Cowards from the 6th company. How Lentsov destroyed a company of Pskov soldiers. Major Sergei Molodov

The paratrooper officer is conducting his own investigation: how his son and his son’s fellow soldiers died. We will talk about the sixth company of the 104th parachute regiment of the 76th (Pskov) airborne division, the anniversary of whose death was marked...

The paratrooper officer is conducting his own investigation: how his son and his son’s fellow soldiers died

We will talk about the sixth company of the 104th parachute regiment of the 76th (Pskov) airborne division, the anniversary of whose death was celebrated with great pomp. There is no doubt that the paratroopers, who took on an unequal battle with superior enemy forces at the entrance to the Argun Gorge, deserved all the honors bestowed upon them by the official authorities. And yet, no matter what the commanders in high uniform said, everyone who sat at the funeral table had the thought again and again: was everything done to save the guys?
When the gun salute thundered, and fresh flowers were laid at the foot of the obelisks of battalion commander Mark Evtyukhin, his friend Major Alexander Dostavalov, and their comrades, the same question was asked to Colonel General Georgy Shpak. Then, at the cemetery in Orletsy, near Pskov, the commander of the Airborne Forces gave the following answer: “We analyzed the battle and came to the conclusion: that’s it...”
Reserve Colonel, father of Hero of Russia Alexei Vorobyov, Vladimir Nikolaevich Vorobyov, is convinced that this is not so. A career officer, he interviewed Alexei’s colleagues, other paratroopers who had visited this ill-fated gorge, and based on all the meetings he made a bitter conclusion for himself: such losses as the 6th company suffered could have been avoided.

OUR HELP:
Vladimir Nikolaevich Vorobyov, reserve colonel. Born in the Orenburg region, in 1969 he entered the Ryazan Higher Airborne School. He began his service in the 103rd (Vitebsk) Airborne Division. Graduated from the Academy named after M.V. Frunze, took part in combat operations in Afghanistan. Awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Red Banner of Battle; served as a military adviser in Syria. Last place of service: commander of the 104th regiment of the 76th (Pskov) airborne division.

N Not once did the author of these lines talk with Vladimir Nikolaevich, and, already sitting at the table with a pencil in our hands, we mentally walked together that mountain route that led the company to death. The text below is a kind of chronicle of the last two days, which became fatal for the unit.

February 28, 2000
The 104th Parachute Regiment, having reached the line of the Abazulgol River, is consolidated 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 know all the soldiers yet, 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. According to Vladimir Nikolaevich, this was their third mistake.
“The march had to be carried out lightly and not take unnecessary things with you,” explains my interlocutor. - If they went to a height and secured themselves so that no one could smoke them out, only then would it be possible to send 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. Nevertheless, 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. Only at 11 o'clock in the morning the first platoon of the company rises there. The second one slowly pulls up. The third will never be able to reach the top: he will be shot from behind by militants when the ring is finally closed. And this circumstance can be considered the fifth mistake - it was impossible to stretch out like that. Less than a day remained before the tragedy...

February 29, 2000
While at the height the soldiers, on the orders of the commander, were collecting firewood and preparing a simple soldier’s breakfast, Alexei Vorobyov’s reconnaissance group had already reached the foot of the Ista-Kord height, 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 later be 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. According to the same Vladimir Nikolaevich, 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! - Vladimir Nikolaevich is already getting excited.
My interlocutor attributed the same miscalculations of the command to the fact that the battalion commander’s radio operator did not have a special set-top box that encrypts negotiations 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, there will be help...”
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? No one has answered this question yet either.
Meanwhile, the battle continues. The situation was further complicated by the fact that the fighters did not have heavy weapons (“They didn’t forget to take tents, but they didn’t think of easel grenade launchers,” Vorobyov notes bitterly) - 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. 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?
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 renewed fighting. 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 “White Angels” had already reached the height, each of whom was promised 5 thousand dollars for its capture. Presumably they received them.

Epilogue
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, will form a pyramid of dead bodies, sit the commander on top, hang headphones from a broken walkie-talkie around his neck and stab him, already lifeless, with another one: in the back of his head.
The major will die second. And then Dima Kozhemyakin (he will not live exactly one month before his twenty-fourth birthday in his life) will order the senior sergeant and the crawling private Porshnev to jump from an almost vertical cliff. He will cover his soldiers until the last bullet, until his heart stops...
At about 10 a.m., the artillery unexpectedly woke up and launched a salvo of unguided shells at a height where there was no one else. And by one o’clock in the afternoon on March 1, Colonel Melentyev learned the whole picture of the battle: six miraculously surviving company soldiers were coming to the unit’s location: Suponinsky, Vladykin, Timoshenko, Porshnev, Hristolyubov and Komarov. They told how the sixth guards company fought and died heroically. That same night a group of volunteer officers rose to the heights. Having examined the battlefield, they 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.
Even then, timid notes regarding the number of victims began to appear in the press. At first they talked about 10, then about 30 dead, but unexpectedly the veil of silence was torn off by the unknown city newspaper “Pskov News”, which was the first to report the exact date of the tragedy and the exact number of dead. Just like she did after the death of a special forces unit. And it was a shock for all of Russia. The editorial office received calls from the capital's media and even from the New York Times. Confusion and grief became the lot of the living, but, again, questions remained. They have not been removed to this day. Apparently, NOBODY is going to answer them. For example:
Why, when giving the order to capture the Isty-Kord heights, was reconnaissance not carried out? Two and a half thousand militants could not appear out of nowhere.
Why were front-line and army aviation inactive? The weather these days was unusually sunny.
Why was the company, already encircled, not provided with more powerful artillery fire support? Did the commander of the Eastern Group, General Makarov, know that ninety paratroopers fought a bloody battle with superior enemy forces for almost a day?
...Questions, questions. They remain like this, preventing mothers, wives, and growing sons from sleeping. 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, not a single name of those who made these “gross miscalculations” has yet been named. 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.

