The article by A. Fomicheva about Lia Levina
A first sight the war-time biography of Lia Levina does not seem to have been heroic. However, like some other Soviet women volunteers, she served bravely fulfilling non-combat yet life-threatening missions.
Lia Levina was born into a Jewish family in the town of Rogachev, Belorussia in 1907. After war broke out on June 22, 1941 Lia succeeded in fleeing to the eastern part of the Soviet Union. On June 18, 1942 she volunteered for the Red Army, from March 1943 being in charge of logistics at Front Supply Base No. 29. Many times Levina delivered goods and food under terrible weather conditions and under German fire to Soviet troops on the front lines. On one occasion she recounted to a group of Red Army soldiers the difficulties she had in reaching them:
"I left the forest… and entered a field. The snow was falling so thickly that it was impossible to see anything. I walked without hiding, thinking that the Germans wouldn't see me. But I was wrong. Rifle- and then machinegun-fire began. I had to lie down and crawl forward. The wet snow stuck to my overcoat and I looked like a snowman. The Germans apparently lost sight of me and stopped shooting. Then I got to my feet and ran. A mortar shell suddenly exploded near me, but I managed to fall down in time. However, the shells continued to fly and it became dangerous. So I jumped into a bomb crater. I was in the snow up to my waist and my legs were in [icy] water under the snow. They began to freeze. It was dangerous [to stay there] since I could have lost my feet. I had to jump out and run. The Germans increased their fire, but I didn't pay attention to that. That is how I reached you under fire…." (A. Fomivheva, "Sovetskaia markitantka" [Soviet Supplier], GARF 8114-1-181, copy YVA JM/26151).
During one of her missions she found herself in the midst of a battle, fighting alongside with male soldiers. She was wounded, but after recovering, insisted on continuing her mission. On May 15, 1943 she was awarded a medal for Combat Merit for her devotion to duty and self-sacrifice while supplying the troops with provisions and for the courage she displayed in battle.
