 She started writing a combat diary; although diaries were strictly prohibited in the Soviet military, there were some furtive exceptions, such as "The Front Diary" of Izrael Kukuyev and "The Chronicle of War" of Muzagit Hayrutdinov.To preserve military secrecy, Shanina termed the killed and wounded "blacks" and "reds" respectively in her diary.Shanina kept the diary from 6 October 1944 to 24 January 1945.