On January 28, 1945, Roza Shanina, a legendary Soviet sniper who at the age of 19 volunteered to join the Red Army to avenge the murder of her 3 brothers at the hands of the Nazis, fell in combat.
With her Mosin Nagant rifle, she avenged her brothers by single-handedly killing 59 Nazis, 12 of them elite Wehrmacht snipers.
Roza, whose name was inspired by Rosa Luxemburg, was a kindergarten teacher whose parents were farmers, and when she learned of the murder of her 3 brothers at the hands of the Nazis at the front, she did not hesitate to take up a rifle to avenge them.
In the last entry of her war diary she wrote: ” Despite my desire to be safe, I cannot help but go to the front line. I am not afraid of them, I will fight hand-to-hand if necessary”… she died putting her body on top of a grenade to protect and save the lives of her wounded comrades.