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{{short description|Soviet sniper (1916–1974)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Expand Spanish|topic=bio}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Lyudmila Pavlichenko
| image = Lyudmila Pavlichenko portrait.jpg
| caption = Pavlichenko in 1943
| birth_name = Lyudmila Mikhailovna Belova
| native_name = {{ubl|{{lang|ru|Людмила Михайловна Павличенко}}|}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|07|12|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|10|10|1916|6|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Bila Tserkva]], Russian Empire
| death_place = Moscow, Soviet Union
| placeofburial = [[Novodevichy Cemetery]]
| nickname = Lady Death
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Alexei Pavlichenko|1932|end=div.}}{{sfn|Simonov|Chudinova|2017|p=160}}
* {{marriage|Alexei Kitsenko|1941|1942|end=died}}
}}
| children = Rostislav Pavlichenko{{sfn|Simonov|Chudinova|2017|p=160}}
| allegiance = [[Soviet Union]]
| branch = [[Red Army]]
| serviceyears = 1941–1953
| rank = {{ubl|[[Lieutenant]] in the Army|Senior Researcher ([[Major (rank)|Major]]) in the Soviet Navy}}
| unit = {{plainlist|
* [[25th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)|25th Rifle Division]]
* 54th Stenka Razin Rifle Regiment
* Soviet Navy General Staff
}}
| battles = {{tree list}}
* [[World War II]]
** [[Siege of Odessa (1941)|Siege of Odessa]]
** [[Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)|Siege of Sevastopol]]
{{tree list/end}}
| laterwork = Soviet Committee of the Veterans of War
| awards = [[Hero of the Soviet Union]]
}}

'''Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko'''{{family name footnote|Mikhailovna|Pavlichenko|lang=Eastern Slavic}}{{efn|{{langx|ru|Людмила Михайловна Павличенко|Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko}}; {{langx|uk|Людмила Михайлівна Павличенко|Lyudmyla Mykhailivna Pavlychenko}}}} ({{nee|'''Belova'''}}; {{OldStyleDate|12 July|1916|29 June}}{{spaced ndash}}10 October 1974) was a Soviet [[sniper]] in the [[Red Army]] during [[World War II]]. She is credited with killing 309 enemy combatants, thus being considered as one of [[List of snipers|the deadliest snipers]] in history.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/lyudmila-pavlichenko-female-sniper|title=Meet the world's deadliest female sniper who terrorized Hitler's Nazi army|last=Lockie|first=Alex|website=Business Insider|access-date=2019-10-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3F3DAAAQBAJ|title=Avenging Angels: Young Women of the Soviet Union's WWII Sniper Corps|last=Vinogradova|first=Lyuba|date=2017|publisher=Quercus|isbn=9781681442839|pages=37–47|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.businessinsider.com/lyudmila-pavlichenko-female-sniper | title=Meet the world's deadliest female sniper who terrorized Hitler's Nazi army | website=[[Business Insider]] }}</ref> She served in the Red Army during the [[Siege of Odessa (1941)|siege of Odessa]] and the [[Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)|siege of Sevastopol]], during the early stages of the fighting on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]].

After she was injured in battle by a mortar shell, she was evacuated to Moscow.<ref name=":02">{{cite web |date=2018-12-06 |title=Lady Death: Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the Greatest Female Sniper of All Time |url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/565151/retrobituaries-lyudmila-pavlichenko |access-date=2019-10-20 |website=mentalfloss.com |language=en}}</ref> After she recovered from her injuries, she trained other Red Army snipers and was a public spokeswoman for the Red Army. In 1942, she toured the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. After the war ended in 1945, she was reassigned as a senior researcher for the [[Soviet Navy]]. She died of a stroke at the age of 58.<ref name=":3"/>

