Assault on the Komsomol village full version. The horror of Komsomolsky. The bloodiest battle of the Second Chechen War. Gelayev's exit from encirclement

Unfinished war. History of the armed conflict in Chechnya Grodno Nikolai

Battles for Komsomolskoye

Battles for Komsomolskoye

On March 1, a detachment of Chechen militants from the formation of field commander Ruslan Gelayev occupied the village of Komsomolskoye, 10 km southeast of Urus-Martan. According to the Chechen side, the formations that broke out of Shatoi “managed to retreat to prepared bases.” (By the way, none of the officials has yet explained how the village, which had already been “cleared” many times, ended up with beautiful fortified areas, pillboxes and bunkers connected to each other by underground passages.) The first time the bandits tried to descend from the mountains to Komsomolskoye was back on February 29 in the pre-dawn hours along the bed of a dry river lying in a deep gorge. A group of 13 people was discovered and fired upon. The infantry sitting on top immediately destroyed five militants. They managed to “talk” one of the prisoners. He reported that a gang of 500 people migrated from near Shatoi to these mountains, that “the Arabs, together with Khattab, went somewhere to the east” and that all the field commanders were “goats,” and “especially Nuratdin,” who disappeared during fight with a bunch of their common bucks. At about four o'clock on March 5, Gelayev led a large gang of hundreds of bayonets to Komsomolskoye. One group of militants, having shot down a grenade launcher platoon standing on the wooded slopes of the gorge, immediately went to the village. And the other was heading to shoot down another motorized rifle platoon from another height. Gathering into a fist, the militants used their usual tactics - to attack a single platoon stronghold in a large detachment. A hundred or even more bandits, standing tall, continuously poured fire into the FS trenches, not allowing them to raise their heads. And another 50 people crawled up the mountain under this cover. “Many, very many,” were the last words of the platoon commander who died on the mountain. A reconnaissance group and a tank going to help the infantry were ambushed. The tank was hit by an RPG and lost speed, and the militants immediately pushed the reconnaissance team back, having lost five wounded. For four hours the bandits tried by all means, including shooting them with flies, to persuade the tank crew to surrender. Failed. But, unfortunately, it was not possible to save the crew. Mortar fire only temporarily drove the bandits away from the tank. Another T-72 and a reconnaissance group led by company captain Alexander P-v, who were rushing to help, were also ambushed. The “Korobochka” was blown up by a landmine, and the scouts, having entered into battle with superior enemy forces, were unable to free the tank. When the infantry finally made it to the tank, it was too late. Lieutenant Alexander Lutsenko called upon himself artillery fire, but the militants still managed to get close to the tank, blow it up and open the hatches. Alexander and his gunner-operator were brutally killed, and the driver was taken away with them. On the afternoon of March 5, troops flocked to the village from everywhere to block the militants in Komsomolskoye. Grabbing their belongings, civilians hastily left. The encirclement became denser over the next two days. A combat participant, the commander of a motorized rifle regiment, recalls:

“Since October, when we were brought into Chechnya, I have had thirty-five casualties, and I lost another thirty-two soldiers in Komsomolskoye. At the very beginning, the “Czechs” broke through the paratroopers and shot my platoon of grenade launchers point-blank. And then I lost two tank crews. Our hair still stands on end... We stood on top, in the foothills, trying to prevent reinforcements of the “spirits” from entering the village. First, I sent one crew to help, they set it on fire, the second one went and also burned out like a candle. The guys caused the fire on themselves. And that’s all... In the last war they were less evil, or something, but now they came in waves, as if they were going into a psychic attack! We hit them with direct fire, and they go and go. When they fought back with difficulty, one hundred and fifty of their corpses were found.” Meanwhile, the gangs of Basayev and Khattab, trapped in the Argun Gorge, made desperate efforts to break through the blocking ring. Federal forces had to repel militant attacks in the direction of the villages of Komsomolskoye and Goyskoye. According to the commander of the Central Group of the FS, Lieutenant General V. Bulgakov, the detachments of Basayev and Khattab lost the most tactically advantageous defensive positions. “They are surrounded, and our main task is to finish them off,” Bulgakov said. On March 7–8, in the Urus-Martan region, militant detachments attempted to break out of the encirclement near the settlements of Ulus-Kert and Selmentauzen. The main effective means of deterring militants this time were aviation and artillery. During the day, aviation made 89 combat sorties. An air strike in the Vedeno region destroyed the runway and a sports plane on which “prominent” Chechen leaders planned to leave the territory of the republic. On March 8, 22 militants of the “elite” unit “Borz” (“Wolf”) under the command of Kh. Islamov were neutralized. This detachment was known for its cruelty and hatred towards Russian military personnel. Near the village of Selmentauzen, 73 militants from the Khat-taba detachment surrendered with weapons in their hands. According to the commander of the Eastern Group, Major General S. Makarov, 30 militants were brought to the FS location by their field commander M. Adaev. He also reported where more than 40 seriously wounded of his subordinates were still located, who were unable to come on their own. In addition to machine guns, 3 KamAZ trucks with anti-aircraft guns and an army tractor were seized from the militants. According to Russian Defense Minister I. Sergeev, the number of bandits who broke through from the encirclement ranged from 2 to 3 and a half thousand people. According to the acting Commander of the United States Forces in the North Caucasus, Colonel General G. Trosheva, during fierce battles with bandits trapped in the Argun Gorge, “in principle, managed to defeat the gang of Basayev and Khattab.” However, some of the militants still managed to break through the defenses and escape from the encirclement once again. 8 During the military operation in Chechnya, the FS suffered significant losses during the first weeks of March 2000 (272 killed). The First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces released data on March 10 on FS losses in the North Caucasus - both in Chechnya and Dagestan. In total, from August 2, 1999 to March 10, 2000, federal forces lost 1,836 military personnel killed and 4,984 were wounded. Losses of the Ministry of Defense - 1244 killed and 3031 wounded. Losses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - 552 killed and 1953 wounded. Directly during the operation on the territory of Chechnya, that is, from October 1, 1999, the losses of the FS amounted to 1,556 killed and 3,997 wounded. On March 9, the command of the federal troops in Chechnya announced that the army and internal troops had “established complete control over the Argun Gorge, starting from the village of Komsomolskoye and right up to the Georgian border.” Nevertheless, on March 12, fighting continued both for the village of Komsomolskoye, Urus-Martan region (at the entrance to the Argun Gorge), and near the settlements of Ulus-Kert and Selmentauzen. Despite significant losses, Gelayev decided to hold the defense to the end. On March 11, units of the internal troops, supported by army artillery, tanks and helicopters, advanced deep into Komsomolskoye. Two Chinese mercenaries surrendered, declaring that they “came to work as cooks in Chechnya - to become familiar with Caucasian cuisine.” By this time, fierce battles for Komsomolskoye were already in their second week. All this time, the FS command assured the press almost daily that the village would be taken in the coming days, or even hours, that the main forces had already been exterminated and that some dozens of bandits remained in the cauldron of fire. And then it suddenly turned out that there were already hundreds of them in the village and they were trying to counterattack... A similar situation took place with the breakthrough of Khattab’s Shatoi group into the Vedeno region. C) according to military reports, it was also “blocked”, “destroyed and scattered”. Nevertheless, she found the opportunity to regroup again and strike at the positions of the tragically killed sixth company.

On March 15, Gelayev’s militants in Komsomolskoye continued to desperately resist. Tensions among the street fighters reached their climax. As darkness fell, federal units entrenched themselves in the occupied houses and attacked again at dawn. During the battle, an Indian was captured, and when asked how he ended up in the ranks of the militants, he said that “bandits approached him in Delhi and demanded money,” but he “didn’t have any.” On March 16, a controlled minefield was placed on the southern outskirts of the Komsomolsk FS. There followed a statement from the command that “the militants were so pressed in the center of the village that they could even begin to break through the armada of equipment stationed here.” The following interview, taken at the same time from one of them, testifies to how tightly the militants were “blocked” and “pressed down”:

How were you able to leave Komsomolskoye if the troops formed a human shield around the village? Lema: At night, of course. The soldier is standing at his post, there is artillery shelling - they are shooting at the soldier. The soldier stands and is afraid of everything: he wants to live. In our case, the soldier was sitting under a tree because the shelling was very strong. We walked ten meters from him.

Are you sure the soldier saw you? It’s still night...

Lema: I'm sure I saw it. He silently pulled the shutter, and so did we. We exchanged “greetings” and went our separate ways. I understand it this way: the soldier knew that if he fired, we would kill him immediately. But the soldier does not need this war as such - he needs to survive.

Please clarify: did you leave Komsomolskoye with weapons? Lema: Of course, with weapons. There were cases when we walked in a detachment of 50 people, passing by soldiers who saw us.

What was happening in Komsomolskoye when you were there?

Lema: They are hitting the village with all types of heavy weapons. Civilians became hostages, many died. Sometimes there are assaults. Our main forces are in the mountains, and in Komsomolskoye there is a small detachment. The situation is this: there is a detachment in the village, then there is a ring of federals, and around the federals are our fighters.

Wasn’t the following plan considered in your detachment: since people are not allowed to leave the village because of you, including boys over 10 years old, then take it and leave Komsomolskoe? And thereby save the village from destruction?

Lema: We wanted to at first, but then there was no such opportunity -

Why? You were able to get out, weren't you? But they didn’t take people with them...

Lema: People don’t come with us, they’re afraid of death. We are moving at night, without guarantees.

Okay, we got out of Komsomolskoye. So what is next?

