Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
The downfall of the 6th company
The second Chechen war is raging:
The bulk of the 6th company of the 104th airborne regiment, part of the 76th airborne division (location: Pskov, commander: General Gennady Troshev)…
...arrives at around 12:00 on February 28, 2000 at hill 776 southeast of the Chechen village of Ulus-Kert, and begins to set up a west-facing line of defense along the ridge and - by some reports - begins to cook food.
Meanwhile, near the height, a reconnaissance troop consisting of five airborne soldiers from the company got into a firefight with around 20 Chechen rebels at around 12:30 p.m. Recognizing the weakness of the Russian squad, they immediately put pressure on them and begin to encircle the Russian soldiers.
To escape the encirclement, the five Russian soldiers retreat towards Hill 776.
The battle-experienced rebels pursue the fugitives, interrupted by exchanges of fire, to their starting position.
Major Moldov, actually company commander of the 6th, goes with some men to support the soldiers of the scout squad, but is mortally wounded in a firefight with the pursuers of the squad.
Intercepted ultra high frequency radio communications between rebel leaders Abdul Ibn Chattab...
… and Schamil Bassajew…
...who, as a result of his serious injury, did not personally take part in the battle, suggests that the fighters had not been aware of any airborne soldiers in the area up to this point. According to the intercepted radio messages, Chattab decides to attack the Russian troops.
The first rebel force, about 160 strong, commanded by Chattab, splits and bypasses Hill 776 on both sides. Divided into groups of around 50 fighters, it includes the airborne soldiers.
A short time later, the mass of rebels arrive. Their total number is disputed; depending on the source, figures vary between 1,500 and 2,500 fighters.
The remaining group of the airborne company is surprised on the march and overrun by the rebels before they can unite with the rest of the company.
After realizing the positions of the Russian airborne soldiers, the rebels begin to target them with mortar fire to prevent them from digging in.
The shelling only ends when their fighters have worked their way up to the positions of the airborne soldiers and the actual attack begins.
Fired on with machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the surviving airborne soldiers retreat to the top of Height 776 with their wounded towards the end of the day, leaving some of their equipment, such as food and sleeping bags, on the slope.
The airborne soldiers radioed the artillery officer accompanying them, Captain Romanov, in turn requesting artillery fire from the two 2S9 Nona-S tank mortars...
...their airborne regiment, which deployed in the afternoon of February 29 and, according to the artillery commander, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Taustika, ultimately devoured the entire supply of ammunition.
General Troshev describes this topic in his memoirs as follows: "1200 (!) снарядов "высыпали" артиллеристы 104-го полка в район высоты 776,0 с полудня 29 февраля дом ранта гом ранта 1 [...]; (English: "1,200 shells "poured" the artillerymen of the 104th regiment in the area of height 776.0 from the afternoon of February 29 to the early hours of March 1 [...];")
However, no statement can be made about the effectiveness of this artillery support. 31 soldiers of the 6th Company are killed on the first day, which is almost half the total strength of the unit.
The company's calls over the radio are not encrypted and can be overheard by the rebel fighters.
A rescue attempt by two platoons of the Spetsnas special forces also failed when, long before they reached Height 776, these soldiers, while crossing the Abazulgol River, came to a deadlock east of Ulus-Kert and had to retreat under rebel fire.
At 3:00 a.m., a platoon of 15 soldiers from the 4th company - led by the deputy battalion commander Major Alexander Dostavalow - managed to get through...
… (he was company commander of the 6th until 1999) – to break through the encirclement coming from the south and get to the 6th company.
The platoon commander, a lieutenant, was killed in the action, and the major himself was badly wounded. At around 5:00 am on March 1, 2000, the rebels intensified their attacks again after having not sent any fighters to the heights since midnight.
The company called in artillery fire on targets within 50 meters of their positions to repel this attack.
At 6:00 a.m., an attack wave crowded the surviving airborne soldiers into a confined space.
Two Russian Mi-24 attack helicopters...
... circling around the heights in the morning have to turn away after being fired at by the rebels from the forest with heavy machine guns.
The position of the last airborne soldiers is probably overrun by another attack around 6:50 a.m. and the few survivors are killed in close combat.
