World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseKlavdiia Efremovna Kalugina was born in 1926. When German invaded the Soviet Union, she was working at a munitions factory. Shortly after, she joined the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol), through which she learned of an opening in a Komsomol sniper school, and promptly joined in 1943. She performed poorly in the beginning, but she credited squad commander Zinaida Andreevna Urantseva's patience for her improvement and eventual graduation from sniper school. She was sent to the front lines in Mar 1944, joining the 3rd Belorussian Front. She killed many Germans during the war, but in post-war interviews she failed to recall how many she had fell. Her usual weapon was a Mosin-Nagant rifle with a PU scope and mounting for a bayonet should the need for one arose. Besides having a steady aim, she noted that the next most important skill to possess was the ability to camouflage well.

Photographs

Klavdia Kalugina Timeline