Maria Bochkareva

Yasha Buk

Maria Bochkareva and Yasha Buk share a deep romantic bond, possibly as lovers or devoted partners.

Captain Dementiev

Captain Dementiev works closely with Maria Bochkareva, likely as a fellow officer or commander in her battalion.

Governor Kraft

Governor Kraft interacts with Maria Bochkareva in an official capacity, possibly as a superior or mediator.

Captain Dementiev

Captain Dementiev works closely with Maria Bochkareva, likely as a fellow officer or commander in her battalion.

Captain Dementiev

Captain Dementiev works closely with Maria Bochkareva, likely as a fellow officer or commander in her battalion.

Yasha Buk

Maria Bochkareva and Yasha Buk share a deep romantic bond, possibly as lovers or devoted partners.

Governor Kraft

Governor Kraft interacts with Maria Bochkareva in an official capacity, possibly as a superior or mediator.

Yashka

Narrator and protagonist; describes her harsh childhood and early experiences of abuse and labor.

Part I: Youth

The protagonist; her youth is the focus of this part.

My Childhood of Toil

Narrator and protagonist; describes her birth, early childhood, and first job at age eight.

II: Marriage at Fifteen

Narrator and protagonist; at fifteen, she works for the Lazovs, is seduced by Vasili, abandoned, beaten by her father, marries Afanasy, and eventually flees to Irkutsk.

III: A Little Happiness

Arrives in Irkutsk penniless, works as a dishwasher, laundry worker, and asphalt foreman, then lives with Yasha Buk making ice cream and caring for the poor; arrested after hiding a revolutionary fugitive.

IV: The Road to Exile

Narrator and protagonist; she endures the march, refuses the Governor's proposition, but later accepts his help, leading to a violent confrontation with Yasha.

V: Escape from Exile

The narrator, who endures abuse, manages the household, and eventually escapes to enlist in the war.

Part II: War

Narrator and protagonist; enlists, fights, is wounded, and later organizes the Battalion of Death.

VI: I Enlist by the Grace of the Tsar

Returns to Tomsk after exile, resolves to enlist, and is authorized by the Tsar to serve as a soldier.

VII: My First Experience of No Man's Land

Narrates her first experience of combat, including gas attack, charge, wounding, capture, and return to the regiment.

Wounded and Paralysed

Narrator and protagonist; wounded in the leg, hospitalized, and slowly recovers.

IX: Eight Hours in German Hands

Narrator and protagonist; appears before a military medical commission, helps a soldier's wife, and returns to her regiment.

Part III: Revolution

Central figure; leads the Battalion of Death through the chaos of revolution, confronts deserters and Bolshevik agitators, and ultimately faces the dissolution of her unit.

X: The Revolution at the Front

Narrator and protagonist; initially shares the soldiers' joy but quickly becomes disillusioned by the breakdown of discipline and fraternization; decides to leave the front and is invited to Petrograd by Rodzianko.

I Organize the Battalion of Death

Organizes the Women's Battalion of Death, addresses recruits, and imposes strict discipline.

My Fight Against Committee Rule

The Commander of the Battalion, she refuses to form a committee and faces a mutiny, ultimately reorganizing her loyal remnant.

The Battalion at the Front

Commander of the Battalion; confronts the mob of deserters and refuses to leave her women overnight.

XIV: An Errand from Kerensky to Kornilov

Narrator and commander of the Women's Battalion; carries out errand between Kerensky and Kornilov, reviews a disreputable Moscow women's battalion, and leads her troops in a failed offensive.

XV: The Army Becomes a Savage Mob

Confronts the mob after Colonel Belonogov's lynching, defends her actions at the front, and is nearly killed by the mob before being rescued.

Part IV: Terror

Narrator and protagonist; witnesses the disintegration of the army, attempts to maintain order, is arrested and imprisoned by Bolsheviks.

XVI: The Triumph of Bolshevism

Commands the Battalion of Death, faces a Bolshevik mob demanding disarmament, orchestrates a daring escape, is promoted to captain, and works to build rapport with male soldiers.

XVII: Facing Lenin and Trotsky

Travels to Petrograd, is arrested, and confronts Lenin and Trotsky before escaping toward Kornilov's lines.

XVIII: Caught in a Bolshevik Deathtrap

Disguised as a Sister of Mercy and later as a sick peasant woman, she risks her life to reach Kornilov's lines and report on Bolshevik movements.

XIX: Saved by a Miracle

Imprisoned and facing execution, she is saved by the intervention of those she helped.

XX: I Set Out on a Mission

Leaves her mother and the invalids of her Battalion of Death in Tutalsk, travels east with her sister Nadia, is detained in Khabarovsk, and arrives in Vladivostok with only five roubles and seventy kopecks.

List of Illustrations

Depicted in military uniform with decorations and medals, sombre expression.