Avenging Angels: The Young Women of the Soviet Union's WWII Sniper Corps

by Lyuba Vinogradova

Beginning in 1942, with the Eastern Front having claimed the lives of several million Soviet soldiers, Stalin's Red Army began drafting tens of thousands of women, most of them in their teens or early twenties, to defend against the Nazi invasion. Some volunteered, but most were given no choice, in particular about whether to become a sniper or to fill some other combat role.

After a few months of brutal training, the female snipers were issued with high-powered rifles and sent to the front. Almost without exception, their first kill came as a great shock, and changed them forever. But as the number of kills grew, many snipers became addicted to their new profession, some to the point of becoming depressed if a "hunt" proved fruitless.

Accounts from the veterans of the female sniper corps include vivid descriptions of the close bonds they formed with their fellow soldiers, but also the many hardships and deprivations they faced: days and days in a trench without enough food, water, or rest, their lives constantly at risk from the enemy and from the cold; burying their friends, most of them yet to leave their teenage years; or the frequent sexual harassment by male officers.

Although many of these young women were killed, often on their first day of combat, the majority returned from the front, only to face the usual constellation of trials with which every war veteran is familiar. Some continued their studies, but most were forced to work, even as they also started families or struggled to adjust to life as single parents. Nearly all of them were still in their early twenties, and despite the physical and mental scars left by the war, they had no time for complaints as the Soviet Union rebuilt following the war.

Drawing on original interviews, diaries, and previously unpublished archival material, historian Lyuba Vinogradova has produced an unparalleled quilt of first-person narratives about these women's lives. This fascinating document brings the realities and hardships faced by the Red Army's female sniper corps to life, shedding light on a little-known aspect of the Soviet Union's struggles against Hitler's war machine.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Russia, Military Fiction, Military History, World War II, War

300 pages, Hardcover

First published May 9, 2017

About the author

Nació en Moscú en 1973, traductora e investigadora, especialista en historia contemporánea rusa y en la Unión Soviética. En 1995 conoció a Antony Beevor con el que trabajó en la investigación para Stalingrado (Crítica, 2000). Desde entonces ha trabajado en múltiples proyectos con Beevor y con otros autores de renombre como Max Hastings o Simon Sebag Montefiore. Es coautora junto a Beevor de Un escritor en guerra- Vasili Grossman en el ejército rojo 1941-1945 (Crítica, 2009). Las brujas de la noche es su primer libro en solitario.

Reviews

[Rowan MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 2017, the topic of women in combat roles is still oddly controversial. Odd because over 70 years ago, around 1 million Soviet women proved just how effective, heroic and capable women in such roles can be. Lyuba Vinogradova’s Avenging Angels follows these young women through their pre-battle training, frontline experiences and post-war life.

Vinogradova is clearly very passionate about the Soviet women contribution to World War II and writes in such a style. Unfortunately, it’s also this passion and resultant need to cover so many individual stories which brings the book down.

There are just too many different Russian names and individuals being mentioned, which made it very confusing at times and difficult to connect to them (despite how harrowing their stories were!). Occasionally there is a real bluntness to the book, which I didn’t feel necessary and found almost disrespectful – why mention a woman’s appearance, as if it was practically what got her killed? – “Klava Loginova’s third sniper partner was Tosya Lukichyova, no great beauty but an outgoing and cheerful girl. She was killed at Suwalki…”

Despite these issues, there were many aspects of the book I found interesting; especially the girls’ transformation from “cheerful chatterboxes” too scared to fire their first shot, to natural born killers; firing bullets into German heads and bayoneting corpses to “let the gas out”. The snapshot into Soviet life was also intriguing and heartbreaking, for being in the army was the first time many girls had enough to eat in life - and even then, not exactly gourmet standards!

The comradery between the girls was touching, yet tragedy was never far away. Avenging Angels is a tough book to read and I could only read it in short sittings. There is a lot of rape, graphic violence, torture, and killing of pregnant women – these are not themes everyone will be able to read. It seemed both the Germans and their Soviet comrades were their enemy at times.

Thankfully, there was the odd injection of humour too, such as snipers Lida Bakeiva and Anya Shavets shooting a fat German in the ass because “his fat ass was annoying them” as they lay hiding. Laughing at the enemy evidently made them less frightening!

Among all the tragic tales of romances and “frontline marriages”, there was at least one happy ending that stood out: Bella Morozova somehow survived being shot in the head and losing an eye, suffering disfigurement to the left side of her face. The soldier who was in love with her prior to her injury still loved her, with them getting married and living happily ever after!

