14 years ago, near the Chechen village of Ulus-Kert, the sixth company of the Pskov Airborne Regiment heroically died in an unequal battle with militants. 84 people - including all officers - died the death of the brave, six soldiers survived. We found out how their destinies turned out.
On a nameless height
At the beginning of February 2000, the militants were driven out of Grozny. A large group: over three thousand people led by Shamil Basayev, Ruslan Gelayev and Khattab was blocked in the Argun Gorge. Day and night the militants were attacked by artillery; for the first time, one and a half ton volumetric detonating bombs were used, burning out all living things around them. In army parlance, the position in Argun was called “little Stalingrad”; the bandits got bored there and attempted to break through. Gelayev with a detachment of 800 people moved north-west to the village of Komsomolskoye. The remaining militants went northeast to the village of Ulus-Kert. It was there, at altitude 776, that everything happened.
The meeting was unexpected for both sides. Having discovered the paratroopers in front of them, the field commanders on the radio offered to let them through for a good reward. In response, such masterly obscenities were heard that the negotiations stopped and a battle began, which lasted almost 20 hours. 90 paratroopers held off continuous attacks by 2,500 militants.
They just walked towards us like a wall - their eyes bulging, shouting: “Allah Akbar!” We shoot one wave, half an hour of respite - and again an attack... There were a lot of them,” Sergeant Andrei Porshnev told the guard.
Taking advantage of the folds of the terrain and fog, the Basayevites got close to the positions of the paratroopers. From both sides there was point-blank fire from machine guns, machine guns, and grenade launchers. The militants fired at the paratroopers' positions with mortars, and ours were helped by artillery. The commander of a self-propelled artillery battery of the guard, Captain Viktor Romanov, had both legs torn off by a mine explosion, but he adjusted the fire of his guns until the last minute of his life.
Several times the firefight turned into hand-to-hand combat: bayonets, sapper blades, and machine gun butts were used. By the morning of March 1, most of the soldiers and officers of the sixth company were killed or seriously wounded, and the paratroopers ran out of ammunition. At 6.10, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evtyukhin, who took command after the death of the company commander of the guard, called artillery fire on himself.
Six whole
Guard privates Alexei Komarov and Roman Khristolubov tried to carry the bleeding reconnaissance platoon commander Alexei Vorobyov from the battlefield - he had a broken artery in his leg. The senior lieutenant ordered them to break through to their own and covered them with machine gun fire. Before his death, he destroyed the field commander Emir Idris.
Guard Sergeant Andrei Porshnev and Guard Senior Sergeant Alexander Suponinsky left their positions on the orders of Captain Romanov.
Early in the morning I counted my remaining ammunition - it turned out to be six rounds. The battalion commander began calling for artillery fire on the radio, but at some point I could not stand it and decided to commit suicide: death is better than captivity,” said Alexander Suponinsky. - The artillery saved me: the shells stopped the “spirits”, I came to my senses, perked up and began shooting at the bandits. Inserting the last horn into the machine, Romanov said: “Someone must survive and tell the truth about us. Go away, guys, I’ll cover you.”
The sergeants hobbled down into the ravine. The shell-shocked Porshnev walked to his full height. His nose and ears were bleeding, the soldier swayed like a drunk. The militants fired at them with grenade launchers almost point-blank, but did not hit them. The ravine was winding and the two paratroopers soon disappeared from sight.
Guard private Evgeniy Vladykin was wounded and ran out of ammunition. He saw people in white camouflage suits and crawled towards them. But these turned out to be not comrades, but militants. They tried to quickly interrogate him, but the paratrooper remained silent. Vladykin was hit twice on the head with the butt of a machine gun and thrown. Later, the militants who collected the bodies considered him dead (they were finishing off the wounded) and took off his pea coat and boots. Evgeniy took the clothes and shoes of his dead comrade and got to his own.
Guard private Vadim Timoshenko was also wounded. The militants searched for him following a trail of blood, but the soldier was able to hide under the rubble of trees.
After battle
Alexander Suponinsky became a Hero of Russia, the remaining surviving soldiers were awarded Orders of Courage.
