Get to forty-five. Airborne special forces: history and structure of the 45th separate airborne special forces regiment
The FSK's Directorate of Special Operations (USO) "in full force - 21 people"1, according to other sources - 22 people2, under the command of General Dmitry Mikhailovich Gerasimov, took part in the assault on Grozny. (FSK was the name of the reformed KGB-FSB in December 1994, and the USO included fighters from the Vympel group that was disbanded at that time)The 45th separate special purpose reconnaissance regiment of the Airborne Forces (45th Special Purpose Reconnaissance Regiment of the Airborne Forces, military unit 28337), which was in the reserve of the Minister of Defense, consisted of about 450 people.3 According to other sources, 400 people entered the city of Grozny directly.4
There is also information that in December 1994, “exactly half of the entire regiment” was involved in guarding the “train of the Minister of Defense.” And that, supposedly, there was an order “not to involve those who are on security duty at combat exits.”5 Thus, the number of people entering Grozny can vary greatly.
The regiment commander was Colonel Viktor Dmitrievich Kolygin, but on the territory of the Chechen Republic his duties were performed by the chief of staff, Colonel Valery Nikolaevich Yuryev.6
Major Alexander Skobennikov from the 45th Special Forces Airborne Regiment: “Our unit was divided into two detachments. The one I was in was supposed to join the northern, “Rokhlina” group.”7 Unfortunately, it is not entirely clear what the author meant . There may be two battalions of the regiment: 218th (military unit 48427) and 901 (military unit 23372).
According to Major Sergei Ivanovich Shavrin from the USO FSK: “There were about 20 of us left from the special operations department. Guys from the 45th reconnaissance regiment were supposed to act with us. They alerted us again and brought us to the airfield in Mozdok to deliver us by helicopter to the center of Grozny, to the stadium. Then it was assumed that we would take Dudayev’s palace in much the same way as we took Amin’s palace in December 1979.<...>We never flew to the center of Grozny. As they say, as above, so below. A terrible inconsistency in the actions of different types of troops was revealed. It turned out that the helicopters could not take off, because one helicopter pilot had not yet had lunch, another had not yet refueled, and the third was completely on duty. As a result, already January 1 at 00 hours 10 minutes we were given the order: “Get in the cars!” - the city had to be entered by land.<...>By the evening of that day, having already entered the city with a tank column, we learned from our scouts that by the time of that failed landing, the stadium planned as a springboard for it was full of well-armed and at the same time not subordinate to anyone: it was on December 31 that the the weapons available in warehouses were also distributed there without restrictions to everyone who wanted to defend “free Ichkeria”. So our three helicopters would most likely have been burned over this stadium."8
January 1, 1995
Major Shavrin from the USO FSK: “On New Year’s Eve, in an armored personnel carrier, we marched to the Tolstoy-Yurt area and entered Grozny. I remember our column moved to 0.10
minutes of the first of January."9 Major Skobennikov: “In Tolstoy-Yurt we were assured that the route of our movement was absolutely safe and controlled by ours, we could move in a marching column. We entered, indeed, quite calmly. However, as it turned out, this part of the city was not controlled by anyone. That it was not controlled by ours - that's for sure."10
Major Shavrin: “The departure was unsuccessful. The guide from the corps, for unknown reasons, pressed the gas and disappeared around the corner, and we walked along Khmelnitsky street, Pervomaiskaya and drove out almost to the city center. They realized that they had driven in the wrong place, began to turn around, and on Khmelnitsky Square (probably Ordzhonikidze Square) they were fired upon from a nine-story building. The grenade hit the last armored vehicle, several people were wounded. But the group was taken out without losses."12 (judging by the fact that the next day 16 people from the USO FSK entered the city, there were 5 or 6 wounded)
Major Skobennikov: “While the column was turning towards one of our armored personnel carriers, a grenade launcher was fired from somewhere on the upper floors. We responded with a barrage of fire. The soldiers examined the surrounding buildings, but found no one. It turned out that the armored personnel carrier was damaged, and two of our guys were seriously wounded. New attempts to get in touch were again unsuccessful. We decided to return to Tolstoy-Yurt, spend the night, find a more intelligent guide and move to the city again at dawn."13
January 2, 1995
Major Shavrin: " Since morning let's go again. There are 16 of us, led by the head of airborne reconnaissance (Colonel Pavel Yakovlevich Popovskikh)."14 Meanwhile, "in ten o'clock in the morning on January 2 command post(8th Guards AK) settled in the basement of the plant."15
Major Skobennikov: " In the morning We moved to the city along the same route.<...>After some time, our convoy was overtaken by cars with medicines. They also went to the cannery and knew the way. We went together, but we didn’t break in at random. The soldiers dismounted and walked along the sidewalks, looking at the neighboring windows. Already on the way to the plant, we had to engage in a short battle with the militants who did not have time to leave the area. We arrived, however, without losses."16
From the description of the actions of the battalion under the command of Major Nikolai Sergeevich Nikulnikov: “Nikulnikov’s battalion enters Grozny. Its location is allocated in one of the buildings of the former cannery. It would seem that ours are already there. You can advance in a column. And the battalion commander dismounted and organized long before the approaches to the city patrols, combat guards, reconnaissance. The motorized rifle commander, who got to Grozny with him, opened his mouth when he saw how the landing groups were making their way through the “peaceful open” area - sometimes crawling, sometimes running, from cover to cover."17 (interesting , what motorized rifle unit are we talking about? 74th Omsbr?)
In A. Lyubimov's documentary "Chechnya. The Beginning of War" there is a video recording of Captain Igor Dementyev, filmed at a cannery. From the comments of senior lieutenant Vladimir Palkin it follows that the consolidated column in 13:35
was in a cannery. (Major Andrei Anatolyevich Nepryakhin and senior lieutenant Sergei Nikolaevich Romashenko, both from 218 about SpN18, were present in the frame)
Major Shavrin: “Soon they appeared before General Rokhlin and reported.<...>The corps commander entrusted us with a difficult task: to ensure the safety of the column routes along which military equipment and troops were moving forward. This is Lermontovskaya street ( Lermontov). There are houses and a private sector on one side, and high-rise buildings on the other. Militants in groups of 5-6 people made their way into houses and fired at the columns. And the street is completely clogged with combat vehicles, tankers, and vehicles with ammunition. In general, every shot is a hit and great damage, losses."19
According to Major Shavrin, the FSK USO also cleared the street. B. Khmelnitsky, although without specifying the date: “There were high-rise buildings on Bogdan Khmelnitsky Avenue - our petrochemists lived there: also Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars - the Soviet Union, in general. During the assault, the streets were deserted: some left, some were hiding in the basements. And this house also seemed to be empty. We cleared it."20
It is likely that from that moment on, the 45th Airborne Special Forces Ordnance Unit began operating in two different directions, because according to Major Skobennikov: “We were given another task: to liberate, together with the SOBR, from the Dudayevites Petropavlovskoe highway. We chose night time for work; darkness, as you know, is a special forces soldier’s friend. Technically, it looked something like this: they spent the whole day watching the block that was to be “cleared,” tracking every smallest detail. At night, the sappers were the first to move forward, remove the Chechen “tripwires” and install their own, blocking the possible retreat routes of Dudayev’s troops and the approach routes for reinforcements. Then the group quietly infiltrated the building, most often through some “unusual” opening, like a hole in the wall. They quieted down for a while, trying to determine the location of the militants by sounds, then slowly began to move, destroying the “spirits” with the help of silent and bladed weapons.<...>. More often than not, the matter ended with the help of silent weapons. If necessary, then grenades and everything else were used in full. Behind two nights we cleared Peter and Paul Fortress." (night of January 2/3 and January 3/4)
According to Major Shavrin, it was joint groups that cleared the street. Lermontov: “From our joint team with special forces paratroopers, we formed four groups and cleared the block of bandits. We set up ambushes, and when militants were found, we entered into battle. The bandits are afraid of open battle and avoid it. They have one tactic: bite-run, bite- run away... They soon realized that there were ambushes, there were special forces there, it was unsafe there. And the bandit raids stopped. Several blocks along the road were free."21
Major Skobennikov: “Sometimes they fired at our own people even after a warning, as happened on Lermontov Street. We notified everyone that we would be working. They advised us not to interfere under any circumstances. In one house it was not possible to work quietly, grenades were used. Here, out of nowhere, a tank - the explosion of its shell destroyed half a house. One of our soldiers was killed, one was wounded, another was shell-shocked."22 (it seems that what happened on January 4, 1995, when Private Sergei Alekseevich Dmitruk from 901 about SpN.23 died)
Major Shavrin: “How many lives we saved! We and the scouts of the 45th regiment. The Chechens didn’t fight at night. They didn’t have night vision devices. And the scouts and I went out at night, captured their lines and then met ours.”24
