Shura Kober and Vitya Khomenko

When their city, Nikolaev in southern Ukraine, was occupied by the occupiers, Vitya took a job in the Gestapo’s Ost canteen. He diligently washed dishes and kindly served the officers, and then delivered to the partisans selective valuable information.

Together with Shura Kober, Vitya was given the task to cross the front line to pass secret documents to Moscow. They got there on foot, secretly in German echelons, on boats and swimming…. They returned by airplane with radio operator Lidia Britkina.

Their parachutes were dropped on the night of October 9, 1942 in tens of kilometers from Nikolaev. At the same time parachutes with explosives, weapons, radio transmitter were dropped. Vitya rather went to his own, to the headquarters, and Shura and Lida hastily hid the cargo and other evidence. But one of the parachutes was carried far away, and the morning it was discovered by the Nazis. The investigation began, a provocateur-traitor was introduced into the partisan headquarters… On a cold November night the boys were arrested.

After ten days of unsuccessful interrogations and torture, they were hanged on Bazarnaya Square