Exactly 95 years ago, on April 3, 1924, Roza Yegorovna Shanina was born. A girl with a "flower", summer name became one of the most famous female snipers of the Great Patriotic War. Unfortunately, she did not live to see Victory, could not enjoy a peaceful life. The brave girl died in January 1945 in East Prussia, at that time she was only 20 years old.
Roza Yegorovna Shanina, awarded two Orders of Glory, II and III degrees, is a member of the pantheon of Soviet female snipers who proved themselves excellent soldiers during the war. Rosa Shanina became a real celebrity during her lifetime, her photo was placed on the cover of Ogonyok magazine, today this picture is known to many. From photographs of the war years, a stately, beautiful girl with big blue eyes and blond wavy hair looks at us, at first glance it may seem that this is some kind of post-war actress in the form of a sniper. But no. Before us is a real sniper, which even then was called the threat of the fascists. The famous Soviet writer and journalist Ilya Ehrenburg wrote about her feats of arms in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, who considered Shanina one of the best snipers of his time and admired the accuracy of her shooting. The Allied press also wrote about Shanina, the brave girl was praised in American newspapers in 1944-45. At the same time, Rosa herself did not really like her popularity and believed that she was overestimated.
While at the front, Rosa Shanina kept a diary, which has survived, its original is kept today in her homeland in the Arkhangelsk Regional Museum of Local Lore. From the records it becomes clear that she was very restrained in the fame that had fallen on her and did not pay special attention to her popularity, Rosa believed that she was overestimated. Among other things, the diary contains the following expressive entry, left by the girl 10 days before her death: "I did no more than I am obliged as a Soviet person to defend the Motherland." In this phrase, the whole character of a brave girl and her natural modesty.
Roza Egorovna Shanina
So, Roza Yegorovna Shanina. She was born on April 3, 1924 in a simple peasant family in the small village of Edma, located on the territory of the Arkhangelsk region. The village has survived to this day and is part of the Ustyanovsk district, here in the Ustyanovsk local history museum there is a copy of Rosa Shanina's diary, which anyone can get acquainted with today. Today, two buildings keep the memory of the renowned compatriot: the school rebuilt in 1960, in which Rosa studied from 1931 to 1935, and the house of the Bogdanovskaya commune, which was founded by her father Yegor Mikhailovich Shanin, in this house she was born. Today the post office is located here.
The Shanin family was large. Rosa had five siblings and a sister, in addition to them the Shanins took three more orphans into the upbringing. The girl, whom her father named in honor of the famous revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg, received her primary education at the Eden elementary school, here she graduated from the first 4 classes and in 1935 transferred to a secondary school, which was located in the village of Berezniki, located about 13 kilometers from the Shanins' house. To lessons, Rosa, like many of her peers in the 1930s, had to walk in any weather. In the summer of 1938, after completing her studies in the 7th grade, Rosa Shanina at the age of 14 decides to go to Arkhangelsk to enter the local pedagogical school here. Most likely, the girl strove for independence and thus wanted to make the life of a large family easier, although her parents opposed such a desire for her daughter. Despite this, Rosa made a decision and went to conquer Arkhangelsk with practically no belongings and no money, before settling in the dormitory of the school, she lived in Arkhangelsk with her older brother. Perseverance and will to the girl was not to take. Later, it was Arkhangelsk that became a hometown for Rosa, which was reflected in her diary entries.
Already in September 1941, in order to pay for tuition, Rosa got a job as a teacher in the senior group of a kindergarten (before the start of World War II, education in secondary schools was paid), at that time the girl was in her third year. The part-time job continued until 1942, when Roza Shanina, who graduated from the school, remained to work in the kindergarten as a full-time full-time teacher. At the same time, the girl combined work with duty on the city roofs, she was a member of a detachment of volunteers who extinguished fires that occurred after the German air raids on Arkhangelsk.
Roza Egorovna Shanina
In February 1942, women aged 16-45 received the right to go to the front. At this time, Roza Shanina is still undergoing education and training at Vsevobuch. After graduating from her studies, in June 1943 she was drafted into military service; the girl was eager to join the active army voluntarily. By this time, two of her siblings had already disappeared on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, and only of the four Shanins' children who went to war, no one returned home.
In 1943, a former educator and kindergarten teacher ends up at the Central Women's Sniper Training School. By that time, it was believed that women are excellent for training this army profession. The girls were more resistant to the cold, had greater patience and perseverance, and were less susceptible to stress. All this was very important in the sniper business. Among other things, the female body is more flexible than the male, which is also quite an important factor for sniper warfare and the use of various positions and cover on the ground.
Here it is necessary to make a small digression and note that the sniper business was successfully developing in the Soviet Union even before the start of the Great Patriotic War. For the Nazis, the good shooting training of ordinary Red Army men and the presence of trained snipers came as a surprise already in the first days of the war on the Eastern Front. It should be noted here that the development of the sniper movement began after the end of the civil war, and at the beginning of the 30s of the last century, a truly massive training of marksmen was deployed in the Soviet Union, this was expressed in the mass and prevalence of shooting sports, as well as the strengthening of firepower. training of soldiers and commanders of the Red Army. At the same time, the well-known title "Voroshilovsky shooter" was introduced into use, and the OSOAVIAKHIM badge of the same name was established.
