Sergey Yurievich Melentyev 6th company. In memory of the sixth company. Kozhemyakins: father and son. “There were a lot of criminal oddities”

On February 24, 2010, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the death of 84 paratroopers of the 6th company of the 104th regiment of the 76th Airborne Division near Ulus-Kert. February 29 - March 1, 2000, the article “From the Heights” was published in the Pskov Province. , which caused significant public outcry. In the process of preparing the material, the author re-read dozens of texts on forums and blogs, with completely inconsistent assessments. Messages are still appearing in them. Meanwhile, there have been no clear official answers to the obvious questions that arose immediately after the tragic battle.

Sergey Melentyev is a graduate of the Omsk Higher Combined Arms Command School named after M.V. Frunze (1983).

The editors of “Pskov Province” sent a request to the president in 2003, in response they received a reply from the Security Council: all heroes, the investigation continues, they are looking for militants, there is no crime in the actions of the command of the group of Russian troops. And - not a word about Sergei Melentyev, commander of the 104th regiment. By that time he was already deceased.

In 2010, all these memories, re-read bleeding discussions (only a little was included in the large-format article), new meetings with parents and widows, the reaction of relatives and veterans of the regiment to the article, a meeting of the Airborne Forces commander that was meaningless from the point of view of the main issues Vladimir Shamanov with the relatives of those killed in the club of the 76th division led the author to the idea that the official request should be repeated.

Simply because it is necessary. The country formally has a different president, a different prosecutor general.

There are things that need to be reminded until they become clear.

In the current situation of hushing up a tragedy that is fading into history, we came to the conclusion that the request should be of a political nature.

March 2, Chairman of the Russian United Democratic Party "YABLOKO" Sergey Mitrokhin sent a letter to the President of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev and the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika.

The letter stated the need to reopen the criminal case into the death of servicemen of the 6th company and conduct a full and comprehensive investigation within its framework.

The appeal stated, in particular: “The death of an entire military unit, which fought for two days, being only a few kilometers from other military units of the Joint Group of Forces in the North Caucasus, continues to this day to remain an unhealed wound for the relatives, friends and loved ones of the dead soldiers and officers, for the entire country.

The relatives of the victims and the entire Russian society have not yet received answers about the causes and circumstances of the tragic battle with especially grave consequences.

This investigation is necessary for the Russian Armed Forces, for the entire Russian society, it must provide answers that still do not exist.

Such an investigation is the moral duty of the state to the memory of fallen soldiers. It must clarify the extent of responsibility of all officials of the command staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation who made decisions and were involved in decision-making in the North Caucasus that led to the tragic events of February 29 - March 1, 2000.

Without such an investigation, the memory of the fallen heroes will not be complete.”.

At the beginning of May, we received an official response (which is significant - from the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, not from the addressees of the letter), which is difficult to comment on, but necessary.

For the first time, it was announced at the official level that the only person found guilty of the death of 84 Russian servicemen was the former commander of the 104th regiment, Colonel Sergei Melentyev, who was later transferred from Pskov to Ulyanovsk and died in June 2002. It turned out that the guilt was established precisely and only by Melentyev, who categorically objected to the throw to a height of 776.0, six times (according to the testimony of people who personally knew him) asked permission to withdraw the company immediately after the start of the battle, but in the first case he obeyed the order, and in the second - did not receive permission.

The time to tell the truth about the death of the 6th company at the state level in Russia has not yet come. This is the main meaning of the answer we received.

This means that essentially nothing has changed in our country.

But in the process of yet another attempt to achieve the truth, details emerged that needed to be discussed.

“Violations of the requirements of the Combat Manual of the Ground Forces were committed”

The official response was executed on the letterhead of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation and signed on April 16 by the Assistant to the Chief Military Prosecutor of Russia S. V. Bokov.

The article “From the Heights,” published in the Pskov Province on February 24, 2010, evoked many responses.

The answer on the merits of the appeal was given as follows (we present its text almost in full, except for the introduction):

“In the period from February 29 to March 1, 2000, while carrying out the task of blocking members of illegal armed groups in the area of ​​the village. Ulus-Kert village of the Chechen Republic as a result of a military clash at an altitude of elevation. 776.0 killed 84 and wounded 6 military personnel.

On March 2, 2000, the military prosecutor's office - military unit 20102 (Khankala settlement) opened criminal case No. 14/33/0108-00 against members of illegal armed groups on the grounds of crimes provided for in paragraphs. “b”, “g”, “h” part 2 art. 105 (murder), part 2 of Art. 208 (participation in an armed formation) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which on April 29, 2000 was sent under jurisdiction to the Main Directorate of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation for supervision over the implementation of laws in the North Caucasus (now the Directorate of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation in the Southern Federal District).

Currently, this criminal case is being investigated by the investigative department of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for the Chechen Republic and no final procedural decision has been made on it.

On May 2, 2000, in the military prosecutor's office - military unit 20102, based on materials isolated from the specified criminal case, criminal case No. 14/33/0185-00 was opened against the regiment commander, Colonel S. Yu. Melentyev, on the grounds of a crime under Part 2 of Art. . 293 (negligence resulting in serious consequences through negligence) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

During the preliminary investigation in the case, it was established that, due to improper performance of his duties, Colonel S. Yu. Melentyev committed violations of the requirements of the Combat Manual of the Ground Forces, expressed in ineffective reconnaissance to establish the location of members of illegal armed formations in the areas of operation of subordinate units, making incorrect decisions on changing the time of occupation of height 776.0, determining the firing positions of the artillery battalion and the deployment of the regiment's reserves.

The above violations led to the conduct of the battle with significantly superior enemy forces in unprepared engineering positions in conditions of all-round defense, the ineffectiveness of the use of artillery weapons from established firing positions in the absence of air support due to unfavorable weather conditions, and the impossibility of promptly releasing units by forces of the regimental reserve, which resulted in serious consequences in the form of unjustifiably high losses of personnel. The preliminary investigation authorities reasonably qualified the actions of Colonel S. Yu. Melentyev under Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, an act of amnesty was subject to application in relation to the specified serviceman - Resolution of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation dated May 26, 2000 No. 398-III GD “On declaring an amnesty in connection with the 55th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45”.

Taking into account the above, on May 30, 2000, the criminal case, with the consent of S. Yu. Melentyev, was rightfully terminated on the basis of clause 4 of part 1 of Art. 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR as a result of the act of amnesty.

This procedural decision was made by the assistant military prosecutor - military unit 20102 and is not rehabilitative for persons who have committed a criminal offense.

Taking a different decision, taking into account the established factual circumstances of the case, would be contrary to the requirements of the legislation on criminal proceedings.

During the investigation, a legal assessment was also given to the actions of other military officials, incl. command of the United Group, in respect of which the initiation of a criminal case was refused on the basis of clause 2, part 1 of Art. 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR - for lack of corpus delicti.

At present, there are no grounds for reviewing the above procedural decisions.".

Thus, translating the official procedural language of the response into a more intelligible one, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of Russia reported that:

1) the criminal case opened on the death of the paratroopers has not been completed and is being investigated by the investigative department of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for the Chechen Republic; there is still no procedural decision in the case;

2) at the same time, the actions of the command of the United Group of Forces in the North Caucasus were given a legal assessment by the investigation; in relation to these persons, the initiation of a criminal case was refused “for lack of corpus delicti”;

3) it was announced publicly for the first time that the only person whose guilt was established by the investigation was the former commander of the 104th regiment, Colonel Sergei Melentyev, who was found guilty and amnestied in 2000.

But the GVP response in no way mentioned that Sergei Melentyev died in June 2002.

“There were a lot of criminal oddities”

In the article “From the Heights” we mentioned, with reference to the famous memoirs of the colonel published in March 2008 in the almanac “The Art of War” Sergei Baran*, in 2000, with the rank of major, commander of the 1st company of the 1st battalion of the 104th parachute regiment, that S. Yu. Melentyev died on June 22, 2002. This date from the memoirs of S. Baran migrated to hundreds of publications.

Tamara Georgievna Melentyeva lost first her husband, and then her son. Photo: “Chelyabinsk Worker”

It was said like this: “I remember well: when Melentyev was given the task of transferring the 6th company to the left bank of the Abazulgol River, he tried for a long time to explain that the regiment was not capable of the task, that all strong points, blocks, remained on the right bank, all units were involved, and in the event If a critical situation arises, he will not have the reserve to provide timely assistance. Melentyev then said: “You cannot stand with both feet on different banks of the river,” but his opinion was not listened to then.

Sergei Yuryevich Melentyev died of a heart attack on June 22, 2002. We buried him in the village of Kromny, Oryol region. At the funeral were all his colleagues from the Pskov division, officers of the Airborne Forces command, the command of the 31st Airborne Brigade, and many famous people. Melentyev was a highly qualified military man, a competent and deeply decent person, and he took the death of the 6th company hard.

I consider all accusations of illiteracy and inaction against Melentyev, which come from some “informed” gentlemen, to be populist, stupid and absolutely groundless!”

Sergei Baran, due to his position and experience (at the time of the interview, he commanded the 108th Parachute Regiment of the 7th Airborne Assault Division with the rank of colonel), could not have been unaware of the results of the investigation at the Main Military Prosecutor's Office. But he didn’t directly mention him a word.

In the memoirs themselves, which are one of the most cited sources about the death of the 6th company, one can see through the remorse of conscience not particularly hidden by the author: they could not save their comrades. But the structure of the presentation is such that indirect responsibility is also assigned to the dead: first of all, to Major Mark Evtyukhin, commander of the 6th company, and for the same, by that time already deceased, Sergei Melentyev.

Let us recall that, according to the memoirs of S.I. Baran, the decisive episodes of communication within the 104th regiment, after the 6th company was actually blocked at an altitude of 776.0, are as follows: “...Having reached the Abazulgol River, we immediately forded it. The river was cold, dirty, but shallow, waist-deep.

Having started climbing up the slope towards height 776.0, I contacted Vorobyov on the reconnaissance frequency and clarified the current situation with him. To coordinate future joint actions, I asked Alexey to connect me with Evtyukhin. He connected. I asked Mark Nikolaevich: “How and where is the best way to approach you? What should I do?

Evtyukhin thought and then answered:

- Seryoga, don’t meddle here, you’ll only disturb me, I’ll figure it out myself. Everything is under control, we can handle it ourselves. Now you can neither come here nor help. Don't interfere. If I need help, I will call you myself.

These are his words, Mark. Evtyukhin spoke to me in a normal, sane voice, did not panic, was collected and decisive.

There was no more than 40 minutes left to reach the 6th company. It was 23.45 on the clock.

Night frosts hampered our movements. The soldiers, sweaty and wet after the trek and crossing, began to freeze. I reported the situation to Melentyev, conveyed Evtyukhin’s words, and asked for instructions. Melentyev ordered to retreat back to Mount Dembayirzy to the control point of the 1st battalion and rest there until dawn. We moved away."