== Early life and education ==

Lyudmila Belova was born in [[Bila Tserkva]], [[Kiev Governorate]], in the [[Russian Empire]] (now in [[Kyiv Oblast]], Ukraine) on {{OldStyleDate|12 July|1916|29 June}}, to Mikhail Belov, a locksmith from [[Petrograd]], and his wife Elena Trofimovna Belova (1897–1972),<ref>{{cite web|date=2009-06-28|title=Велика Вітчизняна Війна|url=http://www.peremoga.gov.ua:80/index.php?4601000126510000010|access-date=2020-11-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628111614/http://www.peremoga.gov.ua:80/index.php?4601000126510000010|archive-date=28 June 2009}}</ref> who was of [[Russians|Russian]] nobility.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Как мать-одиночка уничтожила на войне 309 фашистов {{!}} Экспресс газета {{!}} Дзен | url=https://dzen.ru/a/WaB8T0_9EwoPTKfL | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250404214303/https://dzen.ru/a/WaB8T0_9EwoPTKfL | access-date=2025-07-25 | archive-date=2025-04-04}}</ref>
The family moved to [[Kiev]] when Lyudmila was aged 14.<ref name="smithsonian2">{{cite news|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/eleanor-roosevelt-and-the-soviet-sniper-23585278/|title=Eleanor Roosevelt and the Soviet Sniper|last1=King|first1=Gilbert|date=February 21, 2013|work=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]|access-date=14 December 2016}}</ref> Her father was a Communist Party member, and had served as a regimental commissar in the Red Army, being awarded the [[Order of the Red Banner]].<ref>Pavlichenko, L. ''Lady Death: the Memoirs of Stalin's Sniper'' 2018 p.1 ISBN 9781784382704</ref>

As a child, Lyudmila was a self-described [[tomboy]], who was fiercely competitive at athletic activities. In Kiev, she joined an [[DOSAAF|OSOAVIAKhIM]] shooting club, developed into an amateur [[marksman|sharpshooter]] and earned her [[Voroshilov Sharpshooter]] badge and a [[marksman]] certificate.

In 1932, she married Alexei Pavlichenko, and gave birth to a son, Rostislav (1932–2007). However, the marriage was soon dissolved, and Lyudmila returned to live with her parents.
She attended night school as well as performing household chores.<ref name=":02" /> During the day, she worked as a [[grinder (milling)|grinder]] at the [[Kiev Arsenal factory]].<ref name=":02" /><ref name="propbook2">[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8XlOJplQRgC&pg=PA31 Heroines of the Soviet Union 1941-45] by Henry Skaida, Osprey Publishing, 2003, {{ISBN|1841765988}}/{{ISBN|978-1841765983}}, page 31</ref>

She enrolled at [[Kyiv National University|Kiev University]] in 1937, where she studied history and intended to be a scholar and teacher. There, she competed on the university's track team as a sprinter and pole vaulter.<ref name="smithsonian2"/><ref name=":02" /> She was also enrolled in a military-style sniping school for six months by the [[Red Army]].<ref name=":02" />

== World War II ==

[[File:Pavlichenko in a trench.jpg|thumb|Pavlichenko in a trench (1942).]]
In June 1941, Pavlichenko was aged 25 in her fourth year studying history at [[Kiev University]] when [[Nazi Germany]] began its [[Operation Barbarossa|invasion of the Soviet Union]].<ref name="propbook2"/> Pavlichenko was among the first round of volunteers at the [[Odessa]] recruiting office, where she requested to join the [[infantry]].

The registrar pushed Pavlichenko to be a nurse, but she refused. After seeing that she had completed multiple training courses, she was finally accepted into the army as a sniper and assigned to the [[Red Army]]'s [[25th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)|25th Rifle Division]].<ref name="propbook2"/> There, she became one of 2,000 female [[snipers]] in the Red Army,<ref name=":02" /> of whom about 500 survived the war.<ref name="smithsonian2"/><ref name=":02" /> She was initially assigned to digging trenches and communication routes, armed with a single [[RGD-33 grenade]] due to weapons shortages. In the second half of July 1941, a comrade was severely injured by shrapnel and handed her his [[Mosin–Nagant]] model 1891 bolt-action rifle. On 8 August 1941 Lyudmila experienced her debut as a wartime sniper when she killed two Nazi officers in [[Biliaivka]] at a distance of 400 metres.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pavlichenko |first1=Lyudmila |title=Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin's Sniper |last2=Pegler |first2=Martin |publisher=Greenhill Books |year=2018 |isbn=9781784382704 |publication-date=May 3, 2018 |pages=22–29}}</ref>

Pavlichenko fought for about {{frac|2|1|2}} months during the [[Siege of Odessa]] and is credited with killing 187 soldiers.<ref name="WatWar2">[https://books.google.com/books?id=lyZYS_GxglIC&pg=PT557 Women and War: A Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present originally from Ukraine] by [[Arthur Bernard Cook]], [[ABC-CLIO]], 2006, {{ISBN|1851097708}}/{{ISBN|978-1851097708}}, page 457</ref> She was promoted to senior sergeant in August 1941, when she added 100 more kills to her official tally. At 25, she married a fellow sniper, Alexei Kitsenko.<ref name=":02" /> Soon after the marriage, Kitsenko was mortally wounded by a mortar shell and died from his injuries a few days later in the hospital.<ref name="smithsonian2"/>

