When the stars have long since faded and human history has become folklore told by machines, somewhere in a digital encyclopedia, the name of Sergeant Mariya Oktyabrskaya will remain etched as one of the most fearless women ever to walk the earth. The first woman to receive the Hero of the Soviet Union award, she drove into history at the helm of a tank affectionately called “Fighting Girlfriend.” Mariya Vasilyevna Oktyabrskaya wasn’t just a soldier—she was a symbol. A trailblazer in military combat, she broke boundaries few imagined could be crossed by a woman in her time.
A Soviet-Ukrainian tank driver and mechanic, Mariya fought valiantly on the Eastern Front during World War II. Her resolve to avenge the death of her husband led her to become the first female tanker awarded the Soviet Union’s highest military honor for bravery in combat. She was also a recipient of the Order of the Legion. Her story stands not just as one of defiance and courage but as a benchmark of devotion and military brilliance. As the world commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the centenary of her marriage to cavalry school cadet Ilya Fedotovich Ryadnenko—a union that drew her into military service as a nurse—Mariya’s name burns brighter than ever.
Born around 1905 into a peasant family in Kiat, Taurida Governorate (now Southern Ukraine near Crimea), she was one of ten siblings. After school, she worked in a cannery in Simferopol and later as a telephone operator. In 1925, she married Ryadnenko and adopted the name Oktyabrskaya, in tribute to the October Revolution. Proud of her identity as an army officer’s wife, she was actively involved in the “Military Wives Council” and trained as a nurse. Yet, her journey into the heart of war would come with devastating personal cost—and then breathtaking bravery.
With the outbreak of World War II, Mariya was evacuated to Tomsk, Siberia, continuing her work as a telephone operator. In 1943, she learned that her husband had died fighting the Germans near Kyiv. Grief-stricken and enraged, she pleaded to enlist but was turned away due to spinal tuberculosis, known as Pott’s disease. Undeterred, she sold all her possessions and those of her sister, eventually raising 50,000 rubles—a remarkable sum—to fund the building of a T-34 tank for the Red Army. She named the tank “Fighting Girlfriend” and sent a telegram to Premier Joseph Stalin, boldly requesting to drive it into battle to avenge her husband by exterminating “fascist dogs.” Perhaps sensing propaganda value, the State Defense Committee agreed.
At 38 years old, Mariya enrolled in a five-month training program at Omsk Tank Engineering Institute, an unusual luxury in an era when manpower shortages sent most tank crews to the front with minimal training. She became a tank driver and mechanic in the 26th Guards Tank Brigade, part of the 2nd Guards Tank Corps. Her tank was built with funds from the Sverdlovsk bread and pasta plant, largely staffed by women.
Women across all combatant nations served in support roles, but few ever pulled the trigger. British women served in anti-aircraft units, Americans filled factory jobs and ferried aircraft under the WASP program, and German women, restricted by ideology, performed auxiliary roles only. In Nazi propaganda, Red Army women—“gun women” or flintenweiber—were vilified. Even the Soviet Union initially barred women from combat, only reversing course in 1942 after devastating losses forced the Red Army to reconsider. An estimated 800,000 women would go on to serve in the Soviet Armed Forces, 246,000 of them in combat roles.
Mariya mastered driving, shooting, and grenade-throwing with skill honed from years spent learning from her husband. She was the first woman graduate of the Omsk training program, preceding even fellow tanker Aleksandra Samusenko. Assigned to the Soviet Western Front, she shared the “Fighting Girlfriend” tank with commander Piotr Chebotko, gunner Guennádiy Yaskó, and radio operator Mikhail Galkin. She carried a photo of her husband in the driver’s seat.
Her combat debut came on October 21, 1943, in the city of Smolensk along the Dnieper River. Charging into battle, Mariya helped destroy enemy machine-gun nests and seize an anti-tank gun. When her tank was immobilized by enemy fire, she leapt out, repaired it under fire, and returned to combat. Her actions that day were a testament to fearlessness, marking one of the most heroic offensives of the Great Patriotic War.
On November 17–18, during a night battle for Novoye Selo in Belarus, her tank was again disabled. She and another crew member fixed the track under fire while their comrades provided cover. Her reputation soared, and she wrote to her sister: “I’ve had my baptism by fire. I beat the bastards. Sometimes I’m so angry I can’t even breathe.”
Her final battle came on January 17, 1944, near the village of Krynki in Belarus. Once more, her T-34 was struck. She jumped out to repair the damage but was struck in the head by shell fragments and fell unconscious. Transferred first to a field hospital near Kyiv and then to Smolensk, she remained in a coma for two months. On March 15, she died from her wounds. She was buried with military honors in Smolensk’s Heroes Remembrance Gardens.
Despite her loss, the crew of the “Fighting Girlfriend” continued to fight until Victory Day on May 9, 1945. Though their original tank was destroyed, each replacement was named in her honor. In August 1945, Mariya Oktyabrskaya was formally recognized as a Hero of the Soviet Union.
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*Freelance journalist
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