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Mariya Bayda

April 17, 2015

Mariya Bayda was a Russian scout in the Crimea during World War 2 who was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Having dropped out of school at 14, Bayda worked at a hospital before joining the Red Army in 1941 as a nurse. A member of the 172nd Shooting Division, she was deployed to the front lines of the North Caucasian front.

She went on to become a scout with the rank of senior sergeant. Her Hero title was awarded following a mission in 1942 where she became involved in a gun battle against an number of Wehrmacht submachine gunners. She killed several of the Germans (some reports claim as many as 15) before escaping wounded.

In July 1942 she was again wounded and then captured by German forces. She was taken to the Slavuta concentration camp in Ukraine and was later moved to Ravensbruck. She was released by American forces on May 8, 1945.

Following the war she worked as a civil servant in Sevastopol. In 1976, she was again honoured as a Hero and an Honourable Citizen of Sevastopol. She died in 2002, aged 80.

Tags: Mariya Bayda, female soldiers, women in war, history, women's history, Russian history, World War 2, Red Army, Ravensbrück, Slavuta, concentration camps, North Caucasian Front, Hero of the Soviet Union
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