Lyudmila Pavlichenko by Nancy J. Farrier

Lyudmila Pavlichenko, 1944
Wikimedia Commons

Lyudmila Pavlichenko was born in 1916 in Ukraine. Her family moved to Kyiv when Lyudmila was 14. Lyudmila was described as a tomboy, competitive in athletics, and she received a sharp sharp-shooter badge and a marksman certificate as a teenager.

 

In 1937, she was accepted at Kyiv University where she had her sights set on being a teacher and studying history. She competed with the track team and was also enrolled in a military style sniping school.

 

In 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Lyudmila was in her fourth year of study at the university and left to join the infantry. Despite being urged to become a nurse, she presented her credentials for her shooting, and joined the infantry as a sniper. There were about 2000 women snipers in the red army, only 500 of them making it through the war.

 

Pavlichenko in a trench, 1942
Photo by Израиль Абрамович Озерский 
Wikimedia Commons

At the Siege of Odessa, Lyudmila was credited with killing 187 enemy soldiers. She received a promotion to Senior Sergeant in August 1941, only two and a half months after she joined the red army.

 

When the Romanian army invaded Odessa, Lyudmila and her team were sent to Sevastopol. The fighting in Sevastopol was intense and Lyudmila’s kill count rose. In May 1942, Lyudmila was promoted to Lieutenant after her kill count rose to 257.

 

Because of Lyudmila’s success, she was assigned to take out enemy snipers. This was a very dangerous assignment, but Lyudmila won every duel she fought, ending the lives of 36 enemy snipers. One of the duels lasted three days.

 

In June 1942, a shrapnel from a mortar round, struck her face. She was removed from fighting to recover. By this time, she’d received several bribes from the German army, trying to entice her over to their side. When the bribes did not work, the Germans resorted to threats. One of those threats stated, “If we catch you, we will tear you in 309 pieces and scatter them to the winds!” By this time her kill count had risen to 309.

 

Lyudmila with Justice Robert Jackson and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Photo by Jack Delano - Library of Congress

These threats gave the Soviets an idea. They changed Lyudmila from a sniper to sharing propaganda with other countries. Lyudmila became the first Soviet citizen welcomed to the White House. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt welcomed Lyudmila, and they became friends. They even toured the United States so that Lyudmila could speak to Americans about her combat experience.

 

While Lyudmila was serious in her efforts to encourage women to be more active in the war, the American press made fun of her. They mocked her skirts and her uniform as unflattering. When asked by a reporter, if women were allowed to wear make up on the front lines, she replied, “Who had time to think of her shiny nose when there is a battle going on?”

 

Lyudmila questioned the fact that women in America were doing men’s jobs in the factories but not getting paid the same. In Chicago, Lyudmila stated, “Gentleman, I am 25 years old and I have killed 309 fascist occupants by now. Don’t you think, gentleman, that you have been hiding behind my back for too long?”

 

When Lyudmila went back to the Soviet Union, she didn’t continue as a sniper, but instead trained upcoming snipers. When the war ended, she went back to Kyiv university and completed her studies.

 

In 1957, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited Moscow. She insisted that she see her friend Lyudmila Pavlichenko. Lyudmila was living in a small apartment in Moscow and they weren’t allowed to visit unsupervised, but they did manage to have some time to laugh and catch up.

 

1976 Commemorative Stamp
By Post of the USSR, Wikimedia Commons

Lyudmila passed away after suffering a stroke in 1974. There were two commemorative Soviet postage stamps made in her honor one in 1943 and another in 1976. She is remembered as a Soviet military hero and the most successful female sniper in history.

 

The well-known Woody Guthrie, wrote a song about Lyudmila Pavlichenko, titled Miss Pavlichenko. You can hear that song here. 

 

Nancy J Farrier is an award-winning, best-selling author who lives in Southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats and dog, and spend time with her family. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.

Confederate Sharpshooters and the Whitworth Rifle

So last month I began telling you a bit about my most recent release—Union Pacific Princess, found in the Of Rags and Riches Romance Collection. I filled you in a bit on my socialite heroine and the hardship she faced when she set foot in the gritty world of a Hell-On-Wheels railroad camp.

