by Amber Lough
“Pardon?”
“At the train station, when I left for the front. You were wrong about the war. About Russia. And most of all, about my battalion.”
“I wasn’t wrong. I knew you would be brave out there.” He nodded at my medal. “And clearly you were.”
“But you didn’t believe it would make a difference.”
He eyed me cautiously. “Has it? Last time I checked, the war isn’t over.”
“But that’s where you were wrong. We were both wrong.”
“How so?”
“Thinking the end of the war would be the end of our troubles.” Images of my brother, my father, my friends swam at the edges of my eyes. “I’m not sure it’ll ever be over. Not for me. I don’t think any government, any reform, any victory can make things right.” I stared down at the knight in my hand. “But I know now that I won’t run from whatever comes next.”
We continued setting up the board and in my mind each pawn became a soldier I knew. Masha and Alsu were my knights, Ilya a bishop, Maxim a rook, my father the king, Bochkareva the freewheeling queen.
I gave no quarter.
Author’s Note
Women’s history is so often hidden in the cracks of time, it’s hard to envision women doing anything other than marrying, bearing children, and suffering. Unless you count the handful of queens and empresses we all know about. The history of women in war is even more obscure, since most of military history has been recorded by men who often overlook (due to accident, ignorance, or embarrassment) any female warriors. For example, anthropologists recently discovered that a Viking burial site did not, in fact, belong to a great war chieftain, but to a chieftess. For over a hundred years, she was assumed to be a man because of the weapons buried with her. It took DNA testing—done by a team of archaeologists led by a woman—to prove otherwise.
I did not learn about the Women’s Battalion of Death during my college Russian history courses, so it was a punch to the gut when I first discovered them. Who would have joined this battalion, and why? A girl like Katya, of course.
As soon as I began researching this topic, I couldn’t get enough of it. I returned to Saint Petersburg—called Petrograd during World War I—to walk the streets Katya would have walked, to visit museums that might contain relevant items or documents, and to search high and low for anything related to the Women’s Battalion. The surviving information is not easily available to the public, unfortunately.
The 1st Russian Women’s Battalion spawned several other women’s battalions, including the 1st Petrograd Women’s Battalion, which unsuccessfully defended the Winter Palace, the residence of the Tsar’s family, from the Bolshevik takeover in October 1917. After the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, wrested power from the more moderate provisional government, all the women’s battalions were officially disbanded. Some former members joined the Bolsheviks’ Red Army while others joined the remnants of the Imperial White Army.
In March 1918, the Bolshevik government signed a treaty with Germany and its allies, ending Russia’s involvement in World War I. Maria Bochkareva hopped a ship to the United States, where she met President Wilson in person and begged him to help save Russia from the Bolsheviks. Unsuccessful in this effort, she returned to Russia and joined the Imperial Army. On May 16, 1920, she was executed by the Red Army as an “enemy of the working class” at the age of 30.
This was not the end of women’s involvement in the Russian military, however. Decades later, during World War II, women served in all areas of the armed forces. The only all-female unit, a regiment of female aviators nicknamed the Night Witches, distinguished themselves by their valor.
Despite my best efforts, this novel doubtless contains some historical inconsistencies and anachronisms. All errors are entirely my own. All dates are in the Old Style/Julian Calendar, which Russia followed until 1918. The flyer that Katya and Masha receive while at the factory is a snippet from a poem posted around Novgorod in May 1917.
If you wish to learn more about Russia during this tumultuous period in time (it was tumultuous for most of the world, but I think Russia takes the cake), here are some places to begin:
Stoff, Laurie S. They Fought for the Motherland: Russia’s Women Soldiers in World War I and the Revolution.
Bochkareva, Mariia. Yashka, My life as Peasant, Exile, and Soldier.
Marxists Internet Archive, Marxists.org.
Pipes, Richard. A Concise History of the Russian Revolution.
Reed, John. Ten Days that Shook the World.
Stone, Norman. The Eastern Front.
Topics for Discussion
Why is Katya working in the munitions factory? What values drive her choices?