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
1 Mikhailov A. Chechen wheel. M., 2002. P. 71.
2 Boltunov M. Everyone has their own war... // Fact. 2002. No. 3. January 18. (http://www.mosoblpress.ru/balashiha/show.shtml?d_id=915)
3 Maksimov A., Shurygin V. Airborne Forces. Chechnya. Nobody except us. M., 2004. P. 189.
4 Shurygin V. Give me Argun, give me Shawl! // Tomorrow. 1999. December 14. (http://zavtra.ru/cgi/veil/data/zavtra/99/315/21.html)
5 Shurygin V. Chechnya. War. "Special Forces" // Maksimov A., Shurygin V. Airborne Forces. Chechnya. Nobody except us. M., 2004. P. 211.
6 Shurygin V. Give me Argun, give me Shawl! // Tomorrow. 1999. December 14.
7 Skobennikov A. Grozny sacrifice // Soldier of fortune. 1999. No. 5. (http://www.duel.ru/199928/?28_6_1)
8 Dobromyslova O. Mission Impossible // Russian newspaper. 2005. December 16. (http://www.rg.ru/2005/12/16/chechnya.html)
9 Boltunov M. Everyone has their own war... // Fact. 2002. No. 3. January 18.
10 Skobennikov A. Grozny sacrifice // Soldier of fortune. 1999. No. 5.
11 Skobennikov A. Betrayed and killed // Russian House. 1999. No. 3. (http://rd.rusk.ru/99/rd3/home3_4.htm)
12 Boltunov M. Everyone has their own war... // Fact. 2002. No. 3. January 18.
13 Skobennikov A. Grozny sacrifice // Soldier of fortune. 1999. No. 5.
14 Boltunov M. Everyone has their own war... // Fact. 2002. No. 3. January 18.
15 Antipov A. Lev Rokhlin. The life and death of a general. M., 1998. P. 155.
16 Skobennikov A. Grozny sacrifice // Soldier of fortune. 1999. No. 5.
17 Popov V. Professional // Gudok. 2002. December 12.
18 Lyubimov A. "Chechnya. The beginning of the war" - documentary footage filmed by servicemen of the Russian Army
19 Boltunov M. Everyone has their own war... // Fact. 2002. No. 3. January 18.
20 Dobromyslova O. Mission Impossible // Russian newspaper. 2005. December 16.
21 Boltunov M. Everyone has their own war... // Fact. 2002. No. 3. January 18.
22 Skobennikov A. Grozny sacrifice // Soldier of fortune. 1999. No. 5.
23 Russian Airborne Forces. M., 2005. P. 378.
24 Dobromyslova O. Mission impossible // Russian newspaper. 2005. December 16.
(to be continued...)
Thanks to cinema and television, most Russians know about the existence of special forces units that are subordinate to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU special forces). However, these special units are far from the only ones in the Russian armed forces; it’s just that their “colleagues” are less known and not so “publicized.” At the same time, in their professionalism and combat experience they are hardly inferior to the famous GRU special forces. First of all we're talking about about special forces units of the Airborne Forces of the Russian Federation or special forces of the Airborne Forces.
Special units of the Air Force airborne troops appeared quite a long time ago, back during the Great Patriotic War. In February 1994, on the basis of two separate special-purpose battalions, an airborne special forces regiment was formed. Closer to our time, this unit took an active part in both campaigns in the North Caucasus, and was later involved in the war with Georgia in 2008. Its permanent location is Kubinka, near Moscow. At the end of 2014, the airborne regiment was deployed into a brigade.
Despite the fact that the tasks performed by the GRU special forces and the Airborne Special Forces are largely similar, there are still differences between these units. However, before talking about the airborne special forces, a few words should be said about the history of special forces in general.
History of special forces
Units for special operations were created in the USSR almost immediately after the Bolsheviks came to power. The units were engaged in reconnaissance and subversive work in hostile territory. Pro-Soviet organizations were created in neighboring countries partisan detachments, whose work was supervised military intelligence from Moscow. In 1921, a special department was created in the Red Army, which was engaged in collecting intelligence information for the leadership of the Red Army.
Having survived several reorganizations, the intelligence department of the Red Army in 1940 was finally transferred to the subordination of the General Staff. The GRU special forces were created in 1950.
Special units of the Airborne Forces appeared in the 30s, immediately after the appearance of this type of troops in the USSR. First part of the Airborne Forces was formed in 1930 near Voronezh. Almost immediately, an obvious need arose to create our own airborne reconnaissance unit.
The fact is that the Airborne Forces are designed to perform specific functions - operations behind enemy lines, destruction of particularly important enemy targets, disruption of enemy communications, seizure of bridgeheads and other operations of a predominantly offensive nature.
To conduct a successful landing operation, preliminary reconnaissance of the landing site is necessary. Otherwise, the operation is in danger of failure - this happened many times during the Great Patriotic War, when poorly prepared landing operations cost the lives of thousands of paratroopers.
In 1994, on the basis of two separate special forces battalions of the Airborne Forces, the 901st and 218th, the 45th was formed separate regiment Airborne special forces. A few words should be said about the units that made up the regiment.
The 218th battalion was formed in 1992, and before joining the airborne special forces regiment, it managed to take part in several peacekeeping missions: in Abkhazia, Ossetia and Transnistria.
The history of the 901st battalion is much longer and richer. It was formed in 1979 in the Transcaucasian Military District as a separate air assault battalion, then was transferred to Europe, to the site of the intended theater of operations. At the end of the 80s, the Baltic states became the location of the unit. In 1992, the 901st battalion was renamed a separate parachute battalion and transferred to the subordination of the Airborne Forces headquarters.
In 1993, during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, the 901st battalion was located on the territory of Abkhazia, after which it was transferred to the Moscow region. In 1994, the unit became a separate special forces battalion and became part of the 45th Special Forces Regiment.
The regiment's military personnel took part in both Chechen campaigns and in the operation to force Georgia to peace in 2008. In 2005, the 45th Special Forces Regiment received the honorary title “Guards,” and the unit was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky. In 2009 he was awarded the St. George Banner.
In 2014, an airborne special forces brigade was formed on the basis of the 45th separate regiment.
More than 40 servicemen from the unit were killed in various conflicts. Many soldiers and officers of the regiment were awarded orders and medals.
Why do you need airborne special forces?
The functions of the Airborne Special Forces are very similar to those performed by their colleagues from the units of the Main Intelligence Directorate. However, there are still differences. And they are associated with specific tasks that the Airborne Forces must solve.
Of course, airborne special forces can conduct sabotage and reconnaissance operations behind enemy lines, but first of all they must prepare the possibility of landing for the main airborne units. The concept of “prepare” in this case is interpreted very broadly. First of all, we are talking about reconnaissance of the landing area: management is obliged to have maximum information about where the paratroopers will land and what awaits them there.
