When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, hundreds of thousands of Soviet men and women did not hesitate to join the war effort. The soldiers were expectedly placed on the frontlines while the women were assigned to be nurses, clerks, cooks, and snipers.

Around 2,000 women underwent training to become sharpshooters before they were sent to the dangerous parts of the warzone to take down the enemies, one shot at a time— all by themselves, lying still for hours to avoid detections until the perfect vulnerable timing of the enemies arrived. It turned out they were good at it. Here are three female snipers of the Soviet Union:

Lyudmila Pavlichenko

Female sniper Lyudmila Pavlochenko with her rifle in a trench. (Израиль Абрамович Озерский (1904 – 1971) (author not found out until 21st century), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

She is one of the well-known female snipers of the Soviet Union, and she would not earn the moniker Lady Death for no reason.

Pavlichenko was born in a small village outside of Kyiv, Ukraine. When the Germans invaded, she took her master’s degree in history at Kyiv University. She did not hesitate to volunteer, although the recruiters tried to steer her toward becoming a nurse. Pavlichenko was not swayed and insisted she wanted to be given a combat role.