Vadim Timoshenko lives in St. Petersburg. Evgeny Vladykin returned home to Udmurtia after demobilization. He worked as an electrician in a communications company, then as a mechanic at an iron foundry. In 2006, he was recruited into the Ministry of Emergency Situations and works as a firefighter in his regional center, Balezino. That same year, Evgeniy got married, and six months ago his daughter Nastya was born. Not long ago, with the help of the regional Association of Participants in Local Wars, the Vladykin family received an apartment.
In the spring of 2008, an evening of Military Glory was held in the capital's Poklonnaya Gora memorial complex in memory of the feat of the paratroopers of the sixth company. Andrei Porshnev was present at it with his son Igor, to whom dad does not tell anything about the war. Now Porshnev has given birth to his second son, Makar. They live in Arkhangelsk. Until recently, Andrei worked on the railway, but was laid off - his contract was not renewed.
Alexander Suponinsky also could not find a job for a long time: the Hero was entitled to benefits, and in his native Tatarstan many disapproved of the fact that the Hero killed Muslims. The program “The Forgotten Regiment” helped - after Suponinsky talked about his problems there, he was hired: first at an oil company, then at the police. Alexander lives and works in Almetyevsk, he has two children.
Kirov resident Roman Hristolyubov is the executive director of a company engaged in construction and finishing of premises. He considers himself middle class: family, apartment, car. His son Yegor is nine years old; Roman usually laughs off his questions about the origin of his military awards. “But seriously, I matured a lot in that fight,” he admitted.
Alexey Komarov is asked by his seven-year-old son Pavel about the war every day. On February 23, at a matinee in kindergarten, Pashka begged his father for a blue beret - his classmates were jealous. Komarov lives in the Udmurt village of Sredniy Postol, works at Izhmash - polishes luxury Kalashnikov assault rifles.
On February 19, on the eve of the holiday - Defender of the Fatherland Day - your life. The President presented awards to veterans of the Great Patriotic War and active military personnel. And at the end of February is the anniversary of the feat of the Pskov paratroopers. Exactly ten years ago, at the cost of their lives in Chechnya, at an altitude of 776 meters above sea level, they stopped militant groups. And this feat became a symbol of military heroism.
He will remember that fight for ten years. All the long ten years that separate today's Kirov businessman Roman Khristolubov from the guard private of the sixth company of the 104th parachute regiment of the Pskov Airborne Division. That February day and the faces of my still living friends will forever remain in my memory. How they walked to the heights through the deep snow of the gorge, and then immediately entered the battle.
“We came to the hill, to the place of the battle. They were already waiting for us there, and then the bulk of the militants approached, and did not give us a chance to dig in,” says a guard private of the sixth company of the 104th parachute regiment of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division in 2000. Roman Khristolubov.
The footage of them still in their twenties was taken several hours after the battle. At that same now famous height of 776. Yesterday’s boys who grew up overnight. With naughty fingers, dark with gunpowder smoke, they tried to light a cigarette - it didn’t work the first time, and again they relived the details of the recent battle.
“The militants offered to surrender. “Allahu Akbar,” they shouted, “Russians, surrender.” But we did not lay down our arms. They shouted, “We will give way,” but no one responded to this,” recalls Roman Khristolubov.
At that time, neither Roman Khristolubov nor Alexei Komarov knew that out of 90 Pskov paratroopers, only six would emerge from the battle alive.
“We were given the task to take a height, take up defense. Reconnaissance went ahead. We stretched out along the heights. We reached one height, and there we were ambushed. A battle ensued,” says in 2000, a guard private of the sixth company of the 104th parachute regiment of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division Alexey Komarov.
February 2000. Federal troops are blocking a large group of Khattab militants in the Argun Gorge. According to intelligence data, the bandits number from one and a half to two thousand people. The militants hoped to break out of the gorge, reach Vedeno and hide in Dagestan. The road to the plain lies through height 776. Pskov paratroopers have already advanced there. The first battle near the village of Ulus-Kert began around noon.
“There were enough of them at whom I fired: 100-200 people. I had a grenade in my pocket in case I was seriously wounded. To make it easier,” recalls Roman Khristolubov.
Almost all the officers died in the first minutes of the battle. Trained snipers worked at the paratroopers' positions. Later it would become known that Khattab brought the best mercenaries, among whom there were many Arabs, to the Argun Gorge.
They walked without even shooting. In the last attack - at full height. Later, strong drugs would be found at the heights, which were injected into themselves by militants twenty times superior to the paratroopers. But the sixth one still fought. The survivors held the height.