The book concludes with the horrible post-war treatment of the girls as they returned home. It broke my heart to learn the girls who fought so bravely were often regarded as no more than “prostitutes at the front” by fellow Russians. It seems that while the male war veterans were treated with respect, the front-line female veterans often had to endure hostility or suspicion.

The film Enemy at the Gates has nothing on this book; and all the sniper heroes here are young women barely 20 years old. Avenging Angels is an important book that highlights a brave, inspiring group of Soviet soldiers who are most often tragically overlooked. Despite a few downfalls, Lyuba Vinogradova’s work will be the best and most comprehensive book on the subject you’ll ever read.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This study of women snipers (plus a few mentions of women pilots etc) covers the period 1941-45 when the Soviet Union was fighting back against the German invasion. It was interesting to learn about the huge numbers of women, mostly very young, who saw service on the front line and were often in the thick of fighting as they were quite often sent in durring advances to fight alongside male infantry rather than being reserved to carry out their specialism - not to mention sometimes being expected to wash floors and being drafted in as substitute nurses. There is information on the hardships and privations of service, which included sexual harrassment by male comrades, and the friendships between various women which were usually severed by the deaths of one or all. Some of the details of the fates of women are harrowing as might be expected. There are also accounts of atrocities which the women witnessed.

However, the book darts about between various women, sometimes returning to the same ones, and partly due to the unfamiliarity of Russian surnames and placenames and partly because many of the women had the same first name, it isn't easy to keep track when it does pick up the later story of someone mentioned previously. There is sometimes an emphasis on women's appearance, contrasting those who were pretty with those who were plain Janes as it were. The bitty structure made it hard to follow the tales of particular women, and I felt it would have been better to have given the complete story of particular women or groups of women as a chapter in itself rather than spreading the narrative over several chapters.

The book's conclusion tells the downbeat situation faced by most of the surviving women after the war: a combination of poverty and misogynistic assumptions about women who went to war (that they were basically prostitutes). The actual ending breaks off in an odd inconclusive manner. So altogether, it wasn't the great read I anticipated and I can only award it an OK 2 stars.

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

As anyone who knows me only vaguely will be aware, I am absolutely fascinated by anything to do with Russia, and am particularly keen on Russian history.  I was therefore most intrigued by Lyuba Vinogradova's Avenging Angels, which features many different accounts of women who worked as snipers for the Russian Army during the Second World War.  The book has been translated from its original Russian by Arch Tait, and features an introduction written by Anna Reid.  First published in 2017, Avenging Angels is the author's third book.  It is supposed to act as a companion volume to Vinogradova's Defending the Motherland: The Soviet Women Who Fought Hitler's Aces, but I do not feel as though reading one before the other is necessary; this book does not even reference the author's previous work.

The Irish Independent calls the book 'a powerful and moving account of women rising up to take arms, free their country - and, paradoxically, assert their common humanity.' The Times believes it to be 'well-written, engaging and enlightening'.  Certainly, the existence of such a tome is invaluable, reflecting as it does the huge war effort which the Soviet Union made during the 1940s.  In her introduction, Reid cites: 'The Soviet Union sent more women into combat during the Second World War than any other nation before or since.'

The women who were trained as snipers 'came from every corner of the U.S.S.R. - factory workers, domestic servants, teachers and clerks, and few were older than twenty.  With their country on its knees, and millions of its mean already dead, grievously wounded or in captivity, from 1942 onwards thousands of Soviet women were trained as snipers.'  Indeed, the estimated figures of the numbers of Soviet women who worked in some capacity for the war effort are astonishing, ranging between 579,000-800,000 serving in the Red Army, and rising to over a million when one considers female partisans, volunteers, and civilian militias.  Many women began by taking jobs in factories, or in the realm of civil defence.  After the 'full-scale conscription of women into the military' began in March 1942, women became 'fully integrated into all services.'  Those who chose to bear arms were a 'substantial minority', writes Reid.

Many countries were sceptical about the women's role in the war effort, but in Russia, a positive consequence of Communist rule was that everyone was, essentially, viewed as equals.  Vinogradova writes: '... it did not see strange to anyone that an extensive mobilisation of women for the army should take place.'  Russia's women snipers were so numerous that they formed many platoons, consisting of around thirty individuals each.  They were subsequently sent to 'accompany regular units' on the battlefield.

