![]() Eleanor Roosevelt would say of Lyudmila “There is something very charming to me about the young Russian woman, Junior Lieutenant Lyudmila Pavlichenko. She toured England as well before returning to the Soviet Union. Don’t you think gentleman, that you have been hiding behind my back for too long?” The crowds roared in support. Don't they know there is a war? They asked me silly questions such as do I use powder and rouge and nail polish, and do I curl my hair? One reporter even criticized the length of the skirt of my uniform, saying that in America women wear shorter skirts and besides my uniform made me look fat.” In due time she would find her voice, famously admonishing sexist reporters in Chicago with: “Gentlemen, I am 25 years old and I have killed 309 fascist invaders by now. In a 1942 Time magazine interview she stated, "I am amazed at the kind of questions put to me by the women press correspondents in Washington. Unfortunately, the press did not take her seriously. and talk about her experiences, and during the tour, the two struck up a friendship. Eleanor Roosevelt invited her to tour the U.S. president when Franklin Roosevelt welcomed her to the White House. She became the first Soviet citizen to be received by a U.S. In 1942, Lyudmila was sent to North America at the behest of the Soviet Union to drum up support for the allies to open a second front against Nazi Germany. Lyudmila Pavlichenko (Library of Congress) By the time she was wounded by a mortar shell in June 1942, she had been promoted to lieutenant, trained other snipers, and had 309 confirmed kills, all by the age of 25. Lyudmila was happy to hear that the enemy accurately knew her kill number. Later, they threatened her via loudspeaker to dismember her into amounts equal to each of her kills. The German army attempted to bribe her to defect by offering chocolate. These included counter sniping one such duel lasted three days. More dangerous missions were assigned to her as a result. At this point, her skills were renowned within her own army, as well as the German army. In the Siege of Sevastopol, she skilled 257 enemy soldiers. During the Siege of Odessa, she recorded 187 kills. She quickly proved her skills under fire. The principal battles she fought in were the Siege of Odessa (August-October 1941) and the Siege of Sevastopol (October 1941-July 1942). Initially pressured to be a nurse, she used her background as an amateur sharpshooter and her awards to join the infantry and become a sniper. She was among the first round of volunteers to enlist at her local recruiting office army. Lyudmila was in her fourth year studying history at Kiev University when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Also, she enrolled in a Red Army sniping school while attending university. She studied history there, intending to be an educator, and was a member of the school’s track team. ![]() She took a job at the Kiev Arsenal factory and attended night school before enrolling at Kiev University in 1937. ![]() A self-described tomboy who was fiercely competitive and enjoyed sports, she joined a shooting club and became an accomplished sharpshooter, earning the Voroshilov Sharpshooter badge and marksman certificate. ![]() Born in what is now Ukraine, Lyudmila and her family moved to Kiev when she was fourteen. Instead, she became the most successful female sniper in history. Lyudmila Pavlichenko wanted to be a teacher.
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