 She died in the battle for Adzhimushkay, in which she killed 15 enemies after taking over the duties of the battalion commander, leading her battalion into the flight and remaining on the battlefield even after she was wounded in hand-to-hand combat.In a fight in the trenches a German soldier rushed at her but Kostyrina shot him first only to be killed by a stray enemy bullet.In total throughout her military career she killed 120 enemy combats, for which she was recommended for the title Hero of the Soviet Union the day she died in battle by Major-General Gorbachev, which was posthumously awarded in 1944 with an Order of Lenin.