Red Army soldier Aleksandra Boiko not only fought the Nazis in World War II, but did so as a crewmember in her own heavy tank. Literally “own”: she crewed a tank that was owned by her and her husband, Ivan Boiko, who fought in the machine alongside his wife. Below are some interesting facts about Aleksandra Boiko’s extraordinary WWII feats
A Couple that Fights Together Stays Together?
Aleksandra and Ivan Boiko lived in the Siberian town of Magadan. They had volunteered to work in that rugged region, where wages were higher and the opportunities for advancement were greater. Magadan was in the middle of nowhere, and with little to spend their money on, the Boikos saved their wages. By the time the Soviet Union joined WWII, the couple were sitting on a considerable nest egg.
When the Germans invaded the USSR, they heard the news that Aleksandra’s hometown of Kiev had fallen. Soon thereafter, the Wehrmacht captured Ivan’s home village of Nezhin. From family and friends the Boikos heard of atrocities, burned homes, ravaged cousins, and relatives murdered or dragged off to Germany as slave laborers. They decided to do something about it.
Aleksandra and Ivan Boiko sought to join the Red Army, but draft officials refused, because both had essential jobs. Ivan was a superb heavy truck driver, while Aleksandra performed essential clerical work for her department. So they used a different route to get into the fight. In the Second World War, Soviet citizens could directly pay for specific new tanks and planes for the military.
So, in 1943, the Boikos donated 50,000 rubles from their savings to pay for a new IS-2 heavy tank, and wrote a letter to Stalin, for permission to drive that tank into battle. Stalin agreed, and the Boikos were trained as tankers in Chelyabinsk Tank School. Ivan became a tank driver, while Aleksandra became a tank commander – the only woman to command a heavy tank during WWII. As seen below, the Boikos saw some serious combat.
Aleksandra Boiko Fought in a Tank from the Baltic Sea to Central Europe
Aleksandra and Ivan Boiko’s technically “private” tank was officially named “Kolyma”, after the Kolyma River near the couple’s Siberian town of Magadan. Aleksandra Boiko was sent to train at an armored warfare school, and was commissioned as a junior lieutenant after she graduated. She arrived at the front with her husband in 1944, in their brand new IS-2 heavy tank.
Junior Lieutenant Aleksandra Boiko served as the tank’s commander, while her husband Ivan served as driver. They first saw combat in the Riga Offensive, during which Aleksandra’s tank destroyed five enemy tanks, including a Panzer VI Tiger, and two guns. For her exploits, she was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, First Class.
A few months later, the Boikos’ tank was hit and damaged, and both spouses were seriously injured. Their tank was repaired, and they eventually recovered from their wounds and returned to the front. All in all, Aleksandra and her husband fought from the Baltics, through Belarus, into Poland, and eventually ended up in Czechoslovakia at war’s end.
When the war ended and the couple were demobilized, Aleksandra returned to Magadan. There, she ran a bakery, and was eventually elected to the City Council. Unfortunately, the answer to the question whether a couple who fights together stays is “not always”, as the Boikos divorced in the 1950s. Ivan died in 1995, and Aleksandra followed him a year later.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
History Halls – Fighting Women: Lakshmibai, Indian Warrior Princess
Top War – Women Tankers of World War II: Alexandra Boyko
