If at the time we talked about the Nachthexen or Witches of the night , that is what the Germans called a group of women belonging to the 588th Night Bombardment Regiment of the Soviet Union who turned their nights into real nightmares, this time it is a single woman who is the protagonist of sowing terror among the German ranks, she was Yevdokiya Zavaliy . This is the story of a Ukrainian farmer whose life changed in the summer of 1941... when the Germans bombed and occupied her village.
Yevdokiya Zavaliy
Yevdokiya Zavaliy she was born in a small peasant village located in the Mykolaiv region (Ukraine) in 1924 -according to other sources in 1926-. It was one year or another, the fact is that when World War II broke out she was a teenager. In July 1941, while she was working on a farm, her town was bombed by the Germans. They all ran and looked for some place to take cover. When Yevdokiya reached the door of a house, she heard cries of pain behind her; she turned around and saw a fallen Soviet soldier on the ground hit by shrapnel. Without thinking twice, she entered the house and went to a room, ripped the sheets off the bed and tore them. She went back out into the street and bandaged the young soldier's wounds, plugging the bleeding. He would be the first of the many wounded she treated on that fateful day that was going to change her life... she asked to join the military detachment she had posted in the area . Even without being convinced of her age - she lied to him saying that she was 18 years old - the officer had seen how she had handled herself during the bombing and accepted her as a nurse. Before leaving, her grandmother prophesied:
You will bleed four times, but the white geese will bring you back...
Despite beginning to serve as a nurse, Yevdokiya used the little time she had off to learn how to shoot pistols and machine guns. In that same year she was going to experience what her life would be like during the following years: sustained injuries (the first on the Khortytsia island in the Dnieper River) and decorations her (she was awarded the Order of the Red Star for saving an officer's life). But as a nurse she was not going to be able to do much more, until a mistake gave her the opportunity to fight on the front lines. An officer mistook her for a man - they were wearing the same uniform and had just shaved her head due to lice - and ordered her to join a group of soldiers from the Sixth Airborne Brigade to try to stop the German offensive near Goryachy Kluch . It would be the first of many battles she participated in. He was even made - because he still maintained his "status" as a man - a sergeant when he captured a German officer. There were examples of his courage for all tastes and colors:the Germans had besieged the city of Mozdok , on the left bank of the Térek river , and among the defenders of the city food and ammunition were becoming scarce, so Yevdokiya crossed the river at night and managed to enter the German camp, stole food and ammunition and loaded them on a boat to return; the following year, in the Kuban region , his company was receiving a harsh punishment and the loss of the commanding officer left the Soviets bewildered and not knowing what to do, Sergeant Zavaliy took command and harangued his comrades to launch a strong counterattack that broke the enemy ranks… In this last confrontation she was wounded and was taken to the infirmary. She thought that when the doctors discovered that she was a woman, it would be the end of her military career and that she would go back to nursing. 
Yevdokiya Zvaliy
Nothing could be further from the truth, her achievements in battle weighed much more and in 1943, at less than 20 years old, she was appointed commander of the artillery platoon. This appointment was not well seen by some who did not understand how a teenager could lead a battalion, but as soon as they saw her fight she earned her respect and admiration. The bravery and daring of that teenager also reached the German ranks, to the point that she was known as Frau Schwarzer Tod (Lady Black Death). Always at the forefront of all engagements, Commander Zvaliy participated in the defense of the Caucasus, the Battle of Crimea, and ultimately the liberation of Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. At the end of the fight, and as her grandmother had predicted before leaving her village, she was seriously injured 4 times but " the white geese brought her back «. What her grandmother did not know is that she would return after having received 40 decorations and medals. In 1947 she left the army and settled in kyiv, where she married and had 2 children, 4 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. She spent much of her life working as a grocery store manager, but she also toured many cities, army bases, and military units where she shared her stories with her countrymen. Yevdokiya Zvaliy passed away in kyiv on May 5, 2010.
