Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin's Sniper

by Lyudmila Pavlichenko, Martin Pegler

Overview

The wartime memoir of Lyudmila Pavlichenko is a remarkable document: the publication of an English language edition is a significant coup. Pavlichenko was World War II's best scoring sniper and had a varied wartime career that included trips to England and America.

In June 1941, when Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, she left her university studies, ignored the offer of a position as a nurse, to become one of Soviet Russia's 2000 female snipers.

Less than a year later she had 309 recorded kills, including 29 enemy sniper kills. She was withdrawn from active duty after being injured. She was also regarded as a key heroic figure for the war effort.

She spoke at rallies in Canada and the US and the folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote a song, 'Killed By A Gun' about her exploits. Her US trip included a tour of the White House with FDR. In November 1942 she visited Coventry and accepted donations of £4,516 from Coventry workers to pay for three X-ray units for the Red Army. She also visited a Birmingham factory as part of her fundraising tour.

She never returned to combat but trained other snipers. After the war, she finished her education at Kiev University and began a career as a historian. She died on October 10, 1974 at age 58, and was buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781784382704
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	05/03/2018
Series:	Greenhill Sniper Library Series
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	285,192
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Lyudmila Pavlichenko was one of the top scoring snipers of World War II with 309 recorded kills. She died on October 10th 1974.

Martin Pegler is a well-known military historian and writer who has made a special study of historic firearms and the battles of the Great War. He was Senior Curator of Firearms at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds and is the author of many articles in military history journals and magazines and has written seven books.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Foreword Martin Pegler ix

Note to this Edition xiv

Russian Editor's Note xv

1 Factory Walls 1

2 If There is a War 10

3 From the Prut to the Dnyestr 19

4 Frontiers of Fire 31

5 The Battle at Tatarka 53

6 Across the Sea 63

7 Legendary Sevastopol 73

8 Forest Trails 86

9 The Second Assault 103

10 Duel 116

11 On No-Name Height 131

12 The Spring of 1942 140

13 A Word from the Army Commander 156

14 Moscow Stars 165

15 Mission to Washington 180

16 My Darling 195

17 Island in the Ocean 213

18 'Comrade Stalin has Ordered Us …' 227

19 I Am Sidelined! 236

Notes 247

Editorial Reviews

04/30/2018
This translation of the memoirs of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the foremost female sniper in the Soviet Red Army in World War II, brings a gimlet-eyed, accomplished, and appealing figure to English-language readers. Pavlichenko fought in the early years of WWII, primarily in Ukraine and Crimea. She was the most proficient of the Red Army’s more than 2,000 female snipers, with 309 confirmed kills to her name. She was highly decorated and promoted, led her own combat platoon of male snipers, and, after a tour of the U.S. and Great Britain, served as a sniper instructor during the war’s latter years. Pavlichenko was a trained professional historian, which is reflected in the clarity of her prose and the accuracy of her descriptions. She was also an exceptional shooter; her understanding of the technology of weapons and shooting techniques is evident throughout. Finally, Pavlichenko was a young woman leading male soldiers during one of the most brutal wars in history, and her story can inform an understanding of women’s performance in combat. This illuminating memoir will interest readers seeking insights into the Soviet soldier experience, the U.S.S.R.’s relationships with its allies, and the role of women in Soviet Russia and its military—and even readers uninterested in those topics will enjoy spending time in Pavlichenko’s company. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Lady Death is the author’s autobiography and memoir of her service in the “Great Patriotic War”. Pavlichenko gives us a sniper’s eye view of numerous fights, discourses on firearms and the craft of sniping, and her wartime romance and marriage that ended in tragedy. Anyone, whether a scholar with an interest in the Russian Front, the Red Army, or sniping, or the layman curious about these subjects, will find this valuable reading."

The NYMAS Review

Lyudmila Pavlichenko’s skills with a rifle are matched in this magnificent memoir by her abilities as a writer. In clear, lively prose she describes how her pre-war enthusiasm for target shooting enabled her to become one of the Red Army’s most feared front-line snipers on the Eastern Front. Arguably the finest account of sniping during World War II.

Adrian Gilbert

Within a year after the launching of Operation Barbarossa, Hitler’s invasion of Russia in June 1941, a 24-year-old Kiev female history student enlisted in the Russian Army and became one of the deadliest military snipers of all times, in any army, in any war. Lady Death is Lyudmila Pavlichenko’s taut and gritty memoirs of the “most dangerous woman in the world,” who accumulated more than 500 confirmed or probable kills. Translated from the original Russian and based on her post-war notes and wartime diary, it is undoubtedly literature’s most remarkable account of sniper action.