In addition, scouts, if necessary, prepare a landing site. This could be the capture of an enemy airfield or a small bridgehead. If necessary, sabotage is carried out in the area, infrastructure is destroyed, communications are disrupted, chaos and panic are created. Airborne special forces can also conduct operations to capture and short-term hold important objects behind enemy lines. Most often, such work is carried out during offensive operations.
One more difference should be noted between the special forces of the GRU and the Airborne Forces. Units of the Main Intelligence Directorate can operate anywhere on the planet (it’s not for nothing that their emblem depicts Earth). Airborne special forces usually operate closer, within the flight range of airborne transport aircraft, usually no further than two thousand kilometers.
Airborne special forces are rightfully considered the elite of the Russian army. Therefore, the requirements for training and equipment of fighters are very strict. Not everyone is able to pass the selection process and become a fighter in this unit. An airborne special forces fighter must be resistant to stress, endurance, and have excellent command of all types of weapons. Special forces have to operate deep behind enemy lines, without any support from big land", carrying tens of kilograms of weapons, ammunition and equipment.
The unit's fighters are equipped with the best types of weapons, ammunition, and equipment of Russian and foreign production. They don't spare money for special forces. It should be noted that any special forces (Russian or American) is a very expensive “pleasure”. The Vintorez sniper rifle, Kalashnikov assault rifles of the 100 series, large-caliber rifles of domestic production - this is not a complete list small arms, which is used by scouts.
July 25 is the Day of Formation of the 45th Separate Airborne Special Forces Regiment, now the 45th Separate Guards Order of Kutuzov and Alexander Nevsky Airborne Special Forces Brigade.
The 45th Separate Guards Order of Kutuzov and Alexander Nevsky Special Purpose Regiment of the Airborne Troops (45th Guards Special Forces Special Forces Airborne Forces) was formed in February 1994 on the basis of the 218th Special Assault Regiment and the 901st Special Assault Regiment.
901st separate air assault battalion for special purposes.
The 901st ODSB was formed on the basis of an order from the Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces on the territory of the Transcaucasian Military District by the end of the 70s.
Then this battalion was moved to Czechoslovakia, where it was included in the structure of the Central Military Command. On November 20, 1979, the Oremov Laz garrison in Slovenia became the new location of the 901st Separate Specialized Assault Brigade (some sources indicate the garrison in Rijeka as the location).
The battalion was equipped with approximately 30 BMD-1 airborne combat vehicles. In March 1989, the number of TsGV troops began to decline, and this process affected 901 ADSB. At the turn of March and April, the entire battalion was moved to Latvian Aluksne, where it was enrolled in the PribVO.
1979 - formed on the territory of the Transcaucasian Military District as the 901st separate airborne assault battalion
1979 - transferred to the Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia
1989 - transferred to the Baltic Military District (Aluksne)
May 1991 - transferred to the Transcaucasian Military District (Sukhumi)
August 1992 - transferred to the command of the Airborne Forces headquarters and renamed the 901st separate parachute battalion
1992 - transferred as a separate battalion to the 7th Guards Airborne Division
1993 - during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, he performed tasks for the protection and defense of military and government facilities on the territory of Abkhazia
October 1993 - transferred to the Moscow region
February 1994 - reorganized into the 901st separate special forces battalion
February 1994 - transferred to the newly formed 45th separate special forces regiment (Airborne)
218th separate air assault battalion for special purposes
In 1972, the 778th separate special-purpose radio company of 85 people was formed as part of the Airborne Forces. The main task of this unit was to drive the landing aircraft to the drop point, for which groups of this company had to land behind enemy lines ahead of time and deploy the drive equipment there. In 1975, the company was reorganized into the 778th OR REP, and in February 1980 - into the 899th separate special-purpose company with a strength of 117 people. In 1988, the 899th Special Forces Regiment was reorganized into the 899th Special Forces Company (with a staff of 105 people) as part of the 196th Airborne Forces. The company was later deployed to the 218th separate air assault battalion.
July 25, 1992 - formed in the Moscow Military District. The permanent deployment points were located in the Moscow region.
June-July 1992 - took part as peacekeeping forces in Transnistria
September-October 1992 - took part as a peacekeeping force in North Ossetia
December 1992 - took part as a peacekeeping force in Abkhazia
February 1994 - transferred to the newly formed 45th separate special-purpose airborne regiment
History of the 45th Guards. separate reconnaissance regiment of the Airborne Forces.
By July 1994, the regiment was fully formed and equipped. By order of the Commander of the Airborne Forces, in order of historical continuity, the day of formation of the 45th regiment is specified to be considered the day of formation of the 218th battalion - July 25, 1992.
On December 2, 1994, the regiment was transferred to Chechnya to participate in the liquidation of illegal armed groups. Units of the regiment took part in hostilities until February 12, 1995, when the regiment was transferred back to its permanent location in the Moscow region. From March 15 to June 13, 1995, a combined detachment of the regiment operated in Chechnya.
On July 30, 1995, an obelisk was unveiled on the territory of the regiment's deployment in Sokolniki in honor of the soldiers of the regiment who died during the fighting.
On May 9, 1995, for services to the Russian Federation, the regiment was awarded a Presidential Certificate Russian Federation, and the military personnel of the regiment as part of the consolidated airborne battalion took part in the parade on Poklonnaya Hill dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany.
From February to May 1997, the combined detachment of the regiment was in Gudauta as part of a peacekeeping mission in the zone of separation of the Georgian and Abkhaz armed forces.
On July 26, 1997, the regiment was awarded the Battle Banner and Certificate of the 5th Guards Airborne Rifle Mukachevo Order of Kutuzov III Class Regiment, disbanded on June 27, 1945.
On May 1, 1998, the regiment was renamed the 45th separate reconnaissance regiment of the Airborne Forces. The 901st separate special forces battalion was disbanded in the spring of 1998; in 2001, a line battalion was created on its basis
special purpose as part of the regiment (called “901st” according to old habit).
From September 1999 to March 2006, the regiment's combined reconnaissance detachment took part in the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus.
On February 2, 2001, the regiment was awarded the pennant of the Minister of Defense “for courage, military valor and high combat skills.”
On August 8, 2001, a new memorial Complex in memory of the soldiers of the regiment who died while performing combat missions. Every year, on January 8, the regiment celebrates the Day of Remembrance of Fallen Soldiers.
In April-July 2005, it was decided to transfer to the 45th Regiment the Battle Banner, the title “Guards” and the Order of Alexander Nevsky, which belonged to the 119th Guards Parachute Regiment, which was disbanded in the same year. The ceremony of transferring the honors took place on August 2, 2005.
In 2007, the 218th separate special forces battalion was reorganized into a linear battalion, losing its numbering and status as a separate military unit. Since that time, the regiment has consisted of two line battalions.
The name of the regiment was returned to the 45th separate special purpose regiment of the Airborne Forces.
In August 2008, units of the regiment took part in the operation to force Georgia to peace. Regimental officer, Hero of Russia Anatoly Lebed was awarded the Order of St. George, IV degree.
On July 25, 2009, on the day of the regimental holiday, a small consecration of the throne of the garrison church of the 45th separate guards regiment, consecrated in honor of the icon, took place in Kubinka Mother of God"Blessed Sky"
By Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 170 of February 9, 2011, the regiment was the first in modern history awarded the Order of Kutuzov.
The presentation of the award took place on April 4, 2011 at the regiment's headquarters in Kubinka. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev personally attached the badge and ribbon of the order to the regiment's St. George banner.
In May-June 2012, the regiment's reconnaissance platoon participated in joint exercises with the Green Berets at the American military base of the 10th Special Forces Group, located at Fort Carson.
In the spring of 2014, a separate reconnaissance detachment of the regiment took part in the operation to annex Crimea to the Russian Federation.
During general increase number Russian Airborne Forces at the end of 2014, the 45th separate regiment was deployed into a brigade.
