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Battles for the village of Petropavlovsk. Battles for the village of Petropavlovskaya Stanitsa Petropavlovskaya Chechnya

Geography

Located on the left bank of the Sunzha River, northeast of the city of Grozny.

The nearest settlements: in the north - the village of Vinogradnoye, in the south - the village of Berkat-Yurt, in the west - the village of Alkhan-Churt, in the southeast - the village of Ilyinovskaya, in the east - the village of Darbankhi, in the northwest - the village of Tolstoy-Yurt.

Population

National composition (2002):

Chechens - 3,592 people. (97.7%)
Russians - 77 people. (2.1%)
others - 9 people. (0.2%)

Story

According to legend, the village was founded by the Cossack Pyotr Sarabiev.

Until August 1, 1934, Petropavlovka was the administrative center of the Petropavlovsk region.

On August 1, 1934, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to form a new Grozny district in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region with its center in the city of Grozny, including within its borders the territory of the liquidated Petropavlovsk district.

Education

Notable natives

Chevola, Nikifor Dmitrievich - veteran of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union.

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Notes

Excerpt characterizing Petropavlovskaya (Chechnya)

Prince Bagration, having reached the highest point of our right flank, began to descend downwards, where rolling fire was heard and nothing was visible from the gunpowder smoke. The closer they descended to the ravine, the less they could see, but the more sensitive the proximity of the real battlefield became. They began to meet wounded people. One with a bloody head, without a hat, was dragged by two soldiers by the arms. He wheezed and spat. The bullet apparently hit the mouth or throat. Another, whom they met, walked cheerfully alone, without a gun, groaning loudly and waving his hand in fresh pain, from which blood flowed, like from a glass, onto his overcoat. His face seemed more frightened than suffering. He was wounded a minute ago. Having crossed the road, they began to descend steeply and on the descent they saw several people lying down; They were met by a crowd of soldiers, including some who were not wounded. The soldiers walked up the hill, breathing heavily, and, despite the appearance of the general, they talked loudly and waved their hands. Ahead, in the smoke, rows of gray greatcoats were already visible, and the officer, seeing Bagration, ran screaming after the soldiers walking in a crowd, demanding that they return. Bagration drove up to the rows, along which shots were quickly clicking here and there, drowning out the conversation and shouts of command. The entire air was filled with gunpowder smoke. The soldiers' faces were all smoked with gunpowder and animated. Some hammered them with ramrods, others sprinkled them on the shelves, took charges out of their bags, and still others shot. But who they shot at was not visible due to the gunpowder smoke, which was not carried away by the wind. Quite often pleasant sounds of buzzing and whistling were heard. "What it is? - thought Prince Andrei, driving up to this crowd of soldiers. – It can’t be an attack because they don’t move; there can be no carre: they don’t cost that way.”
A thin, weak-looking old man, a regimental commander, with a pleasant smile, with eyelids that more than half covered his senile eyes, giving him a meek appearance, rode up to Prince Bagration and received him like the host of a dear guest. He reported to Prince Bagration that there was a French cavalry attack against his regiment, but that although this attack was repulsed, the regiment lost more than half of its people. The regimental commander said that the attack was repulsed, coining this military name for what was happening in his regiment; but he himself really did not know what was happening in those half an hour in the troops entrusted to him, and could not say with certainty whether the attack was repulsed or his regiment was defeated by the attack. At the beginning of the action, he only knew that cannonballs and grenades began to fly throughout his regiment and hit people, that then someone shouted: “cavalry,” and our people began to shoot. And until now they were shooting not at the cavalry, which had disappeared, but at the foot French, who appeared in the ravine and fired at ours. Prince Bagration bowed his head as a sign that all this was exactly as he wished and expected. Turning to the adjutant, he ordered him to bring two battalions of the 6th Jaeger, which they had just passed, from the mountain. Prince Andrei was struck at that moment by the change that had occurred in the face of Prince Bagration. His face expressed that concentrated and happy determination that happens to a man who is ready to throw himself into the water on a hot day and is taking his final run. There were no sleep-deprived dull eyes, no feignedly thoughtful look: round, hard, hawk-like eyes looked forward enthusiastically and somewhat contemptuously, obviously not stopping at anything, although the same slowness and regularity remained in his movements.
The regimental commander turned to Prince Bagration, asking him to move back, since it was too dangerous here. “Have mercy, your Excellency, for God’s sake!” he said, looking for confirmation at the retinue officer, who was turning away from him. “Here, if you please see!” He let them notice the bullets that were constantly screeching, singing and whistling around them. He spoke in the same tone of request and reproach with which a carpenter says to a gentleman who has taken up an ax: “Our business is familiar, but you will callus your hands.” He spoke as if these bullets could not kill him, and his half-closed eyes gave his words an even more convincing expression. The staff officer joined the admonitions of the regimental commander; but Prince Bagration did not answer them and only ordered to stop shooting and line up in such a way as to make room for the two approaching battalions. While he was speaking, as if with an invisible hand he was stretched from right to left, from the rising wind, a canopy of smoke that hid the ravine, and the opposite mountain with the French moving along it opened before them. All eyes were involuntarily fixed on this French column, moving towards us and meandering along the ledges of the area. The shaggy hats of the soldiers were already visible; it was already possible to distinguish officers from privates; one could see how their banner fluttered against the staff.