Lema: Passing checkpoints at night is no problem. But I won't talk about the details

On March 16, fighting in the southern regions of Chechnya moved to Sharo-Argun. The battles were for control of strategic heights in the Sharoi region. On March 17, a center of resistance arose 2 km from the village of Sharo-Argun, where a gang of militants numbering about 500 people (part of Khattab’s detachment) occupied several commanding heights and fired at federal forces. The militants used previously prepared positions and ammunition. From the FS side, the bandits' positions were subjected to air and artillery strikes. On March 18, in Komsomolskoye, the Novosibirsk special forces detachment “Lynx,” led by Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Shirokostup, stormed the hospital, or rather, its foundation, in which the militants were holed up. The next day, March 19, internal troops occupy house after house. The militants, who had nothing to hope for - only two dozen houses in the center of the village remained in their hands - nevertheless continued to fight; trying not to be detected, they fired until the smoke from the explosion of tank shots cleared, and constantly changed positions. In the houses visited by the FS, dozens of corpses of militants were found, and there was no one to bury them. On March 20, federal troops leave the hill in the south of the village. Although shots are still being heard in Komsomolskoye - the security forces were finishing off the last bandits in the basements, the operation is almost completed. Gelayev's gang has been destroyed. During the operation, about 400 militants were killed, 56 were captured or surrendered. Among the killed and captured bandits there are many foreign mercenaries - Arabs, Ukrainians, Chinese. It was not possible to capture R. Gelayev and his family members. And here is how G. Troshev describes the assault on Komsomolskoye: “On March 4, one of these attempts (to break through from encirclement - author's note) was made by a detachment of field commander Ruslan Gelayev, blocked in the Dachu-Borzoi and Ulus-Kert areas. The bandits used the tactic of infiltrating in small groups, including along the bed of the Goitan River, waist-deep in water. As a result, a significant part of the bandit groups managed to bypass the battle formations of the 503rd regiment and break through to the village of Komsomolskoye. As it turned out, the ultimate goal was to unite disparate gang groups in Komsomolsk and capture the regional center of Urus-Martan. Gelayev believed that he would be able to rouse all the Chechens who sympathized with him against the federal forces and then dictate his terms to the command of the United Group. Already on March 5, the village found itself in our dense ring. A day later, units of the special forces detachment entered it. Almost immediately, the special forces came under heavy fire and were forced to retreat to the northern outskirts of the village. I entrusted the then acting commander of the “West” group, Major General V. Gerasimov, with general management of the operation. The operation was directly led by my deputy for internal troops, Colonel General M. Labunets. On March 7, the operation began. To conduct combat operations directly in the populated area, units of the Ministry of Defense, Internal Troops, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as a special forces detachment of the Ministry of Justice were involved. The total number of “ours” was 816 people. At the same time, as it turned out later, the federal forces were opposed by more than 1000 (!) bandits. The village turned out to be well fortified in terms of engineering. There were quite a few fortifications equipped in accordance with all the rules of military science. The basements were turned into pillboxes and withstood a direct hit from a tank shell. In addition, most of the basements were connected by communication passages blocked by steel doors. In fact, almost every house was turned into a fortress, designed to withstand a long siege. 1elaev, realizing the hopelessness of the situation, continuously requested reinforcements. A gang of field commander Seifulla - about 300 people - hurried to his aid. But she didn’t have time to reach Komsomolskoye. The gang was defeated by artillery and air strikes. Seifullah himself was seriously wounded and barely escaped. In particular, the fact that the location for the field control post (FCP) of the head of the operation was initially poorly chosen had a negative impact on the management of units and subunits. From it only the northern part of the settlement was visible. Great difficulties also arose due to the unsatisfactory condition and understaffing of communications equipment of both small units and the operational level. This was aggravated by the almost complete lack of communication discipline. Most information, regardless of its importance, was transmitted in clear text. This allowed the militants to intercept information and respond in a timely manner to the actions of the troops, and in many cases, preempt them... The militants suffered significant losses and had many wounded, but under pain of capture they continued to stubbornly resist, to the point that even the wounded remained in their positions. But, in spite of everything, on March 14, that is, a week after the start, the military part of the operation was completed. All attempts by the Gelayevites to break out of Komsomolskoye in the south-eastern and south-western directions were thwarted by the actions of federal forces. This was evidenced by the large number of people killed in the breakthrough areas. The control of the militant groups was completely disrupted, leaving only small scattered groups that were destroyed by fire from tanks, flamethrowers and small arms. And the next day, units of the Ministry of Defense, Internal Troops, Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice began a thorough “cleansing” of the village. We had to literally uproot the remnants of gang groups from basements and shelters. They were looking for R. Gelayev. All this time, the most contradictory information was received about him. There was a message that he was wounded and was in a field hospital on March 16–17. The hospital was destroyed, but Gelayev was not found there, nor was he found among the dead. Information that appeared periodically that the bandit had left the village was refuted by interception data. R. Gelayev's special forces - the Borz detachment - made an attempt to pull out their commander, and even managed to break through into the forest belt adjacent to the village in a narrow area. But the bandits were discovered in time and delivered a powerful fire strike. As a result, Borz ceased to exist. On the night of March 19-20, the remnants of the bandit groups made a desperate attempt to break through in a northern direction. We got caught in the crossfire of our units. In this night battle, 46 bandits were destroyed. Among them is the so-called Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ichkeria Bilan Murzabekov” (14).

From the book It Was Forever Until It Ended. Last Soviet generation author Yurchak Alexey

Komsomol heteroglossia Andrei (b. 1954), secretary of the Komsomol committee of one of the Leningrad research institutes, which was discussed in Chapter 3, like thousands of his peers, became interested in Anglo-American rock music during his school years, in the late 1960s . A small fragment of an imaginary world,

Below is a story by Sergei Galitsky based on the recollections of one of the direct participants in the assault on the village of Komsomolskoye in March 2000, each house of which was turned by the militants of Ruslan Gelayev into a kind of fortress.

To the soldiers who were on the front line in the Chechen war, the orders of the command often seemed reckless. But orders are not discussed, but carried out. Our story is about the fighters of the St. Petersburg special forces detachment of the Ministry of Justice "Typhoon", who liberated Dagestan in the fall of 1999 and worked in the mountains near Kharsenoy in early 2000. However, the most important test awaited the special forces in March 2000, when they found themselves in the very heat during the assault on the village of Komsomolskoye. Six hundred of our fighters were opposed by more than one and a half thousand militants led by Ruslan Gelayev.

The bandits turned every house into an impregnable fortress. Having no heavy weapons in the first week of fighting, no aviation or artillery support, and practically only machine guns and hand grenades, our fighters stubbornly attacked the militants’ positions. Bloody battles for every street, every house lasted more than two weeks. A terrible price was paid for the capture of the village of Komsomolskoye - out of 100 soldiers of the combined special forces detachment of the Ministry of Justice, ten died and more than twenty were wounded. Eternal memory to the fallen, honor and glory to the living!

Hero of Russia, Colonel Alexey Nikolaevich Makhotin says:

We combed Komsomolskoye on the first, second and third of March. Our detachment walked along the Goyta River. On the left were soldiers of the 33rd brigade of the Internal Troops from the village of Lebyazhye near St. Petersburg, and on the right were the Internal Troops from Nizhny Tagil. The fighting has not yet begun, but militants have already begun to meet along the way. One of these days we saw two militants in civilian clothes see us from a distance and began to run away.

One managed to escape, and we killed the other. Despite civilian clothing, it was immediately clear that this was not a civilian. His face was sallow in color, like those of those who spent the whole winter sitting in mountain caves without the sun. And in appearance he was clearly an Arab. The head of the Komsomolsky administration was then asked: “Your man?” Answers: “No.” But for this incident, we still received a scolding from our superiors: “What are you talking about? They started shooting, you know, for no reason!”

On March 5, on the other side of Goyta, SOBR fighters from the Central Black Earth region, those who marched with the Nizhny Tagil residents, entered the battle and suffered their first losses. They also had dead. That day we were fired upon for the first time, and we received the order to retreat. On March 6, the neighbors on the right again began to suffer losses. The situation was such that they weren’t even able to take all their dead. In the first half of the day on March 6, we carried out a small operation not in the village, but in the residents’ camp. By this time they had already been taken out of Komsomolskoye.

They camped about two hundred meters outside the village. Even further, at the intersection of roads, there was our checkpoint, and the headquarters was located in trailers - six hundred meters from Komsomolskoe. The special operations officer of the Don-100 Internal Troops division tells me: “There is information that there are wounded militants in the civilian camp. But we probably won’t be able to pick them up. And my leadership is not eager to do this. If you can, then go for it.” I take the police officers with me (PPS, police patrol service - Ed.) and say: “Let’s do this: we block, and you take them, and then we go back together.”

We suddenly burst into the camp and see that the wounded with characteristic sallow faces are lying on blankets and mattresses. We pulled them out very quickly, so that the population did not have time to react, otherwise we would have staged the usual demonstration in such cases with women and children. After that we broke through to the mosque. She stood in the very center of Komsomolskoye. Here the Nizhny Tagil people ask me to stop, because they were moving with great difficulty, and we had to keep the same line with them. We go to the mosque.

We see that there lies a dead Arab, whom we destroyed on March 5th, prepared for burial according to local customs. This alone proves that this is not a resident of Komsomolskoye. Otherwise, according to tradition, he would have been buried on the same day. The situation was relatively calm - there was little shooting in our direction. The militants, as can be judged by the fire, are somewhere further away. We see a Volga with Moscow license plates coming our way. From the car they ask me: “What is the best way to get to the other side?”

This was an attempt to negotiate with Gelayev (call sign “Angel”) so that he would leave the village. The head of the Komsomolsky administration arrived on the Volga, along with the local mullah. They brought a mediator with them. He used to fight somewhere with Gelayev (likely in Abkhazia). Each of them had his own goal: the mullah wanted to preserve the mosque, and the head of Komsomolsky wanted to preserve the houses of the residents. And I didn’t really understand how Gelayev could be released. Well, if he left the village - what next?

I contacted my neighbors on the radio and warned them: “I’ll come to you now.” We sit down with three soldiers on a BTR (armored personnel carrier, armored personnel carrier. - Ed.) and off we go. "Volga" is following us. We moved to the other side, stopped at an intersection... And then suddenly there was a growing roar of shooting!.. The fire was still not aimed, bullets were flying overhead. But the shooting is rapidly approaching.

The Volga instantly turned around and drove back. The residents of Nizhny Tagil ask us: “Break through the fence for us, and leave!” The Bteer managed to break through the fence, but then got entangled in it. We think: “Hana to us.” I radioed to my deputy: “Take command, Dzhavdet.” We will leave as and where we can." But we were lucky: the armored personnel carrier finally got out of the fence. Thanks to the soldiers from the armored personnel carrier - they waited for us a little while we ran across Goyta in waist-deep water to them.

We reached the mosque. But then the armored personnel carrier began to turn around and crashed into a stone pillar. I smashed my head on my armor! Well, as it turned out later, he just cut the skin on his head. And on the other side of the river the war is already in full swing: the militants went on the attack. And from our shore they sent two armored personnel carriers with fifty soldiers to help us along the same road along which we entered. But they couldn't reach us.

On one car, the “spiritual” sniper shot the driver, and on the second, he removed the commander. I tell my colonel, Georgich, as I called him: “That’s it, there’s no need to send anyone else. We’ll go out on our own,” and decided to go towards the outskirts of the village. With us at the mosque was the chief of intelligence from the 33rd brigade of the Internal Troops, Major Afanasyuk. Everyone called him "Borman". He says: “I won’t go, there was no order for me to leave.” But, to the honor of this officer, he ordered his soldiers to retreat with me.

He himself stayed, did not leave for a long time, and with great difficulty I finally persuaded him to come with us. Major Afanasyuk and his intelligence officer Sergei Bavykin (“Ataman”), with whom we were at the mosque that day, died later, on March 10th. We had almost left the village, and then suddenly we received the command: “Return to our starting positions.” Orders are not discussed. We quickly return and occupy the mosque again. It's getting dark.

I contact my commanders and say: “If I stay here for another half hour, then tomorrow no one from our squad will be alive here. I go out". I understood well that we would not last long in the mosque against the militants at night. At headquarters, opinions were divided, but my immediate commander still made a difficult decision for him and gave me the command to retreat.

We see about twelve civilians walking down the street with a white flag. I thought that this was for the best: “The Chechens should not shoot at their own people like a human shield.” And in fact, this time we came out without losses. The next day, March 7th, was more or less calm for us. There were clearly not thirty militants, as the generals initially said. Therefore, now, taking into account the large losses, the leadership of the operation was deciding what to do next. Aviation began to operate in the village.