Battle path
1994-1995 - First Chechen war
1997 - Georgian-Abkhaz conflict
1999—2006 — Second Chechen War
2008 — Georgian-Ossetian conflict
2010 — ensuring the safety of Russian citizens on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic
Commanders
Kolygin, Viktor Dmitrievich - 1994-2003
Kontsevoy, Anatoly Georgievich - 2003-2006
Shulishov, Alexander Anatolyevich - 2006-2012
Pankov, Vadim Ivanovich - 08.2012 - present.
Regimental awards
August 2, 2005 - The title “Guards” and the Order of Alexander Nevsky were transferred from the disbanded 119th Guards Parachute Regiment.
February 9, 2011 - Order of Kutuzov “For the successful completion of combat missions of the command and the courage and heroism shown by the regiment personnel.”
Heroes
218th separate battalion (before inclusion in the regiment)
For courage and heroism in carrying out peacekeeping missions in 1992, many servicemen of the battalion were awarded government awards.
901st separate battalion (before inclusion in the regiment)
Order "For Personal Courage" - 43 people
Medal "For Courage" - 21 people
Medal "For Military Merit" - 27 people
45th separate regiment
Heroes of the Russian Federation:
Hero of the Russian Federation Vadim Alekseevich Gridnev
Hero of the Russian Federation Ermakov Vitaly Yurievich (posthumously)
Hero of the Russian Federation Zhidkov Dmitry Vasilievich (posthumously)
Hero of the Russian Federation Lais Alexander Viktorovich (posthumously)
Hero of the Russian Federation Lebed Anatoly Vyacheslavovich
Hero of the Russian Federation Andrey Anatolyevich Nepryakhin
Hero of the Russian Federation Vadim Ivanovich Pankov
Hero of the Russian Federation Alexey Viktorovich Romanov
Hero of the Russian Federation Rumyantsev Alexey Viktorovich (posthumously)
Hero of the Russian Federation Pyotr Karlovich Yatsenko (posthumously)
Awarded for completing combat missions:
Order of St. George - 1 person
Order of Courage - more than 100 people
Order of Military Merit - more than 40 people
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" - 3 people
St. George's Cross - about 40 people
Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree with swords - 60 people
Medal "For Courage" - 174 people
More than 180 people received the Suvorov Medal
More than 60 people received the Zhukov Medal
Regimental combat losses
During participation in hostilities, the regiment lost 43 people killed, more than 80 servicemen were wounded.
45th Separate Special Purpose Regiment of the Airborne Forces
Special forces units are separate units of troops that are designed to carry out special missions and operations. They can be part of the navy, ground and air forces, or part of the police and internal authorities. They use special tactics and means to carry out operations.
One type of special forces is the airborne special forces. This is a special forces unit that is part of the airborne forces. The Airborne Special Forces were formed in Russia in 1994. On the basis of two special purpose battalions - the 901st OBSpN and 218 OBSpN, a single 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment was formed. By July 1994 it was fully equipped. Already in December, the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment was sent to the war in Chechnya to destroy armed gangs.
Separate units of the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment took part in hostilities until February 1995, and from March to June of the same year, a free detachment of the regiment continued to operate in Chechnya. The 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment is considered one of the most legendary in military history Russia - many of its soldiers and officers were awarded medals and orders, including the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
Airborne special forces weapons
Airborne special forces are equipped with more quality equipment, equipment, weapons than the rest of the troops, and this requires a lot of funding. Airborne special forces use weapons that are rarely available to conventional troops. For example, the SVD rifle is often used, which is very powerful and reliable. There is a known case when a good shooter shot down a jet attack aircraft with an SVD rifle, hitting the pilot.
Very often the so-called “Vintorez” is used - a silent sniper rifle. With its help, a well-trained sniper can hit a target at great distances. The Vintorez rifle is so powerful that it can penetrate a steel helmet at a distance of up to 400 meters. The first use of Vintorez occurred during the First Chechen War. Vintorez is available only to special forces units; regular troops do not have access to this weapon.
Many countries use the Steyr AUG universal rifle to equip special forces. This weapon is designed for combat in urban environments and for performing lightning-fast combat missions. The rifle's magazine is made of translucent material, which even allows you to visually control the number of cartridges remaining in the magazine.
The Steyr rifle is automatic - it is also possible to install a grenade launcher, which makes it truly universal and indispensable for carrying out tasks by special units. It is not for nothing that at the end of the 19th century, Austria-Hungary adopted the very first sniper rifle from this company - the Steyr Mannlicher. This already indicated at that time that the weapon was reliable and effective. Since then, the rating of Stair's weapons has not decreased. Stair rifles entered service with the Airborne Special Forces quite recently, but they have already earned the respect of soldiers for their fighting qualities.
One of the types of weapons that are supplied to airborne special forces soldiers is the AS “Val”. This machine is silent weapon, which is why it is used by special forces in sabotage operations. AS "Val" has the ability to attach night and sniper sights to it, which allows you to identify targets at a distance of up to 300 meters. AS "Val" is usually transported in a special case; its assembly takes from 30 to 60 seconds, depending on how prepared the shooter is.
Many countries purchase Russian export, so-called “hundredth” versions of the Kalashnikov assault rifle. This list also includes the AK-103 assault rifle. This weapon is much more effective than a conventional Kalash, and is therefore used by the armies of many countries. Moreover, the AK-103 is also used by some special forces units.
Another interesting version of the modernization of the Kalashnikov assault rifle is the AK-74M assault rifle. The AK-74M has the ability to mount an optical and night sight, and a stock that can be folded to the side. It is possible to use an attached grenade launcher, which is very important and convenient for special units. This is why the AK-74M is used by many special types of troops.
Also notable among the modifications is the AKS-74 model - a shortened Kalashnikov assault rifle. Moreover, the mobility and compactness of the machine gun does not make it worse in terms of characteristics in comparison with versions with a long barrel. The AKS-74 is complete in every sense, and is capable of hitting a target at a distance of more than 400 meters.
But of all the versions of Kalashnikov weapons, the most powerful, of course, remains the machine gun. Moreover, there are so many variations of the Kalashnikov Machine Gun that it is used from weapons of transport to infantrymen. The Kalashnikov machine gun was developed back in the 60s of the last century, but its popularity and the popularity of modified versions has not faded to this day. Many countries use the Kalashnikov machine gun, including for arming special units.
If in the arsenal of conventional troops all famous machine gun Kalashnikov, then the special forces use the PKM - a modernized Kalashnikov machine gun. The power of the PKM is significantly greater than that of a conventional machine gun and therefore the machine gun is used in special forces for assault operations.
Another popular weapon among all airborne special forces weapons is the Pecheneg machine gun. The Pecheneg machine gun is developed on the basis of the PKM and is suitable both for destroying enemy personnel and for hitting firing and transport positions and air targets. Widely used in many countries, Russia actively exports the “Pecheneg” machine gun.
In addition to the Kalashnikov assault rifle, a very similar weapon, the AN-94 Abakan, is widely used. This machine gun is created according to the classic design, with a clip in front, like the Kalash. The AN-94 Abakan is distinguished by its particular accuracy and accuracy of shots. For example, from a distance of one hundred meters, a good shooter can hit the same point on the target with two shots. This makes the AN-94 Abakan suitable for special combat operations, where the lives of many people depend on the accuracy of the shot.
In addition to all those used by special forces and Airborne troops rifles, machine guns and machine guns, RPG-26 grenades are widely used. These grenades were developed back in the 80s of the last century and since that time have been in constant service with the army. This once again confirms the effectiveness of RPG-26 grenades both against manpower and equipment and various fortifications and positions. RPG-26 grenades generally play a big role in the conduct of any combat operations, which is why they are used so widely in any wars.
Features of special forces units
Airborne special forces troops have a special status due to their specific activities. Each special forces mission requires special weapons, equipment, and equipment. Consequently, funding for special forces units is significantly greater than funding for other troops. The preparatory level of soldiers has an enhanced training base and special training centers. The most powerful centers train special forces for the Airborne Forces.