>Map of European Russia and the Caucasus region 1862

Population of the Russian Federation by municipalities as of January 1, 2019

(Russian)

Karasaev A. T., Matsiev A. G. Russian-Chechen dictionary. - M.: Russian language, 1978

Law of the Chechen Republic No. 12-RZ dated 02.20.09

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Archived

Map of Chechnya

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Caucasian calendar... for 1860

Suleymanov A. Toponymy of Chechnya. Grozny: State Unitary Enterprise “Book Publishing House”, 2006

A.V. Solid. Toponymic Dictionary of the Caucasus

On the formation of a new Grozny district

Archive Bulletin, No. 1. Nalchik: Archive Department of the Government of the Chechen Republic, 2013

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%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%82%5B>http:%E2%95%B1%E2%95%B1chechenstat.gks.ru%E2%95%B1wps%E2%95%B1wcm% E2%95%B1connect%E2%95%B1rosstat_ts%E2%95%B1chechenstat%E2%95%B1resources%E2%95%B1ccc98e004250073f864cce2d59c15b71%E2%95%B1%D0%A2%D0%9E%D0%9C-1+ %D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%8B%D0%B9+%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82.docx All-Russian population census 2010. Volume 1. Number and distribution of the population of the Chechen Republic

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Population of the Russian Federation by municipalities. Table 35. Estimated resident population as of January 1, 2012

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Archived

%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%82%5B>http:%E2%95%B1%E2%95%B1www.gks.ru%E2%95%B1free_doc%E2%95%B1doc_2013% E2%95%B1bul_dr%E2%95%B1mun_obr2013.rar Population of the Russian Federation by municipalities as of January 1, 2013. - M.: Federal State Statistics Service Rosstat, 2013. - 528 p. (Table 33. Population of urban districts, municipal districts, urban and rural settlements, urban settlements, rural settlements)

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Table 33. Population of the Russian Federation by municipalities as of January 1, 2014

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Archived

Population of the Russian Federation by municipalities as of January 1, 2015

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Population of the Russian Federation by municipalities as of January 1, 2016

Population of the Russian Federation by municipalities as of January 1, 2017

(Russian)

Archived

Population of the Russian Federation by municipalities as of January 1, 2018

(Russian)

Archived

%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%82%5B>http:%E2%95%B1%E2%95%B1chechenstat.gks.ru%E2%95%B1wps%E2%95%B1wcm% E2%95%B1connect%E2%95%B1rosstat_ts%E2%95%B1chechenstat%E2%95%B1resources%E2%95%B1569d2180426303a6ae5bee2d59c15b71%E2%95%B1%D0%A2%D0%9E%D0%9C+4. ZIP Volume 4 book 1 "National composition and language proficiency, citizenship"; table 1 "National composition of the population of Chechnya by urban districts, municipal districts, urban settlements, rural settlements with a population of 3000 people or more"

