Roza Georgiyevna Shanina was a Soviet sniper during World War II who, at the age of 19, was credited with 59 confirmed kills, including 12 soldiers during the Battle of Vilnius. Shanina volunteered for the military after the death of her brother in 1941 and chose to be a marksman on the front line. Initially, when Roza couldn’t convince her superiors to let her fight, she disobeyed orders and snuck to the frontlines, quickly proving her worth and earning formal permission. Praised for her shooting accuracy, Shanina was capable of precisely hitting enemy personnel and making doublets (two target hits by two rounds fired in quick succession.) In 1944, a Canadian newspaper described Shanina as "the unseen terror of East Prussia". She became the first Soviet female sniper to be awarded the Order of Glory and was the first servicewoman of the 3rd Belorussian Front to receive it.
When 50 Germsns attacked a trench that containing her and 11 other female snipers, they retaliated: “Some fell from our well-aimed bullets, some we finished with our bayonets, grenades, shovels, and some we took prisoners, having restrained their arms,” she recounted in her diary. Once she was shot in the shoulder by an enemy sniper but returned to the fight as soon as she could after surgery.
On 27 January 1945, Shanina was severely injured while shielding a wounded artillery officer. She was found by two soldiers disemboweled, with her chest torn open by a shell fragment. Despite attempts to save her, Shanina died the following day.
Between 1941–1945, a total of 2,484 Soviet female snipers were deployed for the war and their combined tally of kills is estimated to be at least 11,280. #snipers #ww2 #hardcore #stayzero #zerofoxtrot