Reply #13: And the valiant Women's Battalion of Death during World War I

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Bochkareva

In all, 17 all-women combat units were formed as part of the Russian Army during World War I. The first of these was the Women's Battalion of Death, commanded by Maria "Yashka" Bochkareva. Bochkareva had already been wounded twice in combat as part of a men's unit. Her 2,000 female volunteers faced combat in the trenches facing the Germans. In the battle of Smorgon, they charged and went over the top where the men were afraid to come out and fight and their bravery shamed the men into joining the fight. They captured three rows of trenches from the Germans. Bochkareva was later captured by the Bolsheviks but they let her go because of her reputation for great courage. She came to the United States and met with President Woodrow Wilson, trying to convince him to intervene in the Russian Revolution. She also wrote a very famous book about her life during that time entitled "Yashka: My Life As Peasant, Exile, and Soldier." After her return to Russia to form a medical unit, she was again captured by the Bolsheviks and this time she was executed.