World War I · Film · 2015
Battalion
Батальонъ
In revolutionary 1917, with Russia's army falling apart, a tough peasant veteran forms a battalion of women volunteers to shame the men back into the fight.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 2 places.
Stop 1: Petrograd
Women from every class answer Bochkareva's call, and her brutal training weeds out all but the toughest before the battalion is blessed and sent off.
Stop 2: Smorgon front
Key location
In trenches where the men would rather make peace with the Germans, the women go over the top and face gas and machine guns.
What really happened
After the February Revolution of 1917, Russian soldiers were deserting and fraternising with the enemy. Maria Bochkareva, a peasant woman who had fought at the front since 1915, won approval from the Provisional Government to form the 1st Russian Women's Battalion of Death in Petrograd. About 2,000 women volunteered, but her harsh discipline left only around 300.
The battalion was blessed at St Isaac's Cathedral in June 1917, attached to the 1st Siberian Corps and sent to the Western Front for the Kerensky Offensive. In July it fought near Smorgon, where the women performed well but most of the demoralised male troops refused to advance; Bochkareva was wounded. The Bolsheviks disbanded the women's units in November 1917.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- Батальонъ
- Directed by
- Dmitry Meskhiev
- Countries
- Russia
- Languages
- Russian
- Released
- 2015
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Eastern Front
- Themes
- Combat
- True story
- Biography
