An officer's wife, Maria understood the hardships of war like no one else, could not stand aside and was eager to defend the Motherland on an equal basis with her husband. She built the "Battle Girlfriend" tank with her own savings and in 1943 went with it to the Western Front, where she participated in the liberation of Belarus.The tank crews carried the memory of Maria Oktyabrskaya and her "Battle Friend" throughout the war. And the feat of the first female T-34 tank driver became for many a symbol of women's fortitude and courage in the Great Patriotic War.