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The commander of the group, Lieutenant General Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin: “Having taken convenient positions near Tolstoy-Yurt, we could ensure the advancement of other units to the Grozny region. To do this, it was necessary to capture a number of objects, including the bridge across the Sunzha River near the village of Petropavlovskaya.”1

NSh North Caucasus Military District, Lieutenant General Vladimir Yakovlevich Potapov: “By this time, the militants had mined and prepared for explosion a 60-ton bridge across the Sunzha River in the Petropavlovskaya area. This bridge was of great importance for the further actions of the Kizlyar group of troops. In the event of its explosion, the movement of units and units could be detained for a long time."2

From the description of the situation: “The militants also understood this and guarded the bridge with large forces. The village of Petropavlovskaya was under their control. According to intelligence, the number of militants reached 400 people. These were mercenaries, experienced, fired fighters...”3

Actions 68 orb

From the description of the battle: “At one in the morning on December 20, General [Rokhlin] ordered the reconnaissance battalion of Major Dmitry Grebenichenko to move to the village area with the task of capturing the bridge.”4

From the description of the battle: “The scouts who went to the bridge noticed in time how the militants were mining it. Then, when they left, the scouts managed to cut the wire and save the crossing. The main forces of the battalion - about eighty people in white camouflage, dismounted and began to stealth under the cover of darkness make their way to the village. About three hundred meters from the village they were discovered and fired upon. The battle began."5

From the description of the battle: “The group [commander of the rgr 68 orb senior warrant officer] Ponomarev by the morning of December 20, with bold and daring actions, completed the assigned task, without losing a single person, and took up positions on the right bank of the river.”6

From the description of the battle: “That’s where it all started. Within half an hour of the battle, the ammunition was running out. The fighters were confused. Heavy fire from the militants drove them into cover. They began to flock to armored personnel carriers, hoping to hide behind the steel vehicles. The head of intelligence of the 20th Guards Division, who led the battle Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Zelenko was wounded.<...>General [Rokhlin's] UAZ rushed towards the village. The soldiers and officers who sat behind the armor of the armored personnel carriers saw the car slow down, and then the corps commander walking towards them at full height.<...>Having dispersed the people and assigned targets, the corps commander continued to stand at full height, demonstrating complete disregard for death."7

The commander of the group, Lieutenant General L.Ya. Rokhlin: “This is not the best option when the general has to personally raise the soldiers to attack. But for my soldiers and officers this was the first battle. And, frankly, not the most difficult of those that lay ahead. If I had not acted then the way I did, it would later be difficult for me to command. Although I could have acted differently: for example, throw in all my available forces to help or open hurricane artillery fire. But in the current situation, it was necessary, among other things, to teach people to overcome fear. Therefore, I acted quite consciously. And, standing upright under fire, I was guided only by sober calculation. There was no bravado, no despair."8

From the description of the battle: “The soldiers, awakened from confusion, rushed to their commander: “Has he gone completely crazy?!” Covering the general with himself, the reconnaissance company sergeant major, senior warrant officer Viktor Ponomarev, finally dragged the corps commander into the shelter.”9

From the description of the battle: “The scouts were supported by fire from tanks and armored personnel carriers. A little later, several howitzers came out for direct fire. The outskirts of the village were covered in thick clouds of smoke.”10 The scouts managed to gain a foothold near the bridge and on the outskirts of the village. Petropavlovskaya.

Arrival of 104 Airborne Division

Commander of the 337th airborne regiment, senior lieutenant Albert Alekseevich Chirikov: “We approached Petropavlovskaya. There is a glow on the horizon, everything is burning. I report to the headquarters - there is a battle ahead. We stop in front of the village. As it turns out later, there was infantry there before us... Not a single person you can't see anything around you, just houses standing and unattended cattle rushing around. Then with difficulty we crossed the "plasticine" field (as we jokingly dubbed it, because precipitation turned the clay into an impassable mess). We dug trenches all night. We had to dig it ourselves And at this time snipers were constantly shooting at our location..."11

BB actions

Commander of the Air Force, Colonel General A.S. Kulikov: “First, the company commander, Senior Lieutenant Yuri Strukov, was mortally wounded. The Mi-8 ambulance helicopter sent after him was shot down by a grenade launcher on approach. The crew commander, Major Alexander Hasan, the second pilot, Senior Lieutenant Oleg Smirnov, the flight technician, Captain Anatoly Savchuk, and the military doctor, Lieutenant Colonel Sergei, were killed. Pokhlebin, senior lieutenant of the medical service Vladimir Ermolov was mortally wounded."12 The helicopter was shot down at 14:20 on December 20.13

In the evening 14, a company of the 81st Military Infantry moved out to help the scouts, but got lost and was ambushed on the square in front of the House of Culture of the settlement. Petropavlovskaya.