P.S.
During his last visit to Chechnya, President Putin visited height 776.0.
But it is still unknown who sold the Pskov boys.

Today, the delegation of the Airborne Forces, headed by Commander Colonel General Vladimir Shamanov, together with 10 heroes of Russia, will take part in commemorative events dedicated to the 16th anniversary of the heroic feat of the paratroopers of the 6th parachute company of the 104th parachute regiment 76- 1st Guards Air Assault Division of the Russian Airborne Forces. The same famous company of Pskov paratroopers, which on March 1, 2000 stood in the way of more than two thousand militants led by terrorist No. 1 Khattab. Of the 90 people, only 6 remained alive then... One battle - 22 Heroes of Russia (21 posthumously), 68 were awarded the Order of Courage (63 posthumously). If there was hell on earth, it was there, in the Chechen mountains near Ulus-Kert. And this hell was for the militants who were never able to get through the positions of the 6th company. In the 16 years that have passed since their death in the Argun Gorge of Chechnya, they have become a legend. Monuments were erected to them in Moscow and Pskov, dozens of articles and books were written about them, the films “Russian Sacrifice” and “Breakthrough”, the series “I Have the Honor” were made about their feat, the play “Warriors of the Spirit” was staged, based on the real events of that battle. ..“We remember and honor the feat of 26 Baku commissars, 28 Panfilov heroes, we remember the “Afghans”, the guys who died in local wars and conflicts, we remember the feat of the 9th company in Afghanistan, the 6th company in Chechnya. Heroism has no statute of limitations, and this is our memory of the people who went to heaven fulfilling their duty,” says Igor Isakov, director of the national award “Warriors of the Spirit” (the first prizes were awarded to the soldiers of the 6th company). - Now 16 years have passed since the moment when the Pskov paratroopers accepted an unequal battle, but did not flinch and did not retreat. And in fifty years, and in a hundred, our descendants will know that there were people who despised death and honestly fulfilled their military duty. I am sure that now, by supporting and reminding the survivors of that battle, Sasha Suponinsky (Hero of Russia), Andrei Porshnev (awarded the Order of Courage), and all other paratroopers, we are laying down a kind of lesson in courage that will forever remain in the minds of all citizens of our country. Those who will always defend and protect their homeland - Russia. th regiment. In fact, the entire bloody battle took place before his eyes and with his direct participation. The major was on the verge of death, but remained alive...
“In the afternoon of March 1, we were given the task of moving from height 1410 to the rescue of the 6th company,” recalls Andrei Lobanov. - We hastily assembled our two groups (Major Lobanov served in the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment) plus the Vympel group. Two companies of the 106th division were allocated for reinforcement. Even before the advance, we noticed large reinforced concrete fortifications in the area of ​​​​the village of Zany - we redirected fire towards them. Let's go. We trudged very slowly, it took almost half a day to walk three kilometers: the descent from the mountain was very steep, almost vertical - 70 degrees, no less. Plus, we had to conduct thorough reconnaissance so as not to run into an ambush ourselves. We reached the heights in the afternoon, entered the northern slope, overgrown with beech trees, and secured a foothold. Nearby was the Devil's Height - mark 666. We found in this area many paths made by pack animals: it was clear that more than one hundred horses and donkeys had passed here - it was all the militants breaking through... Already at dusk we reached the road where the second battalion was anchored . It was clear that people were digging in, preparing for defense, but for some reason they left. It felt like something had suddenly torn them from their places. They began to examine the area - everything was abandoned there. The bins are half full of food - we didn’t even have time to finish... But we found no traces of the battle - no spent cartridges, no traces of explosions. The battalion just left, that's all. One of the few survivors of that battle is Andrei Porshnev.Photo: Vladimir Vyatkin/RIA Novosti We gained a foothold, began to examine the area, and some of the people came out to the nameless navel. Suddenly shouts of “Allah Akbar!” we can hear: there are a lot of militants around... A firefight ensued, but then on the radio we intercept Khattab’s words on the air: “Don’t engage in battle. Break forward.” At the neighboring height with mark 776, where the 6th company was, many explosions were visible. The overall picture of the battle gradually became clearer. Soon we encountered a detachment of militants who were breaking out of the gorge... One of our groups took up defensive positions and stopped the “spirits”. The second began to inspect the site of the previous battle: it was necessary to find the wounded and dead. Night, shooting from all sides, flashes of explosions - but the guys held on well. We settled at an altitude marked 787: it blocked many of the paths along which the militants walked. The position turned out to be unprofitable - they began to look for another and sent a reconnaissance platoon ahead. And an advanced detachment of militants was already waiting for them - entirely Arab mercenaries. The battle was severe: on our side - five “two hundredths”... We sent a company to help, which immediately entered the battle with the “Czechs”: it was a caravan, the main force of the breakthrough... The second battalion was very unlucky - the main blow fell on them. The militants simply crushed people en masse - they moved forward en masse, despite the losses. One long-term conscript, whom we found (miraculously survived), said: “The battalion commander was killed almost immediately. The battalion commander began to adjust the artillery fire and decided to call fire on himself.” Many died from their own artillery fire. However, there was practically no chance of staying alive anyway - the militants finished everyone off with a shot in the face...
75 people were killed there, and more than two hundred militants. The patch where all the events took place is small - two hundred by two hundred meters. I examined it - everything there was shoveled with metal. No amount of rambs could hold out here... The question was constantly in my head: why was there no information that such a horde of militants was breaking through? Why was the third battalion, which was nearby, withdrawn?.. If there had been timely intelligence information, such huge losses could have been avoided. And our help could no longer change anything in that battle... And the guys from the sixth company fought well. What they managed to do is heroic. They detained such a huge crowd of militants - this is a real feat. No matter what they say, a toast to a Russian soldier should always be raised, and not just a funeral toast. They deserve it...” The 6th company was killed almost completely in 2000. But she will live forever - as long as the memory of the feat of the Pskov paratroopers is alive. In Pskov, Ryazan, Kamyshin, Smolensk, Rostov-on-Don, Bryansk, Ulyanovsk, the village of Sosva and the village of Voinovo... Not only in the small homeland of the heroes - throughout Russia. They will remain fighters of the company that did not surrender.

