Wonder Woman of the Week: Aliya Moldagulova
This week's Wonder Woman was a warrior who died young in a bloody war that saw unprecedented death and damage on a global stage. Although this heroine died before the end of the war, her skill and sacrifice helped pave the way for an eventual victory for her nation and its allies soon after. Aliya Moldagulova was born in modern-day Kazakhstan in1925 where she spent most of her childhood. That childhood came during a tumultuous time in Soviet history as an intense famine hit the Soviet Union during the 1930's. It was during this time that both Moldagulova's mother and brother died from malnutrition or disease worsened by the famine. After wandering the countryside in search of any food she could get her hands on, the young Aliya finally found a relative willing to take her in- an uncle who raised her and got her accepted into a military academy in Moscow.
Aliya Moldagulova excelled at the academy, and moved to St. Petersburg when the school relocated. That move proved to be a testing ground for Moldagulova's skills as- soon after- Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and laid siege to the city. When her family evacuated the city to escape the fighting, Moldagulova stayed behind to fight as one of over one million Kazakhs joining the war effort. In 1942, Moldagulova evacuated the city to join an aviation school in hopes of becoming a pilot in the Soviet Union's air forces, but instead impressed instructors with her riflery skills enough to earn a post as a sniper in the infantry. At eighteen years old- already with first hand experience in combat- Moldagulova became an official soldier in the armed forces of the Soviet Union as a sniper, and it wasn't long before she arrived at the front.
Following a stalled German siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in the north and failed siege of Stalingrad in the south, Soviet forces counterattacked to drive German forces out of Eastern Europe. In the north, Aliya Moldagulova was part of a vanguard (forward forces) driving the Germans out of a region bordering Baltic states like Estonia and Latvia. Moldagulova impressed her fellow soldiers and her superior officers with her skill as a sniper- often receiving praise from officers typically reserved for sons. During the Leningrad-Novgorod offensive in 1944 in the north, Moldagulova's unit led the attack on entrenched German forces.
During the charge, Moldagulova took shrapnel from an explosive mine in her arm, but continued to fight. After entering German trenches, the fatally wounded Moldagulova killed a German officer in hand-to-hand combat, then continued to lead her fellow soldiers to thrust back several attempted German counter-attacks before she eventually died of her wounds. Moldagulova's death however became a rallying cry for more Kazakh troops to join the war effort, more women to become snipers, and more Soviet forces to charge proudly into combat. By the end of 1945, Soviet troops had occupied Berlin, and the war was over- thanks in large part to the efforts of Soviet forces- especially their fighting women like Moldagulova.
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