Lyudmila Kravets

Lyudmila Stepanovna Kravets
Native name Людмила Степановна Кравец
Born 7 February 1923
Kushuhum, Ukrainian SSR
Died 23 May 2015
Kiev, Ukraine
Allegiance  Soviet Union
Service/branch Main Military Medical Directorate
Years of service 1941 — 1946
Rank Senior Sergeant
Unit 63rd Guards Rifle Regiment
Battles/wars

Eastern Front of World War II

Awards





Lyudmila Kravets (Russian: Людмила Кравец) was a Senior Sergeant in the 63rd Guards Rifle Regiment in the 23rd Guards Rifle Division of the 3rd Shock Army on the 1st Belorussian Front during World War II. For her actions in the war, she was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 31 May 1945, and was the only woman in her regiment to be awarded the title.[1]

Civilian life

Kravets was born on 7 February 1923 in the village of Kushuhum, Ukraine to a working family. After graduating from secondary school she completed a two-year nursing course in Zaporozhye, graduating in 1941.[2]

Military career

Kravets joined the Red Army in July 1941 after the start of the Second World War, initially working in military hospitals. In 1942 her regiment fought on the Northwestern Front, in which she sustained a serious injury but returned to fighting after recovering.[3][4]

She was awarded the Medal "For Courage" after a night combat mission in 1943 in which she read out an order to surrender in German while in close proximity to enemy territory; 29 German soldiers to surrendered the next morning.[5]

During the Battle of Berlin on 17 April 1945 while on the outskirts of the city she took over the duties of the company commander and participated in direct combat in the battle, and later in the battle she evacuated injured soldiers from the area under enemy fire. For her actions in battle, she was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union 31 May 1945 with an Order of Lenin and was demobilized from the military in 1946.[2]

She lived the cities of Zaporozhye and Kiev after the war, where she was involved with patriotic campaigns. She passed away in Kiev on 23 May 2015 at the age of 92.[2]

Awards

Soviet

Ukrainian

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sakaida, Henry (2012-04-20). Heroines of the Soviet Union 1941–45. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781780966922.
  2. 1 2 3 "Кравец Людмила Степановна". www.warheroes.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  3. 1 2 3 "Кравец Людмила Степановна, Герой Советского Союза (Орден Ленина и медаль "Золотая звезда")". pamyat-naroda.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  4. ↑ Heroines. Issue. I. (Essays on Women - Heroes of the Soviet Union). M., Politizdat, 1969.
  5. ↑ Санинструктор полка Людмила Кравец, которой нет на запорожской Аллее Славы. Из цикла «Герои земли Запорожской». ХРОНИКИ и КОММЕНТАРИИ.
  6. ↑ "Кравец Людмила Степановна, Орден Отечественной войны I степени :: Документ о награде :: Память народа". pamyat-naroda.ru. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  7. ↑ "Кравец Людмила Степановна, Медаль «За отвагу»". pamyat-naroda.ru. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.