The next morning there was no one to help.

In the famous article of the now deceased Izvestia journalist Edwin Polyanovsky“Suvorik” literally says the following about Sergei Melentyev: “There were a lot of criminal oddities. Of the 90 company paratroopers, 84 were killed.

The switchman was punished: regiment commander Sergei Melentyev was transferred to Ulyanovsk as chief of staff of the brigade(he died soon after. — Auto.). Left aside were the commander of the eastern group, General Makarov (six times Melentyev asked him to give the company the opportunity to withdraw without killing the guys), and another general, Lentsov, who headed the airborne task force.”.

“He passed away under unclear circumstances”

In the process of searching for information about the fate of Sergei Melentyev after his transfer from Pskov and before his death, we went to the site for searching and meeting graduates of the now defunct Omsk Higher Combined Arms Command Twice Red Banner School named after M. V. Frunze. And there, on a more than modest personal page, they found the following entry: “Melentyev Sergey Yurievich, 1979-1983. (4 battalion 11 company 2 platoon). Died on June 13, 2002".

There are also a few comments on the website:

“Colonel of the Airborne Forces, participant in the Chechen company. On June 13, under circumstances that were not fully clarified, he passed away. He was a wonderful man and an officer from God. He did everything in his power to prevent the death of the 6th company of Pskov paratroopers. /Egorov Sergey/ 05/19/2007.”

“Melentyev, my company commander (it’s a pity, he was a good guy, everyone respected him!”

“I am sending a photo of Sergei Melentyev to be posted on the site (1983, 4th battalion, 11th company). Sincerely, Yu. Aksenenko (10th company, 4th battalion, 1983).

There are so few photographs left. This one, either from a graduation album or from an officer's ID, is one of the few.

Further searches led us to the websites of two regional publications: the newspaper “Simbirsk Courier” and the newspaper “Chelyabinsky Rabochiy”.

“Simbirsk Courier” in issue 12-13 January 25, 2003 in the preface “Why are they dying?” to the reprint of one of Edwin Polyanovsky’s articles he wrote: “In 2000, Sergei Melentyev was transferred to the Ulyanovsk 31st Airborne Brigade from the Caucasus to the position of chief of staff. During the war, he commanded the Pskov parachute regiment, whose company almost entirely died in early March of that year in a skirmish with Khattab’s two-thousand-strong gang. Melentyev turned out to be the switchman, although he was least to blame for the death of his subordinates. In Ulyanovsk, the officer soon died.”

But the most significant information was found in Chelyabinsk Worker, where an article was published on August 21, 2007 Marina Klein under the secondary (it should be mentioned that this was the title of one of Edwin Polyanovsky’s publications dedicated to the 6th company, and in general M. Klein has many references to E. Polyanovsky) heading “Your son and brother” with the subtitle “Trinity School No. 10 on the initiative of classmates, the name of Colonel of the Russian Army Sergei Melentyev will be named.”

God be with him, with the title. The publication is based on a conversation with Sergei’s mother, Tamara Georgievna Melentieva. From the article we were able to learn a lot about the latest milestones in the fate of Sergei Melentyev.

We cannot do without significant quotes.

The fate of the Melentyev family at the beginning of the 21st century turned out to be completely tragic:

“Trouble came to the Melentyevs’ house unexpectedly. Tamara Georgievna’s husband was sick for a very long time, and then he fell ill. Doctors made a disappointing diagnosis: diabetes mellitus and amputated his leg: He was fading away before our eyes, but Tamara Georgievna did everything with her last strength to ease her husband’s suffering. She was with him every minute, and then she also had to look after her mother-in-law. So the son and mother lay in the same room. And Tamara goes to one thing, then to another. It’s impossible to describe in words how much she experienced and where the strength came from.

But, as you know, trouble does not come alone. The disease also confined the elderly mother to bed. Tamara took her mother with her. And again the medicine by the hour, sleepless nights. First my mother-in-law died, then my mother, then Yura died. At that time, Sergei was transferred to serve in the Caucasus. At the age of 38 he became a colonel.”

Let us note here that in civilized countries, soldiers and officers with domestic tragedies behind them are not sent to the combat zone. Forbidden.

Perhaps my mother was almost the only person with whom Sergei Melentyev shared at least a little of his feelings after what happened with his 6th company: “He was so worried about everything that happened, and when he arrived home in Troitsk, he shared it with his mother, but the conversation was difficult, and the mother did not ask questions:

- You know, I thought that my heart would break into pieces when mothers came up to me and with eyes clouded with tears and grief said: “Bring back our sons, bring back!”

Remembering that last meeting with her son, Tamara Georgievna regrets that she did not ask him about everything, and he, knowing that it was already hard for her, did not stir up his soul once again, and in parting he only said: “Nothing, everything will work out.” "

Sergei was then at his mother’s house on vacation, but it was not possible to leave it completely; another misfortune came: “...in Ulyanovsk, in a military unit, a new emergency occurred in his absence. Two employees deserted, taking their weapons with them, shooting 11 people. And again they punished the innocent Colonel Melentyev, and again transferred him to another unit, to Tula...”

“On June 16, 2002, he did not call his wife, who temporarily lived with his father near Orel. She, sensing something was wrong, sounded the alarm. Sergei was so attentive and always congratulated her on Medical Worker’s Day. She called the unit, but they told her that Sergei was not there, most likely he had gone back to Ulyanovsk on some business. But she, not believing this, urgently came to Tula and began searching, calling police departments and hospitals. As it turned out, it was not in vain. Sergei’s body had already been lying in the morgue for two days. He died early in the morning while jogging, not far from the unit. A passerby found him and called an ambulance. The doctors could no longer help. Since Sergei was in a tracksuit and without documents, he was considered unknown.”

Such was the death of the former commander of the 104th regiment of the 76th airborne division, Sergei Melentyev.

Tamara Georgievna Melentyeva told the journalist: “It’s amazing that the unit where he arrived at his new duty station a few days ago was missing a man. After all, his things and personal documents remained in the medical battalion. True, the transfer documents and the order should have arrived later, but this is always the case. He is not invisible, people communicated with him. And then he disappeared, and for several days no one remembered him. Doctors then diagnosed that he died of a heart attack. Although I am inclined to think that they helped him die because of those events in Argun, he was an eyewitness to them. Of course, they buried him with all the honors due to a colonel.".

It was at this funeral “with all honors” in the Oryol region that high-ranking Russian military airborne forces were present, including Sergei Baran, who for some reason extended his comrade’s life in his memoirs until June 22 and said nothing about the sad and alarming circumstances of his death.

+ + +

All the officers of the 104th regiment who took part in the battle at height 776.0 were killed.

Answers to the questions of the relatives of the victims, of the entire Russian society: how and under what circumstances the Russian Army suffered such significant losses, who is responsible for these losses at the high command level, have not been given.

Judging by the letter from the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, the current authorities of the Russian Federation do not intend to give these answers.

The fallen in Russia are again responsible for the survivors.

The survivors apparently hope that they will not face the Other Court.

God knows.

But I would like to disappoint them in this life.

* See: Farukshin Ryan. Interview with Sergei Baran: “6th Company” // Almanac “The Art of War”, No. 2 (7), March 2008.

Guards Air Assault Red Banner Regiment 104, Airborne Division, in other words, military unit 32515, is stationed in the village of Cherekha, not far from Pskov. The unit carries out combat missions, destroys and captures the enemy from the air, deprives him of ground weapons, cover, and destroys his defenses. This regiment also acts as a rapid reaction unit.

Story

The regiment was formed in January 1948 as part of units of the 76th, 104th and 346th Guards Airborne Divisions. For excellent combat training in 1976, the regiment became Red Banner, and from 1979 to 1989 all personnel and officers fought in Afghanistan. In February 1978, the regiment mastered new weapons and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its valiant use. From 1994 to 1995, the Red Banner Regiment 104 (Airborne Division) was part of the 76th Division, and therefore actively participated in the First Chechen War, and in 1999 and 2009 it carried out an anti-terrorist mission in the North Caucasus.

At the beginning of 2003, the regiment was partially transferred to a contract basis, at the same time the reconstruction of military unit 32515 began. Regiment 104, Airborne Division, received reconstructed old and built new living quarters and facilities on its territory, thanks to this work the living and material conditions of service have become much better. The barracks took on a cubicle appearance with hallways, showers and closets for personal belongings, a gym and a rest room. Both officers and soldiers of Regiment 104 (Airborne Division) eat in a common canteen located separately. The food is the same for everyone, they eat together. Civilians work in the canteen, cleaning the territory and barracks.

Preparation

All fighters of such a famous unit as the Pskov Airborne Division, especially the 104th regiment, devote a lot of time to landing and general physical training at any time of the year. Mandatory activities for the landing force: improving camouflage skills, forcing fire and water obstacles and, of course, parachute jumping. First, training takes place using an airborne complex on the territory of a military unit, then it is the turn of a five-meter tower. If everything is learned correctly, then the fighters, in groups of ten people, make three jumps from airplanes: first from the AN, then from the IL.

Hazing and hazing have never occurred in this unit. Now this would not be possible, if only because recruits, old-timers and contract soldiers live separately and are each extremely busy with their own work. The Pskov Airborne Division, 104th Regiment, recruits take the oath on Saturdays at ten in the morning; rarely, due to circumstances beyond the control of the commanders, it can be moved back or forward an hour. After taking the oath, military personnel receive leave until 20.00. By the way, on holidays, fighters also receive leave. On the Monday following the taking of the oath, the command distributes new soldiers to companies.

Relatives

Of course, parents, relatives and friends miss and worry about the health and pastime of those who are just starting their military service. The command warns loved ones that their beloved sons, grandchildren, brothers and best friends, having enlisted in Regiment 104 (Pskov Airborne Division), cannot be constantly in touch.

Mobile phones are allowed to be used only one hour before lights out; the rest of the time, the commander keeps the gadgets with him and gives them to the soldier only as a last resort, and after he checks in a special log. Field exercises in the unit take place year-round, regardless of the weather, sometimes trips last up to two months. The fighters are famous for their military training, and without constant exercises the 104th Regiment of the 76th Airborne Division (Pskov) would not have gained such fame.

Helpful information

First of March

The whole country remembered the day of the great feat of the soldiers of the sixth company of the second battalion of the one hundred and fourth parachute regiment of the seventy-sixth Pskov Airborne Division. Year 2000. Since the beginning of February, the largest group of militants after the fall of Grozny retreated to the Shatoi region, where they were blocked. After air and artillery preparation, the battle for Shata followed. The militants nevertheless broke through in two large groups: Ruslan Gelayev to the northwest to the village of Komsomolskoye, and Khattab to the northeast through Ulus-Kert, where the main battle took place.

