Tatyana Nikolayevna Baramzina was a Soviet sniper and telephone operator in World War II who was posthumously awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union on 24 March 1945 for her self-sacrifice to defend wounded Red Army soldiers. A volunteer, she chose to be part of a risking early landing operation to block German forces from using a strategic road in Belarus in the early phase of Operation Bagration. After her landing group suffered heavy casualties she had the option of hiding in a rye field to wait for reinforcements, but chose instead to stay behind and defend a dugout of wounded soldiers.

The Central Women's Sniper Training School was a Soviet military school for training female snipers for battle in the Second World War, more commonly referred to as the Great Patriotic War among Soviet Troops. Throughout the war the school trained 1061 snipers and 407 sniper instructors. The school yielded several highly successful snipers who became decorated veterans, and two graduates were posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.