Womens Rank in the Great Patriotic War

[desantnik]

Al-muell,

Are you sure that it was Ludmila Pavlishenko? The one I know of (Людмила Михайловна Павличенко was a WW2 sniper with 309 kills. She climbed up to the rank of Major, and was made a HSU.

Marc

Was the rank of major attained during the war or post-war?

[Auke]

According to Warheroes.ru she became Major of Coastal Service in late 1943, shortly after she became a HSU on 25 October 1943.

[DougD]

Great! If there was a female Major of Coastal Forces then there could be a female Major of regular land forces. Interesting info, thanks all for the info.

DougD

[Al-muell]

That would be a great photo to see!

The picture was offered long time ago on a well-known commercial site. But as I think of it now - I could have mistaken general-major for major.

Cadet Biegler's mistake...

[Al-muell]

I have found this digging on my old machine's HD. It's a part of a bigger picture, but I couldn't find the whole (altough I am sure I must have copied it).
That's why I took major for gen.-major - at that time I wasn't very good with navy uniforms and even now the oldest navy cloth I have is from 60's...

[Stepanovich]

Any idea who this was or what her rank would have been? I'm sure that someone in possession of the two volume HSU book can answer this.
Steve

[marcotk]

Any idea who this was or what her rank would have been? I'm sure that someone in possession of the two volume HSU book can answer this.
Steve

From Heroines of the SU: " "Night Witch" Lt. Natalya Meklin was Mariya Smirnova's first pilot and the standard bearer of the regiment. She flew 982 night missions and was described by Col/Gen K.A. Vershinin as "a confident, fearless pilot." She became a writer after the war and now resides in Moscow. "



Hope this helps!

[Stepanovich]

And beautiful too! Thanks Marco, that's great.
Steve

[willie777]

I have found this digging on my old machine's HD. It's a part of a bigger picture, but I couldn't find the whole (altough I am sure I must have copied it).
That's why I took major for gen.-major - at that time I wasn't very good with navy uniforms and even now the oldest navy cloth I have is from 60's...

That is a very easy mistake to make as both shoulder boards have one star and the two lines on a major/(Lt.)colonel's shoulder board are not very visible here. I find it strange that she is wearing a male uniform...

[willie777]

Not during wartime, but FYI, according to Wikipedia, Valentina Tereshkova was a Major General of the Soviet Air Force... (Not sure whether that equals a General-Major or General-Lieutenant)