Katya is torn between her father’s loyalty to the authoritarian Tsar and the radical new ideas of the socialists. What problems does she see with each side?
How has Maxim’s experience in the army affected him? What aspects of his inner turmoil is Katya missing?
Why is Sergei upset that Katya is thinking of joining the Women’s Battalion? How are his views different from—and similar to—the views expressed by Elena Stefanovna?
Why does Masha disapprove of the women’s rights faction in the battalion?
What fragments of information do the women learn about Bochkareva’s background? How do you think this background might affect her personality and actions?
Why is the story of Saint Olga important to Katya? What does it remind her of? Why does it inspire her?
Katya, Masha, Alsu, and Avilova all have different reasons for joining the battalion. Which character’s motivations do you find most relatable and why?
Reread the scene in which Katya and the other women try to prevent the men from getting to the vodka left by the Germans. When the men find and drink it all anyway, how do you think this makes Katya feel? What does this single moment tell her about the Women’s Battalion’s overall mission?
What does Katya’s conversation with her father in the infirmary reveal about him? How do you think this might change their relationship in the future?
When Katya is home from the front, mourning Masha, what do the orange flowers and the memory of Masha’s hat symbolize for her?
Katya says, “There are worthy wars fought badly and unworthy ones fought well, and all of them are hell.” Consider another famous conflict. How do you think it compares to Katya’s experience of World War I? Do you think it was “worthy” or “unworthy,” and what is the difference?
What, if anything, do you think the women’s sacrifices have accomplished—for their country or for themselves?
By the end of the novel, how have Katya’s motivations shifted? Where do her loyalties lie now?
Acknowledgments
Historical novels cannot be written alone, and Open Fire is no exception. I owe thanks to my Russian history and language teachers from twenty years ago as much as I do to contemporary professors and researchers who wrote about Russia in 1917.
Thanks goes first and foremost to the women soldiers of Russia. They were my inspiration and have become my heroes. Without these women paving the way in both World Wars, I might not have been able to join the military in the late 20th century. Yes, they were from another country, but the news traveled far and wide.
I am indebted to Dr. Laura S. Stoff for writing such a comprehensive and engaging study about Russian female soldiers in World War I. It was the book I reached for most often.
A thousand thanks to my comrade Elizabeth Wein, who walked the snowy streets of Saint Petersburg and Moscow with me. You are the best book-research traveling companion a writer can have. I will split another Soviet champagne with you any day of the week.
Thanks also goes to the Parks Guard Rifle Drill Team at Saint Louis University, where I made my first “battle” friends and learned how to clean a rifle that had been purposely stuffed full of sticks and mud. 1903-A3s for the win!
Большое спасибо to my Russian professors, Yelena Ivanovna Belyaeva
-Standen and Dr. David Murphy, and to the world’s best Russian history professor, Dr. Dan Schlafly. You taught me to love Russia, past and present. Thanks to my friend Val Afanasyev, who sent me an icon of Saint George when I was in Iraq, and who took me to the World War I Museum in Saint Petersburg many years later.
Many thanks to my writer friends who all contributed in one way or another, near and far: Laurie Halse Anderson, MJ Auch, Suzanne Bloom, Maya Chhabra, Bruce Coville, Charlotte Coville, P.M. Freestone, Emma Kress, JP McCormack, Laura Lam, Natalie C. Parker, and Ellen Yeomans. And the Writers Without Borders—thank you for always listening.
This book would have gone nowhere if it weren’t for my agent, Laura Rennert, who made sure I wrote the right story.
To Amy Fitzgerald, Supreme Editor and fellow Russophile, who truly understood Katya’s story—спасибо, моя подруга.
To my parents and sister, who have always been there and challenged me mentally, thank you. Elizabeth and Henry, thank you for being the most understanding of children. Also, it’s okay if you never read this.
And finally, to Jim: you always have my back, and I’ve got yours.
About the Author
Amber Lough is an Air Force veteran and world traveler. She loves fountain pens, the great outdoors, foreign languages, and cats. Amber lives in Germany with her husband and their two children. She is also the author of the YA fantasy novels The Fire Wish and The Blind Wish.