The federal troops consisted of one company of regiment 104 (Airborne Division) - the 6th company, which died heroically, commanded by Guard Lieutenant Colonel Mark Nikolaevich Evtyukhin, fifteen soldiers from the 4th company of the same regiment under the command of Guard Major Alexander Vasilyevich Dostavalov and the 1st company of the first battalion of that the same regiment under the command of Guard Major Sergei Ivanovich Baran. There were more than two and a half thousand militants: the groups of Idris, Abu Walid, Shamil Basayev and Khattab.

Mount Isty-Kord

On February 28, the commander of the 104th regiment, Colonel Sergei Yuryevich Melentyev, who briefly outlived his sixth company, ordered the occupation of the Isty-Kord heights, which dominated the area. The sixth company, led by Major Sergei Georgievich Molodov, moved out immediately and managed to occupy only height 776, four and a half kilometers from the designated mountain, where twelve reconnaissance paratroopers were sent.

The height designated by the commander was occupied by Chechen militants, with whom the reconnaissance team entered into battle, retreating to the main forces left behind. Commander Molodov entered the battle and was mortally wounded; on the same day, February 29, he died. Took command

The Brotherhood of War

But just four hours ago, Shatoy fell under the attack of federal troops. The militants furiously broke through the ring, not looking at the losses. Here they were met by the sixth company. Only the first and second platoons fought, since the third was destroyed by militants on the slope. By the end of the day, the company's losses amounted to a third of the total number of personnel. Thirty-one people - the number of paratroopers who died in the first hours of the battle when they were densely surrounded by the enemy.

By morning, soldiers from the fourth company, led by Alexander Vasilyevich Dostavalov, broke through to them. He violated the order, leaving well-fortified lines at a nearby height, took only fifteen soldiers with him and came to the rescue. Comrades from the first company of the first battalion also rushed to their aid. They crossed the Abazulgol River, were ambushed there and entrenched themselves on the bank. Only on March 3rd the first company was able to break through to the position. All this time the fighting continued everywhere.

Argun Gorge

The night of March 1, 2000 claimed the lives of eighty-four paratroopers who never missed the Chechen bandits. The death of the sixth company is the heaviest and largest in the Second Chechen War. In Cheryokha, at home, at the native checkpoint, this date is remembered by a stone on which is carved: “From here the sixth company went into immortality.” The last words of Lieutenant Colonel Evtyukhin were heard by the whole world: “I call fire on myself!” When the militants went to break through the avalanche, it was 6.50 in the morning. The bandits didn’t even shoot: why waste bullets on twenty-six wounded paratroopers if there were more than three hundred selected militants.

But hand-to-hand combat still broke out, although the forces were unequal. The guards did their duty. Everyone who could still hold a weapon, and even those who could not, entered the fray. There were twenty-seven dead enemies for each of the half-dead paratroopers who remained there. The bandits lost 457 of their best fighters, but were unable to break through either to Selmentauzen or further to Vedeno, after which the road to Dagestan was practically open. All roadblocks have been lifted by high order.

Khattab may not have been lying when he said on the radio that he bought the passage for five hundred thousand dollars, but it didn’t work out. They attacked the company in waves, like a dushman. Knowing the terrain well, the militants approached closely. And then bayonets, butts and just fists were used. For twenty hours the Pskov paratroopers held the heights.

Only six remained alive. The two were saved by the commander, who covered their jump from the cliff with machine gun fire. The bandits mistook the rest of the survivors for dead, but they were alive and after some time crawled out to the location of their troops. Company of heroes: twenty-two warriors posthumously became Heroes of Russia. Streets in many cities of the country, even in Grozny, were named after eighty-four paratroopers.

104th Airborne Division (Ulyanovsk)

This formation of the USSR Airborne Forces existed until 1998 as the 104th Guards Airborne Division, founded in 1944. In June 2015, the Russian Ministry of Defense decides to recreate the famous military unit. The composition of the 104th Airborne Division is three regiments based on the 31st Ulyanovsk Airborne Brigade, which are located in Orenburg, Engels and Ulyanovsk.

Glory to the Airborne Forces

Airborne troops date back to August 1930, and this is the only branch of the military in the country where every single division is guards. Each of them gained its own glory in battle. Ancient Pskov is rightfully proud of its oldest military unit - the 76th Guards Red Banner Airborne Division, which heroically proved itself in all the wars in which it participated. The tragic death of the brave, courageous, persistent sixth company of the 104th regiment will never be forgotten not only in the country, but also in the world.

Ulyanovsk has its own historical pride: the personnel of the 104th Guards Airborne Division stationed there took part in the battles in Chechnya and Abkhazia, and were part of the UN peacekeepers in Yugoslavia. And every resident of the city knows that the military equipment with the scorpion on board is the 104th Guards Airborne Division named after Kutuzov, converted from the Airborne Forces brigade.

On March 1, 2000, the 6th company of the 104th Guards Parachute Regiment almost completely died in the Argun Gorge. At the cost of their lives, our fighters stopped the advance of a Chechen gang numbering up to 2000 guns. This drama unfolded as follows.
.

In January 2000, the 6th company as part of the 104th regiment left to replace the paratroopers of Colonel Isokhonyan. The mood was carefree and upbeat, inspired by the example of their predecessors: near Argun they beat up Gelayev’s gang, killed more than 30 people, and only two battle losses.

Lieutenant Colonel A.:
.

„The company was a team, formed before leaving. Due to the lack of junior officers, they crammed people from the entire division, and they recruited from the 34th regiment, and from their 104th, but from other companies. Company commander Eremin was in Chechnya at that time. The paratroopers were trained by Roman Sokolov.
.
And in the end, a third was appointed company commander - Molodov, he was a stranger - from the special forces, no combat experience - he commanded a company of young soldiers. He was the first to die in this battle from a sniper bullet. The commander was the first to set himself up. Battalion commander Mark Evtyukhin, who led the company to the heights, was in Chechnya for only a month - on a business trip. Neither he nor the regiment commander Melentyev has any combat experience. We worked at the training ground, of course."
.

After the fall of Grozny in early February 2000, a large group of Chechen militants retreated to the Shatoi region of Chechnya, where on February 9 they were blocked by federal troops. That winter, the scouts and “listeners” from OSNAZ rejoiced. The “Shaitans” were driven out of Grozny and surrounded near Shatoi. In the Argun Gorge, the Chechen militants were to have a “little Stalingrad”. About 10 thousand bandits were in the mountain "cauldron".
.

Day and night the terrorists were ironed out by our artillery. And on February 9, Su-24 front-line bombers, for the first time during the operation in Chechnya, dropped volumetric detonating aerial bombs weighing one and a half tons on militants in the Argun Gorge. The bandits suffered enormous damage from these "one and a half" ones. Out of fright, they screamed on the air, mixing Russian and Chechen words:
.

Rusnya used prohibited weapons. After the hellish explosions, not even ashes remain from the Nokhchi.

And then there were tearful requests for help. The leaders of the militants surrounded in the Argun Gorge, in the name of Allah, called on their “brothers” in Moscow and Grozny not to spare money. The first goal is to stop dropping “inhumane vacuum” bombs on Ichkeria. The second is to buy a corridor to reach Dagestan.
.

From the “aquarium” - the headquarters of the GRU - the OSNA members in the Caucasus received a particularly secret task: to record all negotiations around the clock, not only of the militants, but also of our command. The agents reported on the impending conspiracy.
.

Half a million per pass. Orders for heroism.
.

On February 28, 2000, the 104th Parachute Regiment, having reached the Abazulgol River, consolidated its position in order to, having straddled the commanding heights, take control of the passage to the Argun Gorge. In particular, the third company of Senior Lieutenant Vasilyev occupies a height on the left bank. The paratroopers dug in especially carefully: the trenches were dug in full profile, a fire system was organized that made it possible to completely control the entire floodplain.
.
This kind of foresight helped them a lot. Before they had time to gain a foothold, an advanced detachment of militants was spotted below, under the height, trying to reach the gorge. Met by dense machine-gun fire, he quickly retreats. The attack is repeated twice, but the fortification turns out to be so insurmountable that the militants roll back, suffering significant losses. Important note: there is only one lightly wounded on our side. Other units of the regiment are also reliably strengthened. Apparently, it was then that Khattab decided to bypass the paratroopers’ positions on the other side of the river.
.
Meanwhile, the regiment commander, Colonel S. Melentyev, gives an order to the commander of the 6th company, Major Molodov: to occupy another commanding height - Isty-Kord near Ulus-Kert. This can be considered the first mistake of the command: the height was more than 14.5 kilometers from the checkpoint. Thus, the company, in rugged terrain, lost contact with the main forces and was deprived of the opportunity to quickly receive reinforcements. And second, this time the main thing: no preliminary reconnaissance was carried out.
.
Thus, the company went into the unknown. Nevertheless, an order is an order, and together with the unit, the commander of the first battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evtyukhin, goes to the height. Sergei Molodov was recently transferred to the unit, he does not yet know all the soldiers, relations with his subordinates are just being established. Therefore, the battalion commander decides to go with him in order to help if a difficult situation arises. At the same time, Evtyukhin is convinced that by the evening of the 28th he will return to the battalion’s location, and even gives an order to his foreman to prepare dinner.
.
However, the march was not easy. The soldiers, loaded with weapons and ammunition, carried tents, heavy stoves - in short, everything necessary for a large camp. This was their third mistake. (The march had to be carried out lightly and not take too much with them; if they reached a height, secured themselves so that no one could smoke them out of there, only then could they be sent for tents.)
. .
Here we can talk about a fourth serious miscalculation. Having left the location of the first battalion, the company was greatly stretched. The march in the mountains, along a narrow path, turned out to be much more difficult than the battalion commander thought.
.
However, Mark Evtyukhin informs Melentyev that they have already reached the height of 776.0 to continue moving to Isty-Kord. In fact, they will walk almost all night to get there, and the first to get there will be the scouts led by Senior Lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov. A group of five people moves quickly, and when the commander transmits the message that the 776 is clear, they move forward.

On the last day of February, we managed to intercept a radio conversation between Khattab and Basayev:

If there are dogs ahead (as the militants called representatives of the internal troops), we can come to an agreement.

No, these are goblins (that is, paratroopers, in bandit jargon).

Then Basayev advises the Black Arab, who led the breakthrough:

Listen, maybe let's go around? They won't let us in, we'll only reveal ourselves...

No,” Khattab replies, “we will cut them off.” I paid 500 thousand American dollars for passage. And the bosses set up these jackal-goblins to cover their tracks.

By a completely “incomprehensible” coincidence, army intelligence missed a large group of militants (up to 3,000 people) who were preparing to break through the Argun Gorge. At least that's what the official version says. Military intelligence could not help but know that about three thousand militants were preparing to break through the Argun Gorge. Such a crowd could not move unnoticed for 30 kilometers: at the end of February there is almost no greenery in the mountains. They had only one way - through the gorge along one of two dozen paths, many of which went straight to the height of 776.0.
.

Some of the militants managed to break out of the encirclement: Gelayev’s group broke through in the north-western direction to the village of Komsomolskoye (Urus-Martan district), and Khattab’s group - in the north-eastern direction through Ulus-Kert (Shatoi district), where the battle took place.