When the Nazis and their Romanian allies overran Odessa on 15 October 1941, her unit was withdrawn by sea to [[Sevastopol]], on the [[Crimean Peninsula]],<ref name="WatWar2" /> to fight in the [[Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)|siege of Sevastopol]].<ref name="propbook2"/> There, she trained other snipers, who were credited with killing over 100 Axis soldiers during the battle. In May 1942, newly promoted Lieutenant Pavlichenko was cited by the Southern Army Council for killing 257 Axis soldiers. The number of soldiers Pavlichenko is credited with killing during [[World War II]] was 309,<ref name="FareySpicer20092">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l1a-kB-1MMAC|title=Sniping: An Illustrated History|author1=Pat Farey|author2=Mark Spicer|date=5 May 2009|publisher=MBI Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-7603-3717-2|page=129|access-date=18 March 2011}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="propbook2" /> including 36 Axis snipers.

In June 1942, Pavlichenko was hit in the face with shrapnel from a [[mortar (weapon)|mortar shell]]. When she was injured, the Soviet High Command ordered for her to be evacuated from Sevastopol via submarine.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://soviet-awards.com/digest/pavlichenko/pavlichenko1.htm|title=Mankiller: Major Lyudmila Pavlichenko by Henry Sakaida 1 of 2|website=soviet-awards.com|access-date=2019-10-28}}</ref>

She spent around a month in the hospital.<ref name="smithsonian2"/> Once she had recovered from her injuries, instead of being sent back to the front, she became a [[propagandist]] for the Red Army,<ref name=":02" /> where she was nicknamed "Lady Death."<ref name=":4">{{cite book|title=Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin's Sniper|last1=Pavlichenko|first1=Lyudmila|last2=Pegler|first2=Martin|date=5 February 2018|publisher=Greenhill Books|id={{ASIN|1784382701|country=uk}}}}</ref><ref name=":02" /><ref name=":3" /> (The Germans called her "the Russian bitch from hell.")<ref name="Ross 2018 t656">{{cite web | last=Ross | first=Greg | title=Podcast Episode 224: Lady Death | website=Futility Closet | date=2018-11-12 | url=https://www.futilitycloset.com/2018/11/12/podcast-episode-224-lady-death/ | access-date=2023-11-17}}</ref>
She also trained snipers for combat duty until the end of the war in 1945.<ref name=":3" />

== Visits to Allied countries ==

[[File:Justice Robert Jackson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Liudmila Pavlichenko (cropped).jpg|thumb|300x300px|Pavlichenko (center) with [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|Justice]] [[Robert H. Jackson|Robert Jackson]] (left) and [[US First Lady]] [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] in Washington DC in September 1942.]]
In 1942, Pavlichenko was sent to Canada and the United States for a publicity visit as part of the [[Soviet Union]]'s attempts to convince the other [[Allies of World War II]] to open a second front against [[Nazi Germany]]. When she visited the United States, she became the first [[Soviet people|Soviet citizen]] to be received by a [[US president]], as [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] welcomed her to the [[White House]].<ref name="smithsonian2"/> Pavlichenko was later invited by First Lady [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] to tour the US, relating her experiences as a female soldier on the [[front lines]].<ref name="smithsonian2" />

During the publicity tour, Pavlichenko was not taken seriously by the press and was referred to as the "Girl Sniper."<ref name=":02" /> Not cut out to be a diplomat, she was shy and said she just wanted to kill fascists.<ref name="Ross 2018 t656"/> When meeting with reporters in [[Washington, D.C.]], she was dumbfounded by the kind of questions put to her. "One reporter even criticized the length of the skirt of my uniform, saying that in America women wear shorter skirts and besides my uniform made me look fat."<ref name="Time2">[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,773683,00.html Lady Sniper], [[TIME Magazine]] (Monday, 28 September 1942)</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jTg1xacTjhEC&pg=PT294 The World War Two Reader] by Gordon Martel, [[Routledge]], 2004, {{ISBN|0415224039}}/{{ISBN|978-0415224031}}, page 268</ref> They also asked if she used makeup on the front line.<ref name="smithsonian2"/> She challenged an especially sexist reporter to a fistfight. She responded to a question about her underwear so:<blockquote>"I am proud to wear the uniform of the legendary [[Red Army]]. It has been sanctified by the blood of my comrades who've fallen in combat with the fascists."<ref name="Ross 2018 t656" /></blockquote>She was described by the reporters as very blunt and unemotional in her responses.<ref name="smithsonian2"/>

