Hryhoriy Vasiura was born on 9 February 1915 in the Ukrainian city of Chyhyryn, then part of the Russian Empire. Before the war, he worked as a schoolteacher and in 1936, Vasiura graduated from the Kyiv Military School of Communications. The Second World War began on 1 September 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Less than 2 years later on Sunday, 22 June 1941, under the codename Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
On the morning of 22 March 1943, Hans Woellke was traveling in one of three vehicles on the Minsk highway when Soviet partisans ambushed the convoy, shooting him in the shoulder. Woellke staggered out of his vehicle after being wounded, only to be shot again in the back, this time fatally. Three more of his men were killed in the fighting that morning, and following the attack, the partisans retreated to the nearby village of Khatyn, located approximately 50 kilometers northeast of Minsk. By the time the Nazi forces and their collaborators arrived, the partisans had already fled the village, leaving only civilians behind. Due to a lack of manpower, the Nazis chose not to pursue the partisans and instead called for reinforcements via radio. On their way back, they executed 20 to 25 forestry workers, suspecting them of supporting the partisans. Vasiura personally fired his submachine gun at those attempting to flee.
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