Marie Ljalková

Marie Ljalková (b. December 3, 1920) was a Czech sniper in the Soviet Army during  World War II.

Ljalková (nee: Petrušák) was born in Horodenka, Ukraine to a family of Volhynian Czechs.

Ljalková joined the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Field Battalion as a volunteer in March 1942, and graduated from a three-month sniper school in Buzuluk.

Her first combat experience came during the three-day Battle of Sokolovo, March 8th-11th 1943, when she was credited with killing seven German soldiers, earning her immediate ace status.

She later became a sniper instructor of the Czechoslovak and Soviet infantry, and was at some point an ambulance driver.

She was credited with 30 confirmed kills during the war, and earned recognition with the Soviet Order of the Red Star and the Czechoslovakian War Cross.

After the war, she studied medicine, and worked as a military doctor in Olomouc and in the Central Military Hospital in Prague. She eventually attained the rank of colonel and currently lives in Brno.

Reference

 * Láník, Jaroslav - Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje 1939-1945 (2005) ISBN 80-7278-233-9

Marie Ljalková