Soviet sniper lyudmila. Life outside tennis. Now about the adaptation of her biography

The personality of Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko has become part of history Soviet Union, she entered the ranks of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War... Her exploits were and continue to be talked about in every corner of the world. It is safe to say that the sniper Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko is a shining example of heroism and dedication to her cause.

Lyudmila Pavlyuchenkova is a sniper, about whose personality many different facts can be told. First of all, she made a huge contribution to the victory over the fascist invaders during the Second World War. According to the archives, she has 309 killed soldiers, including those with the highest officer ranks. The importance of this figure also lies in the fact that the 36 killed were excellent snipers who themselves hunted Pavlyuchenko. It should be noted that the fateful meeting between Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko and Eleanor Roosevelt, which also became a part of many stories.

Lyudmila was born on July 12, 1916, in the city of Belaya Tserkov. The girl's school years passed quite calmly, like all children. She attended Secondary School # 3, which was located right next to the house. At the age of 14, together with his relatives and family, he moved to the capital of Ukraine. Parents immediately noted her lively character, charisma, she always defended the weak. The most important thing about her character is that almost all of her friends were boys. She was not interested in girls' games, so she was drawn to the guys who always supported her.

As for the father, he supported his daughter. Of course, he wanted a son to be born, but looking after his daughter, he always praised her success. She always had tremendous strength and never yielded anything to boys. After leaving school, he goes to work at the factory. Here she liked the profession of a grinder, with which she coped well. Of course, there were still two years to finish in high school, so I had to combine. At the age of 16, she already married, after a while the young couple had a child. The boy was named Rostislav, it is known that he died in 2007.

The family idyll did not last for a long time, after a few years, they parted. After everything that happened, Lyudmila did not change her last name and remained Pavlyuchenko's husband, although her maiden name is Belovaya.

It is known that her husband died in the war, the first battles took his life. Thus, the future sniper Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko was left alone, there were no more official marriages in her life.

First trainings

After work, Lyudmila visited a shooting range, where she studied shooting. She was haunted by an offensive feeling, she more than once heard boys talk about how girls cannot shoot like them. Thus, the young girl tried to prove the opposite. Lyudmila's goal was the courses that she decided to take in order to achieve maximum success. We can say that she has achieved considerable success. At that time, Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko's personal life did not interest her, she set herself a different goal and strove for it.

In 1937 he easily entered the university, the Faculty of History. Her dream was to become a teacher and teach children. At the beginning of the war, Lyudmila was undergoing pre-diploma practice in Odessa. She made the decision to join the ranks of the military without any hesitation. Of course, she was immediately refused, she had to prove that she could really withstand the enemy in an unequal battle.

One of the stories from the life of Lyudmila, which is really worth telling. The officers, to test the girl's willpower, brought two fascists, who were Romanian by nationality, they were detained and taken from the front. Lyudmila was given a gun and ordered to shoot them. She did not hesitate to do what was needed. As a result, she received permission to serve and the rank of private in the 25th Infantry Division. Thus, the sniper Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko became part of the Soviet army. Her future successes and achievements will become part of history more than once.

She really wanted to quickly go through training and get to the front, but everything is not so simple. In the evenings, she thought about how she would act if she met the Nazis, what actions she would have to take. But now she is already on the battlefield, in her hands is a Mosin rifle. After her friend fell dead, she decided that it was impossible to retreat and began to shoot. This is how the war began for a young girl, where she felt all the hardships of military service.

First assignments

After successfully completing sniper training, she is sent to replace the platoon commander. At that time, Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko, not sparing herself, was destroying fascist soldiers. But after a shell exploded next to her, she was concussed.

Many soldiers who were next to her noted that in spite of everything, she never retreated and even shell-shocked continued to fight in that battle.

In October 1941 he went to the defense of Sevastopol. Its main task was to track down as many fascist officers and soldiers as possible and eliminate them. Thus, every morning she got up and went in search. Not many people understand how difficult the service of a sniper is, when you have to lie in one place for days in order not to give yourself away, especially if your opponent is another sniper. But Lyudmila came out the winner every time. Of course, many were interested in the personal life of the sniper Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko and the meeting with Leonid was fateful. As the woman herself said, they were comrades, but there was no love between them.

Leonid Kutsenko is a friend of Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko, with whom they began to serve together and supported each other in everything. Her personal life and relationships in the pre-war period did not work out, so she became close to Leonid. Together they carried out difficult tasks that were entrusted to them by the command. One of the cases occurred in Sevastopol. After receiving information from intelligence, Pavlyuchenko and Kutsenko were sent to destroy the command post of German soldiers. After they took places that were good from the point of view of a sniper, they killed two officers. But as it turned out, there were other soldiers nearby who immediately came to the rescue. Thus, Kutsenko and Pavlyuchenko entered into an unequal battle with several dozen fascists, and emerged victorious. They had to gradually change positions so as not to give away their location.

Death of Kutsenko

It is clear that the actions of Soviet snipers were always effective. The fascist leadership received a considerable amount of information from the intelligence, including about Pavlyuchenko. In order to exterminate Soviet snipers, ambushes were organized, very serious snipers of the German army were sent. Thus, Pavlyuchenko and Kutsenko were also ambushed. Caught in unbearable mortar fire. Kutsenko received a large number of wounds, but Lyudmila was still able to endure him with her own, but he died.

The grief that the girl had to endure was simply unbearable. She was even more fired up by the fact that she must destroy as many opponents as possible. In addition to everything at that time, she was engaged in the preparation of future snipers. About a hundred masters of their craft were sent to the front after Pavlyuchenko's courses.

Events in Sevastopol

After the death of Kutsenko, Lyudmila continued to work and track down enemies in the mountainous regions of Sevastopol. Even in winter, she went out at night to hunt for the Nazis. She had to hide in hollows, ledges, which were always wet and damp. It was simply an unbearable ordeal, but she always endured, because she knew that she would achieve the result. Any sniper who gives away his location is simply doomed to die.

In one of her personal battles, while also in ambush, she destroyed several fascist submachine gunners, but others found her. Thus, Lyudmila remained in ambush, and there was nowhere to retreat. Finally, fog descended into the mountains, which helped Pavlyuchenko to take a more advantageous position. She was crawling over wet rocks, crawling to the cherished goal, but she was still noticed and opened fire. At that time, the bullets whizzed so close that they even pierced the cap. In general, taking a position for cover, killed all five soldiers, one escaped. She understood that soon he would bring others, and she needed a weapon. Plucking up courage, she made her way to the dead on her bellies, collected all the ammunition and again took refuge in her ambush. She fired various weapons to show that she was not alone in cover. This is how she managed to escape.

Continuation of service

After such events and exploits, she was sent to another regiment. At that time, a German sniper was working at the site of the deployment of this military unit. He destroyed everyone who came into his field of vision. Pavlyuchenko was given the task of tracking down and eliminating him. For several days, she was in ambush, one might say it was a covert battle, since on the opposite side was exactly the sniper who needed to be eliminated. In general, Lyudmila managed to endure all the difficulties and killed him. After, having searched the enemy, she was convinced that it was exactly the same Dunkirk that killed more than half a thousand soldiers throughout Europe. After that, they learned about the sniper Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko all over the world.

