Nina Alexeyevna Lobkovskaya (russian: Нина Алексеевна Лобковская; born 8 March 1925) served as a

sniper A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...

for the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

and attained the rank of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in a separate sniper unit of the 3rd Shock Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In the war she reached 89 confirmed kills, making her one of the deadliest women snipers of the war.

Early life

She was born the eldest of five children. Her family moved to Stalinabad in the

Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic,, ''Çumhuriji Şūraviji Sotsialistiji Toçikiston''; russian: Таджикская Советская Социалистическая Республика, ''Tadzhikskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Resp ...

following the ill health of her father Alexei who had enlisted in the

in 1942 before being killed in the battle for

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the ...

in October of the same year. While the Second World War was not fought in Tajikistan itself, after the arrival of numerous refugees from the war to the Tajik SSR Lobkovskaya took the impact of the war to heart and volunteered for the military after graduating from school under the advice of the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

Training and service

Lobkovskaya was sent to

Veshnyaki Veshnyaki (russian: Вешняки) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a Village#Russia, village) in Nikolo-Ramenskoye Rural Settlement, Cherepovetsky District, Vologda Oblast, Russia. The population was 98 as of 2002. ...

in Eastern Russia to train as snipers at the Central Women’s Sniper Training School. From February 1945 until the end of the war, Lobkovskaya commanded a company of female snipers who eventually saw action in the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula– ...

. On one night while defending a section of road, the unit assisted in the capture of 27 enemy combatants. During the war, she reached 89 confirmed kills of enemy combatants, having fought on the Baltic and Belarusian Fronts.

Civilian life

Having been demobilized in 1945, she went on to graduate from the history faculty at

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

and work as a lecturer at the Central Museum of V. I. Lenin.

Awards and honors

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

* Two Orders of the Patriotic War 1st class * Order of the Patriotic War 2nd class *

Order of Glory Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

2nd and 3rd class * Medal "For Courage" *

Medal "For Battle Merit" The Medal "For Battle Merit" (russian: Медаль «За боевые заслуги») was a Soviet military medal awarded for " combat action resulting in a military success", "courageous defense of the state borders", or "successful military ...

* campaign and jubilee medals award sheets
/ref>

Early life

Training and service

Civilian life

Awards and honors

References

Further reading