The battle at Height 776 is an episode of the second Chechen war, during which a large detachment of Chechen militants (Khattab) managed to break out of encirclement on March 1, 2000 through the positions of the 6th company of the 104th parachute regiment of the 76th (Pskov) airborne division (lieutenant colonel Mark Evtyukhin) near Argun in Chechnya, at the Ulus-Kert-Selmentauzen line, at an altitude of 776.

After the fall of Grozny (January 30), a large group of Chechen militants retreated to the Shatoi region of Chechnya, where they were blocked by federal troops on February 9. Airstrikes were carried out on the positions of the militants using one and a half ton volumetric detonating bombs. Then, on February 22-29, a ground battle for Shata followed. The militants managed to break out of the encirclement. Ruslan 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.

By decree of the President of the Russian Federation, 22 paratroopers were nominated for the title of Hero of Russia (21 of them posthumously), 69 soldiers and officers of the 6th company were awarded the Order of Courage (63 of them posthumously).

On the afternoon of February 29, 2000, the federal command hastened to interpret the capture of Shatoy as a signal that the “Chechen resistance” had been finally broken. President Putin was reported “on the completion of the tasks of the third stage” of the operation in the North Caucasus, and... O. OGV commander Gennady Troshev noted that operations to destroy the “escaping bandits” would be carried out for another two to three weeks, but the full-scale military operation had been completed.

Reserve Colonel Vladimir Vorobyov, a former paratrooper who served in Afghanistan (at one time he commanded the 104th “Cherekhin” regiment), will help us in the investigation. The father of senior lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov, who died near Ulus-Kert. Two years after the tragedy, he compiled a complete picture of what happened, which is somewhat at odds with the official version.

Gangs of Chechen field commanders found themselves in a strategic pocket. This happened after a tactical landing, which, as if with a sharp knife, cut the Itum-Kale-Shatili mountain road, built by the slaves of “free Ichkeria”. Operational group "Center" began to methodically shoot down the enemy, forcing him to retreat down the Argun Gorge: from the Russian-Georgian border to the north.

Intelligence reported: Khattab moved to the northeast, to the Vedeno region, where he created an extensive network of mountain bases, warehouses and shelters. He intended to capture Vedeno, the villages of Mekhkety, Elistanzhi and Kirov-Yurt and provide himself with a springboard for a breakthrough into Dagestan. In the neighboring republic, the “Mujahideen” planned to take a large number of civilians hostage and thereby force the federal authorities to negotiate.

Reconstructing the chronicle of those days, you need to clearly understand: talk about “reliably blocked gangs” is a bluff, an attempt to pass off wishful thinking. The strategically important Argun Gorge has a length of more than 30 kilometers. Units not trained in mountain warfare were unable to establish control over a branched and completely unfamiliar mountain system. Even on the old map you can count more than two dozen trails in this area. And how many are there that are not marked on any maps at all? To block each such path, you need to use a company. This turns out to be an impressive figure. With the forces that were at hand, the federal command could not only destroy, but reliably block the gangs going for a breakthrough only on paper.