Usually, they serve in the airborne special forces under a contract. The contract is due to the high cost of the exercise and preparatory tests. As a rule, a contract in the Airborne Forces is concluded for no less than three years. The special forces of the Airborne Forces have a very high level of moral, physical, ideological and psychological training, which is due to the need for future special forces soldiers to work in special conditions.
Airborne special forces require special weapons and equipment, as mentioned earlier. This is due to the specific operating conditions of the departments. Therefore, the equipment and weapons of the troops are of a very narrow profile. Reconnaissance companies, battalions and other special forces perform tasks autonomously and in extreme conditions. This type of unit is also engaged in reconnaissance. Usually special forces are thrown behind enemy lines, where the most important strategic points and centers are located.
Special forces of the Airborne Forces (Russian landing forces) travel very long distances on foot and carry all the equipment and equipment on themselves, which requires special training under a contract in the Airborne Forces. Our military store offers a wide selection of paratrooper symbols, which can be purchased at the best prices. Photo of a soldier of the 45th Separate Special Forces Special Forces:
A brief history of airborne special forces
There were no official special forces of the USSR Airborne Forces. Similar units in Russia date back to the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment in 1994. After the withdrawal of these troops from Chechnya in 1995, a monument was unveiled in Sokolniki in honor of those killed during military operations. In May of the same year, the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment was awarded a diploma from the President of the Russian Federation, and the regiment took part in the parade on Poklonnaya Hill in honor of the victory over the Nazis 50 years ago.
From the winter to the spring of 1997, a detachment of the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment took part in peacekeeping operations in Gudauta, the zone of separation of forces of Abkhazia and Georgia. In the summer of the same year, 45 Guards. OPSPN were presented with the Battle Banner and a certificate of the Order of Kutuzov, 3rd degree. From the autumn of 1999 to the spring of 2006, a detachment of the regiment participated in operations against terrorists in the North Caucasus. In the summer of 2001, a memorial was opened in Kubinka in honor of the fallen soldiers of the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment. Every year, Days of Remembrance for fallen soldiers take place within the regiment. The glory of the Airborne Forces comes precisely from such heroes, in whose honor the monument was erected.
In February 2008 it was renamed the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment of the Order of Alexander Nevsky. In the summer of the same year, individual units participated in operations to persuade Georgia to peace. Officer Anatoly Lebed was awarded the Order of St. George, IV degree. In the spring of 2010, a group of regiment soldiers carried out tasks for the security of Russian citizens on the territory of Kyrgyzstan. In 2012, the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment participated in joint exercises with the Green Berets in America, at Fort Carson.
Creativity associated with airborne special forces
About heroic deeds and the operations of the special forces of the Russian Airborne Forces, many films have been shot and many songs have been written. Many materials are also presented in the Voenpro informational feed. Read about this in our numerous articles. Watch movies and listen to music - Voenpro has it all. The airborne special forces in Chechnya went through a lot and greatly influenced the course of the war. Therefore, war veterans deserve eternal memory and respect. A bunch of documentaries they talk about what it was like for the soldiers in Chechnya. They talk about the horrors they saw and what they went through.
A huge number of songs are still written about veterans of the Chechen war and about those who died in it. Comrades sing songs in honor and memory of their fallen friends, in honor of those with whom they were in conditions of life and death. There are also many amateur films on the Internet, both of combat operations and other special operations. The special forces of the Russian Airborne Forces are extremely popular among young people and many also want to serve in it.
Facilities mass media created a certain cult of airborne special forces, which is why it is so popular today. Young people are simply “dizzy” at the thought that they can freely use weapons and kill people. Computer games and television is filled with murder and violence, and people turn into animals ready to tear to pieces the enemy.
So, many films related to the actions of the airborne special forces in Chechnya can be found here. Videos of airborne special forces can be found, for example, this landing video:
An interesting clip was made about the special forces of the Airborne Forces “Leshy” - Vyacheslav Korneev. This clip can be viewed at the following link:
45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment - soldiers of the future
Oddly enough, in Chechnya the special forces are well remembered and known about it. Only the information that special forces of the Russian Airborne Forces would soon approach forced the militants to leave their positions and leave their place of stay. When was the first Chechen war, the leadership Chechen militants promised a huge bonus to anyone who could bring at least one soldier of the 45th regiment into captivity. But no one received such a prize, because during those hostilities, not a single special forces soldier of the Russian Airborne Forces ended up with the Chechens, either dead or alive.
The 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment is, one might say, the youngest part of the Russian army. The regiment was created from two battalions in order to be ready to fight the Cold War. The units were supposed to conduct active reconnaissance and sabotage operations, mainly behind enemy lines. They also had to prepare a place for the landing of landing troops. Considering that the airborne special forces were created after “ cold war“, he is still able to solve such problems and prevent such situations.
Ever since the Soviet troops were brought into Afghanistan, the Russian Armed Forces have been constantly involved in resolving various conflicts. Therefore, when the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment was formed, there was already enough experience to make the soldiers universal and truly prepared for war. In addition, many foreign developments and technologies were introduced, which affected the quality of the created special forces of the Russian Airborne Forces only in a positive way. Therefore, the main goal and purpose of the special forces soldiers of the Russian Airborne Forces is to resolve any military conflicts and problems of a local nature.
Consequently, the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment is a unique combat unit in Russia, which has all the necessary weapons, equipment, and devices to accomplish its missions. In addition to the battalions directly comprising the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment, it also has a detachment of aircraft that do not require pilots, a special purpose detachment for solving extremely important tasks, and a detachment for performing psychological operations.
The main task of the psychological detachment of the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment is to demoralize and disorientate the enemy troops - that is, to destroy his faith in victory, in the meaning of resistance. Moreover, the detachment can turn “for” neutral civilians who have not yet decided which side to defend. And this is especially important in our information era. Therefore, the psychological detachment of the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment, among other things, also has a compact television station, which provides the opportunity to broadcast programs within a radius of ten kilometers. That is, the influence on the civilian population is thus intensified.
The capabilities of the special forces of the Russian Airborne Forces are enormous. The core of the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment are special units. These units did not arise, naturally, without reason - the battalions combined into one regiment already had accumulated experience under their feet. Battalion fighters fought during the Transnistrian conflict, and regimental fighters took part in operations during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. Basically, during the Georgian-Abkhaz war, the special forces of the Russian Airborne Forces ensured the safety of civilians and refugees.
But it was not only in the war that the fighters showed their worth. For several years, during international competitions of special units that take place in Bulgaria, the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment has taken first place, beating the Green Berets and British special forces.
But the goal to achieve the status of a universal airborne special forces soldier is not so close. If previously ordinary conscripts entered the school, now there are few of them. Consequently, there is no one to choose soldiers from. Previously, almost all applicants had sports categories in several categories, but now there are only a few such conscripts.
Basically, people enter service under a contract in the Airborne Forces, and from these recruits it is practically impossible to choose anyone intelligent. Units only have higher or special education, and the majority have the usual completed secondary. And then there is joy - if it is completed. But even such applicants are turned into real Russian special forces. First of all, the applicant undergoes many psychological and physical tests to determine his readiness and ability to serve in these troops.
After they determine your personal characteristics, they tell you what military specialty you are heading to. For example, people of a very calm and balanced character are better suited than anyone else to work as a sniper or sapper of the airborne special forces. The remaining part of the recruits who were not distributed anywhere are transferred to support units or to other military units.
After this type of selection there is a quarantine, an oath, and then, naturally, they move on to the exercises. To say that it is very difficult to serve in the airborne special forces, for example, in military unit 33842, is the same as remaining silent. Constant training is replaced by forced marches and night shooting, facade mountaineering is replaced by tactical exercises or sapper training. And so constantly in a circle.