From the description of the battle: “By all indications, non-Muslim mercenaries fought here together with the Chechen militants. The latter do not finish off the wounded: they put the fighter out of action and endured fire. The Chechens themselves do not remove their corpses. A mercenary was hanging on the balcony of the minaret, correcting the fire of the militants , and hangs there. “If he had been a Muslim, they would have taken him down and buried him long ago,” the fighters say.”15

From the description of the battle: “The Zushka, deprived of cover, was the first to burst into flames.” The soldiers, stunned by the explosion, fell head over heels from the back, fired back, ran into the park, to the saving trees. Few made it. The bandits mercilessly mowed down the shell-shocked guys with bursts of fire.<...>Lieutenant Ilya Kabulov, having orientated himself in the situation, placed his armored personnel carrier on the side [?] of the crippled self-propelled gun - to cover it with armor, drag in the dead and wounded. Late. The cumulative pin pierced the side with a hot drill and filled the insides of the car with raging fire and smoke. Meanwhile, the “box”, which had maneuvered into a dead end before the others, began to break through with all its barrels and get out from under the grenade launcher fire. Perhaps the officer sitting there did not see the destruction in the area in front of the House of Culture, hoping that the senior column would follow him out with the remaining vehicles. How much can you see behind you with the hatches battened down? And there was nothing to save people with. The combined unit lost all its wheels in a matter of minutes.
The commander's armored personnel carrier froze at the crumpled fence of the school yard: a fiery armor-piercing clot dug into the underbelly between the hubs, breaking the mechanical joints of the chassis. The soldiers, with the major wounded in the head, lay down around the smoking wounded wounded man, poured bursts of fire at the enemy's firing points, crawled away, dragging their bloodied comrades behind them to the surviving armored vehicle of Senior Lieutenant Sergei Utkin."16

From the description of the battle: “The first, smearing blood on his face, squeezed behind the armor of the battalion chief of staff and in shock commanded the driver: “Forward!” The “box” quickly rushed off to the regiment.”17 After all the remaining officers were wounded, the battle command Gunner Private Evgeniy Vladimirovich Ostroukhov took over. The remnants of the column took up defensive positions and fired back at the militants. “Meanwhile, the rest pulled up to the armored vehicle, helped each other, laid elbow to elbow the dead. Covered in their own and others’ blood, junior sergeants Vadim Kulchitsky and Sanal Khantyev, privates Alexey Kuznetsov, Dmitry Gnamm, Andrey Vasilchenko, Vasily Khlebnikov, Evgeny Specht...” 18

Commander of the Air Force, Colonel General A.S. Kulikov: “Junior sergeant Alexander Konin, privates Alexander Savin, Konstantin Kalabin, Sergei Tolstonozhenko, Alexei Kutyrev, Nikolai Makarov, Pavel Makarov, Evgeniy Sirotin, Stefan Askolsky, Evgeniy Specht were killed. Many were wounded.”19

From the description of the battle: “Meanwhile, the regiment unsuccessfully tried to break through to the encircled soldiers. From one direction - crews of flamethrower “bumblebees” on armored personnel carriers, from the other - a group of special forces with the support of a tank. But, encountered by the fire of RPGs and heavy machine guns, the rescuers were forced retreat. And yet, the attempt to break through to the center of Petropavlovskaya played a decisive role in saving the soldiers. Fearing to find themselves in a vice, the main forces of the militants left the village. And those left to capture the wounded were unable to break the resistance of a handful of boys. Junior Sergeant Khantyev and Private Khlebnikov, injured a little less than others, they fought an unequal battle almost until the morning, defending themselves and their bloodless comrades."20

