In keeping with March being Women’s History month, I thought it might be fun to take a quick peek at some female badasses of the past and one who is likely out there right now smoking bad guys as I write this.

Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, faced down the Roman empire’s might and took her own life rather than be a prisoner of Octavian.

 

Queen Boudicca of the Celtic tribe the Iceni. She led the Iceni to victory over the Legions of Rome at Colchester and later sacked and burned London. Her ferocity almost convinced the Roman emperor Nero to abandon Britain.

Jeanne D’Arc at the age of 18, galvanized a French Army to victory over the English (occasionally, this did actually happen) at Orleans. She later led the French army when they captured Reims and Troyes. She was captured by the Burgundians at Compiegne, who in -turn sold her to the English. She was tried for heresy and burned at the stake at Rouen France in 1431

 

 

Now let’s meet two Ukrainian women who fearlessly went to war to protect their homeland and in the process knocked off a trainload of bad guys. Lyudmila Pavlichenko at age 24 left college in Kyiv and became a sniper with the Red Army in the Odesa region. Armed with her scoped Mosin-Nagant rifle she whacked 309 Nazis including 36 enemy snipers earning her the nickname “Lady Death.”

 

Finally, there’s Olena Bilozerska, a Ukrainian journalist, blogger, and sniper, from Kyiv. Olena is credited with killing two Russian separatists (likely operatives) in the Donbas area. Undoubtedly, she is out there right now with her trusty Zbroyar Z-10 sniper rifle. Shoot straight Olena and watch your six.