On the morning of March 2, parts of the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion reached Hill 776 and found only dead. After a warning of other rebel units in the area, the bodies of the airborne soldiers could only be recovered two days later.
There are controversial accounts of the last radio message from those trapped, around 6:10 a.m.:
After information circulated that some of the Russian soldiers had been killed by friendly artillery fire, several sources describe the last radio message as requesting artillery fire on their position, either by Lieutenant Colonel Yevtyukhin or by Captain Romanov.
On the website of the daily newspaper "Izvestia" the wording of the last radio message, here from Captain Romanov, is reproduced in an article from August 2001 as follows:
"Прощайте, мужики. Высота занята боевиками. Огонь по высоте 776!;” (English: "Farewell boys, the height is occupied by militants. Open fire at height 776!")
A short time later, the Russian journalist Vladimir Zwartsevich evaluated the recordings of the radio traffic.
According to Zwartsevich, the wording of the last radio message was: "Вы козлы, вы нас предали, суки!;" (English: "You bastards, you betrayed us, sons of bitches!")
I think that's much more realistic.
Six airborne soldiers survived the battle and were picked up by the 1st Company during the course of the day on March 2nd.
Two had gone into hiding, three said that they had snuck down on the instructions of a superior before the last attack, the sixth had surrendered during the course of the battle and, after being hit in the face with rifle butts, was looted and unconscious by the rebels been left behind.
84 dead Russian airborne and Spetsnasal soldiers from the 6th and 4th platoon companies were later found at Hill 776 and the surrounding area.
The insurgents are said to have transported some of their dead away in horse-drawn wagons even before Russian troops secured the area.
It is unclear how many rebels and mujahideen actually died. While initial reports were of around 100 fighters killed, Major Andrei Lobanov, who was part of the group that reached the height a few days later, reported counting around 200 dead fighters.
The Russian press later gave a figure of 400 dead rebels and foreign mujahideen. That must be propaganda...
Our last picture shows President Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Alexei II at a memorial service for the men of the 6th Company March 14, 2000 in Pskov, the unit's home base.
And of course there is plenty of propagandistic embellishment...:
The second Chechen war is raging:
The bulk of the 6th company of the 104th airborne regiment, part of the 76th airborne division (location: Pskov, commander: General Gennady Troshev)…
...arrives at around 12:00 on February 28, 2000 at hill 776 southeast of the Chechen village of Ulus-Kert, and begins to set up a west-facing line of defense along the ridge and - by some reports - begins to cook food.
Meanwhile, near the height, a reconnaissance troop consisting of five airborne soldiers from the company got into a firefight with around 20 Chechen rebels at around 12:30 p.m. Recognizing the weakness of the Russian squad, they immediately put pressure on them and begin to encircle the Russian soldiers.
To escape the encirclement, the five Russian soldiers retreat towards Hill 776.
The battle-experienced rebels pursue the fugitives, interrupted by exchanges of fire, to their starting position.
Major Moldov, actually company commander of the 6th, goes with some men to support the soldiers of the scout squad, but is mortally wounded in a firefight with the pursuers of the squad.
Intercepted ultra high frequency radio communications between rebel leaders Abdul Ibn Chattab...
… and Schamil Bassajew…
...who, as a result of his serious injury, did not personally take part in the battle, suggests that the fighters had not been aware of any airborne soldiers in the area up to this point. According to the intercepted radio messages, Chattab decides to attack the Russian troops.
The first rebel force, about 160 strong, commanded by Chattab, splits and bypasses Hill 776 on both sides. Divided into groups of around 50 fighters, it includes the airborne soldiers.
A short time later, the mass of rebels arrive. Their total number is disputed; depending on the source, figures vary between 1,500 and 2,500 fighters.
The remaining group of the airborne company is surprised on the march and overrun by the rebels before they can unite with the rest of the company.
After realizing the positions of the Russian airborne soldiers, the rebels begin to target them with mortar fire to prevent them from digging in.
The shelling only ends when their fighters have worked their way up to the positions of the airborne soldiers and the actual attack begins.
Fired on with machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the surviving airborne soldiers retreat to the top of Height 776 with their wounded towards the end of the day, leaving some of their equipment, such as food and sleeping bags, on the slope.
