In 1917, military units made up of women volunteers, troubled by the fate of Russia, appeared on the fronts of the First World War

In 1917, military units made up of women volunteers, troubled by the fate of Russia, appeared on the fronts of the First World War. Women had served in the imperial army before, but these were isolated cases. Initially, however, the women's combat formations were created not so much to take part in real fighting as to shame the men who refused to go to war, and to raise morale.

The first women's battalion was led by Maria Bochkareva, who had earned the rank of senior non-commissioned officer and later that of lieutenant. The unit she assembled was called "Maria Bochkareva's First Women's Military Detachment of Death". Other women's battalions of death followed: the 2nd Moscow, the 3rd Kuban, the Women's Naval Detachment, the 1st Petrograd Cavalry Battalion of the Women's Military Union and the Minsk Separate Guard Squad of women volunteers.

Only one of these battalions saw real combat; three reached the front. The baptism of fire of the First Women's Battalion of Death under Bochkareva proved fatal: of 170 women, 30 were killed and 70 wounded, the commander among them. The number of casualties forced the authorities to forbid the formation of any new women's units. They had quite literally turned out to be battalions of death, and were no longer to be thrown into battle, while those already in existence were to perform auxiliary functions. The 1st Petrograd Battalion, however, was fated to distinguish itself in the defence of the Winter Palace in October 1917.