Naturally, not all potential special forces fighters of the Russian Airborne Forces can withstand such loads and pace. Therefore, after about six months, only about forty percent of those new students who entered are left. Moreover, the number is decreasing for various reasons. Some people develop health problems from such stress, some cannot stand it physically, some are kicked out by commanders due to poor performance. Those places that remain from the departed airborne special forces are filled with the best paratroopers. As a result, after the first year of training, no one turns into real fighters Airborne elites who are fluent in weapons and various devices.
But it should be noted that, despite the complexity of the training and workload, there are no fewer people willing to serve in the special forces of the Russian Airborne Forces. All this is because the service is very interesting and useful for guys. There is no hazing here, and service in the 45th Special Operations Division great start for work and service in other structures of the internal bodies of the state. After finishing your service, you will be gladly hired into any type of security, security and protection, or secret units. The 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment offers excellent military and career prospects for a young man who can endure difficult service and workloads.
The result of your studies may be, if you wish, participation in hostilities. Although the experience accumulated by previous generations is little used as usual in our country, the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment resolves many issues independently. The soldiers have manuals that are printed by some regiment officers, which leads to the correspondence of what is written with reality. Nowadays, when the main actions in Chechnya have ended, the role of the airborne special forces, which can very usefully carry out reconnaissance, search and all sorts of raid missions, is significantly increasing. Therefore, the complete withdrawal of special forces of the Russian Airborne Forces from Chechnya is not yet planned in the near future.
IN given time Airborne special forces in Chechnya operate as a free detachment near the village of Khatuni. The importance of this place is very great for the state, and therefore special forces have enormous tasks and responsibilities on their shoulders. The combined detachment also includes units of the FSB, special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and others. Everyone has their own tasks within common goal. Fire training of fighters in this operation is especially important, so the exercises train fighters as needed. The loads are enormous, because of this, fighters lose five or even eight kilograms in a couple of months, even taking into account the fact that the nutrition here is enhanced.
Moreover, the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB sometimes have to perform tasks that are not within their competence. Therefore, they work together with the special forces of the Airborne Forces in Chechnya, which specializes in this type of combat operations. All these parts of the squad are friends with each other and actively help and support each other in difficult situations in order to achieve a common goal. No one pays attention to departmental subordination in this situation.
Some part of the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment is stationed in Sokolniki. There they are in the barracks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. And this unit is very actively fighting to be part of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, according to all official documents. And there are several reasons for this.
Historically, the Preobrazhensky Regiment is the first regiment of regular weapons in Russia. And the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment - one might say, the first regiment new army Russia, regiment of the future. And the attitude towards fighters is completely new, compared to the old views. Now every airborne special forces soldier is a valuable asset into which a lot of finance and other resources have been invested. Previously, fighters were cannon fodder without much specific training, whom no one valued or counted in the war.
Now the fighters are highly professional and qualified. Now the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment is the place where experienced and skilled special forces personnel are trained. Many of those who went through this school serve in internal organs, Alpha, Omega and many other promising places. But it is worth noting that after many years of service in the regiment, most officers do not want to be transferred to other places for a service that is more promising. This is because over the years, the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment has truly become a family and home for them, which they cannot and do not want to leave.
The regiment itself has developed special psychological and moral principles that make its officers friendly and brotherly. This can be seen from the fact that those officers who retired and settled well regularly sponsor those fighting in Chechnya. It is interesting to note that veterans of the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment help not only with material means.
It happened that when we had to replace fighters in the Caucasus in 1999, there was no suitable replacement. Then the reserve officers decided to come to the aid of the regiment. They abandoned their lucrative official and career positions and formed their own detachment of veterans, which went to the Caucasus. Their very first task was to occupy an important height and ensure that they would repel enemy attacks for four hours. At this time, the regiment was able to train new special forces soldiers of the Russian Airborne Forces to send them to the Caucasus.
Over all the years of existence of the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment, its officers have not stopped fighting. All conflicts that occurred in Chechnya, Bosnia, Dagestan, Kosovo were resolved with the help of special forces of the Russian Airborne Forces. During this period, there were awards from the minister and awards to five soldiers of the regiment as Heroes of Russia. And, oddly enough, various accusations were also present in the history of the regiment. But, be that as it may, the airborne special forces are still the real elite of the Russian army.
His warriors performed excellently during all conflicts and wars. A bunch of enemy weapons and drug warehouses were found, many civilian lives were saved, and many disasters were prevented. As a result, the officers have earned their proud existence with a strong and resilient body, and the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment is truly a regiment of the future.
News related to airborne special forces
There is news that the special forces of the Russian Airborne Forces recently adopted a foreign Steyr Mannlicher rifle. Their total number that the soldiers received was more than thirty units. A representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense spoke about this news airborne troops Alexander Kucherenko. He says these are the first Mannlicher rifles of foreign origin to enter the regiment. In general, the purchase of Austrian weapons began in 2010.
Moreover, they say that the supply of Austrian sniper rifles will not end there, and the regiment will be provided with them regularly. The fighters have already completed all the necessary training courses on how to use of this weapon in the centers of the Ministry of Defense and are ready to use it. They do not specify which model of the Mannlicher rifle was adopted. Before this, the airborne special forces used the SVD sniper rifle.
They also say that the replenishment also affected equipment. The number of aircraft that do not require a pilot has increased significantly. Again, it does not say which devices were received. The Airborne Special Forces also received about two dozen reconnaissance location stations, more than three dozen other reconnaissance devices and several ground observation stations.
More about what's new
It was recently reported that an airborne special forces detachment destroyed a monument to the fallen SS soldiers in Lithuania. The state is trying by all possible means to prove that no such order was officially submitted from the headquarters. They're still trying to figure out what's going on.
According to the first information, it turns out that the commander of the airborne special forces detachment took all the blame upon himself. It seems that he, having gotten drunk, gave the order to his detachment, which at that moment was on training exercises in the Pskov region, to cross the border with Lithuania and destroy the SS monument there. The state confirms this version, citing the fact that there was no communication with the headquarters during the exercises, and therefore he could not give such an order according to objective reasons. The airborne special forces commander himself is under guard and cannot comment on this matter.
The fact is that no one would probably have known that it was the special forces of the Airborne Forces who destroyed the monument, but surveillance cameras recorded the crime. But the detachment worked so quietly that not a single civilian and not a single policeman saw the action itself. In addition, microphones were installed on the cameras.
And the Lithuanian government heard everything that the Russian airborne special forces said about those who allowed the installation of the SS monument. In general, at first the Lithuanian government was at a loss, because it is not every day that a special forces detachment of the Russian Airborne Forces destroys a monument in the center of a Lithuanian city. It couldn't even believe it if it weren't for the video. The Russian government did not initially give any comments, but was forced to do so under the influence of photographic evidence provided to it. Now all the details of the circumstances are being clarified.
One day of training
The Airborne Special Forces detachment moved very secretly and quietly through the dense forest. On all sides the detachment had gun muzzles sticking out, ready to fire at any necessary moment. The soldiers walked, covering each other, constantly observing and analyzing the situation around them. It was necessary to constantly listen and sniff everything around.
It was already the third day of training, and the scouts of the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment were actively preparing for the previous competitions. The main composition of the detachment is soldiers who are under contract in the Airborne Forces and young conscript soldiers. The instructor said that in order to fully train a full-fledged airborne special forces soldier, it takes at least three years. It turns out that the conscripts were of no use, and they do not support the group in any way. Although, the detachment commander said that the conscripts have shown themselves very well in recent days and they are not a burden.
In addition to the detachment commanders, the group also included snipers, demolitions and signalmen. Of course, each has his own type of activity, task and specialization, but in the case of a missing link, each of the fighters is able to replace the other in a full-fledged manner. The special forces of the Russian Airborne Forces are, indeed, universal soldiers capable of performing a wide variety of tasks.