Constant exposure to the cold, great physical exertion, injuries, all of this greatly reduced Lyudmila's health. She was forcibly expelled from the sniper staff, as she did not agree to sign documents on her own. After that, her military service ended. She has paid official visits to the United States and other states on behalf of the authorities. After that she worked as a sniper instructor.

The meeting between Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko and Eleanor Roosevelt was very brightly covered in foreign media. The wife of the president suggested that she stay in America, where she could become famous, successful and rich. Still, Pavlyuchenko was a patriot and came back. Its goal was to attract attention from the United States to enter the war. Thus, the action took place.

Postwar years

After graduating from the university, he enters the service at the scientific center of the USSR Navy. She worked there until 1953. As a consequence, she was transferred to a calmer job, helped in providing assistance to veterans. She was a member of the association for friendship with African countries, visited Africa more than once. Thus, she was engaged not only in military, but also in political affairs. A large number of international trips, of course, led to the emergence of some interest on the part of the KGB in the personality of Lyudmila. In fact, she has always supported the Soviet regime.

The meeting between Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko and Eleanor Roosevelt also could not be ignored. These are two women who, from the first meeting, became close friends. The wife of the US President herself was delighted with the exploits of the Soviet sniper. The personal life of Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko also could not go unnoticed. She was able to raise her son and did not lose her influence and honor.

Until the end of her life, Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko was a shining example of courage and resilience. They wrote about her in a variety of publications and only in a positive way. I have visited educational institutions, where she talked about what she did in the war and what incidents happened in her life. In 1974, this legendary woman, the warrior died. She is buried in Moscow. This is how Lyudmila was remembered by many of her contemporaries.

In memory of the exploits of the sniper Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko, a film was shot, where they also touched on personal life. In fact, this picture is only part of the story, and many scenes are simply fictional, like the characters. "Battle for Sevastopol" is a film that to some extent reflects the personal life and relationships with men of a sniper. Pavlyuchenko herself never thought about love or relationships during the period of service. The most important thing for her was to destroy the enemy.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is a Russian tennis player, an international master of sports. She has 12 victories in WTA tournaments. At one time, the tennis player managed to become the first racket of the world in the junior ranking.

Nastya was born in 1991 in Samara. Her parents are professional athletes: her mother was swimming, her father was rowing. Anastasia has a brother, Alexander.

It is noteworthy that the Pavlyuchenkovs are a sports dynasty, where Nastya and Sasha are already the third generation. Their grandmother was a professional basketball player and their grandfather worked as a basketball referee. But the Pavlyuchenkovs Jr. did not choose any of the sports that they played in their family. They gave preference to tennis, in which Anastasia reached considerable heights.

Nastya first picked up a racket at the age of 6. On initial stage she was coached by her mother, an amateur tennis player. Then brother Sasha played with Nastya.

Tennis

The sports biography of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was crowned with the first successes when the girl was 14 years old. She managed to win the doubles tournament of the International Tennis Federation. A year later, Nastya was in the lead in singles. Soon Pavlyuchenkova was named the first racket among athletes in the youth category.

When her daughter turned 16, her parents realized that Anastasia had a brilliant sports future. But in order to move on without stopping, she needs to seriously engage in improving her skill level under the guidance of a professional mentor. So the 16-year-old girl ended up in France, where Patrick Mutorgla became her coach.

According to unconfirmed information, Anastasia's parents sold the car and moved to a smaller apartment to pay for their daughter's expensive stay and training abroad. Pavlyuchenkova worked with experienced coaches not only in France, but also in England. Looking ahead, let's say that the famous Martina Hingis has been preparing it since 2013.

The results of training under the guidance of world-renowned mentors have begun to bear fruit since 2005. We can say that Nastya ended up in professional sports this year. And since 2007, she managed to win 10 victories in prestigious ITF tournaments in a short time.

Pavlyuchenkova has 9 titles of the Women's Tennis Association. And according to the results of the games in 2011 and 2013, Anastasia became a finalist of the Federation Cup and entered the top 20 best world tennis players in the WTA ranking.

2014 Kremlin Cup Winner Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

In the summer of 2013, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova showed excellent results at the 27th World Universiade in Kazan. For this she received an honorary diploma from the President of the Russian Federation. In 2014, the girl became the owner of the Kremlin Cup. A year later, Pavlyuchenkova stopped one step away from the first place of the tournament in Washington, losing in the final to Sloane Stevens. In 2016, the tennis player competed at the Olympic Games in Rio, where she lost to Monica Puig.

Sports journalists, watching the athlete's game, claim that Nastya feels comfortable on the back line of a clay court. And her trademark hit is the forehand in the lane.

Personal life

It is not surprising that an athlete of such a high level lives on an extremely tight schedule, where there is very little time for entertainment and rest. So far, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's personal life is her family and friends, of whom the girl has a lot. Nastya is an open and sociable person. This is evidenced by her accounts in social networks- "Instagram" and " Twitter", Where photos of a tennis player with close people and colleagues are met.

The girl is fond of football, which loves to watch "live", at the stadium, surrounded by a considerable company of her beloved friends. And the tennis player also loves cinema, and is not limited to watching one specific genre. Nastya can be seen at fashion shows in the capital, which she attends if she comes to Moscow.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova now

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is in good professional shape. According to the Russian singles ranking at the end of 2017, the tennis player took 15th place.

In April 2018, Pavlyuchenkova participated in the WTA tournament in Stuttgart. The girl managed to make her way to the quarterfinals thanks to the victory over the American Madison Keys in the first round and over the Spanish Garbinje Mugurusa in the second. The Russian woman lost the quarterfinals to the Estonian Anette Kontaveit.

Anastasia spent the second half of May 2018 on the courts of the International Tennis Tournament in Strasbourg. A tennis player from Russia successfully held the first and second rounds, where she fought with German Tatyana Maria and compatriot Natalia Vikhlyantseva. Zarina Diyas from Kazakhstan became the rival of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinals. The match ended with a score of 6: 4; 6: 2 in favor of the Russians. In the semifinals, the girl played a match against Australian Ashley Barty and beat her with a score of 6: 4, 1: 0.

In the final of the competition, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova met with a rival from Slovakia Dominika Tsibulkova. The girls did not want to give the victory to each other. As a result, the match, which commentators called "hellish", stretched out for 3.5 hours. Pavlyuchenkova won by points. The tournament was the 12th won competition in Pavlyuchenkova's career. For the victory, the girl received $ 43 thousand.