The airborne soldiers radioed the artillery officer accompanying them, Captain Romanov, in turn requesting artillery fire from the two 2S9 Nona-S tank mortars...
...their airborne regiment, which deployed in the afternoon of February 29 and, according to the artillery commander, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Taustika, ultimately devoured the entire supply of ammunition.
General Troshev describes this topic in his memoirs as follows: "1200 (!) снарядов "высыпали" артиллеристы 104-го полка в район высоты 776,0 с полудня 29 февраля дом ранта гом ранта 1 [...]; (English: "1,200 shells "poured" the artillerymen of the 104th regiment in the area of height 776.0 from the afternoon of February 29 to the early hours of March 1 [...];")
However, no statement can be made about the effectiveness of this artillery support. 31 soldiers of the 6th Company are killed on the first day, which is almost half the total strength of the unit.
The company's calls over the radio are not encrypted and can be overheard by the rebel fighters.
A rescue attempt by two platoons of the Spetsnas special forces also failed when, long before they reached Height 776, these soldiers, while crossing the Abazulgol River, came to a deadlock east of Ulus-Kert and had to retreat under rebel fire.
At 3:00 a.m., a platoon of 15 soldiers from the 4th company - led by the deputy battalion commander Major Alexander Dostavalow - managed to get through...
… (he was company commander of the 6th until 1999) – to break through the encirclement coming from the south and get to the 6th company.
The platoon commander, a lieutenant, was killed in the action, and the major himself was badly wounded. At around 5:00 am on March 1, 2000, the rebels intensified their attacks again after having not sent any fighters to the heights since midnight.
The company called in artillery fire on targets within 50 meters of their positions to repel this attack.
At 6:00 a.m., an attack wave crowded the surviving airborne soldiers into a confined space.
Two Russian Mi-24 attack helicopters...
... circling around the heights in the morning have to turn away after being fired at by the rebels from the forest with heavy machine guns.
The position of the last airborne soldiers is probably overrun by another attack around 6:50 a.m. and the few survivors are killed in close combat.
On the morning of March 2, parts of the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion reached Hill 776 and found only dead. After a warning of other rebel units in the area, the bodies of the airborne soldiers could only be recovered two days later.
There are controversial accounts of the last radio message from those trapped, around 6:10 a.m.:
After information circulated that some of the Russian soldiers had been killed by friendly artillery fire, several sources describe the last radio message as requesting artillery fire on their position, either by Lieutenant Colonel Yevtyukhin or by Captain Romanov.
On the website of the daily newspaper "Izvestia" the wording of the last radio message, here from Captain Romanov, is reproduced in an article from August 2001 as follows:
"Прощайте, мужики. Высота занята боевиками. Огонь по высоте 776!;” (English: "Farewell boys, the height is occupied by militants. Open fire at height 776!")
A short time later, the Russian journalist Vladimir Zwartsevich evaluated the recordings of the radio traffic.
According to Zwartsevich, the wording of the last radio message was: "Вы козлы, вы нас предали, суки!;" (English: "You bastards, you betrayed us, sons of bitches!")
I think that's much more realistic.
Six airborne soldiers survived the battle and were picked up by the 1st Company during the course of the day on March 2nd.
Two had gone into hiding, three said that they had snuck down on the instructions of a superior before the last attack, the sixth had surrendered during the course of the battle and, after being hit in the face with rifle butts, was looted and unconscious by the rebels been left behind.
84 dead Russian airborne and Spetsnasal soldiers from the 6th and 4th platoon companies were later found at Hill 776 and the surrounding area.
The insurgents are said to have transported some of their dead away in horse-drawn wagons even before Russian troops secured the area.
It is unclear how many rebels and mujahideen actually died. While initial reports were of around 100 fighters killed, Major Andrei Lobanov, who was part of the group that reached the height a few days later, reported counting around 200 dead fighters.
The Russian press later gave a figure of 400 dead rebels and foreign mujahideen. That must be propaganda...
Our last picture shows President Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Alexei II at a memorial service for the men of the 6th Company March 14, 2000 in Pskov, the unit's home base.
And of course there is plenty of propagandistic embellishment...:
