Tania Chernova

Tania Chernova was a Russian-American who claimed in interviews to have been a trained sniper for the Soviet forces during the Battle of Stalingrad. However, the historian Antony Beevor has questioned the veracity of her claims and described her as a "fantasist". [1] A character, played by Rachel Weisz, based on Tania Chernova, appeared in the film Enemy at the Gates.

During World War II

Chernova was a Russian-American who went to Belarus to get her Grandparents out of Russia. When she reached Belarus, the Germans had already killed her Grandparents. After that incident, she joined the resistance.

Tania and her group went to Stalingrad by traveling through the sewer system to reach the Russian lines. After that, she joined Zaytsev's sniper school and became a sniper. The group of snipers that Zaytsev formed was called "The Hares." Tania was a part of a raid on a German headquarters. She and the rest of The Hares killed Germans by picking off guards one by one. Tania was accredited with 24 kills. Chernova and Zaytsev were in love during the war but were later separated.[2]

Chernova was deeply wounded in her abdomen, on the way to the German front lines along with a small team to assassinate von Paulrus, when she set her foot on a land mine by mistake. She was admitted to a hospital in Tashkent and later recovered. She got a wrong news about Zaytsev being killed in a war explosion at Stalingrad. After recovery, she got married to someone else but could not conceive because of the injury.[2]

In 1969 she was interviewed by American journalist William Craig and one of the things he asked her about was her time in the Hares. Confused as to how he got this information, she immediately asked him where he heard that. He replied with that Zaytsev told him. In Craig's book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad that was written based on interviews, there is a narrative of a love triangle between commissar Danilov, Chernova and Zaytsev which has been explained as a work of fiction by English military historian Antony Beevor.[2]

After the war

Tania Chernova survived the war. She continued to "break as many sticks" as she could. William Craig interviewed her for his 1973 book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad:

More than a quarter century after her vendetta against the enemy, the graying sniper still refers to the Germans she killed as "sticks" that she broke. For many years after the war she believed that Vassili Zaitsev, her lover, had died from grievous wounds. Only in 1969, did she learn that he had recovered and married someone else. The news stunned her for she still loved him.[3]

In fiction

In the film Enemy at the Gates, Tania is a citizen of Stalingrad who has become a Private in the local militia. Danilov has her transferred to an intelligence unit away from the battlefield. She later reunited with Zaitsev in a field hospital.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Hollywood recycles Soviet tale, BBC News 9 November, 2000.
  2. 1 2 3 Paul Dowswell (1 September 2012). True Stories of the Second World War: Usborne True Stories. Usborne Publishing Ltd. pp. 56–. ISBN 978-1-4095-5515-5.
  3. ↑ https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/THE-SWORD-OF-STALINGRAD-Stalingrad-Deadly-Battle-of-WWII
  4. ↑ "Tania Chernova (Character)". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
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