Zoya Smirnowa (1897/98 – after 1916) was a Russian woman who fought during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

disguised as a man. She and 11 other schoolmates disguised themselves as men so that they could fight in the war. Smirnowa was 16 when she enlisted; two of the women were as young as 14. They participated in the defense of Galicia and the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The ...

. Smirnowa became a representative of the group when she recounted their story to the English press. As Smirnowa recounted to the newspapers, the girls left their Moscow school without informing anyone on the eighth day of mobilization — i.e. at the end of July 1914. They traveled to

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

where they dressed as men and enlisted in the army undetected. When the first bombs fell on their position, they cried out, as did many of the men. One girl, Zina Morozov, was killed in the Carpathians when a bomb fell at her feet. She was buried by her friends. Two other girls were subsequently wounded. After Smirnowa was wounded, her gender was discovered. Smirnowa's story was retold in

Magnus Hirschfeld Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist. Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...

's ''The Sexual History of the World War'' (1930), a book that was later banned and burned during the Third Reich.

References

* Hirschfeld, Magnus (1930)
''The Sexual History Of The World War''
(revised edition 1946). Cadillac Publishing. Page 100. *Jones, David E. (2000). ''Women Warriors: A History''. Washington D.C.: Brassey's. p. 134 *Salmonson, Jessica Amanda (1991). ''The Encyclopedia of Amazons''. Paragon House. Page 236. * This article was first printed in the Russian Journal ''Novoe Vremya'', then in the ''London Times'', and finally in ''Current History'', Magazine of ''The New York Times'', pp. 365–67. {{DEFAULTSORT:Smirnow, Zoya 1890s births Year of death missing Female wartime cross-dressers Russian women of World War I Russian military personnel of World War I Women in the Imperial Russian military