Vasyl Kurka

A captured Wehrmacht officer testified at the interrogation: the German command knew “that among the Soviet units of General Grechko there was a supersniper, a sniper – an ace, whose body was almost fused with the rifle”. It was sixteen-year-old Vasya Kurka, who destroyed 179 enemies, including about 80 German officers.

The stubby blond-haired boy arrived to his regiment when there were severe battles for the Donetsk basin. Sent to the rear, Kurka took up any work, and in April 1942 Vasya begged the regiment command to allow him to become a cadet of the sniper school…. He opened his combat account on May 9, and began the path of one of the most effective Soviet shooters, who eventually became a commander of a rifle platoon, holder of the Order of the Red Banner and Red Star, the medal “For the Defense of the Caucasus” and a personal sniper rifle.

Ace personally trained 59 snipers, who exterminated more than 600 occupants. In addition, Vasily Kurka successfully went on reconnaissance. Small stature, cleverness and iron stamina allowed him to get through where, it would seem, it was simply impossible to pass. In January 1945, Vasily Kurka died after being wounded in the head, looking out of the trench during an intense firefight.