Here, the focus of the book is on the 'interviews with women who took on some of the war's most high-profile combat roles - as fighter and bomber pilots, and as snipers.'  Vinogradova assert that it is not her attention 'to assess their contribution to the war effort, nor to Soviet gender politics, but to capture their individual stories, the particular lived experiences that are left out of conventional' history writing about wartime.  She goes on to say of the women she interviewed: 'My heart went out to them, I pitied them in their old age and infirmity, but all the while I was listening out for an answer to one particular question: were they tormented by the thought of the lives they had taken?'  As well as the interviews which she herself conducts, Vinogradova also includes fragments of letters and diaries, which add depth to the whole.

Vinogradova discusses at points how Russia was viewed by the wider world during the Second World War, which I found fascinating.  She tells us: 'Russia, which until very recently had been considered a rogue state, a secretive, backward, aggressive colossus that had made a pact with the Germans and attacked neighbouring countries in order to seize territory, was now being viewed quite differently.  It was a land desperately fighting a powerful and ruthless aggressor...  Russia was on everybody's mind and many families identified closely with the victories of the Red Army.'

The stories of so many women have been factored into Avenging Angels.  Sadly, whilst some are rather in-depth studies of what the entire war was like for a particular woman, others are mentioned only once, or take up just one or two paragraphs.  This created a feeling of imbalance in the book.  Clearly though, the author is both passionate and understanding toward them, and whilst she occasionally poses questions about the effects which war, and seeing friends and comrades killed, must have had on the young women, she never appears judgemental of their choices.

I found parts of Avenging Angels fascinating, particularly with regard to the rigorous training which Vinogradova details: 'In the barracks there was theory, which included ballistics and the characteristics of their equipment.  The girls spent a lot of tim outdoors, whatever the weather.  They were taught to dig different types of foxholes, to camouflage themselves and sit for long periods (as they might ahead of an ambush), to navigate terrain and crawl...  There were lessons in the additional skills needed for sniping: observation and the ability to commit the details of the landscape around them to memory, sharpness of vision and keeping one's hands steady.  They were also taught unarmed combat techniques and how to throw a hand grenade.'

Of course, inevitable comparisons will be drawn between Vinogradova's book and The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich.  I read Alexievich's quite masterful work several months before picking up Vinogradova's, and must say that I enjoyed it far more.  I felt that Alexievich's work was better structured and more linear in its approach, which made a real difference in the reading experience.  

I found Avenging Angels rather muddled at times; individuals were focused upon in one paragraph, and then Vinogradova switched very quickly to giving a barrage of facts about the general state of the war, only to come back to the individual again a while later.  This approach meant that reading Avenging Angels was a little jarring.  I also do not feel as though the introduction added anything to the volume.  Reid seemed to repeat chunks of what was in Vinogradova's narrative, sometimes quoting figures and phrases verbatim.  

I feel as though Avenging Angels would have been far more successful had it been set out in a different way, perhaps using each woman as a kind of case study, where everything about them could have been set out in one place.  This would have made it far less confusing, particularly as Vinogradova has a habit of referring to a woman she has mentioned once or twice by only her first name later on in the book.  The sheer number of women included here is staggering; it perhaps might have been better had Vinogradova paid attention to just a handful of them instead.  Another qualm is the quite odd way in which the author often introduces the woman in question; she almost always begins with the 'good and bad' points of a woman's physical appearance, which, of course, has no bearing on her experience or ability as a sniper, and thus seemed rather redundant.

As I was reading, I was constantly aware, too, that Avenging Angels is a translated book; some of the phrasing is odd, or clumsy.  There are also occasional slips from the past to the present tense, which added to this.  My feeling is that the translator could have done more in order to make the work a more fluid, and therefore less confusing, piece.  

It took a while, certainly, for me to get used to what felt like quite a haphazard approach in places, but I did find that it became a more immersive book as I continued to read.  To conclude, Avenging Angels is a fascinating and very worthy research topic, but it has been flawed in its execution.  Its epilogue also ends very abruptly, and seems to cut off with no real conclusion.  This made it feel somewhat as though the book had been rushed, which was a real shame, and which did, along with the other elements which I have pointed out in my review, dull my enjoyment levels.