“There was close combat. Then they went hand-to-hand. Some with what, some with shovels,” says Alexey Komarov.
More than four hundred bodies of militants will remain at the battle site, not counting the Arab mercenaries, who were carried away from the heights on Khattab’s orders. Irritated by the resistance, the bandits finished off the wounded paratroopers with particular cruelty. Bleeding battalion commander Evtyukhin and artillery spotter Captain Romanov, with stumps tied with tourniquets instead of legs, transmitted the coordinates to the artillery battery. Then the connection with the last defenders of the height was cut off forever.
“The last words of the battalion commander were, he said goodbye to everyone. The battalion commander called fire on himself. There was a spotter right there. The last words were “Farewell, men,” says the senior sergeant of the sixth company of the 104th parachute regiment of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division, Alexander Suponinsky, to the guard.
Alexander Suponinsky was the last to leave the heights. For his feat, Alexander received the title of Hero of Russia. He will be able to return to peaceful life. A happy home, a successful job, but even years later, mentally he is still with the guys from his company. At that charred height that they did not give up.
“In your dreams, you constantly dream of a fight. It won’t go anywhere in your head. It will always be a memory with you, about the guys,” explains Alexander Suponinsky.
In April 2001, the president came to the site of the death of the paratroopers. He left flowers in memory of the defenders of the heights and admitted that on the day when the company died, he promised himself to visit the battle site. In memory of them, a monument and a street in Grozny will appear in Pskov. 22 paratroopers will be nominated for the title of Hero of Russia, the rest - for the Order of Courage. Then there will be many questions. Why was reconnaissance not properly organized, help did not arrive for a long time and there was poor fire support. But the main thing in the posthumous history of the Pskov paratroopers will still be their feat.
“I would return everything so that all the guys would remain alive,” says Alexander Suponinsky.
“No one ran. During the battle, to pick up a machine gun and run away so that you couldn’t be seen. Everyone died there, and no one retreated. May the kingdom of heaven come to them,” says Roman Khristolubov.
The feat of the Pskov paratroopers at the beginning of March 2000 will remain forever in the memory of the residents of Pskov, and all Russians who know their history. Near Height 787, near the Chechen village of Ulus-Kert, in an unequal battle with the predominant number of militants, the 6th company of the 104th regiment was almost completely killed Airborne Forces from Pskov. At this price, the path of the Chechen militants who intended to escape from the Argun Gorge was blocked.
A total of 84 paratroopers were killed. Only six ordinary soldiers remained alive. It was from their stories that it became possible to reconstruct the course of events of that bloody drama. Here are the names of the survivors: Alexander Suponinsky, Andrey Porshnev, Evgeny Vladykin, Vadim Timoshenko, Roman Khristolubov and Alexey Komarov.
How it was?
On February 29, 2000, Shata was finally captured, which allowed the federal command to interpret this as a signal of the final defeat of the “Chechen resistance.”
President Putin listened to a report that “the tasks of the third stage of the North Caucasus operation have been completed.” Gennady Troshev, then acting commander of the United Forces, noted that the full-scale military operation had come to an end, only a few local measures were to be taken to destroy the hiding “escaped militants.”
By this time, the Itum-Kali-Shatili road had been cut by a tactical landing, and as a result, several gangs in Chechnya fell into the strategic pocket. The troops of the central operational group methodically pushed back the bandits along the Argun Gorge north of the Georgian-Russian border.
According to intelligence data, Khattab’s militants were moving in a north-eastern direction towards Vedeno, where they had prepared mountain bases, warehouses and shelters. Khattab planned to seize a number of villages in the Vedeno region to provide himself with a bridgehead in order to make a breakthrough into Dagestan.
Peaceful life
After demobilization, the paratroopers who survived this terrible meat grinder gradually found themselves in peaceful life.
Roman Khristolubov, whose biography “in civilian life” is similar to many of his peers, considers himself to be middle class. He, like many people, has his own apartment and car. He lives in the city of Kirov.
His family has an eleven-year-old son named Yegor. There is interesting work. Roman Hristolyubov is an executive director at one of the companies carrying out construction and finishing work.
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.
NNot 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 sergeant major 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 him. 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.