The battle began just hours after Defense Minister Igor Sergeev declared that the war in Chechnya was over. On February 29, the commander hoisted the Russian tricolor over Shatoy and repeated: Chechen gangs do not exist. Central television channels showed Defense Minister Igor Sergeev reporting to the acting President Vladimir Putin about " successful completion of the third stage of the counter-terrorism operation in the Caucasus".
.

At this very time non-existent gangs with a total number of about three thousand people attacked the positions of the 6th company of the 104th parachute regiment, which occupied height 776.0 near the village of Ulus-Kert, Shatoi region.

The first clash between scouts of the 6th company and militants occurred on February 29 at 12.30. The separatists were surprised to meet paratroopers on the way. During a short firefight, they shouted that they should be let through, because the commanders had already agreed on everything.
.
It is no longer possible to verify whether this agreement actually existed. But for some reason all the police checkpoints on the road to Vedeno were removed. According to radio intercepts, the head of the militants, Emir Khattab, received commands, requests, and tips via satellite communications. And his interlocutors were in Moscow. It was from the Moscow offices that orders were given not to provide any assistance to the 6th company, and from there orders were given to Amir Ibn al-Khattab to continue the operation to enter Dagestan.
.

At the insistence of Shamil Basayev, we first went on the radio to the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evtyukhin, who was in the 6th company, with a proposal to let their column through “in an amicable way”:

There are a lot of us here, ten times more than you. Why are you in trouble, commander? It’s night, fog - no one will notice, and we’ll pay very well,” Idris and Abu Walid, field commanders especially close to Khattab, exhorted in turn.

But in response there was such a masterly obscenity that the radio conversations quickly stopped. And away we go...

Alexey Vorobyov's reconnaissance group reached the foot of the Isty-Kord heights, where they discovered the first hidden enemy firing point. Having approached her unnoticed, they threw grenades at her. The attack was so unexpected for the militants that practically no one left. One prisoner was even captured, but the paratroopers discovered themselves, and now they have to fight off the militants who attacked them.
.
A battle ensued, there was a threat of encirclement, and the scouts, including the wounded, began to retreat to height 776.0. They are literally being followed on their heels. To support their own, paratroopers come out to meet them along with Major Molodov. They engage in battle, but a company commander is killed by a sniper bullet. So, carrying the wounded and the killed major, the soldiers retreat to the heights, and the militants are already climbing after them. A heavy mortar attack begins.
.

Tracing the chronology of events, one cannot help but pay attention to the following fact: mortars hit the heights not only from the positions of the militants, but also... from the village of Selmentauzen, which was located in the rear of the sixth company. Two 120mm mortars! They continued to work until the militants reached the heights. The sixth mistake... of command?
.
Meanwhile, the mortars continued to work. Feeling that the forces are unequal (more than 2,5 thousand militants fought against the company, as will be later calculated), the battalion commander asks to call helicopters for fire support. After some time, a pair of MI-24s actually appears above the heights, but without firing a SINGLE salvo, they fly away.
.
As it turned out, the company did not have an aircraft controller. This was the seventh mistake, the consequences of which were truly tragic. If these same helicopters had struck without even aiming, they could have scattered the approaching militants. And this would weaken their onslaught!
.
The battalion commander's radio operator did not have a special set-top box that encrypts communications on the air. Thus, the militants knew what was happening at the heights. They heard how Lieutenant Colonel Evtyukhin turned to Colonel Melentyev several times with a request for help, to which each time he received the same answer: “ Mark, don't panic, help will come....”.
.
What he meant by uttering these words is unknown, but the company never received reinforcements. She did not receive artillery support either. Again the question is: why? The answer to this has not yet been found.
.
Colonel Melentyev’s refusal to take the tank company to a firing position (his commander approached him with this request several times) in order to fire at the advancing militants is also incomprehensible. Only later, when the so-called debriefing begins, in order to justify the lack of initiative of aviation and artillery, fog will be invented, which allegedly prevented front-line and army aviation from getting into the air.
.
Apparently, the fog prevented Melentyev from turning for help to his Tula neighbors, to a howitzer artillery regiment stationed nearby. They heard that there was a battle going on, they asked on the radio: what was happening, did they need help? But all their proposals were rejected. Why?
.
"All police checkpoints have been removed from the only road leading to Dagestan", the newspapers wrote then. It was also called price per retreat corridor- half a million dollars.
.
According to Vladimir Vorobyov, the father of the deceased senior lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov, “Regimental Commander Melentyev asked for permission to withdraw the company, but the commander of the Eastern Group, General Makarov, did not give permission to retreat.” Vladimir Svartsevich, a military observer, director of the photo service of the Moscow bureau of the AiF, stated in the article that " there was an outright betrayal of the guys by specific officials".
.

On March 2, 2000, the military prosecutor's office of Khankala began an investigation into this case, which was then sent to the department of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation for the investigation of crimes in the field of federal security and interethnic relations in the North Caucasus.
.
At the same time, the investigation established that “the actions of military officials, including the command of the Joint Group of Troops (Forces) ... in the performance of duties for the preparation, organization and conduct of combat by units of the 104th Parachute Regiment do not constitute a crime.” The case was soon closed by Deputy Prosecutor General S.N. Fridinsky.
.

Meanwhile, the battle continues. The situation was further complicated by the fact that the fighters did not have heavy weapons - this also complicated an already critical situation. Meanwhile, the number of wounded was increasing; they were carried into a small hollow in order to be evacuated at the first opportunity, but this did not happen: one of the mines sent by the militants left no one alive. Only at night, around three o'clock, the battle died down a little.
.
Two hours of respite... What did the soldiers and officers think when they found themselves in a trap? Today we can only assume that there was still hope: they continued to believe that the regiment commander would not leave them. And help came... It was like a miracle when, under the cover of darkness, Major Alexander Dostavalov unexpectedly climbed to the heights, bringing with him 14 reinforcements. How, with the help of what holy spirit they bypassed the barriers is unknown.
.
The height was already in a tight ring. Apparently, the militants simply could not believe the audacity of the paratroopers, and therefore relaxed their vigilance. This fantastic throw by the major is still surprising to everyone who was interested in the real picture of the battle. Without waiting for help from the main forces of the regiment, Evtyukhin got in touch with Dostavalov and conveyed only one word: Help out! This was enough to rush to the aid of a friend. Of course, the major could have sat out (his unit was well fortified and was out of reach), but he went, most likely realizing that certain death awaited him ahead.
.

The most paradoxical thing is that the outskirts of Argun were literally filled with army units. Moreover, units of federal forces located on neighboring heights were eager to come to the aid of the dying 6th company, but they were forbidden to do so. And Evtyukhin himself was advised not to panic and destroy the militants. At a ratio of 25 to 1.
.
According to the command, Mark Evtyukhin should have at least repeated the feat of the legendary Spartan king Leonidas. True, the command completely forgot that, unlike Leonid, under the command of battalion commander Evtyukhin there were not 300 battle-hardened Spartans, but less than a hundred untrained soldiers. Nevertheless, he was advised to “hold on.”
.

Fortunately, among the officers of Yeltsin’s rotten army there were still honest and decent people who could not stand by and watch the militants destroy their comrades. 15 soldiers of the 3rd platoon of the 4th company, led by Major Alexander Dostavalov, were able to make their way to the 6th company in just 40 minutes and, under heavy fire from the militants, connect with Evtyukhin. 120 paratroopers under the command of the chief of reconnaissance of the 104th regiment Sergei Baran also voluntarily withdrew from their positions, crossed the Abazulgol River and moved to help Evtyukhin, but they were stopped by a categorical order from the command - to immediately return to their positions.
.
The commander of the Northern Fleet marine group, Major General Otrakovsky, repeatedly asked for permission to come to the aid of the paratroopers, but never received it. On March 6, because of these experiences, General Otrakovsky’s heart stopped.
.

To be fair, it should be noted that Melentyev sent a unit of 40 people to help. The scouts, having made a seven-kilometer march through the mountainous terrain, came to the foot of height 776.0, but without even trying to break through, they retreated. Another mystery: why?
.
In a memo from the then commander of the Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Georgy Shpak, to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Igor Sergeev, the answer sounds like this: “ Attempts by the command of the Airborne Forces operational group, PTG(regimental tactical group) The 104th Guards Reconnaissance Division did not succeed in releasing the encircled group due to heavy fire from gangs and difficult terrain conditions.".
.
The soldiers of the 1st company of the battalion also tried to help their comrades. But while crossing the Abazulgol River, they were ambushed and were forced to gain a foothold on the bank. Only on the morning of March 2 did the 1st company manage to break through.

The surviving paratroopers told how frantic joy gripped the soldiers of the 6th company when they saw their guys! Unfortunately, there were only enough reinforcements for fifteen to twenty minutes of the renewed battle. In the pre-dawn hours of March 1, it was all over: by 5 o’clock in the morning the elite battalions of Khattab and Basayev, the White Angels, had already reached the height, each of whom was promised 5 thousand dollars for its capture. Presumably they received them.
.

According to the recollections of the surviving senior sergeant Suponinsky, they met the last onslaught of the militants with only four machine guns: the battalion commander, Alexander Dostavalov, Lieutenant Alexey Kozhemyakin and he.
.

Mark Evtyukhin was the first to die: the bullet entered him directly in the forehead. Only then, the bandits, having captured the height, without hurrying anywhere, with complete impunity, will form a pyramid of dead bodies, sit the commander on top, hang headphones from a broken walkie-talkie around his neck and plant another one in him, already lifeless: in the back of the head: they say, call - don’t call, no one will come to you. The militants were in no hurry, as if our army of one hundred thousand were not around, as if someone guaranteed that not a single shell would fall on their heads.
.
Moreover, everything was filmed and posted on the Internet. Having calmly finished off the wounded Russian soldiers and buried their dead, the Chechens “transferred into captivity” several dozen wounded to units of the internal troops. Having received treatment at federal expense, most of them were soon released as “repentant” and “decided to return to peaceful life.” And approximately 1,500-2,000 militants calmly followed their path through the deployment of federal troops. How they managed to do this, no one can explain to this day.
.

The most amazing thing is that for a whole day, while the militants ruled at height 776, not a single shell fell on them, although nothing now prevented them from leveling the height to the ground.

The major will die second. After the death of Dostavalov, the last officer, Senior Lieutenant Kozhemyakin, remained alive. The battlefield says a lot. Kozhemyakin, the reconnaissance platoon commander, is a good hand-to-hand fighter and apparently put up a good fight. His face was completely smashed with rifle butts, and several stabbed militants were lying nearby. They probably wanted to take him alive as the last officer.
.

On the morning of March 1, when everything was quiet, Suponinsky and Porshnev met at the foot of the hill. Suponinsky said something feverishly as they walked away, and Porshnev remained silent, his eyes downcast. He had not yet had time to come up with his own legend. Suponinsky's shin was severely cut by a shrapnel; with such a wound he would not have descended from a height.
.