Hero of the Soviet Union, sniper V. G. Zaitsev (left) with recruits, December 1942
Already at the beginning of the 1930s, the movement "In each rifle unit - a sniper platoon" developed in the Red Army. New sniper rifles (including self-loading models) and optical sights for them were created and tested in the country. In 1934, a camouflage suit was first introduced in the Red Army, at first only a winter one, and already in 1938 a summer version was presented on its basis. Already in the summer of 1938, Soviet snipers were terrifying Japanese fighters during the battles on Lake Khasan. Both the snipers of the border troops and ordinary units of the Red Army took part in the conflict. In the diary of the Japanese lieutenant Kofuendo, who served in the 75th Infantry Regiment of the 19th Infantry Division, captured after the conflict, they found a mention of the fact that the Japanese suffered casualties killed and wounded from enemy sniper fire, for which 900-1000 meters to the Japanese positions were not were a particular obstacle.
After June 22, 1941, the training of snipers in the USSR became even more extensive than in the pre-war period. The shooters were trained not only in numerous specialized sniper schools, but also in the Vsevobuch and OSOAVIAKHIM organizations scattered throughout the country, and snipers continued to be trained directly in military units - at special courses and training camps. Already during the war years, special attention was paid to the training of female snipers. So, in May 1943 in the Soviet Union, on the basis of women's courses of excellent shooters, the famous Central Women's School of Sniper Training was formed, which during its work managed to hold 7 editions. 407 sniper instructors and 1061 snipers left the walls of this school, and the total number of female snipers who fought against the Nazi invaders in the ranks of the Red Army is estimated at several thousand people.
Rosa Shanina managed to graduate from the school of snipers with honors, while she was immediately offered the position of an instructor, but the girl refused and showed persistence, seeking to be sent to the front. As a result, on April 2, 1944, she arrived at her place of service - at the disposal of the 338th Infantry Division. At that time, a separate sniper platoon was formed as part of this unit, which consisted of some women. Three days later, she opened an account with the killed Nazi, and in total, in the period from 6 to 11 April, she managed to distinguish herself 13 times, for which she was presented to the Order of Glory III degree, becoming the first girl in the 3rd Belorussian Front, who was awarded this government awards. By the end of May 1944, there were already 18 killed enemy soldiers and officers on her account, at the same time the press drew attention to her for the first time and her portrait was printed on the front page of the front-line newspaper.
Later Lance corporal Roza Shanina, who by that time was in command of the squad, took part in the famous offensive operation "Bagration", participated in the encirclement and destruction of the enemy forces in the Vitebsk region, and already in July 1944 in the battles for the liberation of Vilnius. In early August 1944, an unusual episode occurred with the girl when she lagged behind the soldiers of her company during the crossing and went along with the battalion that was going to the front line. Together with the battalion, the brave girl participated in the battles, and returning from the front line, she managed to capture three enemy soldiers. At the same time, Shanina was reprimanded for such AWOL and was subjected to the Komsomol punishment, but in September of the same year she was awarded the Order of Glory II degree, among other things, this episode with the capture of three prisoners of war during the so-called AWOL appeared in the award list.
It is worth noting that Rosa quite often asked to go to the front line in active units and took a direct part in hostilities. Despite the fact that the command tried not to involve female snipers in direct infantry battles, since they were of great value precisely as snipers who could inflict great damage on enemy manpower from ambushes, Rosa found herself on the front line over and over again. At the same time, Rosa Shanina was indeed a very valuable shooter, her skill was noted even at the Central Women's School of Sniper Training, it was not for nothing that after training she was first persuaded to remain an instructor at the school. A peculiar feature of Rosa was shooting the so-called doublets at moving targets (two shots at one target with one breath). Already by September 16, 1944, when its part stood on the border of East Prussia, the account of the Nazis killed by Rose exceeded 50 people.
The life of a famous Soviet female sniper was cut short at the end of January 1945 during the Insterburg-Königsberg offensive operation of the Soviet troops. On January 27, Rosa Shanina was seriously wounded in the chest by a shell fragment, the wound was fatal, she died the next day, January 28, in the medical battalion of the 144th Vilna Red Banner Order of Suvorov Infantry Division. She was buried near the Reichau estate, about three kilometers northwest of the village of Ilmsdorf (today the village of Novo-Bobruisk in the Kaliningrad region).
According to the documents, as of December 1944, she had 59 killed Nazis on her account. At the same time, local historians today note that at the time of her death, 62 killed enemies were already listed in her sniper book. In reality, their score could be even greater, since Rosa Shanina often went AWOL, participating in hostilities on the front line and firing at the enemy, including with automatic weapons. In such combat circumstances, it was not always possible to keep an accurate record of her victories, and it is unlikely that Rose was striving for this.
