Zinaida Aleksandrovna Samsonova (; 14 October 1924 – 27 January 1944) was a senior medical service sergeant, a

combat medic A combat medic is responsible for providing emergency medicine, emergency medical treatment at a point of wounding in a combat or training environment, as well as primary care and health protection and evacuation from a point of injury or illnes ...

who served in the 667th Infantry Regiment of the 218th Infantry Division of the Soviet 47th Army on the

Voronezh Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Killed in action on 27 January 1944 by a German sniper while attempting to rescue a wounded Soviet soldier during the Kalinkovichi-Mozyr offensive west of

Gomel Gomel (, ) or Homyel (, ) is a city in south-eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it is the List of cities and largest ...

, she was posthumously awarded the title of

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

on 3 June 1944.

Civilian life

Samsonova was born on 14 October 1924 to a Russian family in the Moscow Governate; her father worked as a blacksmith. In the early 1930s the family moved to the town of Kolychevo in

Yegoryevsk Yegoryevsk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Yegoryevsky District, Moscow Oblast, Yegoryevsk Urban Settlement in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the bank of the Guslitsa River southeast of ...

. After graduating from secondary school in 1939 and completing her training at the Yegoryevsky Medical School in August 1942, Samsonova worked as a nurse in a house for the disabled until 1941 when she was transferred to a construction job after the start of the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

Military career

Samsonova joined the Red Army in October 1942 after completing medical school and leaving her construction job. She was assigned to the 667th Infantry Regiment as part of the medical service. In her career she fought on the

Stalingrad Volgograd,. geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area o ...

and Voronezh Fronts and in the Battles of Stalingrad and

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

. She was well known among her peers for her bravery after the advance to the

Bukrin bridgehead Velykyi Bukryn (; ) is a village in Obukhiv Raion at the south of Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, with about 100 inhabitants (2001). It belongs to Rzhyshchiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The village, founded in 1600, belongs administrati ...

in the

Battle of the Dnieper The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. Being one of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost four million troops at one point and stretched over a front. Ov ...

, on 24 September 1943, in which she was one of the first to cross and maintain a bridgehead. In that battle she part of the first landing group, and during the seizure she killed three German soldiers. Between 26–27 September, under heavy enemy fire she evacuated over 30 wounded soldiers to the left bank. In a firefight on September 27 during the night she joined the rest of the troops in a counterattack on German forces, operating an automatic rifle and hand grenades in the battle. Drunina, Yulia
Heroines, Issue 2.
1969. During her career she participated in numerous battles as part of the wider Battle for Dnieper, including battles for Kiev, Zhytomyr, and the Zhitomir–Berdichev Offensive. In November 1943 her unit was transferred from the Voronezh Front to the Belarusian Front. Her military career was cut short when she was killed by a German sniper on 27 January 1944 while she was evacuating a wounded soldier from the battlefield in the Kalinkovichi-Mozyr offensive. She was buried in a mass grave in Azarychy, Gomel, currently within Belarus, and awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 3 June 1944 by Decree of Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Memorials and dedications

* A portrait in her likeness was featured on a Soviet postcard in part of a series of postcards featuring female medics that were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. *

Yulia Drunina Yulia Vladimirovna Drunina ( rus, Ю́лия Влади́мировна Дру́нина, p=ˈjʉlʲɪjə vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvnə ˈdrunʲɪnə, a=Yuliya Vladimirovna Drunina.ru.vorb.oga; 10 May 1924 – 20 November 1991) was a Soviet poet who wr ...

, one of her colleagues who survived the war and went on to become a celebrity, wrote a poem titled "Zinka" dedicated to Samsonova. * Various memorial plaques and statues are present throughout the town of

and the medical school where she studied. * There are several streets bearing her name in Yegoryevsk, Russia and Azarychy, Belarus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samsonova, Zinaida 1924 births 1944 deaths Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Soviet military personnel killed in World War II Women in the Russian and Soviet military Soviet women in World War II Combat medics

Civilian life

Military career

Memorials and dedications

See also

References