The detachment's weapons were very diverse. Some fighters had in their hands sniper rifles SVD, others received Vintorez as their weapon. Some of the fighters were also armed with Kalashnikov machine guns. Of course, all fighters are trained to master bladed weapons in an excellent manner, so everyone must have a blade. In addition, everyone has pistols, and in some cases - with a silencer.
On this day of exercises, the tasks were very diverse and varied. At first, airborne special forces fighters had to carefully move through the forest, well camouflaged and preparing for a possible attack. After this, it was supposed to simulate the injury of one of the fighters and provide him with first aid. After this, it was necessary to capture the car, taking the enemy from it, and at the end it was necessary to overcome the water barrier.
The squad members had a wide variety of clothing and equipment, but mostly of high quality. In general, the airborne special forces soldiers wore what they didn’t mind and what was cheaper and better. This was explained primarily by the fact that the soldiers dressed entirely at their own expense. But, since the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment are universal soldiers, they are accustomed to working in the most diverse and specific conditions.
The shoes attracted particular attention. It was, oddly enough, non-standard, but, apparently, comfortable, high quality and expensive. What also aroused interest was what the airborne special forces soldiers use - socks or foot wraps. It turned out that there is no special law; you can wear both the first and the other. The only difference is which one is more convenient to use. Shoes are very important for airborne special forces, because they have to carry weight on themselves, sometimes reaching forty to fifty kilograms, but in this case they told me that the weight was about twenty to thirty kilograms.
After the detachment left the forest, the fighters crossed the road and successfully clashed with an unexpected enemy, as a result of which one of the special forces soldiers of the Russian Airborne Forces was seriously wounded. The wound was in the lower limb, and another bullet hit the eye. Everything was complicated by the fact that there was active bleeding that needed to be stopped.
The injured Airborne Special Forces soldier had his leg tied with a tourniquet and his head heavily bandaged. After this, it was necessary to inject the drug into a vein. The injection was done for real, only instead of cardiac stimulants, ordinary harmless glucose was injected.
Before capturing the enemy, the airborne special forces detachment split up on different sides of the road. As the truck approached the required distance, bags of paint flew into the windshield.
Under real conditions, bullets would have flown, but since there were exercises, bags of paint were flying. After this, the detachment successfully captured the prisoner. This took about thirty seconds. The 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment, as always, worked promptly and professionally. What aroused interest was what they do with the prisoner, because he can also remain silent, as we often see in films. But I was informed that such situations when a prisoner is silent practically never happen in history.
If the prisoner refuses to speak, the following psychological and physical methods from the airborne special forces, that his will breaks and he gives out everything that is needed. After interrogation, the fate of the captured person can be decided in two ways. The first is that he will be left alive if the Russian Airborne Forces special forces command still needs him. Then his will is limited, but he remains alive. If there is no longer any need for the prisoner, he can be destroyed.
When the time came to carry out the last task, that is, to cross the river, the soldiers were noticeably happy. The airborne special forces took off everything except their hats and T-shirts. In combat conditions, black fins are used for swimming, but during exercises - yellow ones, so that if they are lost they can be found. After completely collecting the things and packing them in special waterproof bags, the airborne special forces tied weapons to them. Next, a rope is tied from plastic bottles.
Two swimmers swim to the other side, and the rest prepare for swimming and defend themselves. When two special forces soldiers of the Russian Airborne Forces crossed, the next two floated, using a rope made of bottles to facilitate movement. And so the swimming continues. After all the soldiers of the detachment moved to the other side, everyone was very tired and hungry. The commander said that the detachment had four to five hours to rest, and after that they could move on. If, of course, it is necessary.
Sergeant of the 45th separate special purpose reconnaissance regiment of the Airborne Forces Valery K., grenade launcher of the 4th reconnaissance group of the 1st reconnaissance company of the 901st separate special forces battalion.
By the time I was drafted into the army (June 1994), I already had a sports rank in rock climbing and prizes at youth competitions in Apatity Murmansk region- I lived there until the mid-90s. That’s why they took me to the 45th regiment, I didn’t fit in height, they took guys with a height of 180 cm, but in those years there was a wild shortage of people, besides, I had already done several parachute jumps, we jumped in the winter of 1989 at the Murmashi airfield. In general, a kid came with jumping and rock climbing skills - practically a ready-made saboteur. The military commissar says to me: “You are not the right height, but with your athletic training, we can send you to special forces. Understand, it will be very difficult for you... Are you ready?” And in the parachute club where we trained, the instructors were Afghans, healthy, cheerful men in vests, some with military awards. Of course, I also wanted to be like them! I say: “Of course, I can handle it!” And from the very beginning, I was determined to go to a combat company, and not to support. That's how I ended up in the 45th Regiment.
901 SEPARATE SPECIAL PURPOSE BATTALION
The 45th regiment at that time consisted of two battalions - 218 separate battalion (commander - Major Andrei Anatolyevich Nepryakhin, future Hero of Russia) and 901 separate battalion (commander - Major Nikolai Sergeevich Nikulnikov), a three-company composition of 4 reconnaissance groups in each company. The regiment also included auxiliary units - a communications company (signalmen were scattered among reconnaissance groups), a special weapons company, an armored personnel carrier driver and gunner, and AGS crews. The reconnaissance company numbered 52-54 people, so a combined detachment of about 150 people operated in Grozny: 2nd company (commander - captain Andrei Vladimirovich Zelenkovsky) 218 special forces, 1st (commander - senior lieutenant Vyacheslav Nikolaevich Nikolakhin) and 3rd ( commander - captain Cherdantsev) of company 901 special forces.
I can characterize all my immediate commanders as very professional, cruel and very cheerful people (such a complex combination). I am immensely grateful to them, and to this day, a quarter after the Grozny battles, I remember them. But this is never forgotten...
“Healthy, bald, with their appearance and habits they were more reminiscent of bandits than officers of the Red Army. It was not for nothing that at that time citizens in black Mercedes were constantly grazing at the checkpoint with offers to earn extra money - to kill someone in Moscow...” 1
I now understand that, by and large, all our officers were real Soviet officers, in the best sense of the word. One of my acquaintances served ten years later in 2005 in GRU intelligence, and he told how their company commander extorted money from personnel. So, in principle, this could not have happened here; the consciousness of people in that early post-Soviet period did not allow it.
Hazing was very cruel. Officers approached this phenomenon in different ways: some tried not to pay attention, others, as the company commander Bannikov, fought as best he could (in the evening he climbed into the window of his office on the first floor, and when after lights out they began to press the young people, he jumped out office with a rubber stick and dispersed the old-timers), some of the officers, on the contrary, tried to use this phenomenon to their service. Our commander of the 4th group, Captain Vladimir Vladimirovich Glukhovsky, was engaged in serious education, and he turned our group into a truly well-coordinated team.
“Army friends... All this is a myth, a fiction, do not believe anyone who says that only in the army can you find real friends. Who can you call a friend here? Mordvin Evdokimov, who before the army made a living robbing passers-by at Moscow train stations and fled to the army from prison? The psychotic Tatar Zimadeev, who is also a karateka? He knows how to somersault over a fence and at the same time shoot from a machine gun. He has one argument for all everyday disputes - a kick to the head. A Kazakh named Batyr, who speaks Russian with difficulty? Or my fellow countryman from St. Petersburg Kokorin, who spent his entire childhood in a special boarding school and at twenty years old did not know the multiplication table? They could not be my friends." 1
“In the unit where they didn’t take guys less than one meter tall and where there was a cult of physical strength, they began to hate me immediately, simply because vertically challenged.
As night fell, after lights out, the old-timers came up with the idea that it was I who should clean their boots and hem their collars. Of course, because it seemed to them that it was much easier to mentally break a person who was chest-high and thirty kilograms lighter.
All attempts to “agree” ended in a simple beating.
I didn’t say anything afterwards, I just walked up and hit back once, knowing that in a few seconds I would be looking at the interior of the barracks from some unusual angle, lying with my head turned between the bedside table and the bed.
But I had to take this shot over and over again.
