayonets, grenades, shovels, and some we took prisoners, having restrained their arms."
Shanina's personal life was thwarted by war. On October 10, 1944, she wrote in her diary: "I can't accept that Misha Panarin doesn't live anymore. What a good guy! [He] has been killed... He loved me, I know, and I him. [...] My heart is heavy, I'm twenty, but I have no close [male] friend." Later in November, Shanina noted that she "is flogging into her head that [she] loves" a certain Nikolai, although he "doesn't shine in upbringing and education." Shanina, however, noted in the same record, that she does not think about marriage because "it's not the time now". She later outlined that she "had it out" with Nikolai and "wrote him a note in the sense of "but I'm given to the one and will love no other one."
Shanina had five siblings: 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 sibling.
Soviet sniper
Snipers of the Soviet Union played an important role mainly on the Eastern Front of World War II, apart from other preceding and subsequent conflicts. In World War II, Soviet snipers used the 7.62x54R rifle cartridge with light, heavy, armour-piercing , armour-piercing-and-incendiary ,...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, credited with 54 confirmed kills, including 12 snipers during the Battle of Vilnius
Battle of Vilnius (1944)
The Vilnius Offensive occurred as part of the third phase of Operation Bagration, the great summer offensive by the Red Army against the Wehrmacht in June and July, 1944...
. Praised for her shooting accuracy, Shanina was capable of firing precise semi-automatic
Semi-automatic firearm
A semi-automatic, or self-loading firearm is a weapon which performs all steps necessary to prepare the weapon to fire again after firing—assuming cartridges remain in the weapon's feed device or magazine...
shots on moving enemy manpower. Being highly courageous, she volunteered to serve as a marksman
Marksman
A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision, or a sharpshooter shooting, using projectile weapons, such as with a rifle but most commonly with a sniper rifle, to shoot at long range targets...
on the front line
Front line
A front line is the farthest-most forward position of an armed force's personnel and equipment - generally in respect of maritime or land forces. Forward Line of Own Troops , or Forward Edge of Battle Area are technical terms used by all branches of the armed services...
.
The Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
newspapers Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
, Leader-Post and U.S. News described Shanina as "the unseen terror of East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
". She became the first Soviet female sniper to be awarded the Order of Glory
Order of Glory
Established on 8 November 1943, the Order of Glory was an Order of the Soviet Union. It was awarded to non-commissioned officers and rank-and-file of the armed forces, as well as junior lieutenants of the air force, for bravery in the face of the enemy.The Order of Glory, which was modelled...
and the first servicewoman of the 3rd Belorussian Front
3rd Belorussian Front
The 3rd Belorussian Front was a Front of the Soviet Army during the Second World War...
to receive it.
Early life
Roza Shanina was born in the Russian village of Yedma (Ustyansky DistrictUstyansky District
Ustyansky District is an administrative district , one of the twenty-one in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. Municipally, it is incorporated as Ustyansky Municipal District...
in Arkhangelsk Oblast
Arkhangelsk Oblast
Arkhangelsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It includes the Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, as well as the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea....
) to kolkhoz
Kolkhoz
A kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...
milkmaid Anna Shanina and logger
Lumberjack
A lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...
Yegor Mikhailovich Shanin, who had become disabled from a wound received in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Roza was above average in height, with light brown hair and blue eyes, and spoke in a drawling Northern Russian dialect
Northern Russian dialects
The northern Russian dialects make up one of the main groups of the Russian dialects.- Territory :* The territory of the primary formation The northern Russian dialects make up one of the main groups of the Russian dialects.- Territory :* The territory of the primary formation The northern Russian...