Yuri MOISEENKO, our employee. corr.
Farewell, the sixth company, gone into the centuries, -
Winged infantry of the heavenly regiment.
Memory... What accomplishments of the past and present deserve to remain forever in human memory? Some events pass like fleeting visions; others excite minds for a while. But there are also those that remain in the minds and hearts of people for many years, making them think about the past, present and even future...
13 years after that battle, remembering the feat of the 6th company, based on the available information, you can try to recreate those events and, at least in general terms, but still understand what happened on March 1, 2000 at an altitude of 776.0.
1999/2000. The Second Chechen War is underway. At the beginning of the military campaign, the main hostilities take place in Dagestan. During the counter-terrorism operation in August-October 1999, the bandits were driven out of Dagestan, and in late winter - early spring 2000, the command of the federal troops carried out a successful operation to block enemy gangs. By bypassing the militants' fortified bases and carrying out a systematic "cleansing" of the territories - from the north from Chechnya and from the east from Dagestan, the Russian army deals a powerful blow to the militants, thereby capturing their main forces in a "pincer." “In February, the operation in Chechnya entered the mountain phase... Paratroopers occupied commanding heights on the likely exit routes for militants driven into the mountains.” Now, when it seemed that victory was close, the bandits “demonstrated their death throes.”The militants decided to leave the encirclement. To make a breakthrough, disparate gangs united into a group, the number of which, according to various estimates, amounted to 2.5 thousand people. The strike forces of the militants were assembled here, among which was the selected “Dzhimar” detachment. “Gangs of field commanders – Shamil Basayev, Vakha Arasanov, Bagaudi Bakuev” stuck to the detachments of Arab mercenaries.” Through the Vedeno region, in which Khattab had a whole network of extensive mountain bases, the enemy made a breakthrough into Dagestan. This picture of events did not fit into the decisions of our headquarters, which assumed that the bandits would fight their way in small groups, and therefore small checkpoints were set up along the path of the enemy’s supposed movement. One of these posts was supposed to be occupied by the 6th parachute company of the 104th regiment of the 76th Chernigov division.
On February 28, paratroopers under the command of Guard Lieutenant Colonel Mark Nikolaevich Evtyukhin and Guard Major Sergei Grigorievich Molodov advanced to a height of 776.0. Together with the 6th company, the 3rd platoon of the 4th company also went to this exit under the command of Guard Lieutenant Oleg Ermakov and Guard Major Alexander Vasilyevich Dostovalov. On the way to the height, near Mount Demvairzy, the company was joined by a reconnaissance patrol under the command of Guard Lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov. Thus, the force of the paratroopers was 90 people.In just a few hours, the fighters had to cover a distance of more than 15 kilometers and gain a foothold in a given square. The path of the paratroopers ran along steep and slippery paths, muddy in the spring and narrow for the passage of equipment. Each paratrooper was forced to carry increased ammunition and equipment for the camp.
By 11 a.m. on February 29, ahead of schedule, the paratroopers, despite difficult weather conditions, occupied height 776.0. The 3rd platoon of the 4th company, according to a previously developed plan, separated from the main forces and entrenched itself at the neighboring height of 787.0. The paratroopers' position was a steep mountain covered with a centuries-old beech forest.February 29. The day was cloudy, as Senior Sergeant Alexander Suponinsky, a participant in that battle, Hero of the Russian Guard, recalled. There was fog in the mountains. Under the cover of a cloudy haze, when the main forces of the company were busy setting up the camp and firing points, a reconnaissance patrol went out from a height of 776.0 to the summit of Istyvkort at 11:30 am. At this time, there were already bandits on Mount Istyvkort...
The fight started suddenly. The militants acted from an ambush. The paratroopers responded with machine gun and machine gun fire. The scouts were supported by artillery, the actions of which were corrected by Guard Captain Viktor Romanov. But it soon became clear that the bandits were outnumbered, and the scouts received orders to go back to the heights. Under heavy enemy fire, reconnaissance rose to a height, and the retreat was covered by a platoon of senior lieutenant Vorobiev. But at this time Major S.G. was mortally wounded. Molodov. Thus, the first soldier of the 6th company to die was its commander. Captain Roman Sokolov and battalion commander Mark Evtyukhin took command.