[Grant S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a lot of military history over the years, but nothing from a Soviet point of view that I can remember. Lots of books from the Western Allies or German/Axis combatants, so this made a nice change.
It's a decent read too.
The story of how women from all over the Soviet Union joined sniper schools to fightback against the Germans.
They had to overcome prejudice to fight in the front line. Some officers only regarded women as nurses, telephonists etc. And didn't take their sniping skills seriously.
Others were used for propaganda purposes and had their kill ratios greatly inflated like Lyudmila Pavlichenko. And that's the part of this book I enjoyed the most.
The epilogue is good, detailing struggles after the war trying to adapt to civilian life, how they were regarded as 'front line wives' or prostitutes by other women. Maybe that should've been expanded upon or perhaps there's just less information on this.
Overall a solid read for anyone into military history and the second world war.

[Hayley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!! really goes into detail about life for these women on the Eastern front.

[John Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all time favorites. These women kicked ass and made a big difference in the war. God bless them

[Szuwaks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winogradowa przedstawia w niej losy i szlak bojowy kobiet, które w czasie II wojny światowej (czy raczej "Wielkiej Wojny Ojczyźnianej") wstąpiły do Armii Czerwonej. Pokazuje różne powody, dla których decydowały się na taki krok (chęć zemsty, ideowe, itd.). Historia wielu żołnierek przedstawionych w książce zaczyna się w momencie podjęcia decyzji, później pokazane jest ich szkolenie w Centralnej Żeńskiej Szkole Snajperów oraz ich szlaki bojowe, aż do zakończenia wojny lub, w wielu przypadkach, do śmierci.

Książka jest raczej "wspomnieniowa" - jeśli ktoś szuka informacji i analiz dotyczących wykorzystania snajperek, ich taktyki, skuteczności itd. to wiele tutaj tego nie znajdzie. Autorka o wiele bardziej skupia się na przedstawieniu historii swoich rozmówczyń oraz ich towarzyszek broni. Sama zresztą przyznaje to w epilogu: "Ta książka nie przedstawia ogólnego obrazu wojny, ale mówi o szczegółach; nie chodzi w niej o dane statystyczne, ale o ludzi, którzy kryją się za liczbami." I to bardzo dobrze Winogradowej wychodzi. Przedstawia losy, wspomnienia i uczucia młodych kobiet, które zdecydowały się wziąć udział w bezpośredniej walce z najeźdźcą. Jak się okazało, bronić się musiały nie tylko przed Niemcami, ale również przed napastowaniem i gwałtami ze strony własnych towarzyszy broni, a po wojnie z opinią "prostytutek" czy "żon frontowych" i ogólnym brakiem szacunku wobec nich. W zdecydowanej większości rozdziałów skacze między poszczególnymi żołnierkami i frontami, co może doprowadzić do pewnego zagubienia u czytelnika (w jednym akapicie opisuje wydarzenia z Krymu, a już w następnym potrafi przeskoczyć do np. frontu białoruskiego). Wyłamują się z tego dwa rozdziały, w których skupia się prawie wyłącznie na dwóch słynnych snajperkach - Ludmile Pawliczenko i Rozie Szaninej. W przypadku tej pierwszej analizuje jej oficjalną biografię i dokonania, jednocześnie poddając wiele faktów w wątpliwość (de facto obalając mit niepowstrzymanej snajperki, która zabiła setki Niemców). W rozdziale o tej drugiej skupia się na analizie psychologicznej tej młodej kobiety, która stała się jedną z bohaterek ZSRR.

Książka bardzo ciekawa, zwłaszcza jeśli kogoś interesuje podejście "wspomnieniowe" i skupienie się na poszczególnych bohaterach/kach historii. Narracja mogła zostać poprowadzona trochę mniej chaotycznie, ale mogło być gorzej. Warta ogarnięcia jeśli kogoś interesuje temat.

[Keen Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s possibly a curse and a blessing that such an established Nobel laureate has published a book on the same subject in the same year. I read, Alexievich’s “The Unwomanly Face of War” and like her other work it was an outstanding piece of historical/political/social journalism. I have no doubt that I would have got more out of this book, if I hadn’t already read Alexievich’s book. Vinogradova even pays homage to her in here and refers to her a couple of times.

I struggled to enjoy this book, I thought it was maybe partly to do with the translation, but then Arch Tait, translated this, and he also translated Politkovskaya’s “Putin’s Russia” which was a great book, that flowed nicely without any problems. I realise that I was probably spoiled by reading Alexievich’s account before picking this up. I just found it really difficult to engage with, it came across as a little flat and I didn’t like the way it was presented.

