4. A Hero Who Beheaded a Nazi Officer With an Ax
A few weeks after the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, Dmitry Ovcharenko was in southern Ukraine, serving in the 389th Regiment, 176th Infantry Division. It was mid-July, 1941, and he had already been wounded once, so he was given light duty and was entrusted with a cart to bring up supplies from the rear to his comrades on the front.
Unbeknownst to Ovcharenko, however, the front had moved, and on July 13th, 1941, he turned a bend in the road, only to find himself face to face with dozens of Germans. An enemy soldier quickly seized Ovcharenko’s rifle, then an officer came up to interrogate him. Unfortunately for the Germans, Ovcharenko’s cart had an ax. He suddenly seized it mid-interrogation and used it to lop off the German officer’s head in one sweep. It was the start of a gruesome episode, that was about to get more gruesome.