petrov was born in 1922 to a russian peasant family in the village of dmitrovka, located in present-day ukraine. his father stepan petrov, who had fought on the side of the white guards during the civil war, was arrested when vasily was a young child. his mother died when he was only three and his stepmother abandoned him and his siblings. a neighbor briefly took care of them before telling the two brothers to go an orphanage, which they later escaped from. his brother died while they were running away, but eventually vasily made it to his stepmother's village and was taken care of. soon after completing secondary school in 1939 he was drafted into the red army. after graduating from the sumy artillery school in 1941 he was assigned to the 92nd separate artillery division.