Nakano Takeko

Nakano Takeko (1847-1868) was a Japanese Onna-bugeisha who fought in the Boshin War. 

Nakano was the daughter of an official from Aizu, but was raised in Edo (Tokyo) where she was trained in literary and martial arts, specialising in a form of Ittō-ryū one-sword fighting. She also became a skilled instructor in the use of the naginata, a bladed polearm. She spent five years as the adopted daughter of her martials arts teacher, Akaoka Daisuke, but left him after he attempted to arrange a marriage for her. She relocated with her native family to Aizu in 1868. 

During this time the Boshin War began between the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and supporters of the Imperial Court. Although the Shogun surrendered in May 1868, some of his forces continued to fight on, retreating to Aizu. Nakano joined the army in repelling the Imperial forces and fought at the Battle of Aizu, which was in effect a month-long siege.

While Aizu retainers did not allow women to fight, Nakano formed an unofficial unit of twenty women armed with naginata, including her mother and sister. The group took part in a counter-attack designed to break the siege, during which Nakano killed five enemy opponents before taking a fatal bullet to the chest. Afraid that the enemy would take her head as a trophy, she asked her sister to instead decapitate her and bury the head.

The shogunate forces eventually lost the siege to the better-armed Imperial forces. As requested, Nakano’s sister buried her head under a pine tree at the Hōkai-ji Temple and a monument was erected there in her honour. During the annual Aizu Autumn Festival, a group of young girls take part in the procession to commemorate the actions of Nakano and her band of women warriors.

Emilia Gierczak

Emilia Gierczak (1925-1945) was a Polish commander who fought for the Soviet-aligned Polish army during World War 2.

Raised by a family of patriotic farmers, Gierczak graduated school in 1938 and became a teacher and scout leader. When World War 2 broke out in the following year, Gierczak’s family was one of the first to be deported to work on Russian farms following the Soviet Invasion of Eastern Poland. 

In 1943 both Gierczak and her father were called up for military service and initially served in the Tadeusz Kosciuszko 1st Division. She then served as a platoon commander in the newly created all-female military unit in the Polish army, known as the Emilia Plater Independent Women’s Battalion (named after Emilia Plater, the leader of a Polish uprising, who Gierczak may herself have been named after). Gierczak later went on to provide her expertise as an officer commanding male platoons.

Gierczak fought with distinction on the Pomeranian Rampart near Kolobrzeg (formerly known as Kolberg). She was killed there on March 17th 1945, on a mission to assault a heavily defended enemy building. According to one witness Gierczak could have waited until night to gain an advantage, but chose not to as she didn’t want to be seen as cowardly by doing so. During the assault she was shot in the head. On seeing this her men reportedly flew into a vengeful rage, pushing forward and completing the mission in her name.

A street in Kolobrzeg is named after Gierczak, as well as a number of schools and scouting organisations.

Peshmerga Militia Unit

A 700-strong all-female unit of Peshmerga Kurdish militia is currently involved in fighting the Islamic State in Northern Iraq and have been instrumental in securing the Kurdistan region.

The unit was created in 1996 in order to help combat Saddam Hussein loyalists. Since that time they have predominantly existed in a supporting combat role but have recently been used on the front lines at Kirkuk and securing oil fields in Bai Hassan.

The majority of the women are volunteers and have been trained alongside SWAT teams and special forces units. They are led by Colonel Nahida Ahmed Rashid, who began her military career fighting for the Kurdish separatist movement as a teenager and is now the highest-ranking female officer in the Kurdish army.

Some Western media outlets have framed the use of female soldiers as terrifying to the forces of the Islamic State and that they find it dishonourable to be killed by women. However others have pointed out that the IS and al-Qaeda field their own all-female battalions.

A BBC correspondent followed the Peshmerga women was impressed by their motivation to protect other women who have been victims of the IS forces. She also described the support they received from their families and community. “People know that they’re fighting a very, very tough fight,” she said. “But also, in a way, they know that these are pioneers, not just in Kurdistan, but in the region.”

–

News Sources:

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-07-16/kurdish-iraq-fight-against-isis-isnt-just-men

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-08-07/meet-female-colonel-leading-kurdish-forces-battle-against-isis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28308632

Tarantula Unit

The Tarantula Unit, An All-Female unit of the Capital Defence Command’s 35th Special Assault Team of the Republic of Korea Army trains in building clearance. 2013/4.

Source: Military Armament

The Rani of Jhansi Regiment

The Rani of Jhansi Regiment was the Women’s Regiment of the Indian National Army (INA) during the Second World War. It was named after Lakshmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi, a revolutionary heroine.

The regiment was formed in 1942, along with other Indian nationalist forces aiming to overthrow the British Raj in colonial India, with assistance from Imperial Japan. Most of the 1500 women were not from India at all, but teenage volunteers of Indian descent from rubber plantations in Malaya.

The regiment was raised in Singapore and were organised into officers or sepoys (privates) based on their education. It was led by Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, who was upper-class and highly educated. The cadets were trained in the use of rifles, hand grenades and bayonet charges. Some received additional training in field medicine and jungle warfare in preparation for operations in Burma. 

In 1944 the Rani were deployed in Burma alongside other INA forces and the Japanese army. 100 Rani troops are are noted as forming a vanguard unit as part of the ongoing Battle of Imphal, while other Rani gave support to the Nursing Corps there.

By March 1945 the INA had failed at Imphal and were forced into a disastrous retreat. The Rani suffered losses from Allied air attacks during the retreat and were disbanded not long after. While Lakshmi Sahgal went on to become the Minister of Women’s Affairs in the Azad Hind government, the fate of most members of the Rani of Jhansi regiment is unknown.

Maria Bochkareva

Maria Bochkareva was a Russian soldier who fought in World War I and the founder of the Women’s Battalion of Death.

A peasant girl from Novgorod, Bochkareva suffered two abusive romantic relationships until the beginning of the World War 1 when she left her partner to join the army. While initially rejected she made a personal petition to Tsar Nicholas II who granted her request. 

Bochkareva endured ridicule and sexual harassment within her regiment, but also won many of her fellow soldier’s respect. In her first battle, following an ill-fated attack by her unit, Bochkareva crept out into No Man’s Land and dragged over 50 wounded men to safety before she was herself wounded in the leg. Bochkareva participated in at least 100 more excursions into No Man’s Land over the course of the war, during which she was wounded twice more and decorated three times for bravery.

After the Tsar’s abdication in 1917, she petitioned the Minister of War for permission to create an all-female shock battalion. After a month of intensive training the Battalion of Death, numbering 300 women, was deployed to the Russian Western Front. The Battalion performed admirably in battle near Smorgon, taking three German trenches. However it was later disbanded due to male hostility amid the crumbling war effort. 

Bochkareva’s political opposition to the Bolsheviks put her life in danger following the October Revolution and she was forced to flee to the US. There she met with President Woodrow Wilson, who was reportedly moved to tears by her pleas that he intervene in Russia. She returned to Russia in August 1918 in hopes of raising a peasant army to fight the Bolsheviks, but this ultimately failed. She was later captured by the Bolsheviks, stripped of her uniform and executed by firing squad in 1920.

[Read more about Maria Bochkareva]

The Bluebird Brigade

“Members of the Bosnian government Army’s female unit, the “Bluebird Brigade” at their bombed-out base near Sarajevo on October 10, 1992. Many of the women in the unit are widows of soldiers who have died in the war.”

Photo by Morten Hvaal /Felix Features.