# Maria Bochkareva — Yashka character guide > Maria Bochkareva in Yashka by Maria Bochkareva. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Maria Leontievna, Maria Leontievna Bochkareva, Yashka, Bochkareva, plain Yashka, Yashka Bochkareva, Madame Bochkareva, Commander Bochkareva **First appearance:** 0003-i-my-childhood-of-toil ## Snapshot A peasant woman turned soldier who survives her husband's violence, exile, and war itself to command the Women's Battalion of Death. ## Who they are Maria narrates her own transformation from a battered wife in Amga to a decorated soldier who refuses to form a committee and stands alone against Kerensky's objections. Her stubbornness and physical courage make her both celebrated and suspect as revolution splits the army. Her survival of Yasha's noose and her later battles anchor the book's argument that will, not circumstance, defines her. ## Relationships ### [Yasha Buk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/characters/yasha_buk) _romantic_ Maria Bochkareva and Yasha Buk share a deep romantic bond, possibly as lovers or devoted partners. ### [Captain Dementiev](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/characters/captain_dementiev) _professional_ Captain Dementiev works closely with Maria Bochkareva, likely as a fellow officer or commander in her battalion. ### [Governor Kraft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/characters/governor_kraft) _professional_ Governor Kraft interacts with Maria Bochkareva in an official capacity, possibly as a superior or mediator. ### [Captain Dementiev](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/characters/captain_dementiev) _professional_ Captain Dementiev works closely with Maria Bochkareva, likely as a fellow officer or commander in her battalion. ### [Captain Dementiev](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/characters/captain_dementiev) _professional_ Captain Dementiev works closely with Maria Bochkareva, likely as a fellow officer or commander in her battalion. ### [Yasha Buk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/characters/yasha_buk) _romantic_ Maria Bochkareva and Yasha Buk share a deep romantic bond, possibly as lovers or devoted partners. ### [Governor Kraft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/characters/governor_kraft) _professional_ Governor Kraft interacts with Maria Bochkareva in an official capacity, possibly as a superior or mediator. ## In the story ### [Yashka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/yashka) Narrator and protagonist; describes her harsh childhood and early experiences of abuse and labor. ### [Part I: Youth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/part-i-youth) The protagonist; her youth is the focus of this part. ### [My Childhood of Toil](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/i-my-childhood-of-toil) Narrator and protagonist; describes her birth, early childhood, and first job at age eight. ### [II: Marriage at Fifteen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/v-escape-from-exile) The narrator, who endures abuse, manages the household, and eventually escapes to enlist in the war. ### [Part II: War](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/viii-wounded-and-paralysed) Narrator and protagonist; wounded in the leg, hospitalized, and slowly recovers. ### [IX: Eight Hours in German Hands](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/xi-i-organize-the-battalion-of-death) Organizes the Women's Battalion of Death, addresses recruits, and imposes strict discipline. ### [My Fight Against Committee Rule](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/xii-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/xiii-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/chapters/list-of-illustrations) Depicted in military uniform with decorations and medals, sombre expression. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/characters/maria_bochkareva - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/yashka_se/characters