. As there was no school transport at the time, Roza and her friend in grades five through seven had to walk 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) to the village of Bereznik to attend school. At the age of fourteen, Shanina, against her parents' wishes, walked 200 kilometres (124.3 mi) across the taiga
Taiga
Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...
to the rail station and rode to Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
to study in the college there. Arkhangelsk became Shanina's hometown and later in her combat diary she recalled the town's stadium Dinamo, the theater and the cinemas, Ars and Pobeda. As recalled by Shanina's friend Anna Samsonova, Roza sometimes returned from her compatriots of Ustya Raion to her college hostel at 2–3 a.m., but as the doors by that time were locked, several bedsheets were tied together to help Roza climb into her room.
In 1940 the Soviet secondary education institutes introduced tuition fees, and the scholarship fund was cut. Shanina received little from home, and on September 11, 1941, she took a job in kindergarten №2 (lately known as Beryozka) in Arkhangelsk. Shanina graduated college in the 1941–42 academic year, obtaining her certificate.
Tour of duty
At the start of war, Shanina's two elder brothers volunteered for the military. In December 1941, a death notificationDeath notification
A death notification is a letter delivered to the family of a soldier or public service member who has died on duty. Usually, the Military of the United States withholds the name of a deceased member until the family has been notified....
for one of her brothers, nineteen year-old Mikhail, arrived, and Roza went to the military commissariat
Military commissariat
Military commissariat is a military institution in some European counties.-Russia and former USSR:Military commissariat , abbreviated as voyenkomat is а local military administrative agency in the former Soviet Union as well as in present-day Russia and some other CIS countries that prepares and...
to ask for permission to serve herself. At that time the Soviet Union had been deploying numerous female snipers, owing to them having small statures and flexible limbs, as well as being both patient and cunning. They were also reckoned to be more resilient under combat stress than the men, and more resistant to cold. In February 1942, Soviet women between the ages of 16 and 45 were made eligible for the military draft, but Shanina was initially refused. On June 22, 1943, Shanina was accepted in Vsevobuch
Vsevobuch
Vsevobuch , universal military training) is the name of the compulsory military training of men practised in the former Soviet Union. Vsevobuch is affiliated with sports training, to which it contributed....
military training while still living in the hostel. After applying several times, she was allowed by the military commissariat to enroll in the Central Female Sniper Academy, which was moved to Podolsk
Podolsk
Podolsk is an industrial city and the administrative center of Podolsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Pakhra River...
in the fall of 1943. In the academy she met Aleksandra "Sasha" Yekimova and Kaleriya "Kalya" Petrova, who became her closest friends; they were referred to by Shanina as the "vagrant three". Of the three, only Petrova survived the war. Shanina scored highly in training, and graduated from the academy with honors.
On April 2, 1944 Shanina joined the 184th Rifle Division
184th Rifle Division
The 184th Red Banner Rifle Division was a Soviet Red Army division during World War II . It was with 29th Rifle Corps of Eleventh Army on June 22, 1941, as part of the Baltic Military District. Most of the soldiers rebelled and joined the cause of the Lithuanian Activist Front...
, where a separate female sniper platoon
Platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...
had been formed. Three days later south-east of Vitebsk
Vitebsk
Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
, Shanina fired her first combat shot. By Shanina's own words recorded by an anonymous author, her legs gave way upon that first kill and she slid down into the trench, saying, "I've killed a man." The other girls ran up concernedly, saying, "That was a fascist you finished off!" Seven months later Shanina wrote in her diary that she was now killing the enemies in cold blood, and saw her current meaning of life in that. Shanina noted that if she had to do everything over again, she would still strive to enter the sniper academy, and would go to the front again.
In May 1944, Shanina became credited with 17 confirmed enemy kills, and in the second half of May was praised as a precise and brave soldier. Around that time she became a squad
Squad
In military terminology, a squad is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition this organization is referred to as a section...
commander in the female sniper platoon. During her tour of duty
Tour of duty
In the Navy, a tour of duty is a period of time spent performing operational duties at sea, including combat, performing patrol or fleet duties, or assigned to service in a foreign country....
