 Throughout the war she never parted with her weapon and earned the respect of the other soldiers in her division after her baptism by fire, during which she lured enemy soldiers to approach before opening fire on them with her machine gun.After Soviet forces retook Nevel, a series of German counterattacks began.On 15 October 1943, Mametova did not retreat from a strategic hill with the rest of her unit; when waves of German soldiers began to approach.