Militant counterattack

From the description of the battle: “On the morning of December 21, trying to restore the lost position, the militants, using their numerical advantage, made a decisive attempt to retake the bridge. A barrage of fire fell on the scouts. Realizing that it would not be possible to hold the bridge in the current conditions, the group commander [Art. Ensign Ponomarev] decided to withdraw from his positions and, having secured the approval of the company commander, began it. Remaining on the bridge together with Sergeant [Konstantin] Arabadzhiev, he covered the group's withdrawal. During the unequal battle, Ponomarev personally destroyed seven militants, a UAZ car with militants and suppressed a machine-gun firing point. Reflecting another onslaught of militants, Arabadzhiev was wounded. And Ponomarev, carrying out a wounded sergeant, came under mortar fire and, being also wounded, with the last of his strength shielded Arabadzhiev with his body from fragments of a mine that exploded nearby and at the cost of his life saved his comrade The paratroopers who arrived in time knocked out the militants who did not have time to gain a foothold from the bridge and ensured the advance of the column of the main forces to the position of blocking Grozny."21

From the description of the battle: “In total, five reconnaissance officers from the reconnaissance battalion of the 20th Guards Motorized Rifle Division were killed in that battle. They and a company of internal troops were literally pulled out of the trap by tankers, who are known here by the name of their commander - “Mansur battalion.” “These are some devils - That! - the soldiers admired the tank crews. - They hit from all directions: no matter the volley, there was coverage. We never thought that a tank cannon could be fired with the same dexterity as a pistol. And how they moved... It seemed that not several tanks were moving, but something united, with one crew."22

NSh North Caucasus Military District Lieutenant General V.Ya. Potapov: “By 14:00 on December 21, the battalion was relieved by the 104th Airborne Division and moved to an area 1.5 km northeast of Tolstoy-Yurt to restore combat effectiveness.”23

List of dead

8. Private 81 pon VV Evgeniy Nikolaevich Sirotin
9. Private 81st Pon VV Sergei Viktorovich Tolstonozhenko
10. private 81 pon VV Evgeniy Viktorovich Specht
11. Petty Officer RR 68 Orb Senior Warrant Officer Viktor Aleksandrovich Ponomarev25
12. scout 68 orb
13. scout 68 orb
14. scout 68 orb
15. junior sergeant 68 orb Valery Vladimirovich Kochkin26

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

1 Antipov A. Lev Rokhlin. The life and death of a general. M., 1998. P. 118.
2 Potapov V. Actions of formations, units and units of the Army during a special operation to disarm illegal armed groups in 1994-96. on the territory of the Chechen Republic. (http://www.ryadovoy.ru/geopolitika&war/voenteoriya/dok_SKVO_2.htm)
3 Antipov A. Lev Rokhlin. The life and death of a general. M., 1998. P. 118.
4 Antipov A. Lev Rokhlin. The life and death of a general. M., 1998. pp. 118-119.
5 Raschepkin K. This strange and terrible war // Brother. 1999. No. 6. June. ( http://www.bratishka.ru/archiv/1999/6/1999_6_6.php)
6 Kulikov A., Lembik S. Chechen knot. M., 2000. P. 71.
7 Antipov A. Lev Rokhlin. The life and death of a general. M., 1998. pp. 119-120.
8 Antipov A. Lev Rokhlin. The life and death of a general. M., 1998. P. 120.
9 Antipov A. Lev Rokhlin. The life and death of a general. M., 1998. P. 122.
10 Raschepkin K. This strange and terrible war // Brother. 1999. No. 6. June. (http://www.bratishka.ru/archiv/1999/6/1999_6_6.php)
11 Bal O., Kaplya M. Stars light up on earth // Red Star. 2003. March 22. (http://www.redstar.ru/2003/03/22_03/4_01.html)
12 Kulikov A. Heavy stars. M., 2002. P. 280. (http://1993.sovnarkom.ru/KNIGI/KULIKOV/KASK-7.htm)http://bratishka.ru/archiv/2001/11/2001_11_2.php)
21 Kulikov A., Lembik S. Chechen knot. M., 2000. P. 71.
22 Antipov A. Lev Rokhlin. The life and death of a general. M., 1998. P. 13.
23 Potapov V. Actions of formations, units and units of the Army during a special operation to disarm illegal armed groups in 1994-96. on the territory of the Chechen Republic. (http://www.ryadovoy.ru/geopolitika&war/voenteoriya/dok_SKVO_2.htm)
24 Remember... . Book of memory of Astrakhan soldiers who died in Chechnya. Astrakhan, 2003. P. 138.
25 http://www.russtil.ru/hero04.shtml
26 Unknown soldier of the Caucasian War. M., 1997. P. 96.