, Shanina crawled each day at dawn through a muddy communications trench to a specially camouflaged pit to overlook German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
-controlled territory. Shanina also successfully used counter-sniper tactics
Counter-sniper tactics
Counter-sniper tactics involves tactics used by a sniper against another sniper.The occurrence of sniper warfare has led to the evolution of many counter-sniper tactics in modern military strategies...
against German cuckoo sniper
Cuckoo (sniper)
A cuckoo is a military slang term for a sniper, disguised in the sprawling tree. This word has been particularly applied to the Finnish Winter War snipers and the World War II German snipers, who took pot-shots from hidden vantage points....
.
For her actions in the 1944 battle for the village Kozyi Gory (Smolensk Oblast
Smolensk Oblast
Smolensk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its area is . Population: -Geography:The administrative center of Smolensk Oblast is the city of Smolensk. Other ancient towns include Vyazma and Dorogobuzh....
), Shanina was awarded the 3rd Class Order of Glory
Order of Glory
Established on 8 November 1943, the Order of Glory was an Order of the Soviet Union. It was awarded to non-commissioned officers and rank-and-file of the armed forces, as well as junior lieutenants of the air force, for bravery in the face of the enemy.The Order of Glory, which was modelled...
. According to the report of the commander of the 1138th Rifle Division, Major Degtyarev, between April 6–11, Shanina killed eighteen enemy soldiers while subjected to artillery and machine gun fire. Two months later, on June 22, the Soviets started a large-scale Operation Bagration in the Vitebsk region. The female snipers were to be retracted, but continued to voluntarily support the advancing infantry. Shanina also pressed to be sent to the front line despite Soviet policy of sparing snipers. Shanina was sanctioned for wilfully and unwarrantedly going to the front line but did not face a court martial. She wanted to be attached to the battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
or a reconnaissance company
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
, and finally turned to the commander of the 5th Army, Nikolai Krylov
Nikolay Ivanovich Krylov
Nikolai Ivanovich Krylov was a Marshal of the Soviet Union . He was commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces from 1963 to 1972....
. He ultimately allowed Shanina to continue to serve at the front. On June 9, 1944 the Soviet newspaper Unichtozhim Vraga featured Shanina's portrait on the first page. Later that year, from July 8 to July 13, Shanina and her sisters-in-arms participated in the fightings for Vilnius, which has been under German occupation from June 24, 1941.
Shanina loved writing and used to send letters to her home village and to the other girls in Arkhangelsk. In August 1944, Shanina started writing her war diary
War diary
A war diary is a regularly updated official record kept by military units of their activities during wartime. The purpose of these diaries is to both record information which can later be used by the military to improve its training and tactics as well as to generate a detailed record of units'...
, and around that time captured three Germans. Although writing diaries was strictly prohibited in the Soviet military of that period, there were some exceptions (like Front Diary of Izrael Kukuyev and The Chronicle of War of Muzagit Hayrutdinov). To preserve military secrecy in her diary Shanina termed the killed and wounded "blacks" and "reds", respectively.
By August 31, 1944, Shanina's battle count reached 42 kills. In that month the advancing Soviet troops had reached the borders of East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
and in September crossed the Šešupė River. In September 1944, the Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
and Leader-Post newspapers reported that, according to an official dispatch from the Šešupė River front, Shanina killed five Germans in a single day as she crouched in a sniper hideout. By that month her sniper tally had reached 46 kills, and on September 17 Unichtozhim Vraga credited Shanina with 51 hits. In the fall of 1944, Shanina was given a short furlough
Furlough
In the United States a furlough is a temporary unpaid leave of some employees due to special needs of a company, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole...
and visited Arkhangelsk. On October 17, Shanina returned to the front again for one day and later received an honorable certificate from the Central Committee of Komsomol
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
. In the same year Shanina was awarded the 2nd Class Order of Glory for her sniper actions during the fighting for Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
and Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
.