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The 6th company was at the forefront. It turned out that the enemy made a breakthrough with all his might right here, through height 776.0. According to the most conservative estimates, the enemy outnumbered the paratroopers by almost 20 times.
By 16:00 the battle was already in full swing. The enemy launched one attack after another. The company's positions came under mortar fire, after which militants from different sides tried to ascend to the heights. According to Guard Sergeant Andrei Porshnev, who survived that battle, “at some point they came at us like a wall. One wave will pass, we will shoot them, half an hour of respite - and another wave... There were a lot of them. They were just coming at us: their eyes were bulging, they were shouting: “Allahu Akbar.” The bandits suffered heavy losses, but there were already wounded and killed in the company...
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But, despite the support of artillery, the situation remained critical. There were many “spirits”; every hour new forces approached them. It came down to hand-to-hand combat! Andrei Komarov, one of the paratroopers, said: “There was close combat. Let's go hand-to-hand. Who with what: some with shovels, some with what.” In a fierce battle, all available objects were used: machine guns, shovels, bayonets, stones, sticks... The paratroopers fought against bandits drugged and brutalized by drugs. Ahead of the militants was Khattab’s best detachment, “Dzhimar”. But he could not bring the company down from the height.
Then the militant commanders decided to use a trick. The paratroopers were asked to withdraw. “The militants,” recalled Roman Khristolubov, “offered to surrender... They shouted: “Russians, surrender!”... They offered to us, we could hear: “Surrender, we will give you the way to leave,” but no one responded to this.” “They offered money over the radio.” The company remained standing, and the bandits rushed into a new attack.
It was already deep night. The battle continued in the dark, illuminated only by grenade explosions and machine gun fire. Almost every paratrooper was wounded. But, despite the wounds, no one retreated. Company commanders fought and died along with their soldiers. Battalion commander Mark Evtyukhin, senior officer Alexey Vorobyov, Alexander Ryazantsev, Dmitry Vorobyov, Andrey Panov, Alexander Kolgatin, Andrey Sherstyannikov, captain Roman Sokolov, guard lieutenant Dmitry Kozhemyakin... Kozhemyakin’s platoon was at the peak of militant attacks. The scouts mowed down the militants with dagger fire from machine guns. But the cartridges were running out. They fought hand to hand...At 1 a.m. on March 1, at the request of the commander of the 104th regiment, three salvos from Grad rocket launchers were fired at the militants’ positions. The bandits retreated. The battle died down for a while. There were no intense attacks from 03:00 to 05:00 in the morning. Taking advantage of this, the 3rd platoon of the 4th company, located on a nearby high-rise, was able to break through to the aid of the 6th company. The platoon was commanded by Lieutenant Oleg Ermakov, with whom Evtyukhin’s “castle” was Major Alexander Dostovalov. During the breakthrough of the guard, Lieutenant Ermakov was wounded. Realizing that the wound was fatal, the brave lieutenant remained to cover the platoon’s breakthrough. Oleg Ermakov died, but the platoon was able to get through to the aid of the wounded paratroopers. Of course, one platoon could not provide significant support. Major Dostovalov was also wounded. But the 6th company, seeing the fighters of the 4th company, realized that it was not abandoned! Moral support was great, and already at 5 o'clock in the morning the paratroopers repelled a new attack.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Nikolaevich Evtyukhin was constantly in touch. His actions were clear, there was no panic. But in reality there was no more strength: by morning only a few people remained alive... A new attack began. Without shooting, shouting “Alla,” the bandits made a breakthrough.On March 1 at 6:10 am, Mark Evtyukhin made contact for the last time, his words were: “Left fifty! Goodbye, guys! The company called fire on itself...
During this shelling, the bandits suffered heavy losses, but in the end they were still able to reach the heights. The tactical victory was for the militants, the company was physically destroyed, but spiritually... The terrorists were unable to advance beyond the 776.0 mark. They failed to make a breakthrough into Dagestan and repeat Budennovsk. The bandits were morally depressed. They took out their evil and hatred on the bodies of the dead paratroopers. A day after the battle, when our troops rose to the heights, the mutilated bodies of the heroes appeared before their eyes.
