The Unwomanly Face of War Book Review

The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II

By Svetlana Alexievich

Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Hardcover in dustjacket, 331 pages

Published by Random House, July 2017

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0-39958-872-8

ISBN-13: 978-0-39958-872-3

Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.3 x 9.5 inches

During the Second World War the Soviet Union was faced with an acute manpower shortage. Like other countries, the Soviets utilized women in support roles to free up men for service in combat units. But unlike other nations women also served in combat units, often in combatant roles. Soviet women were combat medics, snipers, tank drivers, pilots, infantrymen, – basically any job which was needed. These women were motivated by patriotism, and often by the desire to avenge a friend or relative killed by the Germans. In all, over a million women served in the Soviet military during the Great Patriotic War.