“Mary, a pilot of the Air Transport Auxiliary, in her gear and Spitfire, c. 1944”
Source: Demons
The Mino
The Mino, or “Our Mothers”, were an all-female military regiment of the Dahomey Kingdom in western Africa during the 17th to 19th centuries. They were initially established as a royal bodyguard armed with muskets. They were later developed into a fully-fledged militia who were deployed in Dahomey’s war against the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727.
The Mino came to be a semi-sacred order, recruited from foreign captives, Dahomian free women and the king’s own wives. Subject to intense physical training and armed with Danish guns, the Mino developed a reputation as disciplined but ferocious fighters who beheaded their enemies on the battlefield.
By the mid-19th century the regiment numbered in the thousands and made up a third of the Dahomey army. In 1890 the Mino were deployed in the First Franco-Dahomean War. The French sustained heavy losses to the Mino and French Foreign Legionnaires later wrote of the “incredible courage and audacity” of the ‘Dahomey Amazons’.
Despite this, Dahomey’s forces were ultimately crushed by the French use of machine guns, cannons and cavalry. The last Mino is believed to have been a woman named Nawi who died in 1979.
Agustina de Aragón
Agustina de Aragón was a heroine of the Spanish War of Independence and the Peninsular War against France. She is most famous for her bravery at the Siege of Zaragoza.
In 1808, Zaragoza was one of the last cities in northern Spain not to have fallen to the forces of Napoleon and was ill-prepared for a siege. Agustina, a civiilian at the time, was present during the French attack of the Portillo gateway. Broken by the French onslaught, the Spanish began to retreat. With the French troops just a few yards away, Agustina ran forward, loaded a cannon and lit the fuse, shredding a wave of attackers at point blank range. Inspired by her act of bravery, the Spanish forces rallied and assisted her in repelling the attackers.
While this heroic defense bought time for Zaragoza, the siege was only broken for a matter of weeks, after which the French returned and this time were successful in taking the city. Agustina was captured and saw her own son killed by French guards. She later mounted a daring escape and became a low-level rebel leader for the guerrilleros, harassing the French with hit-and-run raids.
Her forces joined the alliance against the French led by the Duke of Wellington. The only female officer in Wellington’s army, Agustina eventually rose to the rank of Captain and acted as a front line battery commander at the Battle of Vitoria, which led to the French being driven out of Spain.
Following the war she married and later in life became a familiar sight in Zaragoza as a respectable old lady wearing medals. She died in 1857 aged 71.
Elizabeth Ann Rowe
“On 28 May 1980 Midshipman Elizabeth Ann Rowe became the first of 55 women to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy, the first in the Academy’s long history. Photo from the 1980 “The Lucky Bag,” Navy Department Library.”
Source: Naval Historical Foundation
Cut Nyak Dhien
Cut Nyak Dhien (or Tjoet Nja’ Dhien) was a leader of the Acehnese guerrilla armies in the Aceh War against the Dutch during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Raised in an aristocratic household, Dhien swore vengeance upon the Dutch after her father and first husband were killed in the escalating war with Dutch colonial forces. She began leading her own troops against the Dutch, eventually merging her army with that of the celebrated hero Teuku Umar. They were later married in 1880, an arrangement she agreed to on the condition that he would not prevent her from continuing to fight.
This promise was kept and Dhien went on to act as the chief strategist of the combined army and later assumed leadership following the death of Umar in 1899. Despite difficult losses inflicted by the Dutch Maréchaussée and her own dwindling health, she continued to lead her forces until 1905 when the position of her base was betrayed to the Dutch. She was captured and exiled to Sumatra, where she continued to the preach her message of resistance until her death in 1908.
Today she is officially recognised as a national hero of Indonesia.
Shadia Abu Ghazali
“Shadia Abu Ghazali was the first Palestinian female martyr killed while defending her city of Nablus after its capture by Israeli forces during the 1967 Six-Day War.”
Source: http://madlovaforlife.tumblr.com/post/33961317777/shadia-abu-ghazali-the-first-palestinian-female
Tomoe Gozen
Tomoe Gozen (or ‘Lady Tomoe’) was a samurai warrior in 12th century Japan who was famed for her ability with both the sword and the bow. She was also a master horsewoman, said to be able to ride an unbroken horse with skill.
Tomoe served in the Genpei War (1180-1185) as the First Captain of her daimyo (and possibly her husband), Minamoto no Yoshinaka. The Tale of the Heike describes her as a beautiful woman with charming features, who went to battle in heavy armour and wielding an oversized sword.
Following their defeat of the Heike, she led Yoshinaka’s forces in the taking of Tokyo in his attempt to claim leadership of the Minamoto clan. This action led to civil war within the clan against Yoshinaka’s cousins, culminating in the Battle of Awazu in 1184. During this battle Tomoe is recorded as beheading members of the enemy army, however Yoshinaka was killed and the army defeated.
Her ultimate fate is unknown. Some accounts say she fought to the death on the battlefield, others that she escaped on horseback carrying an enemy head and disappeared.
Roza Shanina
Roza Shanina was a Soviet sniper during World War II credited with 59 confirmed kills. Renowned for her marksmanship skills, Shanina was known for her ability to score precise hits on moving targets and for making doublets (two target hits by two rounds fired in quick succession).
Described by Allied newspapers as ‘the unseen terror of East Prussia’, Shanina became the first female sniper to be awarded the Order of Glory medal. She was also decorated with the Medal for Courage.
One war correspondent described her as a person of unusual will with a genuine, bright nature. She was said to be a straightforward and talkative woman, who valued courage and humility in others.
On 16 January 1945 she wrote in her combat diary: “What I’ve actually done? No more than I have to as a Soviet man, having stood up to defend the motherland.”
Shanina was killed in action during the East Prussian Offensive of 1945 while shielding the severely wounded commander of an artillery unit.