Only minor gangs managed to escape from the “ring.” Morally depressed after the battle with the 6th company, the militants surrendered. “A few days later, near Selmentausen, for the first time in a counter-terrorist operation, a large detachment of terrorists capitulated in full force - over 70 militants! Frostbitten, demoralized thugs saw no more prospects for resistance.” In fact, in the battle at height 776.0, the 6th company decided the fate of the entire Second Chechen War, because if the militants had broken through to Dagestan, then all the fruits of the summer and autumn victories of 1999 in Dagestan, by and large, would have been in vain. This did not happen.
But what was the price of victory? A company of soldiers died. Of the 90 people, only six remained alive: Roman Khristolubov, Alexey Komarov, Andrey Porshnev, Evgeny Vladykin, Vadim Timoshenko and Alexander Suponinsky. The remaining 84 remained lying at an altitude of 776.0. In that battle, overcoming fear, the young paratroopers (many of them were only 18–20 years old) confronted the mercenary thugs. It is unlikely that any of them realized then that they were dying for high ideals and the Motherland. The soldiers of the 6th company simply died for each other. They fought and died for their friends and comrades. Each of them accomplished the feat of self-sacrifice, following the commandment of Christ that “greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). 13 years have passed since that fight, but many questions and misunderstandings still remain. They argue about the number and losses of militants, about why the company died. But one thing is clear: the paratroopers won a spiritual victory and performed a feat of self-sacrifice. And the memory of their feat is alive.Thus, in an interview with the NTV channel on February 29, 2000, General Troshev stated: “Today we will put an end to the destruction of gangs. This, however, does not mean that everyone is completely defeated, but large gangs as such no longer exist; only remnants - renegades - remain.”
Isakhanyan G.A., Guard Colonel, Hero of Russia. “We are peaceful people, but...” // Step into immortality. M., 2007. pp. 9–10.
Kozlov V., guard colonel. Last fight // Ibid. P. 18.
Right there. P. 15.
Troshev G.N. My war. Chechen diary of a trench general. M., 2004. P. 324.
Kozlov V., guard colonel. Last Stand. P. 12.
Together with the 6th company, the commander of the 2nd battalion of the 104th regiment, Mark Nikolaevich Evtyukhin, went on this combat mission due to the difficult situation.
Alexander Vasilyevich Dostovalov was deputy commander of the 2nd battalion M.N. Evtyukhina... Captain Romanov received a wound incompatible with life: both his legs were torn off. Height 776.0. Report from RTR TV channel. March 2000; Kozlov V., Guard Colonel. Last Stand. P. 17; Troshev G.N. My war. Chechen diary of a trench general. P. 329.
Troshev G.N. My war. Chechen diary of a trench general. P. 331.
Kozlov V., Guard Colonel. Last Stand. pp. 44, 64.
Thus, the paratroopers of the 3rd platoon of the 4th company, together with Lieutenant Oleg Ermakov and Major Dostovalov, did not have to engage in battle. They stood at a nearby height and were not obliged to leave it. But, true to the principles of airborne brotherhood, they went to the aid of their fellow soldiers - they went in order to die with them, since it was clear that, fighting against an enemy many times superior in number, they still could not win the battle.
Wahhabi propaganda speaks of 12 dead Mujahideen on their side. Various domestic publications estimate the number of militants killed at 300 or 400 people. It is clear that the data provided by the terrorists is greatly underestimated, but even with 300 and 400, not everything is clear. Most likely, no one will ever be able to give an accurate assessment. It is clear that many bandits were killed. Thus, Hero of Russia Alexander Suponinsky, one of the surviving paratroopers, says the following about this: “I don’t know where they got this number from - 600 dead militants. Not from us. I didn't count their heads. We must give them their due: they took all their dead with them... But there was an awful lot of Chechen blood on earth! Our artillery, of course, knocked them out pretty bad.” Cm: Ampelovsky V. Fight after death. Interview with participants in the battle at an altitude of 776.0.
Nowadays, films are made about the paratroopers of the 6th company (“I Have the Honor,” “Storm Gates,” “Breakthrough,” “Russian Sacrifice”), songs are written, and monuments are erected to them. Streets and schools are named in honor of the company's soldiers and officers. The feat of the paratroopers played a major role in the patriotic education of youth. In memory of the 6th company, sports tournaments and youth games are held. Thus, at the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God in South Butovo there is a military-patriotic club. It is called "Sixth Company". The club's motto is: “For our friends.”