Without slowing down, Anastasia headed for the French Roland Garros, which began on May 27 in Paris. But the performance at the Grand Slam tournament was unsuccessful for the Russian woman. The tennis player won the first round competition against Polona Herzog from Slovenia. In the next match, she fought with Australian tennis player Samantha Stosur, who beat Anastasia with a score of 6: 2, 7: 6 (7: 1). The loss could negatively affect the rating of the Russian woman in the WTA. Now she occupies the 28th position according to the updated version of May 28, 2018. Anastasia even surpassed, which was only 30th.

Awards

• 2006, 2007 - victory at the Australian Open
• 2006 - victory at the US Open
• 2013 - gold and silver medals at the Universiade in Kazan

Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko (nee Belova). Born on July 12, 1916 in Belaya Tserkov (now the Kiev region) - died on October 27, 1974 in Moscow. Legendary Soviet sniper. Destroyed 309 German soldiers and officers. The most successful female sniper in world history. Hero of the Soviet Union (1943).

Lyudmila Belova, who became known as Lyudmila Pavlichenko, was born on July 12, 1916 in the city of Belaya Tserkov in Vasilkovsky district of the Kiev province (now the Kiev region).

Father - Mikhail Belov, an employee, later an officer of the NKVD.

The mother was of noble origin, was a highly educated woman, instilled in her daughter a love of knowledge, taught foreign languages.

Until the age of 14 she studied at secondary school number 3 in the city of Belaya Tserkov. Then her father was transferred to serve in Kiev.

After finishing the ninth grade, she worked as a grinder at the Kiev plant "Arsenal" and at the same time studied in the tenth grade, completing her secondary education.

In 1937 she entered the history department of the Kiev State University named after T.G. Shevchenko. During her studies, she was engaged in gliding and shooting sports.

Demonstrated outstanding results in shooting. According to the assumption of some experts, Lyudmila had a special structure of the eyeball. In addition, she had excellent hearing and excellent intuition. A good memory also helped her - she remembered the ballistic tables by heart and accurately calculated the distance to the object, corrected for the wind.

When the Great Patriotic War began, she was in Odessa for her graduation practice. From the very first days of the war, Lyudmila Pavlichenko volunteered for the front.

To make sure of her ability to wield a weapon, during a sniper course, she was given an impromptu test near the hill that was defended Soviet soldiers... Lyudmila was handed a gun and pointed to two Romanians who worked with the Germans.

“When I shot both of them, I was finally accepted,” she said. Pavlichenko did not include these two shots in her list of victorious ones - according to her, they were just trial.

Private Pavlichenko was enlisted in the 25th Infantry Division named after Vasily Chapaev.

On her first day at the front, she faced the enemy face to face. According to her, paralyzed by fear, she was unable to raise the rifle. Next to her was a young soldier, whose life was instantly taken by a German bullet. Lyudmila was shocked, the shock prompted her to action. "He was a wonderful happy boy who was killed right before my eyes. Now nothing could stop me," she shared.

As part of the Chapayev division, she participated in defensive battles in Moldova and in the south of Ukraine. She was sent to a sniper platoon.

In mid-October 1941, the troops of the Primorsky Army were forced to leave Odessa and evacuate to the Crimea to strengthen the defense of the city of Sevastopol, the naval base of the Black Sea Fleet. Lyudmila Pavlichenko spent 250 days and nights in heavy and heroic battles near Sevastopol.

During the first months of the war and the defense of Odessa, Lyudmila Pavlichenko killed 179 German and Romanian soldiers and officers. By June 1942, Pavlichenko already had 309 confirmed destroyed enemy soldiers and officers, including 36 enemy snipers... In addition, during the period of defensive battles, she was able to train many snipers, transferring her experience to the front-line soldiers.

In his autobiographical book "Heroic story" Lyudmila Pavlichenko wrote: "Hatred teaches a lot. She taught me to kill enemies. I am a sniper. Near Odessa and Sevastopol, I destroyed 309 fascists from a sniper rifle. Hatred sharpened my eyesight and hearing, made me cunning and dexterous; hatred taught me to disguise and deceive. , in time to unravel his various tricks and tricks; hatred taught me to patiently hunt for enemy snipers for several days. Nothing can satisfy the thirst for revenge. As long as at least one invader walks on our land, I will mercilessly beat the enemy. When I went to fight, I first experienced only one anger for the fact that the Germans violated our peaceful life. But everything that I saw later gave rise to a feeling of such unquenchable hatred in me that it is difficult to express it in anything other than a bullet in the heart of a Hitlerite. Sevastopol, children often stopped me and asked: "How many did you kill yesterday?"

Weapons of Lyudmila Pavlichenko: Mosin rifle (now kept in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow); self-loading rifle Tokarev-40.

Lyudmila's achievements surpassed several dozen male snipers of World War II. However, for a woman, her results were simply fantastic, especially considering that she spent only a year at the front, after which she was injured, was evacuated from Sevastopol and never returned to the front, training other snipers.

In June 1942 she was seriously wounded. From the besieged Sevastopol, she was evacuated to the Caucasus, and then completely recalled from the front line and sent along with a delegation of Soviet youth to Canada and the United States of America.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko in the USA (newsreel)

During her visit across the ocean, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, together with the secretary of the Moscow City Komsomol Committee Nikolai Krasavchenko and sniper Vladimir Pchelintsev, attended a reception with the US President.

At the invitation of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, members of the Soviet delegation lived for some time in the White House. Later, Eleanor Roosevelt organized a tour of the country for the Soviet representatives.

Lieutenant Pavlichenko made a speech before the International Student Assembly in Washington DC, before the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in New York, but many remember her words pronounced in Chicago: "Gentlemen, I am twenty-five years old. At the front, I have already managed to destroy three hundred and nine fascist invaders. Don't you feel, gentlemen, that you have been hiding behind my back for too long? " After these words, the reporters described, the crowd froze for a minute, and then exploded with a furious noise of approval.

From another American speech by Pavlichenko: "I want to tell you that we will win! That there is no such force that could interfere with the victorious march of the free peoples of the world! We must unite! As a Russian soldier, I offer you, the great soldiers of America, my hand." ...

In the USA she was presented with a Colt pistol, in Canada - a Winchester rifle (the latter is exhibited at the Central Museum The armed forces RF in Moscow).

In Canada, the delegation of the Soviet military was greeted by several thousand Canadians gathered at the Union Station Toronto.

Her photo was published by all the leading media in America, she appeared on the cover of Life magazine.

American country singer Woody Guthrie wrote the song "Miss Pavlichenko" about her, which included the words:

Miss Pavlichenko is well known to us all,
Russia is your country, and fighting is a craft,
The whole world will love you forever and ever
For those three hundred Nazis who fell before you.

In the mountains and hollows, quiet as a doe,
In spreading forests, without knowing fear.
The sight went up - Fritz fell to the ground,
Three hundred Nazis fell before you ...

After returning from a trip abroad, Lieutenant Pavlichenko served as an instructor at the Vystrel sniper school near Moscow.

After the end of the war, Lyudmila Mikhailovna defended her diploma at Kiev University and became a senior researcher at the General Staff of the USSR Navy. In 1956 she went to work in the public organization "Soviet Committee of War Veterans".