On March 8th, we counted our army: on the right are Nizhny Tagil residents, one hundred thirty plus SOBR with four old “boxes” (an armored vehicle or tank. - Ed.), we have seventy people with two “boxes”. Plus in the 33rd brigade there are a hundred people with two “boxes”. They also gave me fifteen people from the Peasants. But I told them not to shoot at all and to go behind us. And the front along which we were supposed to advance was two kilometers long.

The tanks carry seven to eight rounds of ammunition. There were also UR-70 mine clearing vehicles, which a couple of times, with a terrible roar and noise, threw their charges of four hundred kilograms of TNT towards the militants. And then we went on the attack. We reach the first level of houses and see a Chechen woman, an old woman of about eighty. We pulled her out of the garden, showed her where the residents’ camp was located, and said: “You should go there.” She crawled. This is where our losses started. We reach the second level of houses - there is an explosion on the left. A soldier from our Pskov detachment, Shiryaev, died. It was simply torn apart.

Go ahead. At the cemetery the river widens, the neighbors move to the side, and our flank remains open. Just in this place there was a small height that we could not get around. We go out to it in two groups. It feels like the militants have targeted it. They knew that there was no way for us to pass by, and from several sides they began to hit this height from a distance of one hundred to three hundred meters. These were definitely not grenade launchers, the explosions were more powerful, but most likely erpege (RPG, hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher - Ed.) or homemade mortars.

And then it began... Events unfolded rapidly: a targeted hit on our machine gunner Volodya Shirokov. He dies. Our sniper Sergei Novikov is immediately killed. Kolya Evtukh tries to pull Volodya out, and then the “spiritual” sniper hits Kolya in the lower back: his spine is broken. Another of our snipers was wounded. We pull out the wounded and begin to bandage them. I'm examining a wounded sniper. And his wound turned out to be serious. Oleg Gubanov is trying to pull Vovka Shirokov out - there is another explosion, and Oleg flies towards me, head down! They're shooting from all sides!..

Vovka gets hit again - he’s on fire! There is no way for us to get a hold... We retreat about fifty meters, taking away three wounded and one dead. Shirokov remains lying at a height... On the right flank, too, the cutting is underway. We report losses. The management gives everyone the command to retreat - aviation will operate in the village. The Tagilians and we first ask for half an hour, then another half hour, to pick up our dead. Then a couple of SU-25 attack aircraft come in and start bombing us! They dropped two huge bombs by parachute.

We hid as best we could: some hid behind some rocks, others just in the yard. Bang-bang... and fifty meters from us the bombs enter the ground!.. But they don’t explode... The first thought is a bomb with a delay. We lie still, don’t move. But still there is no explosion. It turned out that the bombs were manufactured in the fifties and were already substandard. They never exploded, fortunately for us.

The next day, March 9, we again go to the same positions. About a hundred and fifty meters away, the militants greet us with a barrage of fire. We can’t see the place where Shirokov died from here, and we can’t get any closer. We thought that Volodya was no longer on the hill. Everyone had already heard about how the militants mocked the dead. They began to ask other groups. Somewhere there, it turns out, they found a severed hand.

Our question: “Is there such and such a tattoo?” No tattoo. So it's not him. And Volodya, as it turned out, was lying in the same place where he was killed. We were unable to approach the high-rise building that day. On the tenth of March we are moving forward with Timur Sirazetdinov. Nearby, guys from the 33rd brigade with a tank are covering us. They left them with the tank behind the house, and they crawled away. There is a tubercle in front. We agree: I throw a grenade, and Timur must run thirty meters to the barn. I throw a grenade over a hill.

Timur ran. And then there was a burst of machine gun fire from afar... The machine gunner was tracking us, it was clear. Timur shouts: “Alexey, I’m wounded!..”. I jumped to him. The machine gunner is pouring a burst of fire again... Bullet fountains are dancing all around! “Jackson” from behind shouts: “Lie down!..”. It feels like there is some kind of dead zone where I am pressed to the ground - the machine gunner cannot reach me. I can’t get up - he’ll immediately cut me off.

And then an officer from the 33rd brigade saved me - he diverted the machine gunner’s attention to himself (his last name was Kichkaylo, he died on March 14th and received the title of Hero posthumously). He and the soldiers followed the tank towards Timur. The machine gunner turned his attention to them and began shooting at the tank - only the bullets clicked on the armor! I took advantage of this second and rolled into a ravine that stretched towards the militants. There's a dead zone there, no one shoots at me.

The soldiers dragged Timur onto the tank and retreated. I crawled up - Timur had a wound in the groin area. He is unconscious. I cut my trousers, and there are blood clots, like jelly... We pull the leg above the wound, bandage it. Our doctor gives him a direct injection in the heart. We call the emteelbashka (MTLB, a small light armored tractor. - Ed.), but it can’t find us!.. But the second one sent after us still found us. We throw Timur onto it and send him to the rear.

We somehow really hoped that Timur would pull through. After all, he was wounded in the first war - fifty-five shrapnel hit him then. He survived that time. But an hour later they tell me on the radio: “Cyclone”, your “three hundredth” is “two hundredth” (“three hundredth” is wounded, “two hundredth” is killed. - Ed.). And Timur is my close friend. I went into the barn. A lump in my throat... I didn’t want the soldiers to see my tears.

I sat there for about five to ten minutes and then went out to my people again. Everyone suffered great losses that day. There is no artillery support, tanks without ammunition. We go on the attack with machine guns and machine guns without artillery preparation. Therefore, on the eleventh and twelfth of March, the leaders of the operation again took a time out.

On March 11th, we were replaced in our positions by the Izhevsk detachment of the Ministry of Justice. We retreated to stock up on ammunition. Another thing that bothered me as a commander was this. The fact is that twenty snipers who occupied positions in the gorge above Komsomolskoye were transferred to my operational subordination. And it was with these snipers that I lost contact. We had to look for them now.

On the way, I stopped at the headquarters, where a tragicomic and very revealing story took place. We drive up to the sawmill, where the headquarters has moved, and see this picture. About six people from the command and various journalists are running around. It turns out that two soldiers climbed into the ravine after the calf. And that’s when their militants put them on the ground with fire and are hitting them! Everyone is running around, fussing, but no one is doing anything to change the situation. I was with Vovka “The Grumpy”.

We grabbed some kind of armored vehicle, drove up and pulled out the soldiers. Then we went in search further. While we were looking for them, the commander of the Udmurt detachment, Ilfat Zakirov, was called to headquarters for a meeting. A very unpleasant incident occurred at this meeting, which had tragic consequences. There were always two colonels at the headquarters, the military commandants of Komsomolsk and Alkhazurovo. They told me exactly what happened there.

Ilfat reports the situation (and before the meeting I told him what was happening in our positions) as it is - you can’t go there, there’s a gap on the right flank, the militants are shooting from here. And one of the generals said to him, without understanding: “You are a coward!” Then the only person who stood up for Ilfat was police general Kladnitsky, whom I personally respect for this. He said something like this: “You, comrade commander, behave incorrectly with people. You can’t talk like that.”

I heard that after this Kladnitsky was moved somewhere. And Ilfat is an oriental guy, for him such an accusation is generally terrible. When he returned to his position from this meeting, he was all white. He tells the squad: “Forward!..”. I told him: “Ilfat, wait, calm down. Give me an hour. I’ll go to the height where Vovka Shirokov lies, pick him up and then we’ll go together. Don't go anywhere." Not long before this, we stole, secretly from our headquarters, a killed militant, a field commander.

There were several of them there, at the headquarters, for identification. And so, through the head of the Komsomolsky administration, we convey to the militants an offer to exchange him for Volodya. But nothing came of it. We did not wait for an answer then. I sent the body of the militant to the commandant's office of Urus-Martan. Already on the seventeenth they asked me from there: “What should we do with him?” I answer: “Yes, bury it somewhere.” So they buried him, I don’t even know where.

Then I took four soldiers, a tank and again went to that same ill-fated height. And the militants are hitting it with all their might!.. We placed the tank in a ravine, the guys are covering me. I myself crawled with the “cat” from below to the edge of the cliff, and then threw it and hooked what was left of Volodya onto my boot (there was nothing else). What I saw of Volodya was scary... Only half of the healthy twenty-five-year-old guy remained. Now it looked like the body of a ten-year-old teenager - he was all burned out and shriveled up.

The only clothes left on his body were his shoes. I carefully wrapped him in a raincoat, crawled to the tank, loaded him onto the tank with the guys and sent him to headquarters. I was torn by conflicting feelings. On the one hand, I was terribly shocked by how he looked. On the other hand, it relieved my heart - he was not missing, and he could be buried, as expected, in his native land. These feelings of mine are difficult to describe in words.

Just recently, a still alive, warm person, your close friend, who means so much to you, suddenly dies in a matter of moments before your eyes - and you not only cannot do anything for him, but you cannot even take his dead body, so that his enemies cannot mock him!.. Instead of lively, cheerful eyes, a bright smile and a strong body, “something” is spread out in front of you, riddled with fragments, burned by fire, dumb, wordless...

I ask for Ilfat on the radio - he doesn’t answer. And before that, over the radio, he repeated to me once again: “I went forward.” I told him again: “Wait, don’t rush. I’ll come, then we’ll go together.” Here our general gives me an order over the radio: “I am removing you, Cyclone, from command of the combined detachment of the Ministry of Justice. Senior Lieutenant Zakirov will command.” Well, he suspended and suspended. I understand him too. He is there among the other generals. Well, what about removing the lieutenant colonel and appointing a senior leader is his question.

I go out to the house where the Izhevsk residents went, and I see a detachment standing. I ask: “Where is the commander?” They point towards the house. Four of my soldiers are with me. I also take “Grandfather” from the Izhevsk detachment. He is an experienced person, he has participated in previous campaigns. We burst into the yard, throw grenades, and start shooting in all directions. We see two bodies lying in the yard near the house, completely mutilated, their clothes in tatters. This is Ilfat with his deputy.

Dead. “Grandfather” threw them onto the tank, although it is very difficult to lift the dead one. But he's a healthy man. And it was like this. Ilfat and his deputy entered the courtyard, and they fought with the militants almost hand-to-hand. It turned out that the militants had dug trenches behind the house. Several militants Ilfat and his deputy were shot, and the remaining ones were pelted with grenades. So the Izhevsk detachment was left without a commander. The guys are shocked. I immediately pulled them back a little.

And then he was sent to the reserve as a replacement. They still remember this with kind words. But I really understood their psychological state: it was impossible to send them forward then. When commanders yelled at officers, they reacted differently. Someone, like me, for example, swallowed it all. I shoot further and that’s it. And someone reacts emotionally, like Ilfat, and dies... By the way, after his death, I was appointed commander of the detachment again.