Pavlichenko appeared before the International Student Assembly being held in Washington, DC, attended the meetings of the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]], and made appearances and speeches in [[New York City]] and [[Chicago]]. In New York City, she was given a raccoon fur coat by Mayor [[Fiorello H. La Guardia]].<ref name="smithsonian2"/> In Chicago, she stood before large crowds, chiding the men to support a second front. "Gentlemen," she said, "I am 25 years old and I have killed 309 fascist invaders by now. Don't you think, gentlemen, that you have been hiding behind my back for too long?" Her words settled on the crowd, then caused a surging roar of support.<ref name="smithsonian2" /> The United States government presented her with a [[Colt's Manufacturing Company#Semi-automatic pistols|Colt semi-automatic pistol]].

In Toronto, Ontario, she was presented a [[Winchester Model 70]] [[rifle]] equipped with a Weaver [[telescopic sight]], now on display at the [[Central Armed Forces Museum]] in [[Moscow]].<ref>The Music of World War II: War Songs and Their Stories by Sheldon Winkler [[Merriam-Webster|Merriam]], 2019, {{ISBN|9780359647798}}, page 83</ref> While visiting Canada, along with fellow sniper [[Vladimir Pchelintsev]] and Moscow fuel commissioner Nikolai Kravchenko, she was greeted by thousands of people at [[Toronto]]'s [[Union Station (Toronto)|Union Station]].<ref name="smithsonian2"/>

On Friday 21 November 1942, Pavlichenko visited [[Coventry]], [[England]], accepting donations of £4,516 from local workers to pay for three [[X-ray]] units for the Red Army. She also visited the ruins of [[Coventry Cathedral]], then the [[Alfred Herbert (company)|Alfred Herbert]] works and [[Standard Motor Company|Standard Motor Factory]], from where most funds had been raised. She had inspected a factory in [[Birmingham]] earlier in the day.<ref>The Coventry Evening Telegraph, Saturday November 21st 1942</ref>

Having been made an officer, Pavlichenko never returned to combat, instead becoming an instructor and training snipers until the war's end.<ref name="propbook2" /> In 1943, she was awarded the [[Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union]],<ref>{{Citation|author1=Henry Sakaida|title=Heroines of the Soviet Union 1941-45|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8XlOJplQRgC&pg=PA21|volume=90|page=21|year=2003|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1-84176-598-3|access-date=2011-12-03|author2=Christa Hook|oclc=829740681}}</ref> as well as the [[Order of Lenin]] twice.<ref name="smithsonian2"/>

== Later life ==

When the war ended, Pavlichenko finished her education at [[Kiev University]] and began a career as a [[historian]].<ref name=":02" /><ref name="smithsonian2"/> From 1945 to 1953, she was a research assistant at [[Soviet Navy]] headquarters. She was later active in the Soviet Committee of the Veterans of War.<ref name="propbook2" />

== Death and legacy ==

Pavlichenko died from a stroke on 10 October 1974 at 58 and was buried in [[Novodevichy Cemetery]] in Moscow. Her son, Rostislav, is buried next to her.<ref>Wollstone, Edgar, ''Lady Death - The Beauty With a Sniper: Fascinating Tale of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, The Deadliest Female Sniper in History'', p. [https://books.google.be/books?id=N-rMEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA30 30].</ref>

A second Soviet commemorative stamp featuring her portrait was issued in 1976.<ref name="smithsonian2"/>

== In popular culture ==
[[File:Pav-1976-stamp.jpg|thumb|Second Soviet Union-issued postage stamp dedicated to Pavlichenko]]
The American folk singer [[Woody Guthrie]] composed the song "Miss Pavlichenko" as a tribute to her war record and to memorialize her visits to the United States and Canada.<ref>"Miss Pavlichenko" dated to 1942 at [http://www.woodyguthrie.de/pavil.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200601153014/http://www.woodyguthrie.de/pavil.html|date=1 June 2020}}</ref> It was released as part of ''[[The Asch Recordings]]''.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000611V Hard Travelin': The Asch Recordings, Vol. 3],</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SEWBAK|title=Amazon.com: Miss Pavlichenko: Woody Guthrie: MP3 Downloads|work=amazon.com}}</ref>