In 1957, she met with Eleanor Roosevelt for the second time, during the latter's visit to the USSR.

She died on October 27, 1974 in Moscow. She was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery, next to her are her mother Elena Belova, her husband and son.

At school No. 3 in Belaya Tserkov there is a museum of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, created during the Soviet era.

Streets in the cities of Sevastopol and Belaya Tserkov are named in honor of Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko (on this street in Belaya Tserkov there is high school No. 3, in which Lyudmila Mikhailovna studied).

A vessel of the Ministry of Fisheries was named after Lyudmila Pavlichenko. The vessel was launched in 1976 and decommissioned in 1996.

Sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko

The growth of Lyudmila Pavlichenko: 156 centimeters.

Personal life of Lyudmila Pavlichenko:

She was married three times.

The first husband is Alexey Pavlichenko. She met him at the age of fifteen, when she was in the eighth grade and lived with her parents in Belaya Tserkov. Their meeting took place at a dance, he was a student at an agricultural institute, much older than her. Lyudmila fell in love and soon became pregnant. Lyuda's father, an NKVD officer Mikhail Belov, found Alexei and forced him to marry.

In 1932, Lyudmila gave birth to a son, Rostislav (1932-2007).

However, family life did not work out, the spouse turned out to be a dishonest person. According to the stories of those who knew Lyudmila, she hated the father of her child so much that she did not even want to pronounce his name. I was going to get rid of the name Pavlichenko, but the war prevented the filing for divorce.

The second husband is Alexey Kitsenko. They met before the war in Kiev. He was her partner at the front. At the front, they filed a marriage registration report.

But their happiness was short-lived: in February 1942, Alexei was mortally wounded by fragments of an exploding shell during an artillery attack. As Lyudmila said, he essentially saved her life: Alexei sat with his hand on her shoulders and when a shell exploded next to them, he got all the fragments, he received seven wounds. One splinter almost cut off Alexei's hand - the one that was lying on Lyudmila's shoulder. If he had not hugged her, the splinter would have interrupted Lyudmila's spine.

For Lyudmila, the death of Kitsenko was a heavy blow, for some time she could not even shoot - her hands were trembling.

Third husband - Konstantin Andreevich Shevelev (1906-1963).

Son - Rostislav Pavlichenko died at the age of 76 from a stroke.

Granddaughter - Alena Rostislavovna, lives in Greece with two children and is a member of the Union of Artists of Greece.

The widow of Pavlichenko's son is Lyubov Davydovna Krasheninnikova, a retired major of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko with her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter

Her granddaughter Alena recalled about her grandmother: "My grandmother loved children very much and never punished me. We lived in perfect harmony. What was only her deep and gentle look! Despite the fact that I was a rather nimble child, she always If I did something wrong - raised an eyebrow and looked closely into my eyes. It became clear that it was impossible to do so - it was the worst punishment! She was always busy with something - on the road. I still can't imagine how She survived the horror of the war! At home, we never talked about the war, and she did not want to talk about it. It's scary. Nevertheless, after all, she managed to maintain her tenderness, femininity and humanity. "

During her last visit to Russia, Alena almost ended up in jail. The fact is that she wanted to take her grandmother's relics with her to Greece - a dagger and a small revolver. But when the luggage was checked at Sheremetyevo, she was detained and accused of smuggling weapons. After some time, an examination was carried out, which showed that the dagger and the revolver are of cultural value. A criminal case was brought against Alena under the article "Smuggling", she was threatened with 7 years in prison.

Alena regretted: "Indeed, I did not think that it was necessary to document these things. Moreover, they were taken away from me. After a while, she began to look for them, but they disappeared."

The image of Lyudmila Pavlichenko in the cinema:

In 2015, a Russian-Ukrainian film was released "Battle for Sevastopol"(ukr. "Nezlamna") directed by Sergei Mokritsky, dedicated to the life story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko. The role of Lyudmila Pavlichenko in the film was played by a Russian actress. The release of the tape on the cinema screens was timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

The plot of the film is based on real events... In addition to the colorful battle scenes, much attention is paid to the emotional experiences of the characters in the plot; the love line takes a noticeable place.

It is worth noting that Pavlyuchenko's relatives were critical of the film and the actress who played the famous sniper.

In particular, the granddaughter of Lyudmila Pavlichenko Alena Rostislavovna said about Peresild: “The actress, of course, does not look like her grandmother. Yulia showed her very silent and cold. Lyudmila Mikhailovna was bright and temperamental.

The widow of Pavlichenko's son, Lyubov Davydovna Krasheninnikova, also said that Yulia Peresild is not like her legendary mother-in-law: “Lyudmila Mikhailovna was a sniper, but this does not mean that in life she is severe and restrained. On the contrary, she was a kind-hearted person. the actress showed Pavlichenko taciturn and the same everywhere. "

The Lyudmila-D rifle in the Destiny computer game and the Lyuda sniper rifle in the Borderlands 2 computer game are named after Lyudmila Pavlichenko.

Also, in honor of Lyudmila Mikhailovna, the name Pavlichenko bears the main character of the second season of the 2009 anime series "Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini".

A word to readers

Hero of the Soviet Union L.M. Pavlichenko is the only female sniper, whose personal account reaches 309 killed enemy soldiers and officers. She is one of the most well-known in our country and in the world RANGE participants of the Second World War. In 1942-1945. on the Soviet-German front, more than one hundred thousand leaflets with her portrait were distributed (and Lyudmila Mikhailovna was beautiful woman) and the call: "Hit the enemy without missing!" After her death in 1974, the name of Lyudmila Pavlichenko was given to the ship of the Ministry of Fisheries of the USSR, school number 3 in the city of Belaya Tserkov, Kiev region, where she studied from first to seventh grade, one of the streets in the center of Sevastopol.

The complete and authentic biography of the heroine reads like a fascinating novel.

There are tragic pages in it, because Pavlichenko, having volunteered for the Red Army on June 26, 1941, together with her 54th rifle regiment, made the difficult path of retreat from the western borders to Odessa. There are heroic pages: during the defense of this city, she destroyed 187 fascists in two months. The defense of Sevastopol added glory to the best sniper of the 25th Chapaevskaya rifle division, since now its personal score has increased to 309 killed enemies. But there are also lyrical pages. During the war, Lyudmila met her great love. A brave fellow soldier, junior lieutenant Alexey Arkadyevich Kitsenko became her husband.

By the decision of I.V. Stalin in August 1942, a Komsomol youth delegation consisting of N. Krasavchenko, V. Pchelintsev and L. Pavlichenko flew to the United States to participate in the World Student Assembly. The Komsomol members were supposed to agitate for the early opening of a second front in Western Europe ...

Despite the ban, Pavlichenko kept a diary during the war. She sometimes made very short notes in it. And not every day the sniper managed to pick up a pencil or pen. The battles in Sevastopol were characterized by stubbornness and ferocity.

