Author Svetlana Alexievich wrote about the Soviet female experience during the Second World War: The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II . She interviewed 'many hundreds' of female veterans about their wartime experiences from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. From the testimonies in this book: there was no planning by Soviet leadership to provide feminine hygiene products to females undertaking military service. Many of the 'women' joined the Red Army when they were still in their teens, so some of them had never gotten their period before they started their service. There are even some accounts of the girls getting their periods, not knowing what it was, and having it discretely explained by a sympathetic adult. I strongly recommend this book.