Roza Shanina was born in a small Russian village in 1924. She was quiet, determined, and stubbornly brave even as a child. When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the war entered her life violently. One of her brothers was killed during a bombing raid, and that loss changed her forever. At just seventeen, Roza decided she would not stay behind. She volunteered for the Red Army, determined to fight.
She trained at the Central Women’s Sniper School, where her instructors quickly realized she was exceptional. Her aim was steady, her patience unmatched. She could wait for hours without moving, watching, breathing slowly, waiting for the right moment. Though offered a safe position as an instructor, Roza refused. She wanted the front line.
In 1944, she was sent to the Eastern Front with the 184th Rifle Division. Her first kill stayed with her forever. She fired at a German soldier and watched him fall, but she knew he was still alive. For nearly an hour he lay in the mud, terrified to move. When he began to crawl away, she fired again and did not miss. From that moment on, she understood what war truly meant.
Roza became famous among her comrades for her accuracy and fearlessness. She was especially known for shooting “doublets,” killing two enemy soldiers with two rapid shots. She often ignored orders to stay behind and instead moved forward with the infantry, fighting where the danger was greatest. In just ten months, she officially killed fifty-nine Nazi soldiers.
Despite her deadly skill, Roza was not cold or cruel. She wrote in her secret diary about fear, about guilt, and about hoping the war would end so no one else would have to die. She believed she was doing her duty, even when it broke her heart.
In January 1945, during fierce fighting in East Prussia, Roza saw a fellow soldier badly wounded under enemy fire. Without hesitation, she ran to shield him. An artillery shell exploded nearby, and shrapnel tore through her body. She was carried away from the battlefield but died the next day, only twenty years old.
Roza Shanina did not live to see the end of the war, but her story survived. She is remembered not just as a sniper, but as a young woman who chose courage over safety and gave her life to protect others.
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