She also learned how to use weapons and drive vehicles. She became involved in the 'Military Wives Council' and was trained as a nurse in the army. She then began to acquire an interest in military matters. In 1925, she married a Soviet army officer named Ilya Oktyabrsky. Before the Second World War, she worked in a cannery, and then as a telephone operator.

Oktyabrskaya was born into a poor Ukrainian family on the Crimean Peninsula. She was the first female tank driver to be awarded the title.

After she died of wounds from battle in 1944, she was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union's highest honor for bravery during combat. Oktyabrskaya proved her ability and bravery in battle, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant. She received and was trained to drive and fix a T-34 medium tank, which she named 'Fighting Girlfriend' (' Боевая подруга').

After her husband was killed fighting in 1941, Oktyabrskaya sold her possessions to donate a tank for the war effort, and requested that she be allowed to drive it. Mariya Vasilyevna Oktyabrskaya ( Russian: Мария Васильевна Октябрьская Ukrainian: Марія Василівна Октябрьська (Гарагуля) 16 August 1905 – 15 March 1944) was a Soviet Ukrainian tank driver and mechanic who fought on the Eastern Front against Nazi Germany during World War II.

Battle tank t 34 movie