December 20-21, 1994 - battles for the village of Petropavlovskaya. On the night of December 20, a reconnaissance group of the 68th separate reconnaissance battalion captured the bridge over the Sunzha River near the village of Petropavlovskaya and held it for 24 hours, repelling attacks by militants.

A unit of the 81st operational regiment of internal troops was sent to help the scouts, which was ambushed on Petropavlovskaya Street and entered into a multi-hour battle. In addition, during the fighting near the village, an RPG shot down a Mi-8 ambulance helicopter.

Federal forces lost at least 22 servicemen.

68th separate reconnaissance battalion of the 20th Guards Motorized Rifle Division - 5 or 6 dead, including senior warrant officer Viktor Ponomarev (Hero of Russia posthumously)

81st operational regiment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - 11 dead

5th separate mixed special purpose air squadron of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - 3 dead

Medical units of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - 1 dead, 1 died from wounds

429th Motorized Rifle Regiment, 19th Motorized Rifle Division - at least 1 fatality

The 68th battalion lost 5 (P. Milyukov’s blog) or 6 (according to researcher Lieutenant Colonel A. Zaets) people.

First, he lost one officer, whose evacuation the downed helicopter was flying to, and then 10 more people in the battle in Petropavlovskaya. When the helicopter was shot down, three crew members and one medic were killed, another medic later died from his wounds (Senior Lieutenant Ermolov 01/01/1995). It is also known about the commander of a tank company of the 429th regiment, who died in a knocked out tank while providing support to units near the bridge.

The commander of the group, Lieutenant General Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin: “Having taken convenient positions near Tolstoy-Yurt, we could ensure the advancement of other units to the Grozny area. To do this, it was necessary to capture a number of objects, including the bridge over the Sunzha River near the village of Petropavlovskaya.”

NSh North Caucasus Military District, Lieutenant General Vladimir Yakovlevich Potapov: “By this time, the militants had mined and prepared for an explosion a 60-ton bridge across the river. Sunzha in the Petropavlovskaya district. This bridge was of great importance for the further actions of the Kizlyar group of troops. If it was blown up, the advance of units and subunits could be delayed for a long time.”

From the description of the situation: “The militants also understood this and guarded the bridge with large forces. The village of Petropavlovskaya was under their control. According to intelligence data, the number of militants reached 400 people. These were mercenaries, experienced, well-fired fighters...”

Actions of 68 ORB

From the description of the battle: “At one o’clock in the morning on December 20, General Rokhlin ordered the reconnaissance battalion of Major Dmitry Grebenichenko to move to the village area with the task of capturing the bridge.”

From the description of the battle: “The scouts who went to the bridge noticed in time how the militants were mining it. Then, when they leave, the scouts will be able to cut the wire and save the crossing. The main forces of the battalion - about eighty people in white camouflage coats, dismounted and began to secretly make their way to the village under the cover of darkness. They were discovered three hundred meters from the village and fired upon. The battle has begun."

From the description of the battle: “The group of the commander of the RGR 68 ORB, senior warrant officer Ponomarev, by the morning of December 20, carried out the assigned task with bold and daring actions, without losing a single person, and took up positions on the right bank of the river.”