In what later turned out to be the most dangerous direction, the OGV command deployed soldiers of the 104th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division. Meanwhile, Khattab chose a simple but effective tactic: after reconnaissance of the battles, he intended to find the weakest points, and then, with his entire mass, break out of the gorge.

On February 28, the “Mujahideen” went ahead. The first to take the blow were the paratroopers of the 3rd company, led by Senior Lieutenant Vasilyev. They occupied commanding heights five kilometers east of Ulus-Kert. Khattab's troops unsuccessfully tried to break through a well-organized fire system and retreated, suffering significant losses.

Units of the 2nd battalion kept control of the dominant heights above the Sharoargun Gorge. There remained a passage between the beds of the Sharoargun and Abazulgol rivers. To exclude the possibility of militants “infiltrating” here, the commander of the 104th regiment ordered the commander of the 6th company, Major Sergei Molodov, to occupy another commanding height 4-5 kilometers from Ulus-Kert. And since the company commander was literally transferred to the unit the day before and did not have time to thoroughly understand the operational situation and get to know the personnel, the commander of the 2nd battalion, Mark Evtyukhin, protected him.

The paratroopers set out while it was still dark. In a few hours they had to make a fifteen-kilometer forced march to a given square, where they would set up a new base camp. They walked with full combat gear. They were armed only with small arms and grenade launchers. The attachment for the radio station, which provides covert radio communication, was left at the base. They carried water, food, tents and stoves, without which it was simply impossible to survive in the mountains in winter. According to Vladimir Vorobyov’s calculations, the unit stretched for 5-6 kilometers, and they walked no more than a kilometer per hour. We also note that the paratroopers went to the heights immediately after a difficult throw along the Dombay-Arzy route, i.e., without proper rest.

A helicopter landing was ruled out because the aerial reconnaissance did not find a single suitable site in the mountain forest. The paratroopers walked to the limit of their physical strength - this is a fact that no one can dispute. From the analysis of the situation, the following conclusion suggests itself: the command was late with the decision to transfer the 6th company to Isty-Kord, and then, realizing it, set obviously impossible deadlines.

Even before sunrise, the 6th company of the 104th Guards Parachute Regiment, reinforced by a platoon and two reconnaissance groups, was at the target - the interfluve of the tributaries of the Argun south of Ulus-Kert. The actions of the paratroopers were led by the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evtukhin.

As it later became known, 90 paratroopers, on an isthmus 200 meters away, blocked the path of Khattab’s two thousand strong group. As far as one can judge, the bandits were the first to discover the enemy. This is evidenced by radio interceptions.

At this moment, the “Mujahideen” were moving in two detachments along the Sharoargun and Abazulgol rivers. They decided to bypass height 776.0, where our paratroopers were catching their breath after a difficult forced march.

Moving ahead of both gangs were two reconnaissance groups of 30 people each, followed by two combat security detachments of 50 militants each. One of the head patrols was discovered by Senior Lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov and his scouts, which saved the 6th company from a surprise attack.

It was noon. Scouts discovered militants at the foot of height 776.0. The opponents were separated by tens of meters. In a matter of seconds, with the help of grenades, the vanguard of the bandits was destroyed. But after him dozens of “Mujahideen” poured in.

The scouts with the wounded on their shoulders retreated to the main forces, and the company had to take on an oncoming battle on the move. While the scouts could hold back the onslaught of the bandits, the battalion commander decided to gain a foothold on this forested height of 776.0 and not give the bandits the opportunity to escape and block the gorge.

Before the assault began, Khattab field commanders Idris and Abu Walid radioed the battalion commander and suggested that Yevtukhin let the “Mujahideen” through:

“There are ten times more of us here.” Think about it, commander, is it worth risking people? Night, fog - no one will notice...

It’s not hard to imagine what the battalion commander responded. After these “negotiations,” the bandits unleashed a barrage of fire from mortars and grenade launchers on the paratroopers’ positions. By midnight the battle reached its highest intensity. The guards did not flinch, although the enemy outnumbered them by more than 20 times. The bandits advanced to positions to throw a grenade. In some areas, the paratroopers came into hand-to-hand combat. One of the first in the 6th company to die was its commander Sergei Molodov - a sniper’s bullet hit him in the neck.

The command could only support the company with artillery fire. The fire of the regimental gunners was adjusted by the commander of the self-propelled battery, Captain Viktor Romanov. According to General Troshev, from noon on February 29 until the early morning of March 1, regimental gunners poured 1,200 shells into the Isty-Kord area. They did not use aviation for fear of hitting their own people. The bandits covered their flanks with water flows that were on the right and left, which did not make it possible to freely maneuver and provide effective assistance. The enemy set up ambushes and took up defensive positions on the shore, not allowing them to approach the tributaries of the Argun. Several crossing attempts ended in failure. The 1st company of paratroopers, sent to the rescue of their dying comrades, was able to break through to height 776.0 only on the morning of March 2.

