Mariya Oktyabrskaya, born on August 16, 1905, was one of the first female tank drivers to receive the title of Soviet Union Hero. Maria, a child with 9 more siblings, married a Soviet officer in 1925. The moment the news of the murder of her husband by the Nazi Army was heard, Mariya decided to sell everything she owned and buy a tank for the sake of revenge on the Nazis.
Let's get to know the "bad-ass girl" Mariya.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariya_Okt...
"Being married to an army officer requires not only to be proud but to take responsibility at the same time," she thought.
When the Second World War began to spread eastward, Mariya lived in Tomsk in Siberia. In August 1941, it was two years after she would receive the news that her husband was killed by the Nazis near Kiev. The news was late in the day, but the sensation of revenge was just getting fired.
Mariya was so ambitious to take revenge on the Nazis after her husband's death that she even sold all her possessions and even her stuffed teeth, bought a tank and donated it to the Red Army, but she only had one condition.
The Red Army officials who learned this special condition were surprised by this request, but they allowed Mariya to use the tank she donated because it seemed a good way to raise the spirit of the citizens.
After five months of training, Mariya was sent to the 26th Tank Brigade as an engineer and driver.
She wrote the name of the tank on its body ''The Fighting Girlfriend'' and joined her first battle on October 21, 1943, in Smolensk.
When the tank was hit during the war, she went against orders, got out of the tank, repaired it and continued the battle. Due to this courageous movement, she was given the "sergeant" rank.
On November 17, the chains of Mariya's tank attacking the Nazi headquarters near Noveoye Selo were shot with catapults, but Mariya and her friend came out of the tanks and repaired the chains of the tank, while the other friends protected them by shooting at Nazis.
Mariya, who attacked the Nazis again near Vitebsk, destroyed their ditches and ammunition, but the Fighting Girlfriend was shot by an anti-tank gun bullet. Mariya again wanted to get out of the tank and repair it, but a shrapnel hit her head.
After the war, Mariya was transferred to a military field hospital near Kiev where she lived in a coma for two months and lost her life on March 15th.
The following August, She became the first of the few female tank drivers to be awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union award; the Soviet Union's highest award for bravery during combat.
Mariya Oktyabrskaya is a good example of what a woman can do for a man she loves and how she can show a strong stance ...
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