They were a little discouraged by the fact that I was the fastest to pack a parachute than anyone else in the company, could accurately navigate the map, could translate phrases in English from a manual for interrogating prisoners of war, could pull myself up the most on the crossbar and never died on forced marches.
Who gave this little nerd a grenade launcher? Are you completely crazy? - officers from another battalion reacted to me. After all, in addition to the machine gun, I also had to carry a grenade launcher with ammunition.
Everything is fine! Are your grenade launchers dying on the march? - Lieutenant Shepherd protected me with the castle of our reconnaissance group.
Well, they die, the soldiers constantly carry them in their arms...
But ours won’t die! He is our only “undying” one! “The shepherd was the only one who believed in me, maybe because he was just as short and thoughtful.
I was stubborn and patient, and after a year even those who hated me began to respect me." 1
Hazing is a complex, reciprocal phenomenon in which not only old-timers are to blame, and not all forms are bad. And whoever has not seen this will never understand. Later, reconnaissance groups tried to form guys from the same conscription, but this did not always help.
“Being a soldier of the smallest stature, and even serving in the fourth reconnaissance group, means always and everywhere being last in line.
To the bathhouse, to the dining room, to receive uniforms.
And now, I stood in the central aisle in front of the storeroom, anxiously watching a stack of tattered pea coats melting away.
A year ago, our unit left Abkhazia, and the thrifty company commander took out a whole truckload of what seemed then unnecessary junk. These peacoats have come a long way and if they could talk they could tell a lot.
Are these bullet holes? - a colleague of my conscription, standing opposite the window, looked into the light at the mysterious holes in the pea coat he had just received.
What is this, blood?.. - he turned to us showing strange brown spots on the fabric.
I won't wear this!!
Take it! Don't wander around! - one of the “old men” said sternly - “it will get cold in the forest at night, put it on, and you will be glad!”
The first three-day reconnaissance mission awaited us, and since we were called up in June, we were not entitled to winter uniforms.
In the army everything is on schedule.
The transition to winter uniforms is scheduled for October 15, which means that until that moment everyone wears summer camouflage, and it doesn’t matter that it’s already the end of September and there are frosts in the mornings.
You're out of luck! - the company commander said cheerfully, pointing to the empty shelves of the rack; he issued these pea coats personally.
Maybe... maybe there was at least one shot left?
No more pea coats! Take a raincoat from OZK, it will be warmer for everyone to spend the night - he handed me a rubber package.
It was a very cold three days.
When I went to bed, I covered my head with this cloak and from breathing it became covered from the inside with perspiration, which by morning turned into frost.
On the third day of continuous trembling, I heard, I almost felt a strange click in my head, as if some kind of switch had been switched.
And with that click, I suddenly stopped shaking and felt warm.
I will only acquire the ability to freeze again only about seven years after leaving the army.” 2
"EVERYONE WAS READY THREE DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE"
I remember very well how the deployment took place here in Kubinka, to the PPD battalion. On the twentieth of November 1994, on Saturday, we were in the garrison cinema on the territory of a tank unit. During the film show, a messenger came running and shouted into the audience: “First company, go out!”
We ran out and went to the company location. The training camp was already underway there. It was announced that a joint reconnaissance group was moving to Chechnya. The first one was collected from us reconnaissance group, they laid out the equipment in the center aisle for inspection. The mood before the departure was combative; they turned to the company commander with a request to include us in the combat formation. To which he replied: “Don’t worry, we’ll all fly there soon.” (One couple, however, got drunk. And the most pumped-up and bullish ones. Overnight they turned from centers into schmucks. But then no one condemned them. But they remained outcasts until the end of the service.) Then a new composition of the advanced detachment was formed, in which included our group. Before departure, everyone was ready three days in advance and slept on rolled-up mattresses. The bed linen was handed over, and we lay with our weapons on nothing but armored nets. Before departure, we wrote letters to our parents that we were going to Pskov for jumping. Maybe in Moscow (the 218th battalion was stationed in Sokolniki) there were parents at the checkpoint, but we had no one. On November 27 the departure took place. Upon arrival in Mozdok, we spent the night at the location of the VV unit. This night was very memorable because the BB guys in the barracks had a TV on the wall, and the singer Freddie Mercury was playing there. Then we moved to the checkpoint at the airfield, and soon everyone else arrived, and we moved to the boathouses near the takeoff. On the very first night, my grandfathers poked me a little with a knife in order to take away cash, but bad luck - I didn’t have any cash! Looking ahead, I will immediately say that during the hostilities in Grozny, hazing disappeared completely; in those conditions, hazing was impossible.
Upon arrival in Mozdok, they immediately went on guard to protect the personal train of Defense Minister P. Grachev, as well as his helicopter and the plane on which he flew to Moscow. So they changed constantly: to and from guard duty, to training, to shooting. In Grozny we operated with three companies, the other two were replacements, and one company was in reserve. Reserve companies guarded Grachev's train.
“Winter. Mozdok. Chill wind with sleet. We’ve been there for three days now. We can’t hide from it anywhere, because we’re at the airfield.
My friend and I are standing guard. There is no one to replace us, since our company is chasing a Chechen reconnaissance group through the forests.
The day before yesterday we guarded the plane of the Minister of Defense, yesterday we guarded the helicopter of the Minister of Defense, today we are guarding the mobile headquarters of the Minister of Defense.
We wait for the inspector to leave, take off our helmets and sit in them like in pots. Back to back. It's warmer this way. As I fall asleep, I think that a Chechen reconnaissance group will find us and cut our throats. “And then everything will end...” I think, even with some relief, and fall into sleep. The snow covers us with a wet blanket." 1
Of course, in addition to guarding facilities, the personnel of some reconnaissance groups carried out reconnaissance missions of the approaches to Grozny.
Once, my 4th reconnaissance group carried out a mission to search for an exposed Chechen reconnaissance group. True, they were not found.
On December 30, Captain Glukhovsky gave the order to prepare for a flight to mountainous areas, scheduled for tomorrow, December 31. In addition to the ammunition, we were each given a kilogram of forty different charges of explosives; it was assumed that we would have to start blowing up some bridges, the details were not specified. On the 31st we were ready to take off, and at approximately 14:15 a combined detachment of about 30 people boarded two Mi-8s. But an hour later, the takeoff was canceled, nevertheless, the order was given to be at the airfield. At about 17-18 the command came to load again, and this time we took off. We spent almost an hour in the air. We were covered by three Mi-24s. In the mountains, at the time of landing, the pilot discovered a Chechen armored personnel carrier standing in the bushes, and our helicopter took off sharply and left the landing point. The militants were apparently afraid of the Mi-24 and did not open fire. For a long time It was a mystery to me where they wanted to send us for the first time, and after 20 years from some source, I learned that they planned to land on the central stadium of Grozny, exactly where the reserve of Dudayev’s forces was located. We were very lucky that the flight was cancelled.
“There were about 20 of us left from the special operations department. Guys from the 45th reconnaissance regiment were supposed to act with us. They alerted us again and brought us to the airfield in Mozdok to deliver us by helicopter to the center of Grozny, to the stadium. It was then assumed that that we will take Dudayev’s palace in much the same way as we took Amin’s palace in December 1979.<...>We never flew to the center of Grozny. As they say, as above, so below. A terrible inconsistency in the actions of different types of troops was revealed. It turned out that the helicopters could not take off, because one helicopter pilot had not yet had lunch, another had not yet refueled, and the third was completely on duty. As a result, already on January 1 at 00 hours 10 minutes we were given the order: “Get to the cars!” - the city had to be entered by land.<...>By the evening of that day, having already entered the city with a tank column, we learned from our scouts that by the time of that failed landing, the stadium planned as a springboard for it was full of well-armed and at the same time not subordinate to anyone: it was on December 31 that the the weapons available in warehouses were also distributed there without restrictions to everyone who wanted to defend “free Ichkeria.” So our three helicopