Women in World War II

Tatyana Denisovna Muntyan was born in Sofiivka, Kakhovka Raion, Kherson Oblast, USSR on December 26, 1918. The territory in which she was born is now part of the modern-day Ukraine. Tatyana’s parents were named Denis and Lukeriya and originally worked for a landowner up until the year 1917, when the Russian Revolution started. After the Revolution had ended in 1922, her father had passed away and Tatyana’s mother lived on a farm of her own until she passed in 1950. 

Before enlisting in the military, Tatyana was a student at the Odesa National Medical University and worked as a general practitioner until her enlistment in 1941. During her service, Tatyana served on several different front of the war. From July 1941 until January 1942, she served as a junior doctor to the 980th Rifle Regiment as part of the 275thRifle Division on the Southern Front. Her next movement was as the resident doctor of Ward 101 on the Southern Front, working with the evacuation reception unit. Tatyana held this position form January 1942 until July 1942.

Tatyana was moved to the Bryansk Front for the rest of 1942 until the beginning of 1943. She began as the junior doctor of the 203rdArtillery Regiment as part of the 15th Rifle Division and held the same title there. Her next position was to be the commander of the surgical unit of the 12th Artillery Division’s medical company.

She was then moved from the Bryansk Front to the Central Front in February 1943 and stayed there as the senior doctor of the 1007thLight Artillery Regiment as part of the 12th Artillery Division. She held this position on the Central Front until May of 1944.

Tatyana’s last movement was to the 3rd Belorussian Front in August 1944, and she stayed there until May of 1945. She held her position as the senior doctor and served with the 285th Light Artillery Regiment as part of the 10th Artillery Division. During her time serving in East Prussia, she was able to assist and evacuate 125 wounded soldiers from the battlefield, and of those lightly wounded, she treated 52 Red Army soldiers and officers who were able to return to active duty.

She was moved to the reserve forces in 1946. Over the course of her military career, Tatyana served on four fronts and was given six different commands. Her superiors all stated that Tatyana demonstrated that she was able to provide sanitary medical support to those she treated, that she conducted herself courageously, and had a good understanding of what was happening around her. Her superiors treated her with high regards and all believed that she deserved her promotions.

For her service, Tatyana was awarded several military distinctions. For bravery in combat, she was awarded a medal for Battle Merit, as well as two Orders of the Red Star. Tatyana was also awarded a medal for her help in the capture of Königsberg. She was finally awarded a medal for the ‘Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.’ Her total length of service was 5 years and 1 month.

After the War, Tatyana got married to a man named Boris Petrovich Loy in October 1945 and changed her last name. Together they had two children, a boy in 1946 named Vitaliy and a girl in 1950 named Larisa. She continued her medical work in different fields and hospitals. 

In 1946, Tatyana worked as the Head of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in the Kakhovka district. She stayed there until March of 1951 when she went on to serve as the Head of the District Malaria Station, and in 1955 became the head of the Parasitology Department of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station. Her superiors thought that she was qualified for her positions, as Tatyana continued to improve her professional qualifications.

-March 2026