October Hero of the Soviet Union Maria Vasilievna immortalized her name with several exploits during the Great Patriotic War. She became the driver of the T-34 tank, collected with her money and called the “Battle girlfriend”. The image of Maria Oktyabrskaya remains one of the most famous in the series of names of heroes and heroines of the time of the war against the Nazis.
early years
October Vasilyevna Maria was born on August 16, 1905 in the Crimea. Her parents were peasants. In the 30s they were dispossessed and sent to the Urals. Maria stayed in the Crimea. Lived and work in Simferopol. Was a telephone operator at a city station.
In 1925, the girl married Ilya Ryadnenko, a cavalry cadet. In the registry office, the couple decided to take the new surname October in honor of the Socialist Revolution. The husband was a military man, which meant that the family needed to regularly change the address of residence - along with the units where the service took place.
October Maria Vasilievna tried to keep up with her husband. She was a member of the women's councils of military units. In addition, the girl learned to provide medical care, having passed the relevant courses. Maria also became a driver and machine gunner. In 1940, the Soviet Union annexed Bessarabia. After that, the Oktyabrsky family moved to Chisinau, where her husband’s regiment was stationed.
In evacuation
And next summer the Great Patriotic War began. The Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union without warning, hoping to catch the enemy by surprise, and by the fall be in Moscow. In the USSR, a hasty mobilization of all capable of holding weapons began.
The husband of Maria Oktyabrskaya, as a career soldier, was at the front in the very first days of the conflict. His wife and her sister were evacuated to Tomsk. In this Siberian city, Oktyabrskaya Maria Vasilyevna, as an old habit, worked as a telephone operator in an artillery school, which moved to the rear from Leningrad.
The death of her husband
Ilya Oktyabrsky died on the front on August 9, 1941. His wife received a funeral, in which it was reported that her husband was hit by a machine gun in a battle near Kiev. The news was overwhelming, but not surprising. The Red Army suffered huge losses throughout the war, and in the first months of the German offensive, these numbers were especially high.
All 1941 the rear military registration and enlistment offices were full of people who wanted to get to the front. Maria Oktyabrskaya was among them. The hero of the Soviet Union (the award was attributed to her posthumously) wanted to go to battle as quickly as possible. However, the military registration and enlistment office refused the woman. She was 35 years old, and before that she had suffered tuberculosis. It seemed that it was no longer destined to be at the Oktyabrskaya front. However, Maria decided on the most amazing measures, if only to get into the army.
"Fighting girlfriend"
Oktyabrskaya and her sister sold all their property. In addition, she worked for several months as an additional seamstress. All this was necessary in order to collect an amount sufficient to collect a new tank. With the outbreak of war in the Soviet Union, a defense fund was opened, where people donated. The funds collected in this way went to new army equipment.
So the fund turned out to be 50 thousand rubles, which was solely contributed by Oktyabrskaya Maria Vasilievna. The biography of this woman is an example of many selfless acts for the sake of saving the motherland.
However, adding money to the defense fund was still not enough to end up in battle. Maria wrote a telegram to the Kremlin in the name of Stalin. In her message, the woman spoke about the death of her husband and the desire to take revenge on the Nazis. She asked the commander-in-chief to name the tank collected for her money as “Battle girlfriend”. Oktyabrskaya also asked for a driver's seat in this combat vehicle. Stalin answered the amazing telegram of a woman tearing from the rear to the front, and gave his consent.
At the front
In May 1943, new cadets who were destined to become part of the tank crews entered the Omsk Tank School. Among them was Oktyabrskaya Maria Vasilievna. The awards and fame of the first female tanker (the case was really unique) did not interest her. All that the woman wanted was to help her native country in her struggle against the German aggressors.
The training lasted several months. In October 1943, Maria finally fell on the Western Front, where the most fierce battles were fought. She participated in several offensive operations of the Red Army. At this time, the Soviet Union had already seized the strategic initiative from the Wehrmacht. One after another, cities occupied during the German Blitzkrieg were liberated.
On November 18, the Red Army observed the truly heroic feat of M.V. Oktyabrskaya. She broke into the defensive ranks of the German units on her tank. The enemy cannon and about 50 soldiers of the Third Reich were destroyed by shooting. "Fighting girlfriend" was hit. Oktyabrskaya was wounded, but remained in her car and for two more days repelled enemy attacks until her tank was evacuated.
Thanks to the feat of Oktyabrskaya and its crew, a whole German platoon was destroyed. This happened in a battle in the Vitebsk region of Belarus. The heroine went for treatment to a medical platoon, and her act was set as an example to all fellow soldiers.
Last feat
A few weeks later, Oktyabrskaya returned to duty. On January 18, 1944, she entered her last battle. "Fighting girlfriend" crushed three German machine-gun points. About twenty Wehrmacht soldiers died under the wheels of the tank. Intense fire was fired on the car. An enemy shell hit the tank and significantly damaged it.
Oktyabrskaya began to fix the breakdown. At this time, a mine exploded nearby, a fragment of which hit Mary in the eye. She was seriously wounded and evacuated from the battlefield. In the field hospital, the tank crew had a complicated operation. However, her condition remained grave. Then Oktyabrskaya was sent to Smolensk, where the doctors planned to continue treatment. Meanwhile, on January 28, 1944, the woman received the Order of the Patriotic War of the second degree, and later the same award of the first degree.
Death and memory
The shard hit the brain. Due to this severe injury, Oktyabrskaya could not recover even in the hospital. Doctors were powerless. March 15, 1944 the famous tank crewman died in Smolensk. The woman was buried in the local Heroes Memory Square.
After death, the authorities did everything so that their compatriots did not forget about such an outstanding soldier as Maria Oktyabrskaya. Hero of the Soviet Union - this is the title she received posthumously on August 2, 1944. Today, the streets in many Russian cities are named after tankers.