Lyudmila Stepanovna Kravets (, uk, Людмила Степанівна Кравець; 7 February 1923 – 23 May 2015) was a medic in the 63rd Guards Rifle Regiment during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. For her actions in the war, she was awarded the title

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

on 31 May 1945.

Civilian life

Kravets was born on 7 February 1923 in the village of Kushuhum to a working-class Ukrainian family. After completing her seventh grade of school in 1939, she went on to attend a two-year nursing course in

Zaporozhye Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запоріжжя) or Zaporozhye (russian: Запорожье) is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia has a populatio ...

, graduating in 1941.

Military career

Kravets joined the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

in July 1941 after the start of the Second World War, initially working in military hospitals. In 1942 her regiment fought on the

Northwestern Front The Northwestern Front (Russian: ''Северо-Западный фронт'') was a military formation of the Red Army during the Winter War and World War II. It was operational with the 7th and 13th Armies during the Winter War. It was re-cr ...

, in which she sustained a serious injury but returned to fighting after recovering. She was awarded the Medal "For Courage" after a night combat mission in 1943 in which she read out an order to surrender in German while in close proximity to enemy territory; 29 German soldiers surrendered the next morning.Санинструктор полка Людмила Кравец, которой нет на запорожской Аллее Славы. Из цикла «Герои земли Запорожской»
ХРОНИКИ и КОММЕНТАРИИ. During the Battle of Berlin on 17 April 1945, while on the outskirts of the city, she took over the duties of the company commander and participated in direct combat in the battle. Later in the battle she evacuated injured soldiers from the area under enemy fire. For her actions in battle, she was awarded the title

31 May 1945 with an

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

. She was demobilized from the military in 1946.

Later life

Following the war, she remained a medic in the army until transferring to the reserve in May 1946. In September the previous year she married Vladimir Ledvin, an officer she met on the front in 1944. After leaving the military she returned to Zaporozhye, but did not stay there for very long, having to live in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

in 1948 because her husband was sent there. She lived in

Dnepropetrovsk Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

until 1951 and later Nikopol, before she and her family settled in Zaporozhye again in 1954 - their first child Valery was born in 1949 and then their daughter Irina in 1951. Despite complications of her wounds from the war, she led an active life, visiting

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

as part of Soviet delegations on several occasions, as well as giving lectures to schoolchildren, soldiers, and prisoners. In 1982 she moved to Kiev, where she died on 23 May 2015 at the age of 92.

Awards

Soviet

(31 May 1945) *

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisa ...

1st class (11 March 1985) * Three Orders of the Red Star (1 October 1943, 15 September 1944, and 7 February 1945) * Medal "For Courage" (8 February 1943) * campaign and jubilee medals

Foreign

Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...

(6 May 1985) * Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky 3rd class (14 October 1999)

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kravets, Lyudmila 1923 births 2015 deaths Heroes of the Soviet Union Women in the Russian and Soviet military Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner People from Zaporizhzhia Oblast People from Yekaterinoslav Governorate Recipients of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 3rd class