Having retired in 1953 with the rank of major of the coastal service of the Navy, Lyudmila Mikhailovna remembered her front-line records. A historian by training, she was serious about her memoirs and believed that publishing them would require lengthy work in libraries and archives. She took the first step towards this in 1958, when, by order of the State Political Publishing House, she wrote a small documentary brochure (72 pages) “Heroic story. Defense of Sevastopol ”, and then a number of articles for various collections and magazines. But these were not memories of the sniper service, but rather a generalized story about the main events that unfolded on the front line and in the rear of the Sevastopol defense region from October 1941 to July 1942.

After these publications, L.M. Pavlichenko in 1964 was admitted to the Union of Journalists of the USSR, where she became the secretary of the military history section of his Moscow branch.

Close communication with colleagues from the pen, Active participation in the military-patriotic education of the younger generation led her to the idea that a book written by a senior sergeant, a platoon commander of super-sharp riflemen with a reliable story about many details and details of infantry service, may be of interest to the modern reader.

By the end of the 60s, not only the memoirs of major military leaders about successful operations began to be published. Soviet army in 1944 and 1945, but also true stories of the commanders and political workers of the Red Army about the difficult, even tragic beginning of the Great Patriotic War. These books include the memoirs of I.I. Azarov "Besieged Odessa" (M .: Voenizdat, 1966), collection "At the Black Sea fortresses" (M .: Voenizdat, 1967), where the former commander of the 25th Chapaevskaya division T.K. Kolomiets and colleague L.M. Pavlichenko, former Komsomol organizer of the 54th regiment Ya. Ya. Vaskovsky, memoirs of an ordinary participant of the Odessa defense N.M. Aleschenko "They defended Odessa" (Moscow: publishing house DOSAAF, 1970).

After reading them, Lyudmila Mikhailovna set to work.

Now she wanted to write specifically about the service of a sniper at the front and in detail about everything connected with this military profession: training methods, tactics on the battlefield, and especially - the weapon that she knew very well and loved very much. In the 40-50s, such information was not allowed to be disclosed. However, without her, the story of the struggle of super-sharp shooters with the enemy would be incomplete. Remembering the previous instructions, Pavlichenko carefully selected the material, looking for the best literary form for her manuscript. It became clear to her that the twenty years that have passed since the end of the Great Patriotic War did not in any way contribute to the speedy implementation of the plan. Much was difficult to remember, many of the recordings were lost. In addition, she has already transferred many valuable documents and photographs from her archive, as well as personal belongings to museums: to the Central Museum of the USSR Armed Forces in Moscow and to the State Museum of the Heroic Defense and Liberation of Sevastopol.

Unfortunately, a serious long-term illness prevented the famous heroine from completing the work on time and seeing the sniper's memoirs published. Fragments of this manuscript were preserved thanks to the efforts of Lyubov Davydovna Krasheninnikova-Pavlichenko, the widow of the son of Lyudmila Mikhailovna Rostislav Alekseevich Pavlichenko.

Begunova A.I.,

compiler

Chapter 1
Factory walls

In the summer of 1932, a significant change took place in the life of our family. From the provincial town of Boguslav, which lies in the south of the Kiev region, we moved to the capital of Ukraine and settled in a service apartment provided to my father, Mikhail Ivanovich Belov. He, being an employee of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD), received a post in the central office of this department as a reward for the conscientious performance of his duties.

He was a solid man, strict, devoted to the service. Starting from a young age as a mechanic at a large factory, he visited the fronts of the First World War, joined the ranks of the Communist Party - then it was called the RSDLP (b), - participated in revolutionary events in Petrograd, then served as a regiment commissar in the 24th Samara-Simbirskaya " Iron "division, fought with the White Guard detachments of Kolchak in the Middle Volga region, the South Urals. Demobilized from the Red Army in 1923, at the age of 28. But attachment to military uniform kept until the end of his days, and we mostly saw him in one outfit: a khaki jacket with a turn-down collar, with the Order of the Red Banner on his chest, navy blue breeches and chrome officer's boots.

Naturally, the last word in family disputes - if any happened - remained with the Pope. But my kind mother, Elena Trofimovna Belova, a graduate of the women's gymnasium in the city of Vladimir, knew how to soften her father's harsh temper. She was a beautiful woman with a lithe, like a chiseled figure, with lush dark brown hair and brown eyes that illuminated her face with some unusual light.

She knew well foreign languages and taught them at school. The disciples loved her. Turning the lesson into a game, my mother achieved an excellent memorization of all European words that were strange to the Russian ear. Her children not only read well, but also spoke.

She worked with us just as persistently: with my older sister Valentina and with me. Thanks to her, we got to know Russian classical literature early, for the works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Kuprin were in our home library. My sister, due to her soft, dreamy nature, turned out to be more receptive to literary images. I was attracted by history, more precisely - the military past of our great country.

Before Boguslav, we lived for several years in the city of Bila Tserkva, Kiev region. There I studied at school number 3, where my childhood and adolescence passed without care. We have a friendly company on Privokzalnaya Street. We played "Cossack robbers", in the summer we rode flat-bottomed boats along the local river Ros, walked in the old and very beautiful Alexandria Park, and in the fall we raided the surrounding gardens. I was the leader in a gang of teenagers because I shot the best with a slingshot, ran the fastest, swam well and was never afraid to start a fight, first hitting the offender on the cheekbone with my fist.

Yard entertainment ended when I was barely fifteen years old. And they ended suddenly, in one day. Looking back, I could compare it with the end of the world, with voluntary blindness, with loss of reason. This was my first, school love. The memory of her remained with me for the rest of my life in the form of the surname of this person - PAVLICHENKO.

Fortunately, my son Rostislav is not at all like his father. He has a kind, calm disposition and an appearance characteristic of members of our family: brown eyes, lush dark hair, tall, strong physique. Still, he belongs to the BELOV family and continues our traditions of serving the Fatherland with dignity. Glory graduated with honors Faculty of Law Moscow University and High school KGB. He honorably bears the title of a Soviet officer. I'm proud of him ...

We settled in a new place in Kiev rather quickly, began to get used to the big and noisy capital city a little. We saw little of our father; he stayed late at the service. Therefore, our intimate conversations with him usually took place in the kitchen after dinner. Mom put a samovar on the table, and over a cup of tea we could discuss any topic with our parents, ask them any questions. So soon the main conversation took place.

- What are you going to do now, dear children? - Dad asked us, slowly sipping hot tea.

“We don’t know yet,” Valentina answered first by right of seniority.

“You have to think about work,” he said.

- What kind of work? - my sister was surprised.

- About a good job, in a good place, with a good salary.

- But, dad, - I objected, - I have only seven years of education, I want to study further.

“It's never too late to study, Lyudmila,” said my father firmly. - But to start a work biography, moreover - with the correct entry in the questionnaire - now is the time. Moreover, I have already agreed, they will take you.

- Where is it? My sister pursed her lips capriciously.

- To the Arsenal plant ...

