Dmitry Ofharenko was born in Eastern Ukraine, near Kharkiv. His father was a carpenter and he himself had no appeal to learning until he reached the fifth grade. However, what he learned well from his father was how to handle the axe...
In July 1941, the Soviet Union was going through dramatic times. The German phalanxes swept away everything in their path without being able to intercept them.
Ofharenko was then serving in the 389th Rifle Regiment (F) of the 176th Rifle Division (MT). He was assigned the mission of transporting ammunition with a cart. On July 13, Ofharenko, while driving the ammunition cart, suddenly found himself in front of 50 Germans. The Soviet soldier was surprised and a German officer took his rifle. However, the German did not see that Ofharenko also had an ax hidden.
Okharenko without thinking too much grabbed his ax and with one blow decapitated the German officer.
Immediately grabbed three grenades and launched them at the assembled Germans, killing around 20-21. The remaining Germans fled in panic. Okharenko caught up with another German officer and beheaded him with his axe.
He then took the weapons, maps, personal papers of all the dead Germans and returned to his regimental headquarters. At first no one believed him when he told his story. But when they went to the scene of the massacre, they saw with their own eyes that he was telling the truth.
For this achievement he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Some sources state that the Germans numbered 30, not 50. This, in any case, does not detract from his achievement at all.
In the continuation of the war Ofharenko fought as a machine gunner. Unfortunately for him, he did not get to see the day of victory. He was killed on January 28, 1945 fighting in Hungary. But he was always known as "the soldier with the axe".
