Woman of the War
Natalia Peshkova was drafted into the Russian Army straight out
of high school at age 17. She was trained with weapons that didn't work and then
sent off with a unit so woefully equipped that at one time a horse ate her felt
boot as she slept, forcing her to make do with one boot for a month. Peshkova
spent three years at the front, accompanying wounded soldiers from the front to
hospitals and trying to fight disease and starvation among the troops. She was
wounded three times. Once, when the Germans moved into an area the Soviets held,
Peshkova was separated from her unit and had to disguise herself. However, she
could not discard her weapon because she knew the Soviet Army would execute her
for losing it! Yet she made it back to her unit undetected. As the war dragged
on, Peshkova was promoted to Sergeant Major and given political education duties
further from the front. After the war, she was awarded the Order of the Red Star
for bravery.
( http://mentalfloss.com/article/29219/11-women-warriors-world-war-ii).
of high school at age 17. She was trained with weapons that didn't work and then
sent off with a unit so woefully equipped that at one time a horse ate her felt
boot as she slept, forcing her to make do with one boot for a month. Peshkova
spent three years at the front, accompanying wounded soldiers from the front to
hospitals and trying to fight disease and starvation among the troops. She was
wounded three times. Once, when the Germans moved into an area the Soviets held,
Peshkova was separated from her unit and had to disguise herself. However, she
could not discard her weapon because she knew the Soviet Army would execute her
for losing it! Yet she made it back to her unit undetected. As the war dragged
on, Peshkova was promoted to Sergeant Major and given political education duties
further from the front. After the war, she was awarded the Order of the Red Star
for bravery.
( http://mentalfloss.com/article/29219/11-women-warriors-world-war-ii).
Nancy Wake was a journalist in New York and
London and then married a wealthy Frenchman and was living in Marseille when
Germany invaded. Wake immediately went to work for the French resistance, hiding
and smuggling men out of France and ferrying contraband supplies and falsified
documents. She was once captured and interrogated for days, but gave no secrets
away. With the Nazis in hot pursuit, Wake managed to escape to Britain in 1943,
and joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a British intelligence
agency. After training with weapons and parachutes, she was airdropped back into
France -as an official spy and warrior. Wake had no trouble shooting Nazis or
blowing up buildings with the French guerrilla fighters known as marquis in the
service of the resistance. After the war, Nancy Wake was awarded the George
Medal from the British, the Medal of Freedom from the U.S., and the Médaille de
la Résistance and three Croix de Guerre from France, among other honors.
(http://mentalfloss.com/article/29219/11-women-warriors-world-war-ii)
London and then married a wealthy Frenchman and was living in Marseille when
Germany invaded. Wake immediately went to work for the French resistance, hiding
and smuggling men out of France and ferrying contraband supplies and falsified
documents. She was once captured and interrogated for days, but gave no secrets
away. With the Nazis in hot pursuit, Wake managed to escape to Britain in 1943,
and joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a British intelligence
agency. After training with weapons and parachutes, she was airdropped back into
France -as an official spy and warrior. Wake had no trouble shooting Nazis or
blowing up buildings with the French guerrilla fighters known as marquis in the
service of the resistance. After the war, Nancy Wake was awarded the George
Medal from the British, the Medal of Freedom from the U.S., and the Médaille de
la Résistance and three Croix de Guerre from France, among other honors.
(http://mentalfloss.com/article/29219/11-women-warriors-world-war-ii)