Some time afterwards, on December 12, 1944, Shanina was shot in the right shoulder by an enemy sniper. She noted in her diary that she had not felt the pain – "the shoulder was just scalded with something hot." Although the injury, described by Shanina as "two small holes", seemed minor to her, an operation was needed and she was incapacitated for several days. She reported in her diary that a day before, she had seen a prophetic dream in which she was wounded in exactly the same place. Later that month, on December 27, Shanina was among the first female snipers to be awarded the Medal for Valor
Medal for Valor
The Medal "For Courage" was the highest military medal that could be awarded to a soldier of the Soviet Union for bravery on the field of battle...
for the repulse of a counter-offensive
Counter-offensive
A counter-offensive is the term used by the military to describe large-scale, usually strategic offensive operations by forces that had successfully halted an enemy's offensive, while occupying defensive positions....
.
Together with divisional logistics, by January 15, 1945, Shanina reached the town of Eydtkuhnen (now Chernyshevskoye
Chernyshevskoye
Chernyshevskoye is a settlement in Nesterovsky District in the eastern part of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, on the border with Lithuania.Between Chernyshevskoye and Lithuanian Kybartai is an important 24-hour border crossing point on the A229 principal road and the railway route connecting...
). On that day she used white military camouflage
Military camouflage
Military camouflage is one of many means of deceiving an enemy. In practice, it is the application of colour and materials to battledress and military equipment to conceal them from visual observation. The French slang word camouflage came into common English usage during World War I when the...
, although its color was judged to be too conspicuous during bad weather. At the time Shanina joined the infantry offensive despite enemy fire from rocket mortars. Several days later she experienced friendly fire
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...
from Katyusha rocket launcher and wrote in her diary, "Now I understand why the Germans are so afraid of Katyushas. What a fire!" At the border of East Prussia, Shanina eliminated 26 enemies. The last unit she served in was the 144th Rifle Division. According to the Book of Memory of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Shanina served in the 205th Special Motorized Rifle Battalion of that division. Shanina had hoped to go to university after the war, or if that was not possible, to raise orphans. Her last diary entry was made on January 24, 1945, four days before her death. It reports tough German resistance and inability to shoot due to the heavy enemy fire. The last sentence stated that Roza and three scouts had been the first to break through into the next house.
Shanina's achievements were acknowledged particularly by Ilya Ehrenburg
Ilya Ehrenburg
Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg was a Soviet writer, journalist, translator, and cultural figure.Ehrenburg is among the most prolific and notable authors of the Soviet Union; he published around one hundred titles. He became known first and foremost as a novelist and a journalist - in particular, as a...
and in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda
Krasnaya Zvezda
Krasnaya Zvezda is an official newspaper of Soviet and later Russian Ministry of Defence. It was founded on January 1, 1924. Today its official designation is "Central Organ of the Russian Ministry of Defence."...
. The latter noted that Shanina was one of the best snipers in her unit and that even the veteran soldiers were inferior to her in shooting accuracy. Yet Shanina paid no special attention to her popularity and once noted that she had been overrated. Ten days before her death she 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
Ogonyok
Ogoniok is one of the oldest weekly illustrated magazines in Russia, issued since . It was re-established in the Soviet Union in 1923 by Mikhail Koltsov....
has my portrait on the front 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." In the diary Shanina noted in particular:
Death
On January 13, 1945, the Soviets launched the East Prussian OffensiveEast Prussian Offensive
The East Prussian Offensive was a strategic offensive by the Red Army against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front . It lasted from 13 January to 25 April 1945, though some German units did not surrender until 9 May...