This month, I get to tell you a little about my hero. Gage Wells is his name, and he is a former Confederate Sharpshooter who, at the end of the Civil War, heads to parts unknown in hopes of leaving war and conflict behind. Of course, I’m sure we all know how that went for poor Gage. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the world we can go that will be conflict-free. But can you blame the poor man? I think I’d want to get as far away from the war as I could if I’d faced the things he might have faced.

So…what was a Confederate Sharpshooter? Here’s a bit about them.

The implementation of Confederate Sharpshooters came about in early 1862, when “General Orders Number 34” was passed by the Confederate Congress. This act made it possible for the Confederacy to create sharpshooter (or, as we would commonly refer to them today—sniper) battalions within each brigade. For various reasons, the battalion idea didn’t work well at first. In those early days, the sharpshooter battalions were more often populated with overflows from other areas, or new transfers. They weren’t much—if any—better marksmen than the average Confederate soldier. But over time, the truly spectacular marksmen became known. That knowledge, coupled with changes in leadership, meant that the leaders made the appropriate moves to get their sharpshooter battalions populated with the right talent.

By 1863, the sharpshooter battalions were becoming more specialized, and by late that year, the officers in charge were training their marksmen extensively each day. These gifted shooters were taught—and expected—to consistently take out man-sized targets from 1000 yards away. Many were able to make deadly shots from farther.

A Confederate Sharpshooter killed at Gettysburg, 1863

These men would be deployed well ahead of the rest of the troops, taking out their enemies among the Union ranks to make the Confederate soldiers’ missions easier. But this highly-specialized position came at a high cost. Those volunteering to become Confederate Sharpshooters were thought to have a death wish. And many did die in their service as old-time snipers. 
   

For the most part, sharpshooters used the same Enfield Rifle that the rest of the Confederacy was issued. However, a lucky few were issued a British-made Whitworth Rifle, a .451-caliber, single-shot, muzzle-loading rifle that had one distinct advantage above other guns. The Enfield had standard rifling inside the barrel, which allowed the bullet to remain fairly accurate once fired. But the Whitworth had a hexagonal barrel with special bullets to fit. Due to the shape of the barrel, the spin of the fired bullet would be much tighter and more accurate, allowing the shooter to hit his mark far more often than with the other option.

A Whitworth Rifle

A Whitworth bullet and barrel
were hexagonal in shape

Most of the Whitworth Rifles purchased by the Confederacy were equipped with standard sights, but a few came with a special telescopic sight, a crude version of today’s sights. One big difference between that early telescopic sight and today’s version is that the Davidson sight, as it was called, was mounted on the left side of the rifle, rather than on the top like today’s versions. As an interesting side note, the Whitworth rifles were not heavy guns, which caused them to have a lot of kick when fired. The Confederate Sharpshooters who fired Whitworth rifles equipped with the Davidson sights often would leave the battlefield with a black eye because the kick of the gun would drive the end of the scope into their face. 

I can only imagine the difficulty, fear, and nightmares these men would have experienced from their wartime exploits. In writing Gage’s character, I didn’t delve too deeply into the psychological trauma of such soldiers, but he does get to show off his shooting skills in a couple of scenes.

It’s your turn: Is the Civil War a time period you enjoy learning about? Why or why not? If not, what era do you prefer?

I hope you’ll pick up a copy of the Of Rags And Riches Romance Collection if you haven’t already. For one reader, I’ll be giving away a paperback copy. Answer my questions above, leaving your email address as well, and I’ll draw the winner tomorrow!

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won and finaled in numerous writing competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. She currently writes historical novellas of the American West for Barbour Publishing and works as a Content Editor for Firefly Southern Fiction. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

 

Of Rags And Riches Romance Collection

Journey along in nine historical romances with those whose lives are transformed by the opulence, growth, and great changes taking place in America’s Gilded Age. Nine couples meet during these exhilarating times and work to build a future together through fighting for social reform, celebrating new opportunities for leisure activities, taking advantage of economic growth and new inventions, and more. Watch as these romances develop and legacies of faith and love are formed.