If you move from the park "Askoldova Mogila", then the wide water surface of the Dnieper will stretch to the left, and the straight and not too long Arsenalnaya Street will begin on the right (in 1941 it was renamed to Moskovskaya - Note. comp.). At the beginning of the street there is a very impressive building. These are the Arsenal workshops built during the reign of Emperor Nicholas the First. They say that the king himself laid the first brick in their foundation. The walls turned out to be two meters thick, two stories high and the color of the bricks - light yellow, which is why the locals began to call the entire building "porcelain".

However, neither the workshops nor the adjacent factory had anything to do with fine clay products. It was founded by order of Queen Catherine the Great and took a long time to build: from 1784 to 1803. They made guns, gun carriages, rifles, bayonets, sabers, broadswords, and various military equipment on it.

In Soviet times, a powerful defense enterprise also mastered the production of products needed for the national economy: plows, locks, steam-powered carts, equipment for mills and sugar factories. The "arsenals" worked with full dedication and in 1923 they received an award from the government of Ukraine - the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

I liked the building of the plant at first sight. It strongly resembled a fortress. Rectangular in shape (168 × 135 m), with a large courtyard, with a tower, with rounded outer walls, where the first tier was decorated with a large rustic wooden board, this structure seemed to have descended from an ancient battle engraving. All that was missing was a ditch under the walls, a drawbridge over it and a heavy gate, which would be guarded by warriors in shining armor.

My sister and I after completing some formalities (for example, a nondisclosure agreement state secrets) ranked this "fortress" in the garrison. Valentina - a rationing, since she was already eighteen years old and she had a high school diploma. Me - a laborer for my childhood (I was only 16) and lack of any professional skills.

Six months was enough for me to enter the rhythm of the factory life and make friends with the factory workers themselves. I was accepted into the Komsomol. In May 1934, I moved to the lathe shop, where I was a student for about a month, then I got the right to work independently and soon reached the qualification of a sixth grade turner.

It was an interesting time.

Arsenal was changing right before our eyes. New, already domestic machines came in, more advanced equipment was installed, new production facilities were put into operation, old premises were reconstructed. The factory people, seeing the efforts of the authorities aimed at the growth of industry, responded with shock work. By the way, the prices also grew noticeably, and in fact all the machine operators in our workshop worked on piece-rate pay.

I didn't have to complain either. I had a screw-cutting lathe with a speed control box "DIP300" ("Catch up and overtake the capitalist countries"), produced by the Moscow plant "Red Proletarian" in 1933. It was intended for processing cylindrical, conical and complex surfaces, not only external, but also internal.

So I processed it.

As I recall now, for the most part - shaft blanks for all kinds of gearboxes. In one cut, the cutter removed from 0.5 mm to 3 mm (and more) of the metal. The cutting speed was chosen depending on the hardness of the material and the tool life. We mainly used high carbon steel cutters. Although there were others - with soldered plates of superhard alloys of tungsten and titanium.

The bluish-purple metal shavings curling from under the cutter still seem incredibly beautiful to me. Hard as metal is, it lends itself to human strength. You just need to invent such a cunning machine ...

Our factory, uniting people in work, provided them with the opportunity to effectively spend their free time. True, the factory club did not differ in bright and rich design. It was small, even cramped. However, its premises were enough for different classes: the theatrical "Blue Blouse", the Fine Art Studio, where they taught to draw, cut and sew, which is very useful for women, glider and shooting. In the assembly hall, wonderful festive evenings "Meeting of three generations" were regularly held, at which they honored the veterans of the revolution and Civil War, young production workers who exceeded the norms by 50 percent or more.

At first, my friend and I - she persuaded me - went to a gliding circle. The newspapers wrote a lot about aviation and the exploits of aviators. So we attended theoretical classes with enthusiasm and concentratedly took notes on the lectures of the gallant Air Force lieutenant on wing lift. However, the very first flight with an instructor cooled my ardor. When the grassy field of the airfield quickly and quickly rushed towards and then suddenly went abruptly down somewhere, my head started spinning, nausea came to my throat. “So the air is not my element,” I thought. - I am a purely earthly person and must rely on solid ground ... "

The instructor of the factory shooting circle Fedor Kushchenko worked in our workshop and constantly campaigned for young people, inviting them to go to the shooting range. He himself recently served conscript service in the Red Army, got carried away there with bullet shooting and assured that there was something fascinating in the flight of a bullet and hitting it on the target.

The guy is nice and charming, Fedya with similar reasoning rolled up to me. However, I remembered flying on a glider, which pretty much shaken my faith in my own capabilities, although in my youth - what to hide! - they seem limitless. In addition, I considered Kushchenko's enticing speeches to be ordinary red tape. My small but harsh life experience suggested: you should always be on your guard with males.

Once (it was at a Komsomol meeting) I got tired of listening to his tales. I answered Fedor in an ironic tone. The guys sitting around appreciated my joke and started laughing out loud. At that moment, our Komsomol organizer was reading a rather boring report on the work of the Komsomol members on the early implementation of the shop's quarterly plan. He took this laugh personally and for some reason became very angry. A verbal skirmish arose between him and some of the Komsomol members present in the hall. It used colorful epithets and unexpected comparisons. In the end, the Komsomol organizer put me and Kushchenko out the door as the instigators of the scandal.

Stunned by this ending, Fedor and I moved towards the exit. The working day was already over, our steps echoed in the deserted corridor. Suddenly Kushchenko said:

- Still, you need to calm down.

“It’s necessary,” I agreed.

- Then let's go to the shooting range, let's shoot.

"Do you think this will help?"

- Of course. Shooting is an occupation for calm people. Although innate abilities are also needed.

- What other abilities? - I could not resist a malicious question.

- The most real. Say, a great eye or accurate sense of a weapon, ”he replied, jingling with a bunch of keys from his leather jacket pocket.

The shooting range was located in a protected factory area adjacent to the main building. It must have once been a warehouse — a squat, long structure with barred windows almost under the roof. From the height of my present knowledge, I can say that the shooting range of Arsenal in the mid-30s met all the necessary standards. There was a room with tables, chairs and a blackboard on the wall for theoretical studies, a small weapons room with lockable cabinets for rifles and pistols, a safe for storing ammunition, a firing line that allowed shooting from a support, from a knee, standing, lying (on mats). Thick wooden shields with targets were twenty-five meters from him.

Fedor opened one of the cupboards and took out a brand new gun, not so long, just over a meter (more precisely, 111 cm), but with a massive birch stock and a thick barrel. This product of the Tula Arms Plant was known in the USSR under the name TOZ-8. It was produced from 1932 to 1946, and together with the TOZ-8M modification, it seems, about a million pieces were produced. A reliable, easy-to-use small-bore single-shot rifle with a sliding bolt, chambered for 5.6 × 16 mm rimfire, has served not only athletes, but also hunters.

I am writing about her with a warm feeling, because with TOZ-8 my hobby for bullet shooting, my super-sharp shooter universities began ...