It was in Komsomolskoye that I realized that a number of the commanders who commanded us didn’t even know soldiers. For them, this is a combat unit, “pencils,” and not a living person. I had to drink this bitter cup to the bottom. When I arrived in St. Petersburg, I looked into the eyes of every relative of the victims - wife, parents, children. On March 8, at headquarters, I asked for a platoon to close the gap on the flank between us and the Nizhny Tagil troops.

And they answer me: “I’ll give you a platoon, and the enemy will have thirty more targets.” There will be more losses. Better give me the coordinates, I’ll cover you with a mortar.” Well, what can I say... Stupidity, unprofessionalism? And you have to pay for it with the most precious thing - life...

On the thirteenth of March, a Sturm missile launcher arrived at our position. They ask: “Well, where should you go?” I answer: “Over that house. There's a firing point there." This is about seventy or one hundred meters from our positions. They say: “We can’t, we need four hundred and fifty meters.” Well, where can they go for four hundred and fifty? After all, everything that shoots at me is at a distance of seventy to one hundred and fifty meters.

This wonderful rocket launcher turned out to be completely unnecessary here. So they left with nothing... On the same day, the ammunition supply service asks: “What should I send you?” Before this, there were no serious weapons; we fought with machine guns and machine guns with grenade launchers. I say: “Send about eight Bumblebees (flamethrower - Ed.).” They send eight boxes of four pieces each, that is, thirty-two pieces.

Lord, where were you before?! Although they gave us all this without receipts, it’s a pity for the goods. It was very difficult to drag so much iron forward. Starting from March 8, we no longer left Komsomolskoye; we remained in our positions overnight. It was very unpleasant. After all, until about the fifteenth of March, no one really covered us from the rear; militants ran through us periodically. On the tenth of March, I ran alone to the cemetery, which was next to us.

We worked along it and crawled in that direction. Duffel bags with cartridges were found in the cemetery. The militants prepared them in advance. And only after the fourteenth or fifteenth of March, the riot police near Moscow began to clean up our courtyards and vegetable gardens. On March 15, Komsomolskoye was enveloped in such fog that nothing was visible three meters away. Once again we went with the soldiers to the height where Shirokov died and took away the weapons. By the way, we didn’t lose a single gun during the entire battle.

And then my neighbors from the Internal Troops called me to coordinate actions. Well, they almost shot me there, but I still didn’t understand whether they were our own or strangers! That's how it was. The neighbors were sitting in a house nearby. I go into the yard and see that some figures in camouflage are running about twenty meters past the barn. They turned at me, looked - and how they would fire a burst from a machine gun in my direction! Frankly speaking, unexpectedly... Thank you for hitting only the wall nearby. It was really very difficult to distinguish our own from the strangers - everyone was mixed up.

After all, everyone looks the same: camouflage, all dirty, with beards. There was such a typical case. The commander of the Chuvash special forces detachment of the GUIN occupied the house with his soldiers. As expected, the grenade was thrown first. After some time, the commander comes down to the basement with a flashlight. I shined a flashlight and saw a militant sitting, looking at him and just blinking his eyes. Ours - jump up: but he can’t get out - the machine gun got caught on the edges of the hole. Still, he jumped out and threw a grenade into the basement.

And a burst from a machine gun... It turned out that an almost lifeless wounded militant was sitting there; gangrene had already begun. That's why he didn't shoot, but could only blink with his eyes. It was on the fifteenth of March, as the commandants of Komsomolskoye and Alkhazurovo later said, that our leaders, by satellite phone, each reported to their superiors: “Komsomolskoye has been taken, it is completely controlled.” What kind of control is there if on the sixteenth of March we again have losses - three people killed, fifteen people wounded?

On this day, Sergei Gerasimov from the Novgorod “Rusichi” detachment, Vladislav Baigatov from the Pskov “Zubr” detachment and Andrei Zakharov from “Typhoon” died. On March 17, another Typhoon fighter, Alexander Tikhomirov, died. On the sixteenth of March, together with a platoon of Yaroslavl riot police assigned to us, we moved from the middle of Komsomolskoe to the school to converge with the 33rd brigade. We begin to close in and see that a T-80 tank is coming straight towards us!

By that time, the army equipment had already arrived. And we all have different connections. I can only talk with my general, the riot police can only talk with their command, the soldiers from the 33rd brigade can only talk with theirs. I ask my general: “What should I do? He’ll start hitting us now!..” It’s good that we had the Russian flag with us. I turned it around and went into the tank’s visibility range. He focused on me, and we linked up safely with the 33rd Brigade.

On the seventeenth and eighteenth, the militants began to surrender en masse. In one day, two hundred people were captured. Then they began to dig them out of the basements. There were some attempts at a breakthrough on March 20th, but by that time, by and large, it was all over. We placed the crosses on the height where Shirokov and Novikov died, and Kolya Evtukh was seriously wounded on March 23rd.

Later we learned that under an amnesty for the presidential elections (elections for the President of the Russian Federation took place on March 26, 2000 - Ed.), many of the militants were released. But, if it had been known in advance that they would be released, then, according to logic and conscience, there would have been no need to take them prisoner. True, all the Typhoon soldiers left on purpose when the militants began to surrender. I sent one of my deputy and those of our guards who did not participate in the hostilities to work on receiving prisoners. This must be understood: we had severe losses.

My friends Vladimir Shirokov and Timur Sirazetdinov, with whom I traveled through Dagestan, died. I was just afraid that not everyone would be able to cope. I didn’t want to take sin on my soul. Now I look back at what happened in Komsomolskoye and am amazed that the human body could withstand such stress. After all, we crawled all over Komsomolskoye many times up and down. Either it snows or it rains. Cold and hungry...

I myself suffered from pneumonia there on my feet. Fluid came out of my lungs when I breathed and settled in a thick layer on the radio when I spoke. The doctor injected me with some medications, thanks to which I continued to work. But... like some kind of robot. It’s unclear what kind of resource we all survived this on. For two weeks of continuous fighting, there was no normal food, no rest. During the day, we’ll light a fire in the basement, cook some chicken, and then drink this broth. We practically didn’t eat rations or stew. It didn't go down my throat.

And before that, we starved for eighteen more days on our mountain. And the break between these events was only two or three days. Now it is possible, having comprehended everything, to sum up the results of the assault on Komsomolsky. The entire operation was carried out poorly. But there was an opportunity to blockade the village for real. The population had already been withdrawn from the village, so they could bomb and shell as much as they wanted. And only after that we can storm. I myself was not Alexander Matrosov; in Komsomolskoye I did not rush into an embrasure in battle.

But then I decided for myself that I would have to carry out reckless orders along with everyone else. You can’t go forward, but you have to, because there is an order. That's why I went forward with the fighters. The situation was such that I couldn’t do anything differently. If you don’t go yourself and send the guys, you’re the wrong person. If you don’t go with them at all, they’ll call them all cowards. Just like in the Russian folk tale: “If you go to the left, you will be lost, to the right, you will die, if you go straight, you will lose yourself and your horse.” And we need to go...

A week later, on the twenty-sixth of March 2000, the elections of the President of the Russian Federation took place. And the residents of the village of Komsomolskoye, which we “heroically” wiped off the face of the earth, also vote in one of the schools in Urus-Martan. And we, the Typhoon squad, are given the honor of ensuring the security of this particular polling station. We check it in advance and post guards early in the night.

The head of the Komsomolsky administration appears. He witnessed how we did not leave a single entire house in the village, including his own house... I organized the work, and so I could only check, visiting the site from time to time. I arrive in the evening to pick up the ballot box. Although it was dangerous to move around Urus-Martan late at night, leaving the ballot box at night and guarding it at the police station was even more dangerous. In accordance with all democratic procedures, we safely delivered the sealed ballot box, accompanied by an armored personnel carrier, to the commandant’s office.

And the voting ended with the head of Komsomolsky and I sharing a bottle of vodka. He says: “I understand that there was nothing personal about what happened. You are soldiers." We told him: “Of course, we have no hostility towards the residents. Our enemies are militants.” The election result in this area shocked everyone. Eighty percent of the votes are for Putin, ten percent are for Zyuganov. And three percent - for the Chechen Dzhabrailov. And I can testify that there were no signs of fraud at the site. This is how the heads of the Chechen clans of Komsomolsky voted. These are the schedules...

Urus-Martan district of the Chechen Republic in the period from March 5 to March 20, 2000.

Seizure of Komsomolskoye by militants

On March 4, one of the attempts to break out of the Argun Gorge was made by a detachment of field commander Ruslan Gelayev, blocked in the areas of Dachu-Borzoi and Ulus-Kert. The militants used the tactic of infiltrating in small groups, including along the bed of the Goitan River, waist-deep in water. As a result, a significant part of the bandit groups managed to bypass the battle formations of the 503rd regiment and break through to the village of Komsomolskoye. Gelayev’s ultimate goal was to unite disparate gang groups in his native village of Komsomolskoye and seize the regional center of Urus-Martan.

At about four o'clock in the morning on March 5, Gelayev led a large group of hundreds of people to storm Komsomolskoye. One group of militants, having shot down a grenade launcher platoon standing on the wooded slope of the gorge, immediately went to the village. The second group attacked a motorized rifle platoon that occupied another height above the gorge. The militants used their usual tactics when storming a strong point - more than a hundred militants fired continuously at the positions of the federal forces, not allowing them to raise their heads, and an assault group of 50 people climbed the mountain under cover of fire.

The commander of the 503rd motorized rifle regiment, Hero of Russia, Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Stvolov, recalls:

“Since October, when we were brought into Chechnya, I have had thirty-five casualties, and I lost another thirty-two soldiers in Komsomolskoye. At the very beginning, the “Czechs” broke through the paratroopers and shot my platoon of grenade launchers point-blank. And then I lost two tank crews. Our hair still stands on end... We stood on top, in the foothills, trying to prevent reinforcements of the “spirits” from entering the village. First, I sent one crew to help, they set it on fire, the second one went and also burned out like a candle. The guys caused the fire on themselves. And that’s all... In the last war, they were less evil, or something, but now they hit me in waves, as if they were going into a psychic attack! We hit them with direct fire, and they go and go. When they fought back with difficulty, one hundred and fifty of their corpses were found.”

According to the deputy Commander of the Joint Group of Forces for Special Operations, General Grigory Fomenko: “No one expected such a powerful breakthrough. And we didn’t have the opportunity to block the entire foothills, holding hands.”