(They were not at their best. They hid, waited and came out. One officer directly told Suponinsky: “Take off the star.”)

At about 10 am, the artillery unexpectedly woke up and launched a salvo of unguided shells at the height. Two thirds of our paratroopers died from their own artillery fire. At this height, the old beeches are beveled like an oblique. About 1,200 rounds of ammunition were fired at this location in the Argun Gorge by Nona mortars and regimental artillery. And it’s not true that Mark Evtyukhin allegedly said on the radio: “I’m calling fire on myself.” In fact, he shouted: “You are assholes, you betrayed us, bitches!”

Guard private Evgeniy Vladykin remained without a single cartridge. When the militants came towards him like a dark wall, he raised his hands: “I surrender.” He was hit on the head with a rifle butt and lost consciousness. I woke up from the cold. He found a machine gun under the body of the dead man, walked around the heights, did not meet any wounded people, and came to his own. He told everything himself, honestly, as it happened. If I had hidden it, remained silent, no one would have ever known anything. (At home he tried to commit suicide; his mother pulled him out of the noose.)
.

Six miraculously surviving company soldiers gradually reached the unit's location: Suponinsky, Vladykin, Timoshenko, Porshnev, Khristolubov and Komarov. The last to leave was Timoshenko, the battalion commander's liaison officer. They told how the sixth guards company fought and died heroically. So by one o'clock in the afternoon on March 1, Colonel Melentyev learned the whole picture of the battle.
.

Khristolubov and Komarov carried a stove and a machine gun. When the shooting started, the grenade launcher Izyumov jumped up, grabbed a machine gun and rushed up. And these two disappeared, appearing when everything was quiet.

Senior officer Oleg P.:
.

Khristolubov and Komarov went down, hid in a crevice, and heard a groan: " Guys, help!“It was the call of Senior Lieutenant Vorobyov, the deputy commander of the reconnaissance company. Both chickened out and ran away. Both had clean barrels and a full set of cartridges. They didn’t fire a shot. After the battle below, at the foot of the hill, they mumbled: “ There, on the slope, the officer remained, still alive"When our men got up, Vorobiev was already dead.
.

A group of volunteer officers examined the battlefield and did not find a single one alive: the soldiers and officers were mutilated (Khattab ordered not to take anyone alive), and some had their heads cut off.

The 6th company fought for almost a day. During this time, it would have been possible to transfer reinforcements, probably from New Zealand, but... someone apparently really needed Khattab’s group to further continue the “gesheft”.
.
That's why the 6th company was sacrificed. How else can we explain the fact that in the area, stuffed with federal troops, artillery and multiple rocket launchers, almost a day went by with impunity the destruction of Pskov paratroopers actually in front of their comrades? And at the same time, only 15 fighters of Alexander Dostavalov arbitrarily (!) came to their aid.
.
What has the Russian command been doing all this time? Picking your nose? Or did it fulfill some agreements that the militants kept repeating? No one can explain how the death of the 6th company became possible. The company could not die in almost its entirety simply by definition.
.
The command could have come to her aid more than a dozen times during the day, but this was not done. Why come to the rescue! The command could do nothing at all: it was enough simply not to interfere with those units that arbitrarily decided to help the Pskov paratroopers. But even this did not happen. While the 6th company died heroically at height 776, someone purposefully blocked all attempts to save the paratroopers.

Many officers of the regiment continue to believe that the corridor for the passage of Khattab’s gang was purchased and only the paratroopers did not know about the deal. The Khattabites lost 457 selected fighters, but were never able to break through to Selmentauzen and further to Vedeno. From there the road to Dagestan was already open. By high order, all checkpoints were removed from it. This means that Khattab did not lie. He actually bought the pass for half a million bucks.

The commander of the 104th regiment, Sergei Melentyev, was responsible for the death of the heroes, who during the battle six times asked the commander of the Eastern group, General Makarov, to allow the company to retreat. Melentyev was transferred to Ulyanovsk with a demotion. Before leaving Pskov, he went to every house where the families of dead soldiers lived and asked for forgiveness. Two years later, Melentyev died - the 46-year-old colonel’s heart could not stand it.
.

The commander of the eastern group, General Makarov, remained on the sidelines (six times Melentyev asked him to give the company the opportunity to withdraw without killing the guys) and another general, Lentsov, who headed the airborne task force.
.

Evtyukhin, Molodov and Vorobyov were forever included in the lists of the military unit. And the name of Alexander Dostavalov was crossed out. For rushing to help his comrades. The deputy division commander explained this to the father of the deceased major: “Your son left his hill, violated the order.” That is, he had to sit and watch his comrades die.
.

On March 2, the Khankala prosecutor's office opened a criminal case into the massacre of military personnel. One of the Baltic TV channels showed footage filmed by professional cameramen from the militants: a battle and a pile of bloody corpses of Russian paratroopers. Information about the tragedy reached the Pskov region, where the 104th Parachute Regiment was stationed and where 30 of the 84 dead were from. Their relatives demanded to know the truth.
.

I tried to thoroughly prepare for the meeting with Sergei Ivanovich Kozhemyakin, the father of the Hero of Russia, senior lieutenant Dmitry Kozhemyakin, who died in 2000 near Ulus-Kert.

On the Internet I found a movement map, literally an hourly diagram of the battle itself. But imagine my amazement when Colonel Kozhemyakin laid out on the table a huge map of the entire area of ​​the last battle of the Pskov paratroopers, which showed the movements of the troops not only in those three days, but also a week before the tragedy.

From his detailed story, I understood that he piece by piece collected and reconstructed many of the circumstances of those terrible days. I listened to the colonel’s story and understood more and more how much Sergei Ivanovich loves his son, how proud he is of him. He decided to perpetuate the memory of his son by restoring the truth about the circumstances of the death of not only Dima, but also the other eighty-three soldiers and officers. With their unbending resilience, they reminded us of the true traditions of the Russian army, forever inscribing themselves in the history of the Chechen wars.

Colonel S.I. tells Kozhemyakin:

- On February 29, 2000, scouts from the army special forces began to be buried in Pskov. And suddenly the paratroopers of the 76th Guards Airborne Division began to leave the funeral. They ask: “What is it?” And they answer: “Ours started such a battle that there will be more losses.”

On March 2, I was in my office planning combat training classes. The bell rings: “Ivanovich, are you there?” "I". Goryachev called (S.V. Goryachev - commander of the 175th separate reconnaissance company of the 76th division - Ed.). - “Dimka was killed.” I hung up. I’m trying to understand everything, I call the division in Pskov (76th Airborne Division - Ed.), no one answers - communication was completely blocked. I guessed they were calling from my home phone. I called Pskov again, and Sergei Goryachev explained to me: “A terrible battle has been going on for the second day, there are almost no survivors, Dimka is dead.”

I'm going to Pskov, spending the night there and returning to St. Petersburg on March 3. On March 4, I arrived in Rostov to fly to Khankala (the headquarters of the Joint Group of Forces in Chechnya is located in Khankala - Ed.). But they tell me that there is no need to fly, the dead were taken by large helicopters to Khankala to be loaded onto planes and sent to Rostov. At that time, no one knew about the death of the paratroopers; I was the first to rush. During the day we visited both the hospital and the medical and forensic laboratory of the Ministry of Defense, but the dead paratroopers were nowhere to be found.

At night the hotel rang: “Ivanovich, look out the window.” My comrade, Colonel Starostin, picked me up in a car with flashing lights and took me to the hospital. There a major in mountain gear stood up to meet me; we didn’t know each other before, but he had met me somewhere. He says, with tears in his eyes: “Comrade Colonel, I brought Dima.” I asked, “What happened there?” He answers: “The battle went on for more than a day, the sky was clear and blue, but there was no help from aviation, the artillery died.” I asked him: “Have you even eaten anything?” He replies: “We haven’t eaten almost anything for three days now, a piece of food won’t fit into our throats.”

At this time a man came with the keys to the hangar. We go in, there are forty-seven stretchers, with the dead lying on them in black bags. I ask: “Do you know where Dima is?” He replied that he knew, but he still got it wrong. We approach the stretcher, which is labeled “Senior Lieutenant,” and I see Dimkina’s legs, size forty-four and a half. As it turned out later, he was identified by the shoe covers from the chemical protection kit of the GDR army, in which he walked in the mountains.

I say: “He’s a lieutenant.” And they answered me: “Dad, he has already been nominated for Hero of Russia for other battles, and his rank is already senior lieutenant.” I say: “Well, open it,” and begin to count the holes on the body. I got to the head, didn’t look any further, I told the guys: “Look at the head, there should be a stain there. Grandma was frying pancakes and gave it to him when he was little.”

Dimka had three bullet wounds in his right side, a hole near the shoulder, above the heart area, and a hole below the heart area. Only five bullets. All wounds were non-fatal. But on the left side of his chest everything was black - he was shot at point-blank range from a VOG-25 grenade launcher. The head was crushed. I asked the doctors: “What did they beat with, rifle butts?” “No,” they say, “with their feet.” When they prepared Dimka for the funeral, they had to put a church towel on his head.

Then I approached Mark Evtyukhin (battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evtyukhin - Ed.). Mark has one bullet in his right side, the second above his heart. And there was also a hole in the top of the head, either from a shrapnel or a bullet. Corporal Lebedev, Dimkin's machine gunner, was completely pierced by bullets, but his face was intact. Sergeant Kozlov, judging by his wounds, blew himself up with a grenade.

I had lists of all the reconnaissance officers, and by lunchtime on March 5, the dead were ready for departure - the AN-12 was standing to fly through Smolensk to Levashovo (a military airfield near St. Petersburg - Ed.), the crew commander gave the go-ahead. The plane was supposed to deliver the dead from the Internal Troops to Smolensk and fly home. But the officers responsible for the dispatch told me: “Seryozha, don’t touch them yet. They all died together, let them be sent to Pskov together.”

I returned to St. Petersburg on Monday morning, and on Tuesday Colonel Starostin called from Rostov: “The order has been given to scatter the dead throughout the country so that no one knows.” On Friday they report to me that the first twelve coffins were sent to Pskov. I was going to Pskov, and there the IL-76 circled and circled, and it was landed at a military airfield in Ostrov, because the elections for the city governor were scheduled for Sunday. We decided to do nothing until the elections are over. The guys tell me: “Let’s deliver Dimka to Levashovo.” I answered: “For more than a week now, the guys have been lying in coffins for as long as possible. Died on the 1st, how many days passed. I’ll take you there by car myself.”

On March 14, the Veche Square of the Pskov Kremlin could not accommodate everyone who came to say goodbye to the fallen paratroopers. No one expected that several thousand people would want to say goodbye to those killed in Chechnya. Among the officials who arrived in Pskov were the Minister of Defense Igor Sergeev, the commander of the Airborne Forces Georgy Shpak, the acting assistant. President Sergei Yastrzhembsky.