There are detailed instructions on how to handle firearms. Of course, Kushchenko could have talked about them first. However, he acted differently. He just handed the rifle to me and said:

- Meet!

Honestly, I thought the "firearms" were much heavier and difficult to hold in my hands. But this gun did not pull even three and a half kilograms. With my habit of setting up sometimes very bulky parts for processing on the machine, I did not even have to make an effort to lift it. The coldish hardness of the metal on its barrel and receiver was also pleasant. The bolt handle, bent down, indicated that the designers took care of the convenience for the person wielding this weapon.

First of all, Fyodor suggested checking the "goodness of the rifle", to find out if it is suitable for me. Everything went well here. The nape of the butt rested against the shoulder cavity, with my right hand I freely grabbed the neck of the butt and put my index finger - and my fingers are long - on the trigger between the first and second phalanx. It remains to tilt your head to the right, press your cheek against the comb of the butt and look at the front sight with your open right eye. It passed exactly in the middle of the aiming bar and was visible exactly to its full size.

“Now you can shoot,” Fyodor said.

- And the cartridges?

- One minute, - the instructor took the rifle from me, loaded it and aimed the barrel at the target. Rang out loud noise as if a rod had been lashed against an iron sheet. I shuddered from surprise. Kushchenko smiled:

- Well, it's out of habit. Try it, you will succeed ...

The rifle was in my hands again. Diligently repeating all the "attachment" techniques, I fired the first shot. "Melkashka" (as we called "TOZ-8") had a small impact. In addition, on the advice of Fyodor, I pressed her tightly to my shoulder, so that I did not experience any unpleasant sensations. Kushchenko let me shoot three more times, and then went to look at the target. He brought this sheet of paper with black circles to the firing line, where I was expecting him, not without excitement, looked at me attentively and said:

- It's amazing for a beginner. It is clear that the ability is there.

- Really congenital? - for some reason I wanted to joke.

- That's for sure, - my first coach was serious. Never before have I seen Fedya Kushchenko so serious ...

Classes in our shooting circle were held once a week, on Saturdays.

They started by studying in detail the device of a small-bore rifle, disassembling and assembling the bolt, getting used to carefully looking after the weapon: cleaning, lubricating. In a room with a black chalkboard, we had classes in which they taught the basics of ballistics. So, to my great surprise, I learned that the bullet does not fly to the target in a straight line, but because of the inertia of movement, the effect of gravity and air resistance on it, it describes an arc, and even rotates at the same time.

We also had lectures on the history of "firearms". It began in the 14th century with a gun with a wick lock, when the development of technology first made it possible to use the metal properties of gunpowder, then guns with a flintlock lock appeared and became widespread, then with a capsule lock. But a truly revolutionary coup happened at the end of the 19th century: magazine rifles with grooves in the barrel and sliding bolts appeared, which contributed to fast loading, increased range and accuracy of the shot.

In general, hand firearms seem to me to be the most perfect creation of human mind and hands. The latest inventions have always been used in its creation. The technological solutions required for its manufacture were quickly refined and brought to production, measured in thousands and millions of pieces. In the most successful, world-renowned samples, engineering genius finds its embodiment in an ideal, complete external form... After all, "firearms" in their own way ... are beautiful. It is pleasant to take them in hand, it is convenient to use them. They earned the love of the people who went with them to the war, incredible in its cruelty. Some (the same three-line Mosin rifle, Shpagin submachine gun, Degtyarev light machine gun, Tula, Tokarev pistol) even became peculiar symbols of the era ...

However, most of all my friends loved shooting.

We practiced in a shooting range, hitting targets from a standing position, lying down, from a support, from a knee using a belt passed under the left hand. "Melkashka" had only an open sector sight with a movable collar and at the end of the barrel - a cylindrical front sight with an elongated base. With such a simplicity of the device, it nevertheless helped to develop the basic skills of the shooter: quick aiming, smooth pulling on the trigger, holding the gun in the correct position, without "dumping" it to the left or right. With an initial bullet velocity of 310 meters per second, the TOZ-8's firing range reached 1200-1600 meters, but this did not matter in the shooting range.

When spring came, we began to go to the shooting range outside the city and train to pass the standards for the Voroshilovsky shooter badge of the second stage, and they included not only marksmanship, but also orientation on the terrain, throwing grenades, physical training (running, jumping, push ups). We successfully fulfilled these standards and then took part in the city competitions of Osoaviakhim in bullet shooting.

I would like to note that our circle was only one of several hundred subdivisions in the structure of the Society for Assistance to Defense, Aviation and Chemical Construction, or Osoaviakhim. This massive voluntary public military-patriotic organization appeared in our country in 1927 and played an important role in preparing young men and women for military service. It numbered about 14 million people who studied in primary organizations of this society, mastering military specialties from pilots and parachutists to riflemen, machine gunners, drivers of vehicles, trainers of service dogs.

I put the certificate of honor, earned at the Osoaviakhim competition, in a frame under the glass and proudly hung it on the wall in Valentina's and my room. Neither my sister nor my parents took my shooting hobby seriously. In our home conversations, they liked to play a trick on my passion for weapons. I could not clearly explain to them what force attracts me to a shooting range or a shooting range, what is attractive in an object equipped with a metal barrel, a wooden stock, a bolt, a trigger and a front sight, why it is so interesting to control the movement of the bullet to the target ...

At the end of 1935, on a Komsomol voucher, I entered a two-week course for draftsmen-copyists, graduated with honors and began working in a mechanical workshop as a senior draftsman. I liked this job. Of course, it was different from the work of a lathe operator, but it also required concentration and accuracy. The machines hummed behind the wall, and in our bureau, in silence, among drawing boards and bundles of Whatman paper, we were checking drawings and preparing them for handing over to production workers. The relationship in the team was warm. My passion for bullet shooting was perceived here with understanding ...

I am very grateful to the Arsenal plant.

After spending almost four years within its walls, I received two specialties, got used to working at a defense industry enterprise, where there was paramilitary discipline, matured, felt like a person who was able to be aware of my intentions and actions, to achieve my goal. The factory Komsomol organization also helped me move to a new stage of life: in the spring of 1935 I received a referral to the workers' faculty at Kiev state university... Then she worked in a lathe shop for another year and studied in the evenings. Then she successfully passed the exams and in September 1936 she became the owner of a student card of the history faculty of KSU. Thus, my childhood dream came true. True, in our course I was probably the oldest of the students.

The image of Lyudmila Pavlichenko was idealized by the Soviet media. Few knew that the famous female sniper in the West was called "Miss Colt." Soviet censors excluded blunders and mistakes from Pavlichenko's combat biography. And, according to modern historians, they exaggerated its achievements.

Childhood and youth

Pavlichenko became the most productive not only among Soviet snipers. For the number of enemies destroyed, a girl from a simple working-class family broke the world record. Among the relatives of Belova, this is the sniper's maiden name, there were no military. My father worked as a locksmith. True, he took part in the Civil War.