Battle of tank No. 812 of Lieutenant Lutsenko

A reconnaissance group and a tank of the 503rd motorized rifle regiment with tail number No. 812, going to help the motorized riflemen, were ambushed. The tank, in which the commander of the tank platoon, Lieutenant Lutsenko, was located, was hit by an RPG-7 and lost speed, and the reconnaissance group, having lost 5 wounded people, was forced to retreat back. For four hours, the crew of the damaged tank fired back from the militants. Despite the barrage of mortar fire from federal forces, the militants continued to fire at the tank with grenade launchers and small arms, trying in vain to persuade the crew to surrender. Another T-72 and a reconnaissance group sent to help the crew of tank No. 812 were also ambushed. The second tank was blown up by a landmine, and the scouts, having entered into battle with superior enemy forces, were unable to get through to the damaged tank. At the end of the day, the motorized rifles of the 503rd regiment were finally able to get to tank No. 812, but it was too late. When the tank ran out of ammunition, the tank platoon commander, Lieutenant Alexander Lutsenko, called in artillery fire. However, despite this, the militants still managed to get close to the tank, blow it up and open the hatches. The militants cut off Lieutenant Alexander Lutsenko's head, and the gunner-operator of a tank gun was also brutally killed. The Chechens took the driver as a prisoner. For courage and heroism in the fight against terrorist groups in the North Caucasus region, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated October 14, 2000, Guard Lieutenant Lutsenko Alexander Alekseevich was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously).

Blocking of Komsomolskoye by federal forces

Immediately upon receiving information about the breakthrough and capture of the village, an order was given to block Komsomolskoye with forces of units and units of the Ministry of Defense and Internal Troops. On the afternoon of March 5, in order to block the militants in Komsomolskoye, troops began to converge on the village from everywhere. The village found itself in a tight ring of federal forces. The encirclement became denser over the next two days. Local residents began to quickly leave the village. The refugee camp is located 200 meters outside the village.

Attempt to clear the village on March 6

On the morning of March 6, special forces units ( Ministry of Justice special forces unit "Typhoon"; special forces detachment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Rosich"; SOBR detachment of the Central Black Earth Regional Directorate for Organized Crime Control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ) entered the village to clear the village of gangs. This “campaign” turned out to be reconnaissance in combat. Almost immediately, the special forces came under heavy fire and were forced to retreat to the western outskirts of the village. The result of underestimating the enemy was an eight-hour battle surrounded and the death of 11 soldiers of the Rosich detachment, 3 Kursk sobrists: police major Oleg Vyacheslavovich Ladygin, senior police lieutenant Alexander Alekseevich Alyabiev, police lieutenant Vladimir Yuryevich Timashkov and Voronezh SOBR lieutenant Belov (posthumously awarded the Order of Mu gestures) .

The SOBR detachment of the Central Black Earth RUBOP-UBOP of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Rosich special forces detachment of Lieutenant Jafyas Yafarov advanced two blocks deep into Komsomolskoye and captured a fortified house at a street intersection, which was turned into a stronghold. The actions of the special forces allowed the units moving behind them to gain a foothold in the village. However, the special forces themselves were cut off from the main forces by fire. For several hours the fighters fought an unequal defensive battle. Lieutenant Yafarov personally destroyed several militants and carried a wounded grenade launcher out from under fire. He received a concussion and multiple wounds, but remained in service. When ammunition began to run out, the group went to break through to their own, but came under heavy fire from several directions and all died on the streets of the village, having fully fulfilled their military duty. Lieutenant Yafarov, moments before his death, destroyed an enemy firing point and tried to carry out a wounded soldier, but was killed by a sniper shot in the head. For this battle, Lieutenant Jafyas Yafarov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

The commander of the special forces detachment of the Ministry of Justice “Typhoon”, Hero of Russia, Colonel A. N. Makhotin, recalls:

“On the fifth of March, on the other side of Goyta, SOBR fighters from the Central Black Earth region entered the battle and suffered their first losses. They also had dead. That day we were fired upon for the first time, and we received the order to retreat. On March 6, the neighbors on the right again began to suffer losses. The situation was such that they weren’t even able to take all their dead. In the first half of the day on March 6, we carried out a small operation not in the village, but in the residents’ camp. After that we broke through to the mosque. She stood in the very center of Komsomolskoye. We moved to the other side, stopped at an intersection... And then suddenly there was a growing roar of shooting!.. The fire was still not aimed, bullets were flying overhead. The shooting is rapidly approaching. And on the other side of the river the war is already in full swing: the militants went on the attack. From our shore they sent two armored personnel carriers with fifty fighters to help us along the same road along which we entered. But they couldn't reach us. The “Dukhovsky” sniper shot the driver of one car, and the commander of the second car. I tell my colonel, Georgich, as I called him: “That’s it, there’s no need to send anyone else. We’ll go out on our own.” There were clearly not thirty militants, as the generals initially said. Therefore, now, taking into account the large losses, the leadership of the operation was deciding what to do next. Aviation began to operate in the village.”

It became clear that a simple “cleansing” would not be enough here. A large scale operation is required.

Assault on Komsomolskoye

Strengths of the parties

On March 7, the operation to liberate Komsomolskoye from gangs began. The commander of the federal group, G. Troshev, assigned the commander of the “West” group, Major General V. Gerasimov, to carry out general management of the operation. The operation was directly led by Troshev’s deputy for internal troops, Colonel General M. Labunets. At this point, most of the civilians left the village. In Komsomolskoye, only Gelayev’s supporters remained among the civilians who decided to support their “famous” fellow villager.

At the time of the start of the assault, the federal command did not yet have complete information about the state of affairs in the populated area or the number of bandit groups. So, according to initial information, no more than 30 people entered the village together with Gelayev. Then this figure increased to 150 and turned out to be far from final. This determined the further course of events. To conduct combat operations directly in the populated area, units of the Ministry of Defense, Internal Troops, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as the special forces detachment of the Ministry of Justice “Typhoon” were involved. The total number of the federal group involved in the assault on Komsomolskoye as of March 7 was 816 people. At the same time, as it turned out later, the federal forces were opposed by more than a thousand well-armed, trained and ready to stand to the last militants.

First assault attempts

The assault began early in the morning of March 7. At 5:30 a.m., federal forces launched a combined fire strike on the village using aviation and artillery. At 6:30, the use of heavy flamethrower systems “Buratino” began against the militants. At 7:52 a.m., federal forces launched an assault on the village. Clashes began in all areas.

On March 8, special forces units and the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the support of artillery (TOS Buratino and UR-77) were thrown against the militants. On a two-kilometer front, the following troops were advancing against the militants who had settled in the village: a detachment of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from Nizhny Tagil and a combined detachment of the SOBR of the Central Black Earth RUBOP (over 100 soldiers, 4 tanks); special forces detachment "Typhoon" (70 people, 2 tanks); reconnaissance detachment of the 33rd brigade of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (over 100 people, 2 tanks); 15 employees of the patrol service (PPS) - a total of about 300 people with 8 tanks (as the command assumed at that time, the number of militants in the village did not exceed 150 people). Like previous attempts to establish control over the village, the assault on March 8 ends in failure.

As the commander of the Typhoon special forces, Colonel Makhotin, describes the assault attempt on March 8:

“We reach the first level of houses. This is where our losses started. Soldier Shiryaev died. It was simply torn apart. Go ahead. At the cemetery the river widens, the neighbors move to the side, and our flank remains open. Just in this place there was a small height that we could not get around. We go out to it in two groups. And then it began... Events unfolded rapidly: a targeted hit on our machine gunner Volodya Shirokov. He dies. Our sniper Sergei Novikov is immediately killed. Kolya Evtukh tries to pull Volodya out, and then the “spiritual” sniper hits Kolya in the lower back: his spine is broken. Another of our snipers was wounded. We pull out the wounded and begin to bandage them. Oleg Gubanov tries to pull Shirokov out - there’s another explosion, and Oleg flies towards me, head down. They're shooting from all sides!.. Shirokov is hit again - he's on fire! There is no way for us to get a hold... We retreat about fifty meters, taking away three wounded and one dead. Shirokov remains lying at a height... On the right flank, too, the cutting is underway. We report losses. The generals give everyone the command to retreat - aviation will operate in the village.”

On March 9 and 10, units of federal forces again tried to enter the village, but were again met by heavy fire from militants and, having suffered losses, were forced to retreat to their original positions. On March 9, reports were received that movement had been noticed in the outlying houses of Komsomolskoye located in the gorge. A group of militants, distraught from the bombing or not wanting to tempt fate, moved to the outermost houses to try to break into the mountains after dark. Two tanks and a Shilka were sent to the indicated location, destroying this group of militants. In the evening, a larger gang tried to break through in the opposite direction - from the mountains to the village. Noticing armed men on the slopes of a nearby mountain, the tankers opened fire. The range was about 2 kilometers. Half an hour later, the command post where the Reb men were working reported that, according to radio interception data, the conductor with the advance group had been destroyed. Having lost their guide, the bandits told “Angel” (Gelaev’s call sign) that they would not go to the village. In the battles of March 9, federal forces captured 11 mercenaries - Chinese, Arabs, Iranians. On March 10, the chief of intelligence of the 33rd brigade of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Major Afanasyuk, was killed in battle.

Colonel Makhotin: “Everyone had heavy losses that day. There was no artillery support, the tanks had practically no ammunition. The tanks had seven or eight rounds of ammunition. We went on the attack with machine guns and machine guns without artillery preparation. Therefore, on the eleventh and twelfth of March, the leaders of the operation again took a time out "

Regrouping and strengthening of federal forces

On March 9, the command of the federal troops in Chechnya announced that the army and internal troops had “established complete control over the Argun Gorge, starting from the village of Komsomolskoye and right up to the Georgian border.” Nevertheless, on March 12, fighting continued both for the village of Komsomolskoye, Urus-Martan district (at the entrance to the Argun Gorge), and near the settlements of Ulus-Kert and Selmentauzen. Despite significant losses, Gelayev decided to hold the defense to the end.

On March 10, units of security forces that participated in the battles are withdrawn for rest and stocking with ammunition. They are replaced on the front line by newly arrived units, including airborne units (1st battalion of the 56th air assault regiment), the Ussuriysk GRU special forces brigade, the 2nd GRU special forces brigade, a combined detachment of the Moscow region riot police, the Alpha (sniper) group, the Novosibirsk detachment special forces "Ermak", special forces detachment of the Penitentiary Penitentiary of the Ministry of Justice from Izhevsk, 19th special forces detachment of the VV "Ermak".

On March 11, units of the internal troops, supported by army artillery, tanks and helicopters, advanced deep into Komsomolskoye. Two Chinese mercenaries surrendered, declaring that “ came to work as cooks in Chechnya - to get acquainted with Caucasian cuisine" All this time, the command of the federal forces assured the press almost every day that the village would be taken in the coming days, or even hours, that the main forces had already been exterminated and that dozens of bandits remained in the cauldron of fire. And then suddenly it turned out that there were already hundreds of them in the village and they were trying to counterattack.

