In 1941, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, a 24-year-old woman in Ukraine

volunteered to join the Red Army. She was initially pressured to become a nurse,

like most women who volunteered. However, that wasn't what she wanted to do. She wanted to be on the

front lines. Within a year, she was to become one of the most lethal soldiers in

all of the Second World War. Learn more about Ludmilla Pavlauchenko, aka Lady Death, on this episode of Everything Everywhere

Daily. The woman we know as Ludmilla Mikhailovna Pavlachenko was born Ludmilla Belova in present

day Ukraine in what was then the Russian Empire in 1916.

She was admittedly a tomboy growing up and was always very competitive.

When she was 14 years old, her parents moved to Kiev.

While in Kiev, legend has it that she encountered a boy her age who was bragging about what a good shot he was with a rifle.

She later noted, quote, I set out to show that a girl could do just as well as a boy, so I practiced a lot.

End quote.

She joined a local shooting club and began practicing.

She quickly showed proficiency and earned the respected Voral Shai Love Sharp shooter badge,

which was a Soviet civilian award for excellence in sharpshooting. She was a Soviet civilian award for excellence in sharp shooting.

She was married very early at the age of 16 and had a son.

It was this marriage where she took the name Pavlachenko.

However, the marriage didn't last very long, and she and her young son moved in with her parents.

She took a job at the Kiev Arsenal which manufactured armaments for the Soviet military.

In 1937, she enrolled in a university with the intent of becoming history teacher.

She competed on the track and field team in the pole vault, and also attended a Soviet sniper school

on the side to keep her marksmanship skills up to snuff.

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