, which prompted severe battles in East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
, as the Germans tried to strengthen every location. In a letter dated January 17, Shanina noted she might die soon because her battalion had lost 72 out of 78 people. Her last diary entry reported that German fire had become so intense that the Soviet troops, including herself, were forced to shelter inside the self-propelled gun
Self-propelled gun
A self-propelled gun is form of self-propelled artillery, and in modern use is usually used to refer to artillery pieces such as howitzers....
s. Shanina was ultimately heavily wounded and despite medical efforts died near the estate Richau (subsequently the Soviet settlement Telmanovka) 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south-east of the East Prussian village of Ilmsdorf (Novobobruysk). As recalled by nurse Yekaterina Radkina, Shanina, while talking with her, said she regretted having done so little. Shanina was initially buried under a sprawling pear tree on the shore of Allya River, now called Lava. She is the only person killed in these locations whose body was not transferred in 1953 to the mass grave
Mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...
of Soviet soldiers in Znamensk, Kaliningrad Oblast
Znamensk, Kaliningrad Oblast
Znamensk is a settlement in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located on the right bank of the Pregolya River at its confluence with the Lava River some 50 km east of Kaliningrad...
.
Shanina's combat diary, consisting of three thick notebooks, and several letters have been published. Streets in Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
and in the settlements of Shangaly and Stroyevskoye have been named after her. Recurring competitions among DOSAAF
DOSAAF
DOSAAF was a paramilitary society in the Soviet Union, Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Fleet . The society was preserved in a number of post-Soviet Republics, e.g., in Russia and Belarus...
shooters for the Roza Shanina Prize were organized in Arkhangelsk, while Novodvinsk
Novodvinsk
Novodvinsk is a town in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Northern Dvina River, south of Arkhangelsk. Administratively, it is incorporated as a town of oblast significance , while municipally, it is incorporated as Novodvinsk Urban Okrug...
organized the open shooting sports
Shooting sports
A shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...
championship in memory of Shanina. The Russian village Malinovka started to hold the annual cross-country skiings for the Roza Shanina Prize. 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.
Character and personal life
The war correspondentWar correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
Pyotr Molchanov, who had frequently met Shanina on front, described her as a person of unusual will and genuine, bright nature. Shanina marked herself as "boundlessly and recklessly talkative" during her college years and described her own character as that of Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
. According to Shanina's sister-in-arms Lidiya Vdovina, Roza used to sing her favorite war song
War song
A war song is a musical composition that relates to war, or a society's attitudes towards war. They may be pro-war, anti-war, or simply a description of everyday life during war times....
"Oy tumany moi, rastumany" ("O My Mists" in Russian) each time she cleaned her weapon. Most of all, Roza valued courage and absence of egoism in people. She once told a story (subsequently published in 2006 by the newspaper Pravda Severa
Pravda Severa
Pravda Severa is a Russian Arkhangelsk-based newspaper, published since 1917. It is issued three times a week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday in the A3 format. The Wednesday circulation is 20,050 copies, with 7,000—8,000 copies on Tuesday and Saturday....
), when "about half a hundred frenzied fascists with wild cries" attacked the trench accommodating twelve female snipers, including Shanina herself: "Some fell from our well-aimed bullets, some we finished with our bayonets, grenades, shovels, and some we took prisoners, having restrained their arms."
Shanina's personal life was thwarted by war. On October 10, 1944, she wrote in her diary: "I can't accept that Misha Panarin doesn't live anymore. What a good guy! [He] has been killed... He loved me, I know, and I him. [...] My heart is heavy, I'm twenty, but I have no close [male] friend." Later in November, Shanina noted that she "is flogging into her head that [she] loves" a certain Nikolai, although he "doesn't shine in upbringing and education." Shanina, however, noted in the same record, that she does not think about marriage because "it's not the time now". She later outlined that she "had it out" with Nikolai and "wrote him a note in the sense of "but I'm given to the one and will love no other one."
Shanina had five siblings: one sister Yuliya, and four brothers, Mikhail, Fyodor, Sergey and Marat. Mikhail died during the Siege of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
in 1941, while Fyodor was killed the same year during the Battle of Crimea
Battle of Crimea (1941)
The Crimea Campaign was an eight month long campaign of the Axis forces to conquer the Crimea peninsula, and was the scene of some of the bloodiest battles on the Eastern Front during World War II...
. Sergey was also killed, leaving Marat as the only surviving sibling.