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One of the atrocities that the Division committed which is probably best documented is what took place in a town called Huktyniachka. There were a triangle of three Polish towns east of Lvov. And in Huktyniachka during the winter, a few partisans began hiding in the barns, and trying to protect themselves against the brutal winter. I suppose they stole some potatoes and beets from the field as well, from the storehouses. And one day a German patrol went by and spotted them, and there was an exchange of fire, and two German soldiers were killed. Rather, two members of the Division, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed. The following week, a large contingent of German Wehrmacht, regular German soldiers, and a large contingent of Ukrainian policemen, and a large contingent from the Division, from the Waffen-SS Division, the Ukrainian Division, surrounded Huktyniachka. They gathered all the men in the village into the village square and they shot them there. Then they took the women and children and put them in the church. They had wooden churches in that area. They nailed all the doors and windows shut, and torched the building. And if anybody managed to get out, they were machine-gunned as they emerged from the smoke and flames. |