Among notable artifacts of the new Ukrainian-oriented exposition of the War Museum of the 1990s, there was a bright handkerchief with the image of famous buildings of London, which belonged to Liudmyla Pavlychenko. Her life story became an important part of the exhibition space, which told about the fierce battles on the Crimean peninsula, in particular for Sevastopol.Indeed. She was a Ukrainian, the most successful female sniper, “lady death” and Hero of the Soviet Union. She received special attention from the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill and the US presidential couple, Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt, during her visits in 1942 to these countries. By her example and passionate words, she inspired the Western allies to speed up the opening of the second front in occupied Europe.When that exhibition was created, it still mainly gravitated towards the Soviet vision of the Second World War, despite the change in approaches. That is why Liudmyla’s canonical biography was taken into account at that time.She was born on July 12, 1916 in Bila Tserkva. Soon the family moved to Kyiv. The girl studied at a vocational school, worked at the Kyiv Arsenal plant, attended a school for snipers. In 1937 entered the Faculty of History of Kyiv State University. Before the attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union, she managed to finish four courses (a thesis was about Bohdan Khmelnytskyi) and even underwent short-term sniper training, after which she volunteered to go to the frontline.
Since June 1941 she was a soldier of the Red Army, a participant of the defensive battles in the south of Ukraine and distinguished herself as a sniper in the defense of Odesa and Sevastopol. In July 1942 she killed 309 enemy soldiers and officers (36 snipers). In June 1942 she was wounded and was taken from the frontline. As a member of the delegation of Soviet students, she visited the USA, Canada and Great Britain, where she spoke before the international community. She was trained at the “Postril” courses and taught sniper skills to many soldiers. On October 25, 1943 she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war, she finished her studies at the university. Until 1953 she was a researcher of the Main Staff of the Navy. Participant of many international congresses and conferences. She died in 1974.But over time, there are more and more doubts about the official version of Pavlychenko’s life especially on the background of the “biographical” film “Battle for Sevastopol / Nezlamna” released during the Russian-Ukrainian war. Currently, the facts about her family, childhood, university years, personal life, places and circumstances of military service, the significance of her foreign travels are being re-examined by the professional researchers and simply lovers of military history. However, there is certainly dispute over the number of the Nazis killed by her.So, in order to find out the real past, we have to walk a thorny path in search of the truth, whatever it may be.