Not long after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Zhurkina joined the Red Army in 1942 and worked at an interception station but requested to be retrained as an air-gunner in 1943. Her regimental commander approved the transfer and after only a few days of training she had become skilled in the use of the aircraft's machine gun. She soon saw her baptism by fire in the
Battle of Kursk, providing information on the locations and movements of enemy tank units and troop formations in addition to providing cover for Soviet ground troops by fending off enemy aircraft. On 23 July 1943 she opened fire on two Fw 190 fighters to defend the plane during a reconnaissance mission. As a result, they were able to report on the movement of troops in the Orel area. After her first five sorties she was awarded the Medal "For Courage", as she had often found herself shooting at enemy planes while transmitting reconnaissance information. From 4 March to 2 April 1944 she flew 23 reconnaissance sorties over the
Pskov Oblast,
Pushkinskiye Gory,
Opochka, and
Idritsa, in which she took photographs of enemy of facilities, transmitted information from the plane to the ground, and repulsed attacks from nine enemy fighters. For her bravery shown in those actions she was awarded her first Order of Glory on 30 April 1944. From 16 September to October that same year she flew fifteen reconnaissance and bombing sorties over Riga, Tukums, and Klapkalns in Latvia. In those missions she transmitted 93 messages to the ground about enemy positions and the movements of supply shipments, personnel, and aircraft in addition to fending off multiple attacks by enemy fighters. On 15 October she was awarded the Order of Glory in the second class. In November 1944 Zhurkina was assigned the difficult task of photographing enemy defenses over the city of Kuldīga, Latvia. The flight was conducted in poor weather, causing Zhurkina's plane to fly at a dangerously low altitude of 500 meters, where she would face bombardment from Axis artillery fire. After photographing the area and turning back to the airfield Zhurkina's plane was bombarded by four
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters on her third approach, but she managed to fend them off after shooting one down and shooting at another enough that it was forced to turn back from the damage caused. The mission, which involved flying six passes over the military fortifications, was conducted on
Pe-2. After the first flyover she fended off two German fighters, but after the second flyover the plane was forced to head back to the airbase before the next flyover. Before the third flyover when she managed to shoot down one fighter, she had suspected that a pair of fighters would attack, one from below and one from above, so she asked the navigator to take control of the upper machine gun while she operated the lower gun. On her first shot she ruptured the fuel tank of a Messerschmitt and shot at another, causing the remaining aircraft to disengage the attack. On a mission on 18 November 1944 she fired upon two planes, fending them off from her plane. For her actions in those engagements she was awarded the Order of Glory 1st class by decree of the Supreme Soviet on 23 February 1948. She was never shot down during the war nor did she sustain any major injuries. In addition to the Order of Glory she was also awarded the Order of the Red Star. In total she flew 67 sorties, engaged in 30 dogfights, and shot down one enemy plane. == Later life ==