From the description of the battle: “This is where it all began. Within half an hour of the battle, ammunition was running out. The soldiers were confused. Heavy fire from the militants drove them into cover. They began to flock to armored personnel carriers, hoping to take cover behind the steel vehicles. The head of intelligence of the 20th Guards Division, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Zelenko, who led the battle, was wounded.<…>General Rokhlin's UAZ rushed towards the village. The soldiers and officers who sat behind the armor of the armored personnel carriers saw the car slow down, and then the corps commander walking towards them at full height.<…>Having dispersed the people and assigned targets, the corps commander continued to stand at full height, demonstrating complete disregard for death.”

Group commander, Lieutenant General: “This is not the best option when the general has to personally raise the fighters to attack. But for my soldiers and officers this was the first battle. And, let's face it, not the most difficult of those that lay ahead. If I had not acted as I did then, it would have been difficult for me to command later. Although I could have done differently: for example, throw in all the forces I had to help or open hurricane artillery fire. But in the current situation, it was necessary, among other things, to teach people to overcome fear. Therefore, I acted quite consciously. And, standing upright under fire, I was guided only by sober calculation. There was no bravado, no desperation.”

From the description of the battle: “The scouts were supported by fire from tanks and armored personnel carriers. A little later, several howitzers came out for direct fire. The outskirts of the village were covered with thick clouds of smoke.” The scouts managed to gain a foothold near the bridge and on the outskirts of the village. Petropavlovskaya.

Arrival of 104 Airborne Division

Commander of the PDR 337 PDP, senior lieutenant Albert Alekseevich Chirikov: “We approached Petropavlovskaya. There is a glow on the horizon, everything is burning. I report to headquarters - there is a battle ahead. We stop in front of the village. As it turns out later, there was infantry there before us... Not a single person is visible around, only houses stand and unattended cattle rush around. Then we barely crossed the “plasticine” field (as we jokingly dubbed it, because precipitation turned the clay into an impassable mess). They dug trenches all night. I had to dig myself. And at this time, snipers were constantly shooting at our location ... "

BB actions

Commander of the Air Force, Colonel General A.S. Kulikov: “First, the company commander, Senior Lieutenant Yuri Strukov, was mortally wounded. The Mi-8 ambulance helicopter sent for him was shot down by a grenade launcher on approach. The crew commander, Major Alexander Hasan, the co-pilot, Senior Lieutenant Oleg Smirnov, the flight engineer, Captain Anatoly Savchuk, and the military doctor, Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Pokhlebin, were killed, and the senior lieutenant of the medical service, Vladimir Ermolov, was mortally wounded.”

In the evening, a company of the 81st Military Infantry moved out to help the scouts, but got lost and was ambushed on the square in front of the House of Culture of the village. Petropavlovskaya.

From the description of the battle: “By all indications, non-Muslim mercenaries fought here along with the Chechen fighters. The latter do not finish off the wounded: they have put the fighter out of action and are enduring fire. The Chechens themselves do not remove their corpses. A mercenary was hanging on the balcony of the minaret, correcting the fire of the militants, and still hangs. “If he had been a Muslim, he would have been taken down and buried long ago,” the fighters say.”

From the description of the battle: “ZUshka, deprived of cover, was the first to flare.” The soldiers, stunned by the explosion, fell head over heels from the back, fired back, ran into the park, to the saving trees. Few made it. The bandits mercilessly mowed down shell-shocked guys with bursts of fire.<…>Lieutenant Ilya Kabulov, having orientated himself in the situation, placed his armored personnel carrier next to the crumpled self-propelled gun - cover it with armor, drag in the dead and wounded.

Late. The cumulative pin pierced the side with a hot drill and filled the insides of the car with raging fire and smoke. Meanwhile, the “box”, which had maneuvered into a dead end before the others, began to break through with all its barrels and get out from under the grenade launcher fire.

Perhaps the officer sitting there did not see the destruction in the area in front of the House of Culture, hoping that the senior column would follow him out with the remaining vehicles. How much can you see behind you with the hatches battened down? And there was nothing to save people with. The combined unit lost all its wheels in a matter of minutes.

The commander's armored personnel carrier froze at the crumpled fence of the school yard: a fiery armor-piercing clot dug into the underbelly between the hubs, breaking the mechanical joints of the chassis. The soldiers with the major wounded in the head lay down around the smoking wounded wounded man, poured bursts of fire at the enemy’s firing points, crawled away, dragging their bloodied comrades behind them to the surviving armored vehicle of Senior Lieutenant Sergei Utkin.”

