Rimma Ivanova

Rimma Mikhailovna Ivanova (1894 to 1915) was a Russian nurse who served in the First World War. Born in Stavropol, she finished the Olginskaya Women's Gymnasium there in 1913 and worked as a village school teacher before the war. She took nursing courses in Stavropol and in January 1915 volunteered as a nurse in the Russian army. She was awarded the Cross of St. George, fourth class, and two Medals of St. George for rescuing wounded soldiers from the battlefield. On 22 September 1915, near Mokraya Dubrova, after both company officers were killed she led the company in an attack and was fatally wounded. Nicholas II awarded her an officer's Order of St. George, fourth class, after her death as an exception, and she is the only woman in the Russian Empire to hold it. A street and monuments in Stavropol and Mikhailovsk carry her name.