Charles W. Sasser

"For once, a sniper memoir that goes far beyond a catalogue of kills. Lyudmila Pavlichenko writes from the viewpoint of a trained historian, and so Lady Death — in addition to being a very good read — not only gives a broad perspective of the campaigns in which she fought but also the political background into which she had to blend."

John Walter

…a very interesting look at World War II… Her story is remarkable.

John's Notes

"Anyone, whether a scholar with an interest in the Russian Front, the Red Army, or sniping, or the layman curious about these subjects, will find Lady Death, a volume in the “Greenhill Sniper Library”, valuable and informative reading"

strategypage.com

"Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the highest scoring female sniper to come out of the Red Army, provides an intimate portrayal of the struggles and obstacles Red Army combatants faced and overcame as the war on the Eastern Front unfolded. She not only proved herself on the field of battle, but also was one of the few Soviet citizens allowed to campaign for the war effort abroad and as such offers an additional, unique view of the west through a Soviet veteran's eyes."

Yan Mann

Starred Review: “During WWII, Pavlichenko was the Soviet Union’s top female sniper with 309 recorded kills (accomplished in less than a year). In 1942 she was sent on a tour of the U.S. and Britain, lending her famous face and story to the effort to cement the allied friendship. Largely unknown to western audiences, Pavlichenko’s translated memoir provides a look at the war that is wholly original and quite startling in its frankness and unique perspective. Postwar she became a historian and drew on archival research to supplement her wartime diary when she decided decades later to write about her training, combat experiences, and how she met her husband. The couple served together in the Ukrainian woods and he died there, in her arms, breaking her heart forever. Lady Death reads like a novel, and it is a rare war story by a patriot whose determination to fight for her country is inspiring and should firmly put to rest any doubts about women in combat. There is no question that this is a significant historical document, but it is also a gripping narrative (which includes her memories of travel in the U.S.) that devotees of history, especially WWII, should absolutely not miss.

Booklist

"Anyone, whether a scholar with an interest in the Russian Front, the Red Army, or sniping, or the layman curious about these subjects, will find Lady Death, a volume in the “Greenhill Sniper Library”, valuable and informative reading"

strategypage.com - A.A. Nofi

Starred Review: “During WWII, Pavlichenko was the Soviet Union’s top female sniper with 309 recorded kills (accomplished in less than a year). In 1942 she was sent on a tour of the U.S. and Britain, lending her famous face and story to the effort to cement the allied friendship. Largely unknown to western audiences, Pavlichenko’s translated memoir provides a look at the war that is wholly original and quite startling in its frankness and unique perspective. Postwar she became a historian and drew on archival research to supplement her wartime diary when she decided decades later to write about her training, combat experiences, and how she met her husband. The couple served together in the Ukrainian woods and he died there, in her arms, breaking her heart forever. Lady Death reads like a novel, and it is a rare war story by a patriot whose determination to fight for her country is inspiring and should firmly put to rest any doubts about women in combat. There is no question that this is a significant historical document, but it is also a gripping narrative (which includes her memories of travel in the U.S.) that devotees of history, especially WWII, should absolutely not miss.

Booklist

"For once, a sniper memoir that goes far beyond a catalogue of kills. Lyudmila Pavlichenko writes from the viewpoint of a trained historian, and so Lady Death -- in addition to being a very good read -- not only gives a broad perspective of the campaigns in which she fought but also the political background into which she had to blend."

author of Snipers at War John Walter

'Lyudmila Pavlichenko’s skills with a rifle are matched in this magnificent memoir by her abilities as a writer. In clear, lively prose she describes how her pre-war enthusiasm for target shooting enabled her to become one of the Red Army’s most feared front-line snipers on the Eastern Front. Arguably the finest account of sniping during World War II.’

author of Challenge of Battle Adrian Gilbert

"Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the highest scoring female sniper to come out of the Red Army, provides an intimate portrayal of the struggles and obstacles Red Army combatants faced and overcame as the war on the Eastern Front unfolded. She not only proved herself on the field of battle, but also was one of the few Soviet citizens allowed to campaign for the war effort abroad and as such offers an additional, unique view of the west through a Soviet veteran's eyes."

Military Historian Yan Mann