Valeriya Gnarovskaya. (Victory Day Special)

Valeria Osipovna Gnarovskaya (October 18, 1923 — September 23, 1943) was a Soviet medical instructor during the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, posthumously). On September 23, 1943, near the village of Verbovoye (now the village of Gnarovskoye, Volnyansky district, Zaporozhye region, Ukraine), two enemy Tiger tanks broke into the rear of the Soviet troops and rushed to the location of the regimental headquarters and the medical battalion. At this critical moment, V.O. Gnarovskaya, grabbing a bunch of grenades and rising to her full height, rushed towards the enemy tank in front and, sacrificing her life, blew it up. The second tank was hit by fighters from an anti-tank rifle. During the war, she provided assistance to 338 wounded soldiers and commanders. For the courage and heroism shown in the battles with the Nazi troops, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 3, 1944, Foreman Valeria Osipovna Gnarovskaya was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union**. She was buried in a mass grave in the center of the village of Verbovoye (sometimes called Ivanenki), which in 1945 was renamed the village of Gnarovskoye.