A member of the pro-Allied Partisan Resistance in Italy during World War 2.
Source: http://www.teenagefilm.com/archives/archive-fever/italian-partisans-wwii/
Mariya Dolina
Mariya Dolina was a Soviet pilot who served with the distinguished Borisov Guards dive bomber regiment during the Second World War.
Beginning her military service in July 1941, aged only 18, she initially flew biplanes before moving on to Petlyakov Pe-2 medium range bombers (pictured). Despite describing herself as “impulsive and excessively restless”, she became one of the best pilots of her unit.
During her military career she carried out 72 sorties and dropped a total of 45 tons of bombs on the enemy. On June 2 1943 her plane was hit by enemy anti-aircraft guns, disabling an engine and setting the plane on fire. Despite having lost her fighter escort her crew continued to successfully bomb the target and on the way back engaged 6 German fighters, 2 of which they destroyed.
By the end of the war Dolina had advanced to the rank of Guards Captain and was acting squadron commander of the Borisov Guards. She was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in recognition of her accomplishments.
Russian Machine Gunners
“Russian machine gunners with a Degtyaryov light machine gun smile for the camera during the Siege of Leningrad, one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history and overwhelmingly the most costly in terms of casualties. Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Russia, Soviet Union. January 1943. Image captured by B. Vasyutinskiy.”
Source: bag-of-dirt
Anne Bonny and Mary Read
Anne Bonny and Mary Read were a famous duo of female pirates who had a violent career in the early 18th century.
Both had unusual teenage years. Anne ran away from Ireland to the Bahamas married to a pirate named John Bonny, although she quickly moved through a string of lovers before setting sail on the Revenge, captained by John “Calico Jack” Rackam. While ostensibly onboard as Rackam’s lover, Anne fought in battles dressed as a man and acquired a bloodthirsty reputation, once stabbing a sailor who complained about her gender.
From the age of 13 Mary Read had been disguised as a boy to serve as a ‘powder monkey’ on a British man-of-war, and later served on a Dutch ship headed to the West Indies. Captured by pirates, she became part of Rackam’s crew, where she met Anne who learned her true identity.
The two became close friends (and possibly lovers), who fought side-by-side in battle wielding pistols and machetes. They served in Rackam’s crew during the height of his campaign in 1720, during which they captured 7 boats and 2 sloops.
This came to an end that October, when their ship was attacked by a ship commissioned by the Governor of Jamaica. The attack came at night when most of the crew were too drunk to fight and the Revenge was quickly disabled. Anne and Mary however refused to surrender and faced off against the enemy crew, but were only able to hold them off for a short time.
The two were sentenced to death in Jamaica but were given a stay of execution as both claimed to be pregnant. Mary died in prison, and Anne’s ultimate fate is unknown.
WAAF Intelligence Officer
“A WAAF intelligence officer debriefs a bomber crew following an operation.”
Source: Imperial War Museum
Monica Lin Brown
Monica Lin Brown is a United States Army medic who became the second woman since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the United States’ third-highest medal for valour.
Brown was awarded the medal for her actions in Afghanistan in April 2007 where her convoy was hit by a roadside bomb. Brown braved heavy gunfire to drag soldiers to safety from a burning Humvee and used her body to shield the wounded while mortar rounds fell nearby. Her sergeant who was providing covering fire said that he saw enemy bullets “literally missing her by inches”.
Five US soldiers owe their lives to her actions.
Margaret Corbin
Margaret Corbin was a woman who fought in the American Revolutionary War during which she manned a cannon with her husband, John.
Margaret and John were married in 1772 and three years later when the war began John enlisted in the First Company of Pennsylvania Artillery. Margaret chose to accompany John and assisted him in his work as a matross, loading and firing cannons.
On November 16, 1776 the pair fought in the defense of Fort Washington, where 600 American soldiers fought 4000 Hessian troops in the service of the British. During an assault by the Hessians, John was killed and Margaret took his place operating the cannon. She continued to fire the cannon repeatedly until her arm, chest, and jaw were hit by enemy fire.
Following the battle Margaret was left disabled from her injuries, however in 1779 she became the first woman to receive a military pension from Congress. She was enrolled in the Corps of Invalids and became part of the garrison at West Point, New York. Discharged in 1783, she lived in Westchester County, New York, until her death in 1800 aged 48.
Tarenorerer
Tarenorerer, also known as ‘Walyer’ was a Tasmanian resistance leader in the early 18th century.
In her teens Tarenorerer was abducted by Aborigines who sold her to European sealers on the Bass Strait Islands where she lived for several years. During this time she became proficient in speaking English, and also learned how to use firearms.
In 1828 Tarenorerer escaped and returned to northern Tasmania, where she assembled warbands of both men and women from disenfranchised Aboriginal groups. She trained her forces to use muskets and how to attack enemies when they were vulnerable during reloading.
Her forces launched raids on European settlers (and possibly rival Aboriginal groups as well), making a point of killing their livestock. She was known for directing attacks from high ground, from which she would yell abuse at settlers and dare them to attack.
The raids lasted for two years until Tarenorerer’s capture in 1830. She attempted escape but failed and was kept in isolation for fear she would incite revolt. She died in captivity from influenza on 5th June,1831.
Amanirenas
Amanirenas was a kandake, or queen mother, of the Kingdom of Kush in northeast Africa from between c. 40 B.C to 10 B.C.
When in 24 B.C. the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar demanded taxes from the Kushites, Amanirenas responded by leading an army of 30,000 men into Roman-controlled Egypt.
Amanirenas was noted for leading from the front, fighting side-by-side with her own soldiers. She was blinded in one eye after she was wounded by a Roman.
Her initial campaign was hugely successful, defeating three Roman cohorts and sacking a number of Roman forts across southern Egypt. As a further insult Amanirenas had several statues of Caesar defaced or destroyed.
The war continued for three years, with the Kushites being driven back by the Romans, but at a heavy cost to both sides.The eventual peace treaty favoured the Kushites, granting them land and an exemption from future taxation.
Mary
“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.