Neat figure. I've seen photos of them and in all of them they had shaved heads.~Gary
Women's Battalions were segregated all-female combat units formed after the
February Revolution by the
Russian Provisional Government in a last ditch effort to inspire the mass of war-weary soldiers to continue fighting in
World War I until victory could be achieved. In the spring of 1917 a number of women began pressing the new Provisional Government to expand female participation in the war, and particularly to form combat units of women volunteers. These women, along with a number of high-ranking members of the Russian government and military administration, believed that female soldiers would have significant
propaganda value and that their example would revitalize the weary, demoralized men of the Russian army. Simultaneously, they hoped the presence of women would serve to "shame" hesitant male soldiers into resuming their combat duties. Fifteen formations were created in 1917, including the
1st Russian Women's Battalion of Death, a separate unit called the
1st Petrograd Women's Battalion formed a few weeks later in
Petrograd, the
2nd Moscow Women's Battalion of Death created in
Moscow, and the
3rd Kuban Women's Shock Battalion organized in
Ekaterinodar. Four communications detachments were created in Moscow and Petrograd. Seven additional communications units were created in
Kiev and
Saratov, again employing privately organized women's units already existing in those cities. An all-female naval unit was created in
Oranienbaum, the
1st Women's Naval Detachment, as part of the Naval Infantry Training Detachment.
The women's battalions were never part of the
White Army,
Green Army, or
Black Army, the other Russian political groups fighting the Bolsheviks.
Here are some pictures showing them with and without hair.
remo and Tamia putty.