Pavlichenko's small homeland is Bila Tserkva. In the early 30s, the family moved to Kiev. Lyudmila dreamed of becoming a history teacher. After school, she entered the university, but, while still a high school student, she worked at a factory. Lyudmila went to work at the insistence of her father, who believed that the working biography compensated for the shortcomings of her origin: Pavlichenko's mother had noble roots.

At the plant, Lyudmila made a career. At first she did the dirty work, then she learned to be a turner, and then she became a draftswoman. In those years it was fashionable among the youth to acquire military specialties. Aviation sports were especially popular. From an early age Pavlichenko was afraid of heights, and therefore decided to try herself in shooting.

In the first lesson, yesterday's schoolgirl hit the target. The first success inspired me. Lyudmila began to study in a shooting circle, successfully fulfilled the standards. Pavlichenko did not leave sniper classes even while studying at the Faculty of History. Later, Lyudmila was invited to a sniper school. Here she was among the best.

Pavlichenko was in Odessa when the war began. In the seaside city, which soon fell into the power of German and Romanian military forces, Lyudmila did an internship, in her free time she visited the local scientific library: wrote a thesis about the Pereyaslavl Rada.

After hearing the announcement of the beginning of the war on the radio, the student Kiev University went to the military registration and enlistment office. There, just looking at the girl, they said that the doctors would be called up later. Nobody wanted to hear the explanation that she was not a medic at all, but a sniper. But five days later, an order was issued to call up the graduates of sniper circles. Pavlichenko was sworn in on June 28.

War

Lyudmila carefully kept the badge received after graduating from the shooting school. When the war began, she decided that she would become a sniper and would certainly apply the acquired skills in a real battle. However, she was without a rifle at the front.

The recruits were not given weapons. It simply was not there. Once, in front of 25-year-old Pavlichenko, a soldier was killed. The deceased's rifle became the first combat weapon. According to Pavlichenko's biographers, she shot accurately, and already in the first battles showed amazing results. Soon she was given a sniper rifle.

Each rifle company had two snipers. Pavlichenko went on a mission with Leonid Kitsenko. In early August, German-Romanian troops were already approaching Odessa. In the first days of the defense of the city, Pavlichenko performed a feat, which for some reason was not noted by the Soviet command. On a mission, she destroyed 16 fascists in 15 minutes. The second time Lyudmila made ten successful shots. Among the dead were two German officers.

How did a young woman manage to fire so many cold-blooded shots? This is the most frequent question asked by foreign journalists to Pavlichenko. The woman, on whose account 309 deaths, once told a story that would later be replicated by the Soviet media. Before her eyes, a soldier died, for whom she managed to become sympathetic. This event gave rise to hatred of the enemy in Lyudmila, for which later, in the foreign press, she was nicknamed "Lady Death".

Pavlichenko's achievements today are controversial. Some historians argue that the effectiveness of an attractive female sniper, a pet, is exaggerated. Others believe that Pavlichenko did not enjoy the attention of the opposite sex, and therefore was able to realize herself in the war.

Lyudmila spent eight months in Sevastopol. She participated in battles and destroyed as many enemies as not a single sniper who participated in the defense of the Crimean city could manage. According to official information, Lyudmila spent a year at the front, and then trained young snipers.

In her autobiographical book, Pavlichenko tried to uncover the origins of her rare sniper talent. Accuracy, intuition and other qualities Lyudmila taught her hatred of the enemies who came to her native land and violated a peaceful life. In the villages that they managed to recapture from the enemy, Pavlichenko saw the dead bodies of children and adults. What he saw influenced the mind of a young woman. There is an assumption that Pavlichenko had an unusual structure of the eyeball.

Miss Colt's exploits are being questioned today. In the first months of the war, Pavlichenko shot 187 Germans and Romanians. Photos of a 25-year-old woman with slogans and appeals were circulated at the front to raise morale. But having killed more than 200 enemies, Pavlichenko did not even receive a medal. And in 1941, even representatives of non-military specialties who had not been on the front line were awarded.

Not a single experienced sniper could boast of Pavlichenko's achievements. However, her name did not appear on the list of awardees until April 1942. Only then did Pavlichenko receive a medal. She became a Hero of the Soviet Union later - in 1943.

The army suffered losses and, of course, needed serious reinforcements. There were not enough men at the front. To attract girls to the front, a heroic female image... Few people were impressed by the exploits of the young partisan, who burned houses with Germans and stables belonging to civilians in 1943. New heroes and heroines were needed.

In 1942 Pavlichenko visited the United States. Here she met and even made friends with Eleanor Roosevelt. And most importantly, she made an appeal to the Americans, who "hid behind her back for too long." Lyudmila warmly applauded. This scene is used in the 2015 film and with light hand filmmakers turned out so spectacular that many viewers believed: Senior Sergeant Pavlichenko managed to change the course of the war.

The delegation included Vladimir Pchelintsev. The sniper already had the highest military award. Although in 1942 his results were much more modest than those of Lyudmila (114 killed soldiers). Pchelintsev willingly satisfied the curiosity of the Americans, demonstrating his skill in shooting. Pavlichenko, a more experienced sniper, refused.

Personal life

Ten years before the start of the war, 15-year-old Lyudmila met Alexei Pavlichenko. The young man was older than her. The romantic relationship has gone too far. Soon Lyudmila learned that she was expecting a child. Rumors about the pregnancy of the 15-year-old schoolgirl quickly spread around the district. Later, Pavlichenko did not like to talk about this fact from her biography.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko and her second husband Alexey Kitsenko

Pavlichenko's father by that time worked in the NKVD. Fearing trouble in the service, he insisted on registering the marriage. In 1932 the son Rostislav was born. However, family life did not work out, and soon the girl returned to the bosom of the family. Pavlichenko did not like to remember her first husband.

In 1941, Lyudmila met Lieutenant Kitsenko. I was going to marry him. But Kitsenko died in early 1942. Lyudmila received severe injuries and a severe nervous shock.

Soon after the vacation, she received a second concussion. Numerous injuries and mental shock are the facts that the supporters of the version about the exaggerated achievements of the female sniper refer to.

Little is known about Pavlichenko's personal life after the war. Lyudmila Mikhailovna married Konstantin Shevelev, but she no longer had children.

Post-war years and death

Pavlichenko completed her studies, became a historian. However, she did not go to work at school. She spent eight years in the status of a researcher at the military headquarters. She was engaged in social activities.

She died in 1974. She was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Memory

• In the town of Bela Tserkov, a school is named in honor of Lyudmila Pavlichenko.
• The name of the famous sniper was given to a street in Sevastopol.
• American singer Woody Guthrie performed the song "Miss Pavlichenko" in 1946.

• Film "Battle for Sevastopol", performed the role of the famous female sniper. The script was written using the memories of Eleanor Roosevelt.
• The Lyuda rifle is named after Pavlichenko in the computer game Borderlands 2.

Awards

• 1942 - Medal "For Military Merit"
• 1943 - the title "Hero of the Soviet Union"
• Medal "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War"
• Reward weapon - Colt pistol