Four reconnaissance officers were taken to the 234th Parachute Regiment, where the 175th separate reconnaissance company is also located. None of the military authorities came to see off the heroes on their final journey; only officers and soldiers of the regiment, reconnaissance company, artillery regiment and other units were able to calmly say goodbye to their comrades.

The day before

In February 2000, the base camp of the 1st parachute battalion was located on Mount Dembayirzy. The 1st and 3rd parachute companies were located on the blocks (a block is a stronghold of a unit - Ed.), while the main part of the regiment was stationed in Khatuni. Khatuni translated into Russian means “Queen”. According to the latest FSB data, it was only in the seventies that the last bandit, who had been hiding in the forests since the Great Patriotic War, was killed in these parts. During the Great Patriotic War, one of the Muslim battalions “Brandenburg” was based in these places; there was also an airfield for transporting German saboteurs to the territory of the entire North Caucasus. It’s a rotten place, which is why until recently there were units of the 45th Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment and a regiment of internal troops in this area. It has always been a quiet sleeping area for militants.

Start

On the morning of February 29, units of the 2nd Parachute Battalion and reconnaissance patrol, under the general leadership of Guard Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evtyukhin, began moving to carry out the combat mission - creating strong points in the area of ​​​​height 776.0. The first to leave early in the morning was the reconnaissance patrol, which, after completing the task, was supposed to return to its permanent location.

They chose the most difficult route - along the ridges of heights, so as not to run into an ambush.

What was this reconnaissance patrol like? There was Dima, Sergeant Khamatov, Corporal Lebedev, Senior Sergeant Aranson, Junior Sergeant Kozlov, Junior Sergeant Ivanov - 2nd reconnaissance platoon of the 175th separate reconnaissance company of the 76th division. Plus senior lieutenant Vorobiev, deputy commander of the reconnaissance company of the 104th parachute regiment. With them were junior sergeant Shchemlev and senior sergeant Medvedev, captain Romanov, commander of the artillery battery of the 104th regiment, artillery spotter, radio operator Sergeant Strebin, senior lieutenant Kolgatin, commander of the engineer platoon of the 104th regiment. This was such a strong reconnaissance patrol, twelve people.

Following the scouts, Major Dostavalov and Lieutenant Ermakov began to move with the soldiers of the 1st platoon of the 4th parachute company of the 104th regiment, seventeen people in total. And then Lieutenant Colonel Evtyukhin began to move with the 6th company. The commander of this company was Major Molodov, a very good officer. Before that, he served in Buinaksk as the commander of a reconnaissance company, but after the first Chechen war, a hunt began for him and his family, and he had to terminate the contract and leave. He lived in Tyumen for some time, returned and signed a contract again in Pskov in the 76th Airborne Division. He was temporarily appointed commander of the 6th company of the 104th parachute regiment. Senior Lieutenant Sherstyannikov, commander of an anti-aircraft missile platoon, which is part of the regiment, and Lieutenant Ryazantsev, commander of an artillery platoon - this is already the second artillery spotter - advanced with the battalion commander.

The scouts arrived at altitude 766.0 on March 29 at about 11:00 and stood up. Finally, the deputy commander of the 2nd parachute battalion, Major Dostavalov, approached, who, due to the complexity of the task, was appointed senior at the strong point. They tell him: “Comrade Major, here is your height 787.0, take up defensive positions.” He replies: “Thank you, guys, the 6th company is still moving out there, it won’t be soon.” After this, Major Dostavalov began to take up defensive positions at altitude 787.0. The scouts are waiting for the approach of the 6th company, constantly asking on the radio: “Where are you?” They are answered: “We are in motion.”

Finally the battalion commander with the 1st platoon arrives. The scouts report to Lieutenant Colonel Evtyukhin: “Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, your height is there, Dostavalov is taking up defensive positions at height 787.0. We will now move forward five to seven hundred meters, to where the 3rd company was deployed, turn around and go back to rest.” Evtyukhin answers them: “That’s it, guys, thank you! I’m taking up defensive positions here, and I’ll go back along my route.” The reconnaissance went further and at 12.30 reached the advanced detachment of “spirits” who were waiting for their own.

Last Stand

I think they saw each other almost simultaneously, colliding head-on. But our scouts were more ready for battle - after all, when you walk, your finger is always on the trigger. They instantly made the decision to destroy them; there were twelve of us. They enter into battle and kill the spirits. The scouts report to the battalion commander: “We have entered the battle, we have three hundred (wounded – Ed.) and five hundred (prisoners – Ed.), we are retreating to a height.” They are heard both in the regiment and here.

Before this, federal forces drove the militants down the Argun Gorge, but, as General Troshev recalls in his book “My War,” “we could not then imagine that the enemy would risk breaking through to the east in large forces. The gangs united. Gangs of other field commanders – Shamil Basayev, Vakha Arsanov, Baudi Bakuev, and the “Jamaat” detachment “attached” to the detachments of Arab mercenaries. They went to Vedeno, where warmth and food awaited them, and then they were going to move to Dagestan. This whole mass fell on the paratroopers, who did not even have time to dig in.”

The same book by General Troshev contains a table of negotiations between Basayev and Khattab at the moment when the intelligence officers entered the battle.

“Basayev: “If there are dogs ahead (as the militants called representatives of the internal troops), we can come to an agreement.”

Khattab: “No, these are goblins (i.e. paratroopers, in bandit jargon).”

Then Basayev advises the Black Arab (Khattab), who led the breakthrough:

- Listen, maybe let's go around? They won’t let us in, we’ll only reveal ourselves...

“No,” Khattab replies, “we will cut them off.”

When the battle began, Khattab sent forward several detachments, horse and foot. Dima and the scouts began to retreat to a height from which no one was covering them. The battalion commander did not have time to dig in at height 776.0 and ordered to take up defense in the saddle. He had all the officers of the 1st platoon and part of the 2nd platoon here. Major Molodov comes out to meet the scouts to take them to an unoccupied height, to where the battalion commander manages to take up defense in the saddle. At this time, the 3rd platoon and part of the 2nd were still on the move. And then an equestrian group of spirits begins to move along the road. She catches the 3rd platoon on this rise and destroys it.

We must take into account the situation in which this platoon of the 6th company was marching. Every thirty to forty minutes the cannons fire, machine gun fire has begun, and the echoes in the mountains go back and forth. The picture we get is this: we are walking and walking, dragging and dragging, they are shooting somewhere. Everyone was calm, as there was reconnaissance ahead. And therefore, when the horse spirits came out, no one expected to see them. The 3rd platoon was almost completely killed, without even having time to engage in battle.

Major Molodov reached the scouts, and they began to retreat together. I understand that it was then that Dimka caught a couple of bullets. For his figure of one hundred and ninety-four centimeters in height, these wounds are nothing, they are too tight and you can’t feel them. But when Molodov pulled out the scouts, the spirits had already pulled up the snipers. It was then that Molodov was wounded in the neck, where he was not protected by a “rapier” (a type of body armor - Ed.), and died. During the retreat, the scouts destroy the prisoners, pull out the dead Molodov and their wounded. Command of the 6th company is assumed by Captain Sokolov, deputy commander of the 6th company.

One squad of spirits tried to go around. But there was a stronghold of the 2nd platoon of the 3rd parachute company, set up by Dimka on February 27. Their trenches were dug in full profile and minefields were laid. Therefore, the spirits did not climb further and decided to attack ours head-on - through the saddle between the heights.

By 16-17 hours on February 29, the general situation around the battle site was as follows: the checkpoints of the 1st parachute company had already been removed, people were concentrated below, near the village of Selmentauzen. And then they report: “Our guys are fighting, we need to climb Mount Dembayirzy again.” And by evening they had to climb this mountain again. It's hard: up and down. Major Baran was appointed senior for the release; at that time he was the chief of intelligence of the 104th regiment. Major Velichenko, deputy commander of the 1st battalion, was appointed deputy. With them were five or six volunteer officers and about thirty soldiers. They went to help exactly along the route along which Dimka had led the paratroopers out the day before. Without encountering any fire resistance, they crossed the Abazulgol River, rose higher, and it began to get dark.

For some reason they only had one radio station. Major Baran got in touch with Mark Evtyukhin and, according to him, Evtyukhin’s voice was calm. He said that he was adjusting artillery fire, taking up defensive positions, and so on. Then Baran reports to the regiment commander that the “pencils” (soldiers - Ed.) got their feet wet, and asks for a command to retreat in order to resume movement early in the morning. At Melentyev’s command (Colonel Sergei Yuryevich Melentyev, commander of the 104th regiment, led the battle from the command post), Major Baran’s group begins to retreat before reaching the battlefield. We decided to resume movement in the morning at four o'clock. My personal opinion is that they were scared. And there everything is roaring, the battle is in full swing.

Hero of Russia, Lieutenant Colonel Teplinsky, chief of staff of the 104th regiment, reassures everyone: “The spirits will not attack at night.” Everyone is waiting for the morning, and the spirits attack all night; there was only a respite from three to five o’clock. Dimka got in touch around one or two in the morning. On the radio he said: “So where is the help? They are like Chinese here, everything is teeming with them.”

At night at an altitude of 787.0, Lieutenant Ermakov was seriously wounded and several soldiers were killed. And here, in my opinion, a mistake is made - Major Dostavalov and his soldiers retreat from the heights. Some say he broke through. But there was nowhere to break through, he made a tactically incorrect move - he left the heights and exposed the entire left flank. After all, the principle of defense, as it is written in the Battle Regulations: “Not a step back.” And it was necessary, on the contrary, to pull up from the saddle to a height and take up a perimeter defense on it.

Of course, the situation was very difficult - the losses were great, people were dying. Dostavalov could have assumed that he would approach Mark Evtyukhin and break through with him. But there are many wounded, not only by the enemy, but also by fragments of their shells. But they don’t abandon their own.

Dimka, as one of the surviving fighters, Sergeant Suponinsky, said, said that at night scout Kozhemyakin came to the saddle, threw off his weapon and said: “That’s it, everyone was killed.” By the morning of March 1, the surviving paratroopers fought the “spirits” hand-to-hand, cutting themselves with sapper blades and knives. But after 7.00 no one got in touch.

At about six in the morning it began to get light. Major Baran's group again begins to move to the rescue. They just approached the river, they haven’t crossed it yet, they see that two people are leaving, carrying a third – a wounded man. Major Baran gives the command to Private Golubev, Dimka’s sniper: “Take aim, suddenly the spirits leave.” The sniper replies: “They are ours.” The retreating soldiers said: “There are a lot of spirits there, don’t even bother.” They started asking them what and how. They say: “Next to us lay a wounded intelligence officer in a white camouflage suit.” Only the scouts wore camouflage suits. They are asked: “Who was lying, Kozhemyakin or Vorobiev?” But they didn’t know the officers’ names. (It was later established that it was Alexey Vorobyov, who died from loss of blood. - Ed.).

