"Award Order
- Name: Oktyabrskaya, Maria Vasilyevna
- Rank: Guards Sergeant
- Position, unit: mechanic-driver, 26th Guards Yelnensk Tank Brigade, 2nd Guards Tank Corps
is nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. - Year of birth: 1905
- Nationality: Russian
- Party affiliation: none
- Participation in the Civil War, subsequent actions in defense of the USSR, and Patriotic War: in the Patriotic War since October 1943
- Wounds or concussions in the Patriotic War: heavily wounded on January 17th, 1944. Died from wounds.
- In the Red Army since: 1943
- Recruited by: Tomsk recruitment office
- Prior awards: Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class
Brief and specific description of heroism: After receiving notice of her husband's death in battle with the German invaders, comrade Oktyabrskaya gathered her personal savings and donated them towards the construction of a tank, asking comrade Stalin to name it "Fighting Girlfriend". This request was granted. She arrived at the tank brigade, serving as the tank's driver.
Comrade Oktyabrskaya, as a patriot of the Motherland, avenged her husband's death as expected of a heroic Soviet woman. Despite the difficulty in battle for male mechanic-drivers, comrade Oktyabrskaya treated her vehicle with love, regardless of the situation.
In battle on November 20th, 1943, near Novoye Selo, comrade Oktyabrskaya was the first to burst through enemy defenses, crushing one AT gun and up to 30 enemy soldiers with her tracks. In this battle, comrade Oktyabrskaya's tank was knocked out and she was wounded. Despite the wound, she remained with the tank, and was besieged for three days under constant artillery fire. Despite this, she repaired the tank and returned to her unit.
In the same tank, on January 17th, 1944, near the Krynki farm, comrade Oktyabrskaya participated in an attack to capture this settlement. Her tracks crushed two AT guns with their crews, but the tank was knocked out by enemy artillery. Comrade Oktyabrskaya displayed heroism by repairing the tank under thick shell and mortar fire, but was heavily wounded, sent to the hospital, where she died of her wounds. For her fearlessness, patriotism, and heroism in battle, comrade Oktyabrskaya is worthy of the posthumous award of the highest order: the title of Hero of the Soviet Union."
CAMD RF 33-793756-35