Girl With A Sniper Rifle

A memoir of a graduate of Stalin’s Central Women’s Sniper School and her experience during World War II.

Yulia Zhukova was a dedicated member of the Soviet communist youth organization, the Komsomol, and her parents worked for Russia’s secret police, the NKVD. Yulia started at the sniper school near Podolsk in western Russian and eventually became a valued soldier during operations against Prussia. In this powerful account, she shares firsthand knowledge of the machinations of the NKVD, as well as the bravery of a female sniper and the grueling toll of war.

Yulia persevered through eight months of training before leaving for the Front just days after qualifying. Joining the third Belorussian Front, her battalion endured rounds of German mortar, as well as loudspeaker announcements beckoning them to join the German side. She spent days in the field undergoing regular, terrifying one-on-one encounters with the enemy. Eventually she felt the euphoria of her first hit—while reflecting on ending a life.

These feelings fade as Yulia recounts the barbarous actions of Hitler’s Nazi Germany. She recalls how the women were once nearly overrun by Germans at their house when other Red Army formations had moved off and failed to tell them. She also details a nine-day standoff they endured encircled by Germans in Landsberg.

Regularly suffering ill-health, she took a shrapnel injury and underwent surgery without anesthetic. Eventually she would see the end of the war. Like her famous counterpart Pavlichenko, Zhukova gained recognition but struggled to come to terms with war service . . .

Includes notes by John Walter and an introduction by Martin Pegler