When we think of war heroes, the name most people picture is a man—after all, women were barred from combat for centuries. Only in recent decades have nations begun to lift those bans, allowing women to fight openly for their countries. Here we celebrate 10 badass women who stepped onto the battlefield, standing shoulder‑to‑shoulder with—or even in place of—their male comrades.
What Makes These 10 Badass Women Truly Legendary?
10 Margaret Cochran Corbin
Margaret Corbin earned the distinction of being the first woman ever granted a pension for military service by the United States Congress. During the 1776 Battle of Fort Washington, her husband served as a cannon operator when a massive Hessian force of 4,000 surged against the fort’s defenses. When a cannonball felled her husband, Margaret didn’t step back; she seized his place on the gun crew and kept firing at the enemy.
The exchange left her with severe wounds to her jaw, arm, and chest, eventually forcing her to abandon the cannon. The British captured the fort, and Margaret was taken prisoner before being released on parole. Despite her debilitating injuries, she stayed on the Continental Army’s rolls, refusing to be sidelined.
Even though her injuries left her permanently disabled, Margaret continued serving actively until the war’s end, finally receiving an honorable discharge in 1783. Her tenacity paved the way for future generations of women in the armed forces.
9 Manuela Pedraza
Manuela Pedraza emerged as a fierce combatant during the reconquest of Buenos Ayres after the first British invasion in 1806. She fought in the final and most extensive battle of the campaign, a three‑day clash that decided the city’s fate.
Accompanying her husband into the fray, Manuela watched him fall to a British soldier’s rifle. In a flash of vengeance, she seized a bayonet and struck down the man who killed him. Grabbing her husband’s musket, she then dispatched another British combatant, demonstrating both resolve and skill.
Recognizing her bravery, the authorities granted her an official military rank and assigned her to the Patricios Regiment. Over time, her legend grew so strong that Buenos Ayres now honors her with an annual award celebrating women’s social activism throughout Argentina.
8 Sergeant Milunka Savic
Sergeant Milunka Savic holds the record as the most decorated female soldier in history. She first saw action in the Balkan Wars and later fought throughout World War I, accumulating nine separate wounds yet never faltering on the battlefield.
When her brother received a call‑up for Serbia in 1912, Milunka either followed him or masqueraded as him to enlist. Her gender remained a secret until a grenade wound exposed her identity. Rather than being reassigned to the nursing corps, her commanding officer, impressed by her valor, allowed her to stay with the infantry.
Milunka famously declared, “I will wait,” refusing to be sidelined until she could return to combat. Her continued heroism earned her decorations from France, Russia, and Britain, cementing her status as a true warrior legend.
7 Senior Lieutenant Lydia Litvyak
Lydia Litvyak took to the skies at just fifteen, mastering small aircraft before the German invasion of the Soviet Union spurred her into combat. To meet the entry requirements for a fighter regiment populated by women, she added a hundred flight hours to her logbook, securing her place among the elite.
After an initial stint with an all‑female squadron, Lydia was transferred to a mixed‑gender unit where she quickly proved her mettle. She downed a fighter and a bomber, earning the nickname “The White Rose of Stalingrad” because of a misidentified lily painted on her plane’s nose. By war’s end, she tallied eleven solo victories and three shared kills.
Shot down in 1943, Lydia’s fate remained uncertain until 1979, when Soviet authorities officially confirmed her death. In 1990, President Mikhail Gorbachev posthumously bestowed upon her the title Hero of the Soviet Union, honoring her extraordinary aerial achievements.
6 Nieves Fernandez
Nieves Fernandez stands out as the sole known female guerrilla commander from the Philippines during World II. Originally a schoolteacher, she abandoned the classroom when Japanese forces occupied Leyte Island, rallying a band of 110 native men to form an improvised resistance.
Armed with long knives traditionally used for cutting vegetation and shotguns cobbled together from gas‑pipe sections, her unit succeeded in eliminating roughly two hundred Japanese occupiers. Fernandez’s leadership persisted for more than two and a half years, prompting the Japanese authorities to place a bounty of ten thousand pesos on her head.
She sustained a single combat wound but survived the war, later being celebrated as a national hero for her tenacity and strategic ingenuity against the occupying forces.
5 Yevdokiya Zavaliy
When World II razed her village, teenage Yevdokiya Zavaliy stepped up to tend the wounded and persuaded a cavalry commander to let her enlist. Though only sixteen, she claimed to be eighteen to meet the age requirement.
Starting as a medic, Yevdokiya quickly mastered small‑arms and, after an abdominal wound, refused to be pulled from the front lines. Her shaved head and uniform led her comrades to mistake her for a man, and she was dispatched to the front.
Her true gender was discovered only after she was wounded again, yet instead of being reassigned to nursing duties, she was promoted to lead a sub‑machine‑gunner platoon in 1943. German troops nicknamed her “Frau Black Death,” and by war’s end she had earned over forty medals for bravery and service.
4 Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester
Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester made history as the first woman to receive the Silver Star since World II, joining a select group of just fourteen American women ever honored for combat valor.
In March 2005, while providing convoy security and conducting an IED sweep, her unit was ambushed by more than fifty insurgents wielding machine guns and RPGs. Disembarking with her team, Hester seized a flanking position, hurled grenades into an enemy trench, and helped clear two additional trenches, accounting for three insurgent deaths.
When the firefight ended, three American soldiers were wounded, while 27 insurgents lay dead, six more were injured, and one was captured. Her decisive actions saved numerous lives, earning her the coveted Silver Star.
3 Major Laura Nicholson
In December 2013, Major Laura Nicholson, a Chinook pilot for the Royal Air Force, was tasked with medical evacuations in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province when her aircraft came under heavy enemy fire.
While extracting a wounded Marine from a hostile landing zone, her helicopter endured direct fire. The onboard security team held the area, allowing her to lift the Marine to safety and transport him to a field hospital.
Undeterred, Major Nicholson returned to the same danger zone to rescue a civilian woman who had been shot in the head. Despite a crew member sustaining a leg wound and the aircraft sustaining damage, she successfully extracted both victims and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for her bravery.
2 Staff Sergeant Stacy Pearsall
Staff Sergeant Stacy Pearsall blended artistry with arms, serving as a combat photographer after enlisting in the Air Force at seventeen and completing a war‑photography program at Syracuse University.
Deployed twice to Iraq, Pearsall captured daily life as service members rebuilt schools one day and pursued high‑value targets the next. Her work earned her the National Press Photographers Association’s Military Photographer of the Year award twice, and she later authored two books recounting her experiences.
Two separate IED attacks injured her, ultimately leading to a medical retirement. For her courageous service, Pearsall received the Bronze Star Medal alongside numerous other commendations.
1 Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lori Hill
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lori Hill piloted an OH‑58 Kiowa helicopter and became the first woman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism. While escorting a lead chopper, her aircraft came under intense enemy fire.
Hill drew enemy fire away from ground troops while simultaneously delivering suppressive fire. An RPG struck her helicopter, causing severe damage and a loss of hydraulic pressure, and she sustained a round to her ankle.
Despite the injuries and a crippled aircraft, Hill maintained control, communicated with the troops below, and safely returned to base, saving her crew’s lives. Her extraordinary actions earned her the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the United States’ highest military honors.