It is well-known that Soviet female soldiers were capable of fighting a war, following rules of engagement, etc. It is not easy to confirm that they were as good as men for surviving a harsh battlefield environment, carrying heavy packs, etc.
Oddly, the USA, the PRC, and the CIS all follow a "modern" mindset and thus believe that women should be available as warfighters. Why have modern female warfighters failed to produce results as good as the Flintenweiber of World War 2?
Background:
With 12 air victories, fighter pilot Lidya Litvyak was the best female hotshot not only of WWII, but of all times. She was killed in action on August 1, 1943, when she was only 21.
Yekaterina Budanova was female ace number 2, and a friend of Lidiya Litvyak. She is credited with 11 victories. Budanova never saw the end of the war, since she was killed in 1943 at the age of 26.
Shortly after the start of WWII, Maria Oktyabrskaya sold all her possessions to donate toward acquiring a tank for the war effort. She christened the tank “Fighting Girlfriend,” and received a personal allowance from Stalin to become its driver mechanic, the first woman in the world who became such. Maria Oktyabrskaya was fatally wounded in northern Belorussia in 1944, when she was 38.
The first woman decorated as a Hero of the Soviet Union during WWII, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya acted as a saboteur in the German rear. She was caught, tortured and hanged on November 21, 1941, when she was only 18. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya became one of the most popular symbols of the Nazi resistance in the Soviet Union.
Natalya Meklin was a link commander in the famous 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment, widely known as the “Night Witches.” She completed 980 combat missions. Successfully surviving the war, Meklin died in 2005 at the age of 82.
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