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In Color: Russia's Great Patriotic War

Apr 28, 2017 - 03:00 pm

Matryona Goncharova was born on Nov. 18, 1924, in the village of Novaya Alyonovka in the Russian region of Voronezh. In 1942, she volunteered for the front. She was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, Second Class, as well as medals for courage. Edited by Olga Shirnina

A Soviet soldier shows a piece of paper which reads, "My own invoice of revenge on the enemy," east Prussia, 1945. Arkady Shaikhet / edited by Olga Shirnina

Yevdokia Bershanskaya (L) was a Soviet pilot and second in command of the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. Valentina Matyukhina (R) was a senior lieutenant, and a master pilot in the 125th Borisov Guards Bomber Regiment. Valentina completed 53 missions before dying in combat. Edited by Olga Shirnina

Soviet officers in Germany, 1946. Edited by Olga Shirnina

Soviet sniper Roza Shanina was was credited with fifty-nine confirmed kills during World War II, including twelve during the Battle of Vilnius. Edited by Olga Shirnina

Soviet fighter aces from the Russian 586th Women's Fighter Regiment. L-R: Lilya Litvyak, Katya Budanova and Maria Kuznetsova Edited by Olga Shirnina

Pvt Luba Rosenova (pictured) was a "brown-haired, blue-eyed 19-year-old" when she had met French soldier Henri Laure in a German POW camp near Magdeburg. The pair spent two years together in the camp, and planned to be married. The building on the right is the Hermann Tietz department store on Berlin's Alexanderplatz. Edited by Olga Shirnina

Soviet soldiers check their maps. Edited by Olga Shirnina

Still from the 1959 Soviet movie "Ballad of a Soldier," directed by Grigory Chukhray and starring Vladimir Ivashov and Zhanna Prokhorenko. Ballad of a Soldier / edited by Olga Shirnina

Deputy political instructor V. Smirnov goes on patrol, 1942. Edited by Olga Shirnina

Placing the Soviet flag over the Reichstag in Berlin, 1945. Edited by Olga Shirnina

Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko, also known as Lady Death, killed over 300 Nazi soldiers. She is regarded as the most successful female sniper in history. Edited by Olga Shirnina

Red Army soldier Katya Spivak directs traffic on the streets of Berlin, May 10, 1945. Yakov Ryumkin / edited by Olga Shirnina

Anti-tank artillery men: Charger Nikolai Korenine (L) and pointer Nikolai Kalmikov. Edited by Olga Shirnina

More than 20 million Soviet citizens died in World War II, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. In the days preceding May 9, or Victory Day, Russians take time to remember the many men and women who sacrificed their lives. Russian digital artist Olga Shirnina is one of those bringing the era to life with these colorized photographs.

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