Vasily Yakovlevich Bachilo (Russian: Василий Яковлевич Бачило; 18 January 1918 – 1 May 1989) was a Soviet Army major general who held divisional command during the Cold War.

Continuing his military service postwar, Bachilo commanded the 6th Guards Motor Rifle Division in East Germany during the early 1960s.

A Belarusian, Vasily Yakovlevich Bachilo was born on 18 January 1918 in the village of Leshnitsa, Perezhersky rural council, Rudensky District, Minsk Oblast.

Bachilo was dispatched to Atkarsk to serve as a Red Army man in the Territorial Ski Rifle Regiment stationed there.

After completing two months of training at the military district's school for corpsmen at Kazan in June 1939, Bachilo became commander of the sanitary department of the 42nd Separate Medical-Sanitary Battalion, part of the 36th Motor Rifle Division stationed at Ayolan-Sain in Mongolia.

After the German invasion of the Soviet Union began on 22 June 1941, Bachilo continued to serve with the division covering the Manchurian border.

In the offensive operations for the capture of Hill 102.2, Captain Bachilo, as regimental commander, on 3 September 1943, ensued and secured fine results.

Through skillful direction and close cooperation with attached artillery units, the regiment overcame strong enemy resistance, capturing the height and thus ensuing the division's further advance.

During the period of the breakthrough of strong fortified enemy defenses from 30 September to 17 October 1943 the regiment of Major Bachilo was located on the main axis of advance.

Under his leadership the regiment was the first to force a crossing of the Molochnaya river and barely passable swamps, and with a rapid onslaught, breaking the determined resistance of the enemy, took the anti-tank ditch, holding under strong artillery, mortar, and machine gun fire, and also under systematic mass airstrikes of enemy ground attack aircraft.

On 9 October Major Bachilo fell strongly ill, but did not leave his combat post and commanded the regiment from a stretcher.

In recognition of Bachilo's performance in the latter, regimental commander Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Shelkovy recommended him for the Order of the Patriotic War on 25 January, which was awarded on 24 February.

Bachilo personally coordinated the operations of rifle battalions and attached engineering units and thanks to the well developed plan of the offensive, the town was taken.

Personal bravery, courage, knowledge of his work, loyalty to the cause of the Party of Lenin and Stalin, are the distinguishing characteristics of Guards Major Bachilo.

In October he was promoted to chief of the division operations section while it was stationed at Palminkhen, East Prussia in the Special Military District.

[11] Bachilo transferred to command the 6th Guards Motor Rifle Division of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany on 10 August of that year.