Pavlichenko is the subject of the 2015 film ''[[Battle for Sevastopol]]'' (original Russian title, "Битва за Севастополь"). A joint Ukrainian-Russian production, it was released in both countries on 2 April 2015, and its international premiere took place two weeks later at the [[Beijing International Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4084744/releaseinfo/?ref_=ttrv_at_dt_rdat|title=Battle for Sevastopol|work=[[IMDb]]|access-date=2025-10-16}}</ref>

The first English language edition of her memoirs, ''Lady Death'', was published by Greenhill Books in February 2018.<ref name=":4" /> It has a foreword by Martin Pegler and is part of the [[Lionel Leventhal]]'s Greenhill Sniper Library series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greenhillbooks.com/snipers|title=Greenhill Books|website=www.greenhillbooks.com|access-date=9 June 2018|archive-date=28 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228223142/http://www.greenhillbooks.com/snipers|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Pavlichenko's experiences during World War II, both in battle and on tour in the United States, have inspired several historical fiction novels, including ''[[Beautiful Assassin]]'' (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=readrunwriter |date=2020-06-26 |title=Book Review: BEAUTIFUL ASSASSIN by Michael White |url=https://readrunwrite.org/2020/06/26/book-review-beautiful-assassin-by-michael-white/ |access-date=2024-05-19 |website=READ RUN WRITE |language=en-US}}</ref> and [[Kate Quinn]]'s 2022 novel ''The Diamond Eye''.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Kate Storey |date=2022-05-02 |title=#ReadWithMC Reviews 'The Diamond Eye' |url=https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/the-diamond-eye-book-review/ |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=Marie Claire Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

She is also fictionalized in the 2023 novel, ''All Is Not Forgiven'' by [[Joe Kenda]], as the character Major Mila Volkov, who trained one of the other main characters in sniper tactics.

== Awards and honours ==

* [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] (25 October 1943)
* Two [[Order of Lenin|Orders of Lenin]] (16 July 1942 and 25 October 1943)
* Two [[Medal "For Battle Merit"|Medals "For Military Merit"]] (26 April 1942 and 13 June 1952)
* [[Medal "For the Defence of Odessa"]] (1942)
* [[Medal "For the Defence of Sevastopol"]] (1942)
* [[Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]] (14 December 1945)
* [[Voroshilov Sharpshooter]] badge (1939)

== See also ==
{{Portal|Soviet Union}}

* [[List of female Heroes of the Soviet Union]]
* [[Roza Shanina]] – World War II female sniper credited with 59 confirmed kills
* [[Lydia Litvyak]] – World War II female flying ace
* [[Snipers of the Soviet Union]]
* [[Juba (sniper)]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===

* {{Cite book|title=Женщины - Герои Советского Союза и России|last1=Simonov|first1=Andrey|author-link=Andrey Simonov|last2=Chudinova|first2=Svetlana|publisher=Russian Knights Foundation, Museum of Technology V. Zadorozhny|year=2017|isbn=9785990960701|location=Moscow|oclc=1019634607}}
* {{Cite book|title=Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin's Sniper|last1=Pavlichenko|first1=Lyudmila|last2=Pavlichenko|publisher=Greenhill Books, London|year=2018|isbn=9785990960701}}

== External links ==
{{commons cat}}

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djj5Lmo_Ehc Lyudmila Pavlichenko about snipers during the Great Patriotic War]. Documentary filmed by the Soviet Central Television in 1973 and released in 1975
* {{Find a Grave}}

{{WWII women snipers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pavlichenko, Lyudmila}}

[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:1974 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery]]
[[Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:People from Bila Tserkva]]
[[Category:Soviet military snipers]]
[[Category:Soviet historians]]
[[Category:Soviet military personnel of World War II from Ukraine]]
[[Category:Urban warfare in World War II]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Kyiv]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Bila Tserkva]]
[[Category:Russian women in World War II]]
[[Category:Soviet women in World War II]]
[[Category:Women in the Russian and Soviet military]]

Lyudmila Pavlichenko - Revision history

2601:283:5101:960:DCF:1C17:E32A:4474 at 02:05, 20 October 2025