Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a Soviet sniper in the Red Army during World War II, credited with 309 confirmed kills, making her the most successful female sniper in recorded history. Born in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine in the Russian Empire , Pavlichenko moved to Kiev with her family at the age of fourteen. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a St. Petersburg factory worker. In Kiev, she joined a shooting club and developed into an amateur sharpshooter. As a teenager, she attended evening school at night, as well as complete household chores. She enrolled at Kiev University, in 1937 where she studied history, intending to be a scholar and teacher. While attending college, she competed on the university's track team as a sprinter and pole vaulter. While attending university, she was enrolled in a military-style sniping school for six months by the Red Army. It is biographical details may have been changed or omitted altogether. In June 1941, 24-year-old she was in her fourth year studying history at Kiev University when Germany began its invasion of the Soviet Union. Pavlichenko was among the first round of volunteers at the Odessa recruiting office. Thus she was assigned to the Red Army's There she became one of 2,000 female snipers in the Red Army of whom about 500 survived the war. Although she was assigned a combat role. She then shot her first two enemies and proved herself to her comrades. She fought for about two and a half months during the Siege of Odessa, where she recorded 187 kills. She was promoted to Senior Sergeant in August 1941, when she reached 100 confirmed kills. When the Romanian Army gained control of Odessa on 15 October 1941, her unit was withdrawn by sea to Sevastopol to fight in the Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942). There she trained other snipers, who killed over a hundred Axis soldiers during the battle. In May 1942, newly promoted Lieutenant Pavlichenko was cited by the Southern Army Council for killing 257 Axis soldiers. Her total of confirmed kills during World War II was 309, including 36 Axis snipers. In June 1942, she was hit in the face with shrapnel from a mortar shell. She spent around a month in the hospital. Due to her high kill count, she was nicknamed "Lady Death". She also trained snipers for combat duty until the end of the war in 1945. In 1942, Pavlichenko was sent to Canada and the United States for a publicity visit as part of the USSR's attempts to convince the other Allies of World War II to open a second front against Nazi Germany When she visited the United States, she became the first Soviet citizen to be received by a US president, as Franklin D. Roosevelt welcomed her to the White House. Pavlichenko was later invited by Eleanor Roosevelt to tour the US. Pavlichenko appeared before the International Student Assembly being held in Washington, D.C., attended the meetings of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and made appearances and speeches in New York City and Chicago.9]On Friday 21 November 1942, Pavlichenko visited Coventry, England.In 1943, she was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union] as well as the Order of Lenin twice. After the war, she finished her education at Kiev University, and began a career as a historian from 1945 to 1953, she was a research assistant at Soviet Navy headquarters. She was later active in the Soviet Committee of the Veterans of War. In 1957, Eleanor Roosevelt visited her in Moscow during a visit to the Soviet Union. Pavlichenko died from a stroke on 10 October 1974 at age 58 and was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

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