After all the remaining officers were wounded, gunner Private Evgeniy Vladimirovich Ostroukhov took command of the battle. The remnants of the column took up defensive positions and fired back at the militants. “Meanwhile, the rest were pulling up to the armored vehicle, helping each other, placing the dead elbow to elbow. Drenched in their own and others’ blood, junior sergeants Vadim Kulchitsky and Sanal Khantyev, privates Alexey Kuznetsov, Dmitry Gnamm, Andrey Vasilchenko, Vasily Khlebnikov, Evgeny Specht...”

From the description of the battle: “Meanwhile, the 81st regiment unsuccessfully tried to break through to the surrounded soldiers. From one direction - crews of flamethrower "bumblebees" on armored vehicles, from the other - a special forces group with the support of a tank. But, met by RPG and heavy machine gun fire, the rescuers were forced to retreat. And yet, the attempt to break through to the center of Petropavlovskaya played a decisive role in saving the soldiers. Fearing that they would find themselves in a vice, the main forces of the militants left the village. And those left to capture the wounded were unable to break the resistance of a handful of boys. Junior Sergeant Khantyev and Private Khlebnikov, who suffered a little less than others, fought an unequal battle almost until the morning, defending themselves and their bloodless comrades.”

Militant counterattack

During the unequal battle, Ponomarev personally destroyed seven militants, a UAZ car with militants, and suppressed a machine-gun firing point. Reflecting another onslaught of militants, Arabadzhiev was wounded. And Ponomarev, carrying out a wounded sergeant, came under mortar fire and, being also wounded, with the last of his strength shielded Arabadzhiev with his body from fragments of a mine that exploded nearby and saved his comrade at the cost of his life. The paratroopers who arrived in time knocked out the militants who had not managed to gain a foothold from the bridge and ensured the advance of the column of the main forces to the position of blocking Grozny.”

From the description of the battle: “In total, five reconnaissance officers from the reconnaissance battalion of the 20th Guards Motorized Rifle Division were killed in that battle. They and a company of internal troops were literally pulled out of the trap by tankers, who are known here by the name of their commander - “Mansur’s battalion.” “These are some kind of devils! — the soldiers admired the tank crews. - They hit from all directions: every volley was covered. We never thought that a tank cannon could be fired with the same dexterity as a pistol. And how they moved... It seemed that not several tanks were moving, but something united, with one crew.”

NSh North Caucasus Military District Lieutenant General V.Ya. Potapov: “By 14:00 on December 21, the battalion of the 68th ORB was replaced by the PDB of the 104th Airborne Division and withdrawn to an area 1.5 km northeast of Tolstoy-Yurt to restore combat effectiveness.”

List of dead

1st junior sergeant 81 pon VV Alexander Gennadievich Konin
2. Private 81 pon VV Stefan Aleksandrovich Askolsky
3. private 81 pon VV Konstantin Nikolaevich Kalabin
4. Private 81 pon VV Alexey Nikolaevich Kutyrev
5. Private 81st Pon VV Nikolai Kesarevich Makarov
6. Private 81st Pon VV Pavel Vladimirovich Makarov
7.
8. Private 81 pon VV Evgeniy Nikolaevich Sirotin
9. Private 81st Pon VV Sergei Viktorovich Tolstonozhenko
10. private 81 pon VV Evgeniy Viktorovich Specht
11. Petty Officer RR 68 Orb Senior Warrant Officer Viktor Aleksandrovich Ponomarev
12. junior sergeant 68 orb Valery Vladimirovich Kochkin
13. company commander, senior lieutenant Yuri Valerievich Strukov (12th armored explosives)
14. crew commander, Major Alexander Anatolyevich Gasan (military unit 3686)
15. second pilot, senior lieutenant Oleg Valerievich Smirnov (military unit 3686)
16. flight engineer captain Anatoly Dmitrievich Savchuk (military unit 3686)
17. military doctor lieutenant colonel m/s Sergei Yuryevich Pokhlebin
18. senior lieutenant m/s Vladimir Viktorovich Ermolov