The battle continued almost until lunchtime on March 1st. It then fell silent, then began again - someone wounded would wake up and enter the battle. In one place, as the prisoners testified, cries rose: “Allahu Akbar!”, and again the battle began to grind. At that moment Dimka made his last resistance. One of the officers of the 104th regiment said: “I climbed this hill up and down. On March 1, following fresh tracks, he ascended, on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, when all the dead were carried away from the heights. The battlefield says a lot. Kozhemyakin, the reconnaissance platoon commander, is a good hand-to-hand fighter and apparently put up a good fight. His face was completely smashed with rifle butts, and several stabbed militants were lying nearby. They probably wanted to take him alive as the last officer.”

On March 1, at lunchtime, two helicopters passed over the battle site. The pilots tell the paratroopers: “Why are you sitting there, the spirits are already dragging your dead into a pile.” After this message, Major Baran and Major Velichenko again began to move forward and finally, closer to night, arrived at the battlefield. They found our eighty-three people killed (the eighty-fourth, Private Timoshin, would be found later) and retreated back. And the spirits took out their corpses all day on March 1st.

They say that there is a film that lasts about five hours, they play it in the West. The field commanders had Western television crews in their detachments, who filmed everything with special movie cameras. They say that our paratroopers were filmed in hand-to-hand combat. I can't find this movie yet. When we were on television, they called from Dagestan and offered to buy the film, he was walking around there somewhere.

Western filmmakers had to film what the spirits were going to do - how they entered Selmentauzen, Khatuni, Vedeno, calling their own hostages. After this, an Islamic republic is declared, and they advance to Dagestan. All this had to be done in order to introduce a state of emergency in this region. According to the Constitution, if a state of emergency is declared in one of the regions, then the presidential elections, which were scheduled for March 26, 2000, are postponed indefinitely. If the elections were postponed, the money of Berezovsky, Gusinsky and other interested parties would play against Putin. I think that our paratroopers thwarted all these plans.

After battle

Nearby on Mount Dembayirzy there was one of the Vympel groups (an anti-terrorist unit - Ed.), but it did not come to the rescue. I met with its commander and asked him: “Dimka went to the mountains with you a couple of times, why didn’t you help him?” And he answers me: “There was no order.” At the same time, two groups of scouts from the 45th Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment were brought to the battlefield and also given the command to stand.

When on March 2 the paratroopers again came to the heights along with the Vympel and the scouts of the 45th regiment, the movement of spirits began again. Ours retreated once again. And only on March 3rd the evacuation of the dead paratroopers began. And Arabs and others remained lying around on the heights; no one needs them in Chechnya.

According to some estimates, there were about two and a half thousand spirits, even more. Wounded, bandaged, demoralized, they surrendered in batches. It was Khattab who gave the command to the militants to surrender, but only to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Among those who surrendered there were a lot of mercenaries; they were sent to Vedeno under heavy guard. And two or three days later they were free - the local Chechen self-defense forces recaptured them from ours.

Afterword

At a press conference in Pskov on March 14, 2000, which lasted no more than five minutes, journalists asked Defense Minister Igor Sergeev: “How will the people of Russia react to such large-scale losses suffered by the federal troops in the first weeks of March, will they change the attitude of the population towards war? Igor Sergeev, after a pause, answered directly in a military manner: “I don’t know.” Acting Assistant Russian President Sergei Yastrzhembsky, who was also part of the official delegation that arrived in Pskov for the funeral of the fallen paratroopers, avoided communicating with the press.

Questions, questions, questions... They remain, keeping fathers, mothers, wives, and growing sons awake. During a meeting with the families of the dead children, President Vladimir Putin was forced to admit guilt “for gross miscalculations that have to pay for the lives of Russian soldiers.” However, none of the names of those people who made these “gross mistakes” have yet been named. Many officers of the 104th Regiment continue to believe that the “corridor” for the passage of Khattab’s gang was purchased, and only the paratroopers did not know about the deal.

Commander of the 108th Parachute Regiment of the 7th Airborne Division, Colonel Sergei Ivanovich BARAN. Born on June 20, 1966 in the Dzerzhinsky district of the Minsk region of the Belarusian SSR. A year after graduating from high school in Dzerzhinsk, in 1984, he was drafted into the Soviet Army for military service. He served as deputy platoon commander in the 45th Rivne training tank division in the village of Pechi, Belarusian SSR. In 1986 entered the Ryazan Higher Airborne School, upon graduation from which in 1990. was assigned to the village of Cherekha, near Pskov, to the 104th Parachute Regiment of the 76th Guards Airborne Division as a platoon commander of a reconnaissance company. He took part in the UN peacekeeping mission in Yugoslavia in 1992-1993. In the 104th RDP he rose from the commander of a reconnaissance company to the chief of reconnaissance of a regiment. In January 2000, as part of the regimental tactical group of the 104th PDP, he arrived in the village of Oktyabrskaya, Chechen Republic, where the Pskovites changed the grouping of the 234th regiment. On a total of two business trips to Chechnya in 2000-2001, Sergei BARAN spent more than a year in the war: he participated in dozens of operations to eliminate members of gangs, went on reconnaissance missions, set up ambushes, and himself fell into militant traps. - On April 29, 2001, on the Engenoy - Balansu road (Nozhai-Yurtovsky district), my comrade, commander of the 8th company, Captain Aigali Alimkulov, died while conducting engineering reconnaissance. A participant in both Chechen campaigns, a holder of three Orders of Courage, a very competent, courageous intelligence officer, a respected officer. In 2002, Lieutenant Colonel BARAN entered the Combined Arms Academy of the RF Armed Forces, after which he was transferred as chief of staff of the 104th Parachute Regiment. In December 2005, he was appointed commander of the 108th airborne division of the 7th airborne division.

Colonel Sergei BARAN: "6th company."

