Gatiatullin was born on September 21 1916 in the village of Mullino (now within the city of Oktyabrsky, Bashkortostan) to a Bashkir peasant family.

In December 1941 he was called up for service in the Red Army by the Tuymazinsky District Military Commissariat of the Bashkir ASSR.

On 27 September 1943, Gatiatullin was one of the first in his platoon to cross the Dnieper near the village of Nivki in the Bragin district of the Gomel region of the Byelorussian SSR.

Gatiatullin, on the orders of the platoon commander, crawled through the enemy defense line and destroyed a German machine-gun crew that was shelling the crossing upstream of the Dnieper.

Firing from a captured machine gun, he successfully returned to the position of his platoon[1] By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to generals, officers, sergeants and privates of the Red Army" dated 15 January 1944 for "exemplary performance of combat missions of the high command on the front of the fight against the German invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time" Guard Senior Sergeant Shakir Gatiatullin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal number 3011.