Women during and after the war. Long thread. (Sorry for my broken English)

I’ve chosed this topic, because I think that it’s quite relate to the modern reality we are living now. It’s about women’s sacrifice and the result.

There were more then 800,000 women who served in the Soviet Armed Forces during the war,which is roughly 3 percent of total military personnel.The number of women in the Soviet military in 1943 was 348,309, 473,040 in 1944, and then 463,503 in 1945.

Of the medical personnel in the Red Army, 40% of paramedics, 43% of surgeons, 46% of doctors, 57% of medical assistants, and 100% of nurses were women.

Nearly 200,000 were decorated and 89 of them eventually received the Soviet Union's highest award, the Hero of the Soviet Union, among which some served as pilots, snipers, machine gunners, tank crew members and partisans, as well as in auxiliary roles.

All of the laundresses, many of the cooks were women too.

Women were not equipped by women’s uniforms. That means that they didn’t have women underwear, and shoes were huge for most of the women. Also they were not equipped by hygiene items for menstruation. Aviatresses were sewing panties from parachute. Well, they were the lucky ones.

In the rear the huge amount of incredibly hard work was doing by women. Heavy and light industry, felling and mining. They worked in such tough circumstances that many of them had uterus prolapse, frostbitten limbs and other disabilities.

And now to the POINT. Women on the Front were harassed by the brother-soldiers. Often raped, often woman was so scared that was choosing one officer instead being raped by many soldiers. Partisans were raping women from the villages and partisan women.

When they were giving birth or menstruated. They were selling them to the wood’s ravine. And often get killed by nazi or another partisans group.

Many of women soldiers were falling in love and making couples. You know, most of them were young girls. If she was getting pregnant, command was sending her to the for rear work. It means, that her child in most of the cases was treated like a bastard by society.

Do you know what happened after the war? THEY FORGOT ABOUT WOMEN. Yeah, they were using heroines like Pavlichenko for propaganda. But major part of women from the front were SHAMED AND HUMILIATED by society like sluts.

Yes, that women who were saving lifes, dragging soldiers from the battlefield and operating them. Who were signallers, gunners, antiaircrafters, pilots, tankers, marines, scouts. All that HEROINES who were sacrificing their lifes were called SLUTS.

They were saying that all the medals women had got, all the rewards and ranks, they’ve got for for harlotry. Command didn’t give reward for many heroines. They were stopping or slowing down process of consideration the reward cases.

On the photo of the previous tweet you can see Lidiya Litvyak. She destroyed 11 airplanes, fallen in the fight in 1943. Got the reward in 1990. On the next photo is Serafima Amosova. She made more then 500 fight flights. Didn’t got the reward.

Women from the front were kicked out from their husbands families. If they got the child before marriage. They were changing cities and didn’t talk about the war. Many of them were working for the reconstruction of the country after war.

When a woman had good connections or origin, men were using her for career and then leaving. For example furious tanker Evgeniya Vostrikova was a daughter of Kirov, one of the most major man in USSR. It happened to her. And she didn’t get married never. Lucky for her)

Only on 8 May 1965 Brezhnev made a holiday in honor of women’s contribution in WWII. Such a honour. You know, Soviet authorities loved to give something very funny as the reward. Pure mockery in my eyes.

In the movies, in the books, in the talks, everywhere they were portraying women of the front as pretty helpers, love interest, second plan who can’t do shit without brave, strong and, of course very noble men.

But in the 1988 Svetlana Alexievich published “The Unwomanly Face of War”. The book consists of interviews Svetlana was making with women veterans. She also has shoot a documentary with interviews with some of that heroic ladies in 1981.

Nina Perova also has written a book “Women Of The Great Patriotic War”. (That’s how USSR called Eastern Front) Based on the documents, and letters. This book I didn’t find in English

Epilogue. The question of women in the history disturbs me for long time. Because it is our question, dear women. From this history of sacrifice and betrayal I’ve made some very sad but quite rational conclusions. THERE IS NO ONE ON OUR SIDE EXEPT US.

No one will thank us, exept some of us. They will be always trying to erase, steal, devaluate and mock everything we do. They will be always try to exploit us and manipulate our empathy for their benefits. They are so fucking good in it.

I’m not a mentor and will not tell anyone what to do. For myself I decided to invest myself in myself and in women. The end.