January 2000, the militants in Grozny are defeated, Basayev is seriously wounded. It seemed to us then that the active phase of hostilities was ending. No one thought that one of the most important battles of the Chechen war was still ahead, and that we would take a very direct part in this battle. The second battalion of our regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evtyukhin, carried out the task of blocking the village of Vedeno and the surrounding area, escorting columns and protecting the perimeter of the base area. The first battalion carried out more active tasks: guarded a group of troops near Khankala, went on military operations in Grozny, blocked the gorges of the Khulkhulau and Elistanzhi rivers, and controlled the outskirts of the village of Elistanzhi. By the end of February, the regiment gradually redeployed to the outskirts of the village. Makhety village, where he set up a new temporary deployment point. On February 26, the commander of the Eastern Group of Forces assigned us the task of reaching heights 705.6, 626.0, and 787.0 by February 29, which is slightly southeast of the village. Ulus-Kert, and prevent the breakthrough of militants of illegal armed groups (IAF) in the direction of the settlements of Selmentauzen, Elistanzhi, Makhkety, Kirov-Yurt. On the morning of February 27, the self-propelled artillery division, part of the reconnaissance company and the regiment's forward command post with security and support units were redeployed to the opposite side of the village. Makhet. The forward control point (FCP) of the regiment, headed by the regimental commander, Colonel Melentyev, included the main operational staff of the command post - the deputy chief of staff, the chief of artillery, the chief of communications, and the chief of intelligence. By the evening of February 27, the second battalion approached the PPU to receive the task of reaching Ulus-Kert and blocking this settlement along the heights to complete the operation to defeat the illegal armed formations together with other units of the Ministry of Defense and the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. On the night of February 28, the weather worsened sharply: a stormy wind rose, snow fell up to half a meter deep, fog fell, although before that it seemed like spring had arrived - the winter snow had melted completely, flowers were blooming everywhere. Despite the bad weather, on the morning of February 28, the battalion set out on a march from the settlement. Makhety to the village Selmentauzen, where he was supposed to deploy his command and observation post (COP) , and the battalion commander and his group (the entire 6th company and one platoon of the 4th company) had to go further to the heights. The length of the route was small, only about 10 km, but due to severe weather conditions and poor visibility, the march was delayed. The checkpoint at Selmentauzen was deployed, but on foot they walked slowly through the mountains, the weight of the equipment was also pressing, so Evtyukhin and his group by the set time only reached the checkpoint of the first battalion on Mount Dembayirzy. Early in the morning of February 29, Evtyukhin left Dembayirza and continued moving in the direction of the heights that he should have occupied the day before. The weather improved: the wind died down, the sun was blinding our eyes. Everything was going well. At around 11.10, the first report came over the radio station that a reconnaissance patrol led by senior lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov, which had moved about 100-150 meters ahead of the 6th company, had discovered a small group of militants. Artillery spotter Captain Viktor Romanov directed artillery fire at the area where the militants were detected. The artillery stationed near Makhkety completed its task with several salvos - it destroyed the militants. Judging by Vorobyov’s report to us at the PPU, the scouts did not engage in fire combat with the militants. The paratroopers have not yet been found by the militants. The first wounded man appeared unexpectedly. Moving further forward, one of our scouts tore the tripwire, and the explosive device installed by the combat guard of the main detachment of militants went off. Deputy commander of the reconnaissance platoon, senior sergeant Sergei Medvedev, received a shrapnel wound in the lower leg. To understand the situation on the spot, the commander of the 6th company, Major Sergei Molodov with a group of fighters advanced to the scouts. Molodov was wounded in the neck by a militant sniper's shot. Vorobyov reported on the radio that a clash had broken out, the militant sniper was not allowed to raise his head and there was no way to approach Molodov to provide assistance. Molodov was later able to be evacuated, but he had already died from loss of blood. The militants brought in additional forces and increased fire from small arms and grenade launchers. In order to gain a foothold and deploy defenses in a more advantageous position than the mountainside, the scouts and the first units of the company had to retreat back to height 776.0. The main part of the company still did not know anything and continued to march, pulling up to the heights from the other side. The climb up from the bed of the Abazulgol River is very steep, there is viscous clay underfoot, kilograms of equipment on the shoulders, so the units are stretched out. I think the lack of marching experience among all the personnel of the second battalion, which, as you remember, unlike the first battalion, did not go into the mountains, but stood on blocks in the foothills, also had an effect. Naturally, I did not know all the ins and outs of the situation developing in the vicinity of the height of the situation, and immediately after receiving Vorobyov’s report on Medvedev’s injury, I turned to the regiment commander for permission to move to the foot of the height with a medical evacuation group for the timely evacuation of the wounded man from the march. Having received the go-ahead from the regiment commander, with one section of the reconnaissance reserve and the commander of the medical company, Captain Knyazhishche, we set out for the KNP area of ​​the second battalion to Selmentauzen. Knowing that the first company of the regiment carried out a task similar to the sixth company two days earlier, and went to the height from a different direction - from the Midulkhan tract, and by the time of my arrival at the checkpoint, was returning to the checkpoint on BMD armor, I turned to Melentyev with a request to take the first company and on the BMD go along the Abazulgol riverbed to the place from where the 6th company went up. Melentyev refused, saying that judging by Evtyukhin’s reports, he was in complete control of the situation, and he did not need any other help other than artillery fire. Periodically, through the radio intelligence network, I got in touch with Senior Lieutenant Vorobyov. Alexey reported that the company continued to fight, and that the militants had very good snipers who prevented them from observing and responding with targeted fire. According to Alexey, the militants’ machine gunners attacked in waves, about 60 people each. Having fired a horn of cartridges, one wave of people gave way to another, already with a loaded magazine. After the assault, in 10-15 minutes of battle, the militants took a short pause, dragged away the dead and wounded, then again rose to their full height and advanced on the scouts. It gets dark very quickly in the mountains. By 17:00 it became completely dark, and the battle continued, the militants were not going to calm down. Melentyev was alarmed by this, he set me the task: to select from the personnel of the 1st company the combat-ready soldiers who were least tired after the march, and with them to come to the aid of the 6th company to release it and prepare routes for the evacuation of the wounded and dead. Let me remind you that back on February 27, the commander of the 3rd airborne division, Captain Vasilyev, occupied heights 666.0 and 574.9 with the help of two parachute platoons, and their reconnaissance support was Vorobyov’s reconnaissance platoon. Vasilyev’s group secured a foothold on the heights, dug trenches and created a stable fire system, including the practical attachment of artillery. division to the area. Vorobyov and his fighters returned to the 1st PDB control point. And on February 29, when the militants reached the positions of the 3rd company and tried to destroy them, they were met with fire, and, having suffered losses, retreated to height 776.0. In general, the regiment then deployed about 14 units with up to one reinforced parachute platoon (pdv: 21 people minus the sick). All the blocks stood in the mountains, all movements between them were made only on foot; on the night of February 28-29, snow fell, which quickly melted during the day and formed a mess underfoot. The regiment commander allowed everyone who could be removed from their positions to be removed. The issue of allocating additional forces from the OG Airborne Forces was not considered, since there was no critical situation according to Evtyukhin’s reports. You understand perfectly well that if we had at least close to reality data on the number of militants, then all the forces of the OG Airborne Forces would be sent to help the 6th company. And so, in the shortest possible time, we, together with the deputy commander of the 1st battalion, Major Andrei Velichenko, senior lieutenants Tsvetov and Sotnikov, gathered those we could and moved out into the night. Senior Lieutenant Sotnikov was part of the 6th company, but at the moment the company rose to a height, even before the start of the battle, an emergency happened - one soldier, Private Kiev, escaped, and on the orders of Evtyukhin, Sotnikov, taking three soldiers to help, went down the slope to search for the fugitive. Private Kyiv was found and taken to the checkpoint of the 1st battalion already in the midst of a clash at a height, which they did not even suspect about then. You see how it turned out, this incident saved the lives of all five, they avoided participating in the battle at an altitude of 776.0. We climbed very hard, and reached the control point of the first battalion at about 22. 00. This is not surprising, people are not made of iron, and after several marches in recent days, some soldiers simply collapsed and could not walk. I had to leave them at the checkpoint with the commander of the first battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Kotenko. In return, he sent his soldiers and four scouts from Vorobyov’s platoon with me. What did the scouts do away from the commander? They had a cold, fever, and did not feel well, and therefore on that fateful day they stayed at the checkpoint in the morning. It must be said that Vorobyov, with his reconnaissance platoon and a separate reconnaissance platoon of the regiment under the command of Lieutenant Kozhemyakin, had been operating in the surrounding area for more than a week, helping the reconnaissance groups of the 22nd GRU special forces brigade carry out various tasks. According to some reports, reconnaissance of other OGV units never crossed Abazulgol, and the 3rd company under the command of Captain Vasilyev was the first to set foot there, and then, a day later, the 6th company. To the question of why the company moved across the river without preliminary reconnaissance, I will answer this way: during the counter-terrorist operation, according to the order of the Combined Forces, our regimental reconnaissance acted only to remove visual communication (500 meters), that is, it conducted reconnaissance directly ahead of the units going on mission . Also, the territory on the right bank of the river was in the zone of control of the tactical group of the 7th Airborne Division, and specifically the 108th Airborne Regiment, whose fighters were stationed several kilometers from the battle site, on the Dargenduk ridge. Why our company was sent to carry out a task in the area of ​​​​responsibility of another regiment remains a mystery to me. Also, several reconnaissance groups of special forces from various law enforcement agencies conducted reconnaissance in that area, but no one had information about such a large concentration of militants. I remember well: when Melentyev was given the task of transferring the 6th company to the left bank of the Abazulgol River, he tried for a long time to explain that the regiment was not capable of the task, that all strong points, blocks, remained on the right bank, all units were involved, and in case of emergency critical situation, he will not have a reserve to provide timely assistance. Melentyev then said: “You can’t stand with both feet on different banks of the river,” but they didn’t listen to his opinion then. Sergei Yuryevich Melentyev died of a heart attack on June 22, 2002. We buried him in the village of Kromny, Oryol region. At the funeral were all his colleagues from the Pskov division, officers of the Airborne Forces command, the command of the 31st Airborne Brigade, and many famous people. Melentyev was a highly qualified military man, a competent and deeply decent person, and he took the death of the 6th company hard. I consider all accusations of illiteracy and inaction against Melentyev, which come from some “informed” gentlemen, to be populist, stupid and absolutely groundless! Having reached the Abazulgol River, we immediately forded it. The river was cold, dirty, but shallow, waist-deep. Having started climbing up the slope towards height 776.0, I contacted Vorobyov on the reconnaissance frequency and clarified the current situation with him. To coordinate future joint actions, I asked Alexey to connect me with Evtyukhin. He connected. I asked Mark Nikolaevich: “How and where is the best way to approach you? What should I do?” Evtyukhin thought for a moment, and then answered: “Seryoga, don’t meddle here, you’ll only disturb me, I’ll figure it out myself.” Everything is under control, we can handle it ourselves. Now you can neither come here nor help. Don't interfere. If I need help, I will call you myself. These are his words, Mark. Evtyukhin spoke to me in a normal, sane voice, did not panic, was collected and decisive. There was no more than 40 minutes left to reach the 6th company. It was 23.45 on the clock. Night frosts hampered our movements. The soldiers, sweaty and wet after the trek and crossing, began to freeze. I reported the situation to Melentyev, conveyed Evtyukhin’s words, and asked for instructions. Melentyev ordered to retreat back to Mount Dembayirzy to the control point of the 1st battalion and rest there until dawn. We moved away. On March 1 at 5.00 I gave the command to the soldiers to prepare to move to the Abazulgol riverbed. The fighters were so exhausted that they could barely move their legs, practically crawling, rather than walking up. But I have no complaints about them; everyone has their limits. By 6.00, approaching a clearing that was bald near the river bed, on the steep opposite bank of Abazulgol, we noticed three soldiers approaching the cliff. As soon as they saw us, they began waving their arms and shouting: “Stop! Stop! Don’t come here! There are militants here! It’s an ambush!” Having arrived in time to the cliff, these soldiers, without hesitation, jumped down to the river. There is a concrete cliff there, up to 30 meters deep. I gave the command to the group’s personnel to cross the river, climb the slope and take up positions along the cliff. Major Velichenko with three soldiers went deep into the forest for reconnaissance. After 20-25 minutes, Velichenko returned and reported to me the situation. His report was brief: “There is no one there. Everyone is killed.” Mark Evtyukhin never asked for help in human power. And the artillery, whose fire he adjusted until his death, was working at full power. According to the chief of artillery of the regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Tolstyk, the ammunition, several thousand shells, was completely destroyed, and the gun barrels became so hot that the paint burned. Those soldiers who jumped off the cliff were let down. These were Alexander Suponinsky, Andrey Porshnev and Evgeny Vladykin. The meaning of their words is as follows: “The battle is over. Everyone is killed. Don’t go up there to the heights - the militants are waiting for you.” Vladykin looked terrible - there was a huge lump the size of a fist on his forehead, his fighter knocked him down with a blow to the face from a rifle butt. The clothes Evgeniya was wearing were not his own, the weapon that he took out of the battle was also someone else’s, the first thing that came to his hand when he regained consciousness was an RPKS machine gun. Suponinsky limped a little and was slightly wounded in the knee. I did not notice any external signs of any injury on Porshnev. The boys were shivering severely, but more likely from nervous overload than from physical overload. Having reported all the details to Melentyev, we listened to his decision. The regiment commander ordered to fold up and leave, to return back to the checkpoint of the 1st battalion. It was 7 o'clock in the morning. We started to move away. At this time, a pair of MI-24 helicopters hovered over the battlefield, apparently the aircraft was trying to begin reconnaissance of the area. The militants immediately fired at the helicopters with a heavy machine gun, and a dotted line of tracers was visible in the sky. Moving away from the line, one of the helicopters swayed, maneuvered, and turned around. Suddenly, I noticed the militants’ horsemen brazenly driving straight up to the cliff. They could have been covered with a volley of mortars, and in order to give target designation, I ran to the commander of the mortar platoon, Captain Tumanov. The helicopter pilot, looking at the running man from above, fired a salvo from the NURS. The shells exploded about 10 meters from us. The blast wave turned me over in the air and hit the ground. Tumanov fell nearby. It's surprising that nothing was broken for both of us. At night, three more surviving soldiers of the 6th company were found. Timoshenko, Hristolyubov and Komarov. According to them, Khattab personally led the militants’ attacks on the company’s positions. On the morning of March 2, I, with other units of the regiment, advanced to height 776.0, accompanied by the Vympel special forces. We approached the shore of Abazulgol. The commander of the special forces received some instructions from his leadership on the radio and told me: “That’s it, hang up, we’re not going any further, act on your own.” We crossed the river and reached the first dead. Here we receive an order to withdraw. They report: according to intelligence data, a detachment of militants numbering up to 700 people is moving in our direction. We had to urgently retreat back. Only on March 3, two platoons of fighters, accompanied by scouts led by the commander of the reconnaissance company, Captain Perederko, reached the heights. During daylight hours on March 4, the bodies of the dead were evacuated from the heights. The nerves of the personnel, of course, could not stand it; everyone was worried and eager to take “revenge.” The death of the company was a personal tragedy for every paratrooper in the division. In order not to breed rumors, I will not talk about what happened directly at the height of 776.0, I did not see it myself, and what I know, the surviving guys talk about without me. I know that over the next few days, more than 160 militants came down from the mountains to the nearby villages and surrendered to various units of the Ministry of Defense and Internal Troops. What happened to them after that? An interesting question for military historians... Could the dead guys leave their positions when they realized that the enemy’s numerical superiority was tens of times? They could, but they didn’t take a step back, they didn’t retreat, and this is their feat, loyalty to the oath and the Fatherland. I thank the parents of our soldiers and officers, our heroes, for raising worthy sons of the Motherland, who fought without sparing their strength and health to defend our Motherland! Happy memory to the heroes! Honor and respect for the living! 5