The Fighting Girlfriend

Love is a beautiful thing. You never know when you'll stumble upon it. It's been a long, tiresome day. You are on your way back from work, a presumptuous dame takes the seat next to you since she was last in line to board the super metro and it was the only sit left.

Weee.. she's fyaaaam!

"Your type?" Definitely.

She's your type mostly because there's something in her that resembles your mum. It is what attracts you to her. Maybe it's her height. She is shorter than you and you love shorties.

Maybe it's her skin color or the gap between her teeth. You can't quite point it out but it's there. Love at first sight.

The Romeo and Juliet fantasy of a happy, ideal couple, wearing matching outfits, going to church together holding hands, and singing kumbaya. You go for photo shoots together for the gram trying so hard to spite your exes, haters, and the other ladies who denied your request for a relationship.

You offer to pay her bus fare. Exchange some sweet nothings and everything, and wonder where she's been all your life. As she approaches her destination at Roysambu you don't want to miss a chance of ever seeing her again so you ask for her contact. Her name's Mercy by the way, and that is how you meet and the genesis of your relationship. The rest is history.

I bet you are all waiting for the drama to the fights right?

Haha... How were your holidays by the way? I hope you had a nice one. The chapos, the steaks, the ribs? Eeeii!?

One thing I've noticed, holidays aren't the same as when we were kids. I remember back in the days, Christmas was huge. New outfits, there was no school and the sodas?

We made it to 2023. Happy New Year to you all.

Back to the story; This is not one of those stories.

This is the story of one brave woman, driven by anger and revenge for the death of her husband.

Her name was Mariya Oktyabrskaya. I don't know how it's pronounced but if bite your tongue trying to, that's on you.

She was married to a soldier who perished in 1941 during the second world war against Germany and the soviet union after the Germans broke a peace treaty. She was filled with anger for her loss and wanted revenge for the love of her life Ilya Oktyabrskaya.

He died in combat, among thousands of other soldiers, who were just a statistical number. To her, this was her love. She wasn't just going to leave him as a tabloid statistic. She wanted to do something to avenge him.

She sold all her worldly possessions and bought a tank. A battle tank, yes, a T-34 tank.

She then wrote a letter to the commander; the Great Joseph Stalin requesting permission to drive the tank into battle. Anyone can be a soldier during a time of peace. But it takes a war to make a soldier.

"My husband was killed defending the motherland. I want revenge on the fascist dogs for his death and for the soviet people, tortured by the fascist barbarians."

"For this purpose, I have deposited all my personal savings 50,000 rubles to the national bank in order to build a tank. I kindly ask to name the tank Fighting Girlfriend and to send me to the frontline as a driver of the said tank."

-Mariya Oktyabrskaya. What a babe!?

Having been trained for five months she went to the 26th Guards Tank Brigade, as part of the 2nd Guards Tank Corps, in September 1943 as a driver and mechanic in her emblazoned tank.

She and her crewmen were the first tank to penetrate the German position knocking down several German artillery guns and machine guns surpassing the expectations of her brigade.

A month into the war, her tank was hit by gunfire rendering it immobile. She and one of her crewmen disregarding orders leapt out and effected repairs under heavy fire. She was promoted to the rank of sergeant for her act of devotion to duty and courage under fire.

Three months later in January 1944, a similar incident occurred, and her tank was hit in the tracks by an anti-tank raft. As they were repairing the tank with a crew member, amid the heavy fire. She was hit by shrapnel in the head and lost consciousness.

She remained in a hospital, for two months with severe headaches and memory loss, fever and delirium until falling into a coma then she succumbed to her death on the 15 March, joining her Romeo in the afterlife.

She was posthumously made a Hero of the Red Army, in recognition of her bravery in battle.