What Really did the Germans with Captured Female Soviet soldiers?

When Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union in June 1941, it came as a big surprise to both Stalin and the Allied Powers.

After all, they had been on good terms until recently and even signed a treaty of non-aggression in 1939.

Nonetheless, Germany ordered their troops to invade the neighboring nation and to charge against Moscow in what was known as Operation Barbarossa.

During the campaign, the Germans were profoundly surprised to learn that the Red Army had recruited so many women to fight alongside men.

Indeed, this was an anomaly in any army of the time and even today.

For some German soldiers and officers, to know that they were fighting against women was a disgusting thought.

But for others, it enticed their most basic fantasies.

It is calculated that more than 800,000 Soviet women served in the Red Army during World War II.

Female soldiers who were directly involved in combat achieved particular international renown.

The KN bomber pilots, known as KN witches, and the female snipers like Lyudmila Pavlichenko and Roza Shanina are the most extraordinary examples of female participation in the war.

Between 1941 and 1945, a total of 2,484 Soviet female snipers were deployed for the war, and their combined tally of kills is estimated to be at least 11,280.

At first, when Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 22nd, 1941, thousands of women presented themselves in Red Army offices to volunteer.

But most of them were turned away as they had no experience on the battlefield.

However, after massive losses in the face of Operation Barbarossa, attitudes had to be changed, ensuring a greater role for women who wanted to fight.

The high command of the Red Army allowed for women to be drafted, and they were incorporated in great numbers into medical and auxiliary units, but also into fighting battalions.

However, more than half of these women were in the medical service of the Soviet Armed Forces.

They accounted for 41% of the frontline doctors and 100% of the nursing staff.

Those near the front performed their duties under especially difficult conditions and in constant mortal danger.

Military medical personnel were second only to the infantry in terms of the number of combat losses.

For this reason, thousands of women were awarded the status of Hero of the Soviet Union, being praised and loved in their communities once the war was over.

But for others, it was a completely different story.

Around 6 million Soviet women died in the course of the war, around 2.

5 million of which were involved in the partisan war against the occupying Nazis.

There is no definitive number of Soviet women who became prisoners of war or were captured by the Nazis, but estimates are in the tens of thousands.