From three to five in the morning on March 1, there was a “respite” - there were no attacks, but the mortars and snipers did not stop shelling. Battalion commander Mark Evtyukhin reported the situation to the regiment commander, Colonel Sergei Melentyev. He ordered to hold on and wait for help. After several hours of battle, it became obvious that the 6th Company simply did not have enough ammunition to hold off the continuous attacks of the militants. The battalion commander radioed for help from his deputy, Major Alexander Dostovalov, who was located one and a half kilometers from the dying company. There were fifteen fighters with him.

We like to say various beautiful phrases on any occasion, without really thinking about their meaning. I also liked the expression “heavy fire”. So here it is. Despite the heavy, unquote, enemy fire, Alexander Dostovalov and a platoon of paratroopers somehow miraculously managed to get through to their comrades, who were holding back the frantic onslaught of Khattab’s bandits for the second hour. For the 6th Company this was a powerful emotional charge. The guys believed that they were not abandoned, that they were remembered, that they would be helped.

...The platoon was enough for two hours of battle. At 5 o'clock Khattab launched two battalions of suicide bombers - "white angels" - into the attack. They completely surrounded the height, cutting off part of the last platoon, which never managed to rise to the height: it was shot almost in the back. The company itself was already collecting ammunition from the dead and wounded.

The forces were unequal. One after another, soldiers and officers died. Alexei Vorobyov had his legs broken by mine fragments, one bullet hit his stomach, and another pierced his chest. But the officer did not leave the battle. It was he who destroyed Idris, Khattab’s friend, the “chief of intelligence.”

On the night of March 1, at an altitude of 705.6, there was hand-to-hand combat, which took on a focal character. The snow at the height was mixed with blood. The paratroopers repelled the last attack with several machine guns. Battalion commander Mark Evtukhin realized that the life of the company was gone for minutes. A little more, and the bandits will break out of the gorge over the corpses of the paratroopers. And then he turned to captain Viktor Romanov. He, bleeding, with the stumps of his legs tied with tourniquets, lay nearby - on the company command post.

- Come on, let's call fire on ourselves!

Already losing consciousness, Romanov transferred the coordinates to the battery. At 6:10 a.m. the connection with Lieutenant Colonel Evtukhin was lost. The battalion commander fired back to the last bullet and was hit by a sniper's bullet in the head.

On the morning of March 2, the 1st company reached Isty-Kord. When the paratroopers pushed the militants back from height 705.6, a terrible picture opened before them: perennial beech trees, “trimmed” by shells and mines, and corpses everywhere, the corpses of “Mujahideen.” Four hundred people. In the company stronghold there are the bodies of 13 Russian officers and 73 sergeants and privates.

Following the “bloody trail,” Udugov posted eight photographs of the killed paratroopers on the Kavkaz-Center website. The photographs do not show that many of the bodies were hacked into pieces. “Fighters for the Faith” dealt with any paratroopers who still had life in them. This was told by those who miraculously managed to survive.

Senior Sergeant Alexander Suponinsky, on the orders of the commander, jumped into a deep ravine. Private Andrei Porshnev jumped next. About 50 militants fired at them from machine guns for half an hour. After waiting, the wounded paratroopers first crawled, and then began to leave at full height. The guys miraculously survived.

“There were five of us left,” Andrei Porshnev later recalled, “battalion commander Evtyukhin, deputy battalion commander Dostavalov and senior lieutenant Kozhemyakin.” Officers. Well, Sasha and I. Evtyukhin and Dostavalov died, and Kozhemyakin’s both legs were broken, and he threw cartridges at us with his hands. The militants came close to us, there were about three meters left, and Kozhemyakin ordered us: leave, jump down... For that battle, Alexander Suponinsky received the star of the Hero of Russia.

A list of dead paratroopers was placed on the desk of Colonel-General Gennady Shpak, commander of the Airborne Forces. All the circumstances of this fierce battle were reported in the smallest detail. Shpak made a report to the Minister of Defense, Marshal Igor Sergeev, but in response received instructions: information about the events near Ulus-Kert should be prohibited from being disclosed until a separate order is given.

It just so happened that on February 29, Marshal Sergeev reported to Vladimir Putin about the successful completion of the tasks of the “third stage.” Only a few hours passed and a powerful group of militants struck the positions of the federal troops. What happened near Ulus-Kert in no way correlated with the victorious reports about the imminent and final defeat of the militants. And Comrade Marshal probably felt embarrassed for his last report. In order to somehow smooth out the embarrassment, the military was ordered to keep quiet. Only Gennady Troshev, on March 5, dared to tell part of the truth: “The 6th parachute company, which was at the forefront of the bandits’ attack, lost 31 people killed and some were wounded.”

In those same days, the country was experiencing another tragedy, which was reported by all the country’s television channels - 20 riot policemen from Sergiev Posad were killed in Chechnya. The military command was afraid to announce the riot police and paratroopers at the same time. The losses were too great...

