In 1941, shortly after she turned 17, the invasion of the Soviet Union began. On July 25, 1941, fighting broke out in her hometown, Novy Buh. She bandaged wounded soldiers and commanders under bombardment. When the 96th Cavalry Regiment of the 5th Cavalry Division of the 2nd Cavalry Corps began to drop back, she persuaded the regiment commander to take her with him, saying she was soon 18 years old. On 13 August 1941, German troops approached Novy Buh. Their offensive was restrained by units of the 169th Rifle Division of the 18th Army. At night, the Soviet units left the Novy Bug by order of the command, and on 14 August 1941, the Nazis occupied her native village. While crossing the Dnipro river near
Khortytsia, she was wounded and sent to a hospital in
Krasnodar. Commanding a platoon, she participated in the
Siege of Sevastopol, stormed
Mount Sapun (for which she was awarded the
Order of the Patriotic War 1st class), participated in the battles for
Balaklava, Tsukrova Holivka, and
Kerch, crossed the
Dniester, participated in the re-occupation of
Bessarabia and fought in the battles of
Taman,
Tuapse, and
Novorossiysk. She participated in landings in
Constanța in Romania,
Varna and
Burgas in Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. During the
Budapest offensive, Zavaliy and her platoon seized the bunker of the German command through the city sewer with oxygen tanks. Among the prisoners was a general, for whom this captivity was a disgrace because the commander of the paratroopers was a woman. For this episode, she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. With her platoon, Zavaliy blocked the retreat of German tanks. Paratroopers under her command faced up to 7 tanks. == Postwar years ==