In saying that Vinogradova does explore some issues that Alexievich did not, such as the rape of women on the frontlines by superior officers and the use of the women as propaganda tools abroad, she focuses particularly on the case of Lyudmila Pavilichenko, who toured many cities of the west in a bid to glorify and promote the efforts of the Red Army. She even got to meet and greet the Roosevelts, staying over with them and apparently Eleanor took quite a shine to her giving her clothes and other gifts. She also talks about the horror of Methyl alcohol and what a horrendous effect it had on so many of the Russian troops. She doesn’t go in too much for statistics, but at one stage she refers to one estimate, that suggests “that only 3% of men born in 1923 survived the war” in the USSR, which is simply incredible.

If anything these series of account certainly highlight the sheer futility, misery, hardship, pain and suffering these women endured for little to no reward, often being victimised and punished when they got back to civilisation. So there is some interesting and valuable historical detail in here, and I certainly learned some more information, but personally I really struggled to engage with it, and as a result I wasn’t a huge fan overall.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read if a bit confusing in parts, it does show the daily realities that these women faced at the front and the problems that they had after the war, worth reading to get a perspective that isn't usually written about.

[Mike Blackwell]

An interesting concept, and I learned as much about the topic as I could reasonably have expected to. However, I didn't particularly enjoy the way it was written or how the stories were organized. It felt jumpy, skipping around all the time. I never got a good sense of where I was, or which person I was following. It often jumps ahead in time very abruptly for a sentence or two to explain the conclusion of a certain tangential story. People come and go, and sometimes they're people you read about before, and sometimes not, and it's all just a bit messy. Plus, I have the feeling the translation wasn't well done - the prose was just off sometimes.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

This is a fascinating account of female Soviet snipers during World War II. Their heroism, struggles, and clear military success is outlined very well. The book contains many personal stories, but they tend to blur together. I also felt like the book sort of just drifted with no real structure.

But seriously, if you’ve never heard of these amazing women, this is a great overview!!

[AL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though the book is non-fiction it's writing style is more like a novel which makes it very light to read.
One thing I didn't understand is that why were Night Witches mentioned multiple times, I was only interested in the snipers and that is what the title suggests the book is about. If it was about all fighting women then it should have been titled as such.
The writing/translation captures a very natural image of what would have transpired back in the day, it does have some typical western lingo that demonises any other nation but that's one of the things you just have to expect from history books printed in the west.

[Umberto Mínguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libro muy interesante. Va narrando las diferentes historias de jóvenes rusas que fueron alistadas en la división de francotiradores del Ejército Ruso en los diferentes frentes hasta la victoria final en Berlín y regreso a sus hogares. Texto muy duro en ocasiones.

[John Somers · Rating 3 out of 5]

12/20

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wealth of information, writing is a jumble.

[Martin Frost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal WWII stories of female Soviet snipers.

[William DuFour · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting insight on how the Russian Army utilized their female soldiers and how they fought, lived, and survived the war.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and significant true-life story. Drags a bit in the second half because of the many anecdotes and women with similar names.

[Stephen Mc · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting book but really only for WW2 anoraks.probably also for women as it is good social history.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Vinogradova tells how over a half million Soviet Union women not only served in the military during World War II, but were fully integrated into all services. Based on extensive interviews, archives, books, and other source materials, this book touches on female fighter and bomber pilots and focuses on snipers during and after the war. Proficiency meant life for some and death for others.

Women did not receive special treatment. They fought until wounded, killed, or captured. Metals were award based on the number of kills. Regardless of sex, Germans killed these battle-hardened soldiers or sent them to concentration camps. At some point as the front lines move, the mood changes from defense, to surviving, to revenge.

At wars end, the regime treated released prisoners of war as enemies of Russia. The war decimated nearly 97% of the male population born between 1923 and 1925 in Russian. Many times the only returning soldier to a village was female. Villagers shunned female soldiers or labelled them unclean or lesbian. Returning to traditional roles, the women were either tormented by the lives they took, or simply accepted what was and faded into the background.

Readers who questions the role of females in the military and their ability to serve should read this book. These Russian women are not the first to serve in active military combat. The author has put names and faces to a select group whose best description may be that they were just ordinary women that did their best in combat.

There are some mislabeled illustrations in the advanced readers copy. A list of personnel, endnotes, and bibliography are provided.

I received this book free through Net Galley. Although encouraged as a courtesy to provide feedback to the publisher, I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.