Ulus-Kert has become one of the symbols of modern Russian history. For how many years they tried to eradicate the Russian military spirit from us, it didn’t work. For many years the army was portrayed as a bunch of drunks, degenerates and sadists - and the paratrooper boys, living and dead, silenced the critics. This was a real feat that cannot be cast a shadow on. Although such attempts have taken place. Just like after the Alpha and Vympel fighters freed the hostages at Dubrovka - an operation in which FSB special forces could have died under the ruins of the Theater complex. From Ulus-Kert there is a road to Dubrovka. In both cases, Russian soldiers and officers, bearers of our age-old traditions, stood in the way of mercenaries and terrorists.

Pavel Evdokimov. Russian special forces, 2002.

On March 1, we celebrated the day of remembrance of the valiant 6th company. Even 14 years after the events near Ulus-Kert, the whole country remembers the feat of this parachute company of the Pskov division.

Since August 2, 1930, the airborne troops, the only branch of the military in which all divisions are guards, have had their glorious history. For many years, the life of ancient Pskov has been connected with the oldest airborne formation - the 76th Guards Red Banner Chernigov Airborne Division, which Pskov residents call Pskov. The division was formed in 1939, and in 1943 it received the title of Guards for military merits. For military operations it was given the name Chernigov and awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Today, paratroopers - guardsmen honorably fulfill their military duty in “hot spots”. On the night of November 29-30, 1994, the combined regiment of the 76th Guards Airborne Division flew to the Caucasus. This is how the Chechen War began for the soldiers of the Pskov division. During the 1st Chechen War, the Pskov airborne division lost 121 soldiers. Our guys fought the bandits, showing true heroism, courage and perseverance, sometimes not sparing their lives.

In the Argun Gorge on the night of February 29 to March 1, 2000, when the 6th company of Pskov paratroopers, holding back the onslaught of Chechen militants, died, but did not let the bandits through. 84 paratroopers were killed. The death of the 6th company of Pskov paratroopers is the biggest loss in the second Chechen war. This stone at the checkpoint of the 104th Parachute Regiment in Cheryokha reminds of that mournful day. On it is carved “From here the 6th company went into immortality.”

In that battle, the commander of the guard battalion, Lieutenant Colonel, died heroically Evtyukhin Mark Nikolaevi, whose last words “I call fire on myself” spread throughout the world. The company that went into immortality was commanded by a guard major Molodov Sergey Georgievich. He had been in Chechnya since February 4, 2000. This was not his first trip to war. Having served most of his officer service in the North Caucasus region, Molodov had extensive experience in combat operations.

The command was given the task: to march on foot and occupy the dominant heights in the Argun Gorge. The plan was to secure part of the 6th company at height 776.0, and then, using this height as a strong point, move forward and occupy the remaining heights. The goal is not to miss the breakthrough of gangs.

Fulfilling the assigned task, the commander of the parachute battalion of the guard, Lieutenant Colonel Evtyukhin Mark Nikolaevich, with the 6th company and part of the 4th company, began moving to the specified area in the early morning of February 28. They were joined by a reconnaissance patrol led by a guard lieutenant Vorobyov Alexey Vladimirovich. They moved at top speed.

By 16:00 on February 28, the 1st platoon of the 6th company reached a height of 776.0. However, the weather prevented the paratroopers from completing their task. An unexpectedly dense fog made further advance of the units impossible, so a decision was made: to suspend the task until the morning, organize a chasing system, and begin equipping positions.

On the morning of February 29, the units resumed movement. At 12.30, a reconnaissance patrol, moving 100-150 m ahead, discovered a group of militants in an ambush in the clearing area. The paratroopers opened fire on them, and the artillery spotter of the guard, Captain Romanov Viktor Viktorovich called in artillery fire. The enemy responded with fire from machine guns and sniper rifles and began to bring in reinforcements. There were wounded among the paratroopers.

In a short time, the militants managed to raise additional forces and create a numerical superiority in manpower. In addition, they took more advantageous positions. Under these conditions, battalion commander Evtyukhin decided to retreat to height 776.0 and organize a defense there. Scouts under the command of Guard Senior Lieutenant Vorobyov remained to cover the retreat. Having taken positions on the southern edge of the clearing, the scouts provided the company with the opportunity to retreat and evacuate the wounded. While retreating, Major Molodov was mortally wounded. Guard Major Molodov gives the command to be the last to withdraw, and he himself with one paratrooper remained to cover the withdrawal of his subordinates. And when the wounded soldier lost consciousness, the major, taking him upon himself, began to retreat to the company’s battle formations. The courageous officer saved the wounded paratrooper, but was himself mortally wounded. The guard captain took command of the company Sokolov Roman Vladimirovich. After the withdrawal of the 6th company, the scouts also retreated to height 776.0, and until 16:00 the company continued to repel militant attacks.

By 5 p.m., the militants again brought up reinforcements of more than 150 people, up to 50 of them were on horseback, and, increasing the intensity of the fire, attempted to attack the height from 2 directions. A heavy battle ensued. The battalion commander personally led the units, was constantly in the most dangerous directions, and carried out the wounded.

At the same time, the 3rd company, which was not far away, entered into battle with the bandits. The paratroopers repelled several enemy attacks and attempted to break through to the 6th company. However, under heavy enemy fire they were forced to retreat to their previous positions.