Incident with Udmurt special forces

At the meeting convened by the commander of the federal group, Colonel General A. Baranov, who had arrived near Komsomolskoye, the commander of the Udmurt special forces detachment of the Penitentiary Penitentiary Ilfat Zakirov was summoned to report. During the report Art. Lieutenant Ilfat Zakirov was accused by General Baranov of cowardice, which ultimately led to the death of Art. Lieutenant Zakirov and his deputy. This is how this episode is described from the words of General Baranov in General Troshev’s book “My War...”: General Baranov, after reports from the leaders of the operation, made a visual inspection of the theater of operations through surveillance devices, as a result of which “ I saw a completely different picture: a special forces detachment was preparing to spend the night, shaking out dust from their sleeping bags.”. By order of General Baranov, the commander of the special forces detachment was called to the command post: “ The brave senior lieutenant cheerfully reported: “Today we took seven houses, suppressed 22 firing points!” They double-checked it - it turned out that the senior lieutenant lied without a twinge of conscience. Baranov had to take command of the detachment: “ So, so, senior lieutenant. Tomorrow you will receive the task personally from me. If you don’t comply, you’ll go to court!..“"

The same episode is described differently by another witness, the commander of the Typhoon special forces, Colonel Makhotin. Just a day before the meeting, Udmurt special forces from Izhevsk replaced Typhoon fighters in combat positions. Art. Lieutenant Zakirov reported on the situation in his area of ​​responsibility. Makhotin: “Before the meeting, I told him (Zakirov) what was happening in our positions as it is - you can’t go there, there’s a gap (between units) on the right flank, the militants are shooting from here. And Baranov told him, without understanding: “You are a coward!” Then the only person who stood up for Ilfat was police general Kladnitsky, whom I personally respect for this. He said something like this: “You, comrade commander, behave incorrectly with people. You can’t talk like that.” I heard that after this Kladnitsky was moved somewhere(in 2001, the head of the Volgo-Vyatka RUBOP, Lieutenant General Ivan Ivanovich Kladnitsky, was transferred to the reserve.) And Ilfat is an oriental guy, for him the accusation of cowardice is generally terrible. When he returned to his position from this meeting, he was all white. He tells the squad: “Forward!..”. I told him: “Ilfat, wait, calm down. Don’t go anywhere”... I ask for Ilfat on the radio - he doesn’t answer. And before that, over the radio, he repeated to me once again: “I went forward.” I go out to the house where the Izhevsk residents went, and I see a detachment standing. I ask: “Where is the commander?” They point towards the house. We see two bodies lying in the yard near the house, completely mutilated, their clothes in tatters. This is Ilfat with his deputy. The dead...The militants had trenches dug behind the house. Ilfat and his deputy entered the courtyard, and they fought with the militants almost hand-to-hand. Several militants Ilfat and his deputy were shot, and the remaining ones were pelted with grenades. When generals yelled at officers, they reacted differently. Someone, like me, for example, swallowed it all. And someone reacts emotionally, like Ilfat, and dies..."

Capture of Komsomolskoye by federal troops

All these days the militants unsuccessfully tried to break the blockade of Komsomolsky. One of these attempts was made with the goal of breaking back into the Argun Gorge along the mouth of the Goitan River. However, by this time the mouth was already heavily mined, more than 20 special forces snipers were stationed at the heights along the gorge, and the gorge itself was blocked by airborne units. As a result of the night battle, the enemy lost 140 people killed and only worsened their situation. Another attempt to leave the village - at the junction of the positions of the 503rd regiment and the Ministry of Internal Affairs unit - was thwarted thanks to the use of the Tochka-U operational-tactical missile. The complete destruction zone occupied an area of ​​about 300 by 150 meters. The rocket launchers worked meticulously - the blow hit the bandits without affecting their own.

March 13 - Federal forces suffer losses from sniper fire. A mine fired from the village by the militants fell directly into the open hatch of an MT-LB armored personnel carrier stationed on a hill behind the village. The MT-LB burned down, two soldiers were wounded by shrapnel.

On March 14, during a battle on Komsomolsky Street, three armored personnel carriers were burned by militants. To support the assault units, two T-62 tanks, one T-72 and one Shilka tank entered the village. Having passed along a narrow street and barely missed three burning armored personnel carriers, the tanks shot at the houses in which the militants were holed up with direct fire. As a result of the militants' return fire from RPGs, one tank was damaged and two officers were wounded, including the battalion commander.

Gelayev, realizing the hopelessness of the situation, continuously requested reinforcements. A gang of field commander Seifulla - about 300 people - hurried to his aid, but they did not have time to reach Komsomolskoye. The gang was defeated by artillery and air strikes. Seifullah himself was seriously wounded and barely escaped capture. According to gas. “Russian special forces”, Arbi Baraev should have come to the aid of Gelayev in Komsomolskoye, but did not do this, and therefore Gelayev declared him his blood enemy.

On March 15, as the commandants of Komsomolskoye and Alkhazurovo later said, all the generals, on a satellite phone, as one, each to his superiors, reported: “Komsomolskoye has been taken, it is completely controlled.”

On March 16, due to the growing threat of a militant breakthrough, federal forces set up a controlled minefield on the southern outskirts of Komsomolskoye.

According to the recollections of a participant in the events, a special forces soldier: “We advanced about 300 meters along the street, settled in a house, and the commander ordered our sniper pair to climb into the attic and look around the area. In a large clearing above the village in the south, tanks are rolling around and hitting targets in the village, including houses in our street. To our reasonable question about whether the tankers knew that we were working here, the answer was completely vague, like “everything is under control”... We contacted “Lenin”, and they answered us: “Check your location. They are working in the area" Pinocchio" (TOS-1, a terrible thing). We are trying to give coordinates, but they don’t hear us. That’s when the command group made the only right decision, legs in hand and back to where we started. We just got to the outskirts, as in the place where We were sitting there, first there was a flash, then a huge cloud of explosion, "Pinocchio" worked right to where we had set up an observation post. And then the SU-25 stood in a circle above the village. There is no connection. Sometimes they hear us, sometimes they don’t..."

Cleaning up Komsomolskoe

On March 16, special forces units "Typhoon" and the Yaroslavl riot police united in the area of ​​the school with the advancing detachments of the 33rd brigade of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The losses of the federal forces on March 16 were three dead and fifteen wounded. On this day, S. Gerasimov from the Novgorod detachment “Rusichi”, V. Baigatov from the Pskov detachment “Zubr” and A. Zakharov from “Typhoon” died.

On March 18, in Komsomolskoye, the Novosibirsk special forces detachment “Ermak”, led by Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Shirokostup, stormed the hospital, or rather, the foundation that remained from it, in which the militants were holed up. In the morning, during an attempt to storm the fortification, a detachment of fighters numbering up to 150 people came out to break through the encirclement of the special forces detachment. The special forces detachment managed to hold out until reinforcements arrived. The group of militants was scattered by artillery fire. The Chechen bunker - the concrete basement of a destroyed hospital - was destroyed only at the end of the day by the combined fire of an approaching T-72 tank, shelling from RPGs and Shmel flamethrowers. During this battle, the special forces of the 19th detachment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Ermak" lost only 8 people killed, including three officers - majors Chebrov and Nepomnyashchy and art. Lieutenant Politin.

On March 19, internal troops occupy house by house. The militants, who had nothing to hope for - only two dozen houses in the center of the village remained in their hands - nevertheless continued to fight according to all the rules; trying not to be detected, they fired until the smoke from the explosion of tank shots cleared, and constantly changed positions. Moving north, a group of special forces from the Novosibirsk detachment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Ermak" advanced through the lowlands. A group of infantry was advancing towards the detachments of internal troops. In the houses they visited, fighters from federal units found dozens of corpses of militants.

Gelayev's exit from encirclement

“How were you able to get out of Komsomolskoye if the troops formed a human shield around the village?

Lema: - At night, of course. A soldier is standing on duty, there is artillery shelling. The soldier stands and is afraid of everything: he wants to live. In our case, the soldier was sitting under a tree because the shelling was very strong. We walked ten meters from him.

Are you sure the soldier saw you? It’s still night...

Lema: - I'm sure I saw it. He silently pulled the shutter, and so did we. We exchanged “greetings” and went our separate ways. I understand it this way: the soldier knew that if he fired, we would kill him immediately. But the soldier doesn’t need this war as such - he needs to survive.”

Another eyewitness account of the events - a special forces soldier:

“At that time, from the southeast, in an area of ​​about 3 km, moving along the road, we met 2 infantry fighting vehicles with a squad of fighters on each. These were the blocking forces from the side of the greenery, turning into the foothills. That is, the village was not blocked by anyone from the southeast, and this was on the fourth day of the active phase of the operation (March 11).”

Losses

According to official data, the losses of the federal forces amounted to 50 people killed and over 300 wounded. However, it is known that the losses of the 503rd Motorized Rifle Regiment alone amounted to 32 people killed, 11 people were killed by the special forces detachment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Rosich", 10 people - by the special forces detachment of the Penitentiary Penitentiary "Typhoon", 8 people - by the special forces detachment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Ermak", 2 people - special forces detachment of the Izhevsk Penitentiary Penitentiary. That is, the total number of killed federal forces soldiers, taking into account other units, can reach 80 - 100 people. The militants destroyed and damaged up to a dozen units of Russian armored vehicles.

The militants' losses amounted to up to 550 people killed and 273 captured. Among them, the field commander Salaudin Timirbulatov, nicknamed “Tractor Driver,” who personally took part in the reprisals against Russian prisoners of war and filmed it on a video camera, was captured. Timirbulatov was later sentenced to life imprisonment. Also, 5 warehouses with ammunition and property, 56 pillboxes were destroyed, more than 800 firearms and grenade launchers were confiscated, and 8 servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were freed from bandit captivity. Almost all the houses in the village of Komsomolskoye were destroyed during two weeks of fighting.

According to the special forces soldiers who cleared the village, the corpses of militants lay every 50 - 70 meters throughout the village. According to Spetsnaz Colonel Makhotin, he had never seen so many killed militants in one place either before or after Komsomolsky.

Special Operation Estimates

“The whole operation was carried out illiterately. But there was an opportunity to blockade the village for real. The population had already been withdrawn from the village, so they could bomb and shell as much as they wanted. And only after that we can storm. And we stormed the populated area not with the forces that should be there according to all the rules of tactics. There should have been four to five times more of us than the defenders. But there were fewer of us than the defenders. The militants had very good positions: they were above us, and we were moving from bottom to top. They fired at us from pre-prepared positions from around every corner. The tanks that were assigned to us had practically no ammunition - seven or eight shells per tank. T-80 tanks were sent to us only on the twelfth. “Bumblebee” flamethrowers appeared about ten days later in the battle. Overall command was initially exercised by a general from the Internal Troops (General of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, future commandant of Chechnya Grigory Fomenko), from the Don-100 special purpose division. Then the commandant of Urus-Martan commanded, then the commander of the Internal Troops, Colonel-General Labunets, who was familiar to us from Dagestan. Later, the commander of the group, General Baranov, arrived. But I can only say kind words about Lieutenant General Kladnitsky from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ivan Ivanovich Kladnitsky, head of the RUBOP of the Nizhny Novgorod region). This was a man who truly understood what was really going on there. And I can say one more thing for sure - the conscript soldiers showed themselves heroically. I have not seen a single case of cowardice. These were hard workers. But only platoon officers and other officers of that level felt sorry for them. But the generals did not spare them. They had the main task: so that they themselves would not get screwed. And on occasion, perhaps, receive a high reward. On the one hand, they did not learn combat tactics at the academies. On the other hand, the desire to unceremoniously receive high awards and report on time was noticeable to the naked eye. Our generals were not cowards. But not generals either.”

“Unfortunately, much in this operation was achieved not only “thanks to,” but also “in spite of.” In particular, the fact that the location for the field control post (FCP) of the head of the operation was initially poorly chosen had a negative impact on the management of units and subunits. Great difficulties also arose due to the unsatisfactory condition and understaffing of communications equipment of both small units and the operational level. This was aggravated by the almost complete lack of communication discipline. Most information, regardless of its importance, was transmitted in clear text. This allowed the militants to intercept information and respond in a timely manner to the actions of the troops, and in many cases, preempt them. However, it is a deep misconception to believe that errors and omissions occurred every now and then during the operation. Yes, there were mistakes, and I speak about them with utmost frankness. And yet, the course of the entire operation confirmed the overwhelming advantage of the federal forces over the gang formations. Having immediately seized the initiative, we did not give it up until the victorious conclusion. But we must not forget that the fighting was carried out against superior enemy forces. The ratio in manpower is clearly not in our favor. However, we were able to compensate for this advantage with tactical skill.”

“In this locality, the majority of residents supported illegal armed groups or were members of them. Ruslan Gelayev was also a local native and was one of the most merciless Chechen field commanders, leading a large bandit group. Then, assessing the thickness of the walls of the houses and basements, I realized that many of the buildings were erected as fortresses. Apparently, this was intended during construction.”

According to General Troshev, “the special operation in Komsomolskoye, which ended in the complete defeat of the bandits, became, in fact, the last major battle of the second Chechen war, and worthily crowned the active military phase of the counter-terrorist operation.”

Chronology of the battle

• March 5, 2000 - up to 600 militants broke into the village of Komsomolskoye, blocked by federal troops, from the southern outskirts (positions of the 503rd motorized rifle regiment (19th motorized rifle division)) at night.
• March 6, 2000 - early in the morning, the clearing of the village begins by fighters of the 7th OSN VV "Rosich" and employees of the consolidated SOBR Detachment of the Central Black Earth Regional Organized Crime Control Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. It was assumed that several dozen more militants made their way to those previously surrounded. However, already in the first hours of the cleanup, a fierce battle broke out, indicating that a large group had entered the village and established a foothold. The result of underestimating the enemy was an eight-hour battle surrounded and the death of 11 fighters of the Rosich detachment, 3 Kursk sobrists: police major Oleg Vyacheslavovich Ladygin, senior police lieutenant Alexander Alekseevich Alyabiev, police lieutenant Vladimir Yuryevich Timashkov and Voronezh SOBR lieutenant Yaroslav Viktorovich Belov (posthumously awarded he received the order Courage). Posthumously, Lieutenant Yafarov (1st GSN 7th OSN "Rosich") was awarded the title Hero of Russia.
• March 7, 2000 - realizing its mistake in determining the number of militants and their combat effectiveness, the federal command decides to conduct a special operation. I was entrusted with general management of its implementation. O. commander of the "West" group, Major General Gerasimov. The operation was directly led by Colonel General Labunets.
• March 8, 2000 - 22 militants of the Borz unit considered to be an elite unit under the command of Kh. Islamov were neutralized. This detachment was known for its cruelty and hatred towards Russian military personnel.
• March 9, 2000 - 11 foreign mercenaries were detained by federal forces. Among them are two Chinese, Arabs and Iranians.
• March 10, 2000 - information appeared that Ruslan Gelayev with a group of about 100 militants was able to escape from Komsomolskoye, blocked by federal troops, and was in the area of ​​the villages of Chishki - Duba-Yurt.
• March 16, 2000 - in the southern regions of Chechnya, fighting moved to Sharo-Argun. The battles were for control of strategic heights in the Sharoi region.
• March 18, 2000 - during the next sweep, 8 soldiers of the 19th OSN VV were killed "Ermak" Novosibirsk (military unit 6749) .
• March 20, 2000 - at 4 a.m., a group of militants made an unsuccessful attempt to break through to the north. During the battle, 46 militants were killed, including field commander Mukhabekov, who was assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs

The scope of the campaign launched by the Western press is evidenced by the editorial of the Viennese Kurier, which speaks of the “Russian Ivan” in the following way: “Cynicism from the arsenal of a non-human, to which there is only one answer: sanctions, sanctions, sanctions.” In this regard, so that Hitler is not “insulted” in Russia, it should be recalled that Hitler considered Russians “only” to be “inferior people.” But “democrats” of this kind consider them generally “non-humans.” In Chechnya itself, A. Maskhadov formed a special detachment of indoctrination and propaganda, “armed” with false documents, false film, photo, and video materials. The detachment was created as part of the special operation “Elevator” to serve the so-called “free journalists” working in areas where gangs are deployed. At the same time, according to informed sources close to the financial circles participating in the Davos Forum, it became known that about $1.5 billion had been transferred to Russia to provide “humanitarian assistance to the population of Chechnya.” According to the same source, the money was intended to lobby the interests of Chechen militants in the Russian media. State media and media loyal to the Kremlin aroused particular interest among the organizers of the action.

Battles for Komsomolskoye

On March 1, a detachment of Chechen militants from the formation of field commander Ruslan Gelayev occupied the village of Komsomolskoye, 10 km southeast of Urus-Martan. According to the Chechen side, the formations that broke out of Shatoi “managed to retreat to prepared bases.” (By the way, none of the officials has yet explained how the village, which had already been “cleared” many times, ended up with beautiful fortified areas, pillboxes and bunkers connected to each other by underground passages.) The first time the bandits tried to descend from the mountains to Komsomolskoye was back on February 29 in the pre-dawn hours along the bed of a dry river lying in a deep gorge. A group of 13 people was discovered and fired upon. The infantry sitting on top immediately destroyed five militants. They managed to “talk” one of the prisoners. He reported that a gang of 500 people migrated from near Shatoi to these mountains, that “the Arabs, together with Khattab, went somewhere to the east” and that all the field commanders were “goats,” and “especially Nuratdin,” who disappeared during fight with a bunch of their common bucks. At about four o'clock on March 5, Gelayev led a large gang of hundreds of bayonets to Komsomolskoye. One group of militants, having shot down a grenade launcher platoon standing on the wooded slopes of the gorge, immediately went to the village. And the other was heading to shoot down another motorized rifle platoon from another height. Gathering into a fist, the militants used their usual tactics - to attack a single platoon stronghold in a large detachment. A hundred or even more bandits, standing tall, continuously poured fire into the FS trenches, not allowing them to raise their heads. And another 50 people crawled up the mountain under this cover. “Many, very many,” were the last words of the platoon commander who died on the mountain. A reconnaissance group and a tank going to help the infantry were ambushed. The tank was hit by an RPG and lost speed, and the militants immediately pushed the reconnaissance team back, having lost five wounded. For four hours the bandits tried by all means, including shooting them with flies, to persuade the tank crew to surrender. Failed. But, unfortunately, it was not possible to save the crew. Mortar fire only temporarily drove the bandits away from the tank. Another T-72 and a reconnaissance group led by company captain Alexander P-v, who were rushing to help, were also ambushed. The “Korobochka” was blown up by a landmine, and the scouts, having entered into battle with superior enemy forces, were unable to free the tank. When the infantry finally made it to the tank, it was too late. Lieutenant Alexander Lutsenko called upon himself artillery fire, but the militants still managed to get close to the tank, blow it up and open the hatches. Alexander and his gunner-operator were brutally killed, and the driver was taken away with them. On the afternoon of March 5, troops flocked to the village from everywhere to block the militants in Komsomolskoye. Grabbing their belongings, civilians hastily left. The encirclement became denser over the next two days. A combat participant, the commander of a motorized rifle regiment, recalls:

“Since October, when we were brought into Chechnya, I have had thirty-five casualties, and I lost another thirty-two soldiers in Komsomolskoye. At the very beginning, the “Czechs” broke through the paratroopers and shot my platoon of grenade launchers point-blank. And then I lost two tank crews. Our hair still stands on end... We stood on top, in the foothills, trying to prevent reinforcements of the “spirits” from entering the village. First, I sent one crew to help, they set it on fire, the second one went and also burned out like a candle. The guys caused the fire on themselves. And that’s all... In the last war they were less evil, or something, but now they came in waves, as if they were going into a psychic attack! We hit them with direct fire, and they go and go. When they fought back with difficulty, one hundred and fifty of their corpses were found.” Meanwhile, the gangs of Basayev and Khattab, trapped in the Argun Gorge, made desperate efforts to break through the blocking ring. Federal forces had to repel militant attacks in the direction of the villages of Komsomolskoye and Goyskoye. According to the commander of the Central Group of the FS, Lieutenant General V. Bulgakov, the detachments of Basayev and Khattab lost the most tactically advantageous defensive positions. “They are surrounded, and our main task is to finish them off,” Bulgakov said. On March 7–8, in the Urus-Martan region, militant detachments attempted to break out of the encirclement near the settlements of Ulus-Kert and Selmentauzen. The main effective means of deterring militants this time were aviation and artillery. During the day, aviation made 89 combat sorties. An air strike in the Vedeno region destroyed the runway and a sports plane on which “prominent” Chechen leaders planned to leave the territory of the republic. On March 8, 22 militants of the “elite” unit “Borz” (“Wolf”) under the command of Kh. Islamov were neutralized. This detachment was known for its cruelty and hatred towards Russian military personnel. Near the village of Selmentauzen, 73 militants from the Khat-taba detachment surrendered with weapons in their hands. According to the commander of the Eastern Group, Major General S. Makarov, 30 militants were brought to the FS location by their field commander M. Adaev. He also reported where more than 40 seriously wounded of his subordinates were still located, who were unable to come on their own. In addition to machine guns, 3 KamAZ trucks with anti-aircraft guns and an army tractor were seized from the militants. According to Russian Defense Minister I. Sergeev, the number of bandits who broke through from the encirclement ranged from 2 to 3 and a half thousand people. According to the acting Commander of the United States Forces in the North Caucasus, Colonel General G. Trosheva, during fierce battles with bandits trapped in the Argun Gorge, “in principle, managed to defeat the gang of Basayev and Khattab.” However, some of the militants still managed to break through the defenses and escape from the encirclement once again. 8 During the military operation in Chechnya, the FS suffered significant losses during the first weeks of March 2000 (272 killed). The First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces released data on March 10 on FS losses in the North Caucasus - both in Chechnya and Dagestan. In total, from August 2, 1999 to March 10, 2000, federal forces lost 1,836 military personnel killed and 4,984 were wounded. Losses of the Ministry of Defense - 1244 killed and 3031 wounded. Losses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - 552 killed and 1953 wounded. Directly during the operation on the territory of Chechnya, that is, from October 1, 1999, the losses of the FS amounted to 1,556 killed and 3,997 wounded. On March 9, the command of the federal troops in Chechnya announced that the army and internal troops had “established complete control over the Argun Gorge, starting from the village of Komsomolskoye and right up to the Georgian border.” Nevertheless, on March 12, fighting continued both for the village of Komsomolskoye, Urus-Martan region (at the entrance to the Argun Gorge), and near the settlements of Ulus-Kert and Selmentauzen. Despite significant losses, Gelayev decided to hold the defense to the end. On March 11, units of the internal troops, supported by army artillery, tanks and helicopters, advanced deep into Komsomolskoye. Two Chinese mercenaries surrendered, declaring that they “came to work as cooks in Chechnya - to become familiar with Caucasian cuisine.” By this time, fierce battles for Komsomolskoye were already in their second week. All this time, the FS command assured the press almost daily that the village would be taken in the coming days, or even hours, that the main forces had already been exterminated and that some dozens of bandits remained in the cauldron of fire. And then it suddenly turned out that there were already hundreds of them in the village and they were trying to counterattack... A similar situation took place with the breakthrough of Khattab’s Shatoi group into the Vedeno region. C) according to military reports, it was also “blocked”, “destroyed and scattered”. Nevertheless, she found the opportunity to regroup again and strike at the positions of the tragically killed sixth company.

The small village of Komsomolskoye (aka Goy-Chu) at the junction of mountainous and lowland Chechnya was unknown to many people until 2000. However, fate would have it that this village become the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Second Chechen War. The encirclement and capture of Komsomolskoye became the culmination of the struggle for southern Chechnya and one of the most acute moments of the entire war.
At the end of winter 2000, the main forces of the militants were surrounded in the Argun Gorge. Over the coming weeks, part of the terrorist army led by Khattab managed to escape to the east through the positions of the Pskov 6th Airborne Company. However, the other half of the surrounded troops remained in the gorge. This gang was commanded by Ruslan Gelayev. He started his war back in Abkhazia in the early 90s, and then put together one of the largest “private armies” in the North Caucasus.

Gelayev retained many people after the breakout from Grozny in early February 2000. However, he was now in an extremely dangerous position. After the breakthrough from Grozny, his people were extremely exhausted. They needed rest and replenishment. The only problem was that Gelayev had more than a thousand people under his command. Such a mass of people could not move secretly for a long time, but they also could not disperse yet - this would end in the extermination of those fleeing. Gelayev chose the village of Komsomolskoye between the mountains of southern Chechnya and the northern plain as the site of the breakthrough. He himself was from there, and many of his fighters were born there.

Ruslan Gelayev (right in the foreground). Photo © Wikimedia Commons

The Russian army at that time was experiencing serious problems, the main ones being low mobility and poor interaction between units and types of troops. Therefore, the militants had reason to hope for success.

On March 5, Gelayevites came to Komsomolsky. All that stood in their way was a loose chain of posts of the 503rd Motorized Rifle Regiment. The history of this battle is less known than the breakthrough of the 6th company; in the memoirs of the military leaders of the Chechen conflict, these events are often not even mentioned. It is regularly written in the literature that the militants managed to “bypass” the cordon. Meanwhile, the desperate battle on the road to Komsomolskoye developed no less dramatically.

The militants swept away the first strongholds with a mass of manpower. There were no more than 60 soldiers at the breakthrough site. A platoon of automatic grenade launchers literally drowned under the advancing horde. The commander of a rifle company in this sector was also killed and his company was scattered. A small armored group pulled up to the battlefield to help the survivors, but the militants knocked out a tank in no man's land and forced the rest to retreat.

Screenshot of galakon100 video

A new attempt to get through at least to the damaged tank also failed. The militants surrounded the vehicle, blew up the hatches and killed the tankers. Almost all this time, the crew maintained contact with the command, and the commander of the tank company literally heard his people being killed live, powerless to influence what was happening. Later, the tank commander's personal belongings were found on the militant's corpse. The motorized riflemen and tankers did everything they could. But they simply were not able to prevent the Chechens from breaking through to Komsomolskoye.

Unfortunately, the military did not have time to gain a proper foothold in Komsomolskoye itself. Later, this failure was even explained by some cunning plan drawn up in advance - to let the militants into the village and destroy them there, but in reality it was just a failure. The Gelayevites made their way over the corpses of Russian soldiers and their own fighters.

The beginning of the battles for Komsomolskoye was frankly not inspiring. The military lost dozens of people dead and wounded, but were unable to prevent the militants from breaking into the village. However, the attack on Komsomolskoye exhausted the strength of the Gelayevites. They needed at least a few days to rest, so the militants did not leave Komsomolskoye immediately. When it became clear that Komsomolskoye was filled with armed people, all the units available in the area began to rush towards it.

Photo © Wikimedia Commons

At this time, civilians were leaving Komsomolskoye. People understood perfectly well that there would be a siege, brutal bombing and assault. The refugees were housed in a hastily prepared open-air camp. Several wounded militants also came out of the village under the guise of civilians, but they were identified and literally snatched from the crowd of civilians. Oddly enough, the command of the Russian troops still had no data on the number of the enemy. However, everything was already ready for the decisive battle. Residents left the village, Russian soldiers concentrated in the surrounding area, and militants took up defensive positions. A fierce battle lay ahead.

With iron and blood

Gelayev did not wait until the arriving units finally tightly blocked Komsomolskoye. On the night of March 9, he escaped from Komsomolskoye at the head of a very small detachment. He managed to break through the loose barriers, but hundreds of ordinary militants and petty field commanders had to die in the doomed village. Another detachment tried to break out of the village the next day, but it was riddled with tanks and automatic guns.

Another group of “Mujahideen” tried to break into Komsomolskoye from the outside, but its vanguard, along with its guide, died under fire, so this detachment retreated. By the way, in these first days two exotic fighters were captured. These were Uighurs - representatives of the Muslim people from western China. According to the prisoners, they worked as cooks in Komsomolskoye. “Kuhari” was handed over to the Chinese special services, and in China both received life sentences for terrorism.

Photo © Wikimedia Commons

For some unknown reason, the Russians tried to quickly take Komsomolskoye with an infantry assault. After Komsomolskoye was cleared by artillery and aviation, the riflemen entered the village and tried to clean up. Due to the severe shortage of trained infantry, even the special forces of the GUIN of the Ministry of Justice went into battle. These, of course, were not ordinary guards, but they were not assault infantry either. The GUIN men fought, by all accounts, heroically, but the assault cost them dearly.

Komsomolskoe was fired upon with a wide variety of heavy weapons. It was then, for example, that the country learned about the existence of the Buratino system. Under the frivolous name was hidden a heavy multiple rocket launcher using volumetric detonating ammunition. “Conventional” artillery and helicopters also worked without a break. However, after the shelling, assault groups still took to the streets.

Street battles invariably resulted in heavy casualties. On the streets, the combatants mixed, and on both sides, overgrown people in equally tattered camouflage fought, so it was difficult to distinguish friends from foes. Soldiers and officers on the front line were constantly urged to take possession of the village as soon as possible. This goading regularly resulted in casualties. This is how, for example, the commander of one of the assault detachments, Senior Lieutenant Zakirov, died: after being accused of cowardice, he went ahead of his squad and died in close combat in one of the courtyards.

However, while the Russians could complain about heavy and not always justified losses, the fighting in Komsomolskoye quickly led to disaster for the militants. In the village there were many foreigners and fighters well trained before the second war in Chechnya, now they were slowly but surely being crushed by streams of steel from the air and street battles.

Photo © Wikimedia Commons

Khamzat Idigov, who replaced Gelayev as garrison commander, tried to leave the village on March 11, but stepped on a mine and died. The strength of resistance slowly decreased. The wounded began to surrender. In conditions of wild unsanitary conditions and ongoing shelling, they had no other chance to survive. One of the soldiers later described the fate of a wounded militant who did not want to come out with his hands raised. He sat calmly in the basement while grenades were thrown there. As it turned out, this militant was simply exhausted and mad from gangrene and could not even move.

While the militants’ forces were melting away, the Russians were sending fresh units to Komsomolskoye. A parachute regiment approached the village. In the first days, small groups were able to get out of the village at night in small groups, but the ring was continuously tightened. There was still quite a lot of ammunition left inside, but the medicine was running out. However, there was no talk of quick success. The Russians paid in blood for the reconquered streets; armored vehicles were constantly dying in the labyrinth of the private sector. However, our military could at least withdraw battered units, replenish ammunition, without fear that the shell boxes would show the bottom, and call down “punishment from heaven” on the enemy.

On top of everything else, during the assault the weather deteriorated greatly and Komsomolskoye was covered in thick fog. The assault groups fought with the militants from zero distance, almost without seeing the enemy.

In the second half of March, the militants began persistently trying to break out of the encirclement. However, now minefields and targeted armored vehicles awaited them. The militants had practically no chance of salvation. The last large detachment made a breakthrough on March 20, but ran into mines and machine guns and died under fire.

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By this point, the militants had retained only isolated pockets of resistance. Organized resistance was broken, and the mass surrender of the remnants of the garrison began. However, this did not yet mean complete defeat. Firing points had to be taken one at a time; the tanks destroyed the most persistent ones with direct fire almost at point-blank range. However, this was nothing more than agony.

On March 22, the last shots were fired in Komsomolskoye, the last grenades were thrown into the basements. By this point, Komsomolskoye was a monstrous landscape. There were simply no entire houses left in the village; hundreds of unburied bodies lay under the rubble. In the coming days, it was necessary to dismantle the rubble, remove corpses and clear the area of ​​mines and unexploded shells. It was necessary to hurry, at least for sanitary reasons: hundreds of militants killed in the village, combined with the warm spring weather, made staying in the village difficult.

Photo © RIA Novosti/Vladimir Vyatkin

The operation in Komsomolskoye was expensive. Russian losses exceeded 50 people killed and those who died from wounds. However, even in this form, thanks to the enormous endurance and dedication of the detachments that stormed the village, the battle for Komsomolskoye turned into a beating of the militants. The terrorists' losses amounted to more than 800 people killed, and these are data not from the military, who are always inclined to exaggerate successes, but from the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Rescuers had to clear the rubble left at the massacre site and evacuate the dead. Among those killed and captured was a whole international group: Arabs and even one Indian Muslim. Huge trophies were collected on the battlefield. According to various sources, from 80 to 273 terrorists were captured. This massacre was comparable only to the recent defeat in Grozny with a breakthrough from the city through minefields. For Russia it was a hard-won, bloody, but indisputable victory.

Soldiers of the 6th company. Photo © Wikimedia Commons

The soldiers were fierce to the limit. The special forces commander of the GUIN appointed to receive his own rear troops who surrendered. Otherwise, the first line fighters, who had recently experienced the death of their comrades, could simply not stand it. However, almost all of the wounded and exhausted militants surrendered. Within a few weeks, almost all of them died. Few people grieved for them. Among the prisoners were thugs who were personally known for reprisals against prisoners and hostages.

The assault on Komsomolskoye was the last major military operation of the Second Chechen War and a high point in its first, most difficult phase. The troops faced a long and painful counter-guerrilla struggle, then the country had to endure a wave of terror, but the backbone of the organized extremist detachments of thousands of armed people was broken. The ruins of Komsomolskoe evoked horror. But the most difficult stage of the Chechen war was behind us.