Later, radio interception revealed that Khattab was in charge of the bandits’ actions.

At 11:05 p.m., the militants made another attempt to knock down the paratroopers from a height. A selected “Dzhimar” detachment of more than 400 people, led by one of the field commanders, Khattab Bakuev, rushed to the company. The bandits came in waves. Using the terrain, they attempted to outflank the company's positions from the left flank. Then the battalion commander sent there a reconnaissance patrol of the guard, Lieutenant Dmitry Sergeevich Kozhemyakin, who fought off the violent attacks of the militants for three hours. At the cost of their lives, the guards thwarted the bandits' plan. An attempt was made to evacuate the wounded into the river bed to the crossing. However, it turned out to be unsuccessful, since there were already militants on the trail, and a battle also broke out with them. The artillery battalion of one of the regiments of the Novorossiysk airborne division, which was located nearby, began to fire on the southwestern slopes of the height.

Having failed to achieve success, the militants ceased fire at 1.50 on March 1 and retreated, and then began on the radio to invite the paratroopers to leave their positions, let them through, and surrender. But the paratroopers, remaining faithful to their military duty, decided to stand to the end.

During the night several attempts were made to help the 6th company, but heavy enemy fire did not allow this to be done. Only the 3rd platoon of the 4th company under the command of a guard major managed to break through to the company at dawn Dostavalova Alexandra Vasilievich. During the breakthrough, a guard lieutenant was mortally wounded Ermakov Oleg Viktorovich.

At 5.10 on March 1st, the militants launched an attack on the heights from all directions. Their number was more than 1000 people. By this time, the guard fire spotter, Captain Romanov, had died from wounds, so the commander himself, Evtyukhin, corrected the artillery fire, and the guard lieutenant helped him Ryazantsev Alexander Nikolaevich, but he too soon died.

At 5.30 the main efforts of the militants were concentrated in the northern direction. Seeing that the ranks of the defenders had noticeably thinned out, the bandits rushed to the top of the height. However, Guard Senior Lieutenant Kolgatin Alexander Mikhailovich managed to plant two mines in this direction. Despite being wounded in the chest, he detonated the mines as soon as the militants went on the attack. But this only stopped the bandits for a short time. For almost 40 more minutes in this direction, senior lieutenant held back the attacks of guard militants Panov Andrey Alexandrovich with 10 soldiers.

Having regrouped, the bandits concentrated their efforts in the southwestern direction, which was covered by Guard Lieutenant Kozhemyakin Dmitriy Sergeevich with your group. He led the battle to the end until he died from a direct hit from a grenade.

The surviving small group of paratroopers, led by the battalion commander, concentrated at the top. Here the last battle was fought. The last words of Commander Evtyukhin burst into the air: “I call fire on myself!”

At 6.50 the bandits moved to the heights like an avalanche. Without shooting, shouting “Allahu Akbar!”, the bandits made a breakthrough. The battle escalated into hand-to-hand combat. But the forces were too unequal. Three hundred selected bandits were opposed by 26 wounded paratroopers... They fulfilled their military duty to the end.

Now the names of the 84 guards paratroopers are known not only to Pskov. All of Russia knows about them.

Officers, sergeants and soldiers - all as one, entered into battle with the brutal bandits of Khattab and did not retreat a single step, holding their position until their last breath. There were 27 enemies for each paratrooper, but the 6th company won.

The 6th company is a company of heroes. 22 soldiers were posthumously awarded the highest award of the Motherland - Hero of the Russian Federation. Two of them are Pskovites. This Alexander Lebedev from Pskov and Dmitry Grigoriev from Novosokolnichesky district. The rest were awarded the Order of Courage. Since 2002, the Pskov land has been decorated with a huge dome - a monument to the heroes of the work of the Honored Architect of Russia Anatoly Tsarik. There are 84 signatures on the inside of the dome. School No. 5 in the city of Pskov was named after battalion commander, guard Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evtyukhin; one of the city streets was renamed in honor of the heroic 6th company.

The administration of the Chechen capital perpetuated the memory of the paratroopers of the 6th company of the Pskov Airborne Division who died at the end of February 2000 in the south of Chechnya. A street in the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny was named after the 84 Pskov paratroopers. By order of the mayor of Grozny, the 9th line street in the Staropromyslovsky district of the city was renamed “Street of the 84 Pskov paratroopers.” This was done in order to perpetuate the memory of the paratroopers of the 6th company of the regiment of the Pskov Airborne Division, who died on February 29, 2000 in a battle with the detachments of Khattab and Basayev in the area of ​​​​the village of Ulus-Kert, Shatoi region.

In Chechnya, this is the first time to date that the authorities have perpetuated the memory of federal military personnel who died during hostilities on the territory of the republic.

Eighteen years ago, on February 29, 2000, in the Argun Gorge of Chechnya, the 6th company of the 104th regiment of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division entered into battle with the thugs of Khattab, Basayev and Idris. This clash is known as the Battle of Hill 776. The ratio of the sides is one to twenty-seven, 90 paratroopers against 2.5 thousand terrorists. As a result, 84 soldiers died while performing their military duty. The oldest of them was 37 years old, the youngest was 18..

Night, fog

Second Chechen war. In February 2000, the militants were driven out of Grozny and surrounded in the Argun Gorge. They were bombed, causing great damage to manpower and equipment, the “shaitans” begged the “brothers” to buy out the corridor in order to escape to Dagestan. The media later reported that Khattab’s group paid $500 thousand to get out of the cauldron. This amount was announced during his conversation with Basayev, which was intercepted by Russian special services. According to Khattab, “the bosses set up these jackal-goblins to cover their tracks.” The bandits called the paratroopers goblins.

As journalist Vladimir Malyshev writes, it is not known for certain whether the accusations against senior commanders are true, but it has been established that along the route of Khattab’s column along the road to Vedeno, all police checkpoints were removed and the militants did not at all expect to meet the scouts of the 6th company.

The bandits radioed battalion commander Mark Evtyukhin: “There are a lot of us here, ten times more than you. Why are you in trouble, commander? Night, fog - no one will notice, and we will pay very well.” In response, a curse was heard, and the militants realized that there would be no deal. After this, the paratroopers were covered in fire, and hand-to-hand fighting began. The attacks came in waves.

The soldiers were able to hold out for about 20 hours. Captain Viktor Romanov, who was left without legs due to a mine explosion, continued to adjust the artillery fire, and Corporal Alexander Lebedev blew himself up along with the militants.

Fire on yourself

On the night of March 1, Major Alexander Dostavalov came to the aid of the paratroopers along with the third platoon of the 4th company. At the same time, Dostavalov voluntarily left the defensive positions of the 4th company.

According to some reports, the paratroopers did not receive any other assistance (except for the support of the regimental artillery), although the battalion commander repeatedly asked for reinforcements. Allegedly, soldiers from neighboring heights wanted to come to the rescue, but the command forbade this. Federal troops appeared on the battlefield only a day later.

Apparently, because of this, when on the morning of March 1, Evtyukhin called fire on himself, as his colleagues noted, he said: “You betrayed us, bitches.”

The militants who occupied the height finished off the wounded and shot in the face - because of this, difficulties arose with identification. The terrorists, as witnesses said, slowly stacked the bodies of the dead, placed Yevtyukhin’s corpse on top, hung headphones around his neck and placed a walkie-talkie in front of him. This symbolized the fact that, despite requests, no one came to help the paratroopers.

Andrei Lobanov, who carried out the task set on the afternoon of March 1 to come to the rescue of the 6th company, said: “The question was constantly in my head: why was there no information that such a horde of militants was breaking through? Why was the 3rd battalion, which was nearby, withdrawn? If there had been timely intelligence, such huge losses could have been avoided. And our help could not change anything in that battle.”

And then the smoke cleared

In total, six servicemen survived: sergeants Alexander Suponinsky and Andrey Porshnev, privates Alexey Komarov, Vadim Timoshenko, Roman Khristolubov, Evgeny Vladykin. It is not known exactly how many were killed among the militants. The maximum figure that was mentioned was about 700 people.

Twenty-two paratroopers were awarded the title of Hero of Russia, 68 soldiers were awarded the Order of Courage (almost all posthumously).

At first they decided to keep silent about their feat. On March 9, 2000, military observers of the Obshchaya Gazeta wrote: “Fragmentary information that<...>near the village of Ulus-Kert on the night of March 1, an entire company of the 104th regiment of the Pskov Airborne Division was killed in a battle with bandits, it was leaked to the media. But no one could tell everything about what happened there. Journalists were not allowed into the area for several days. And the military themselves were ordered to keep quiet. Is it that Colonel General Gennady Troshev finally allowed himself to admit on the 5th: “The 6th parachute company, which was at the forefront of the bandits’ attack, lost 31 people killed, and there were also wounded.” At the same time, the Airborne Forces headquarters knew that the data on losses did not correspond to reality. There was an instruction not to disclose information about the events at height 776, journalists indicate.

They link this to the fact that the battle began literally a few hours after Defense Minister Igor Sergeev reported to the Russian leadership about the completion of the military phase of the counter-terrorism operation (CTO) in Chechnya, since there was no longer any organized resistance from the bandits.

Inevitable punishment

The surviving terrorists still suffered punishment. Some were killed during the CTO. Others were captured and sentenced to long prison terms. Moreover, this crime has no statute of limitations. In January 2018, residents of the Stavropol Territory Arslan Valiev and Faizbek Amangaziev received 15.5 and 16 years in a maximum security colony. As the investigation established, they fired aimed fire at the paratroopers using Kalashnikov assault rifles.

Previously, Chechen resident Ayub Tuntuev was sentenced to 24 years and 11 months in prison, and Maxim Ponaryin was given a life sentence.

Among those convicted is also a citizen of Ukraine - a member of the extremist organization UNA-UNSO (banned in Russia) Alexander Malofeev. He was sentenced to 24 years and six months in prison.

Two more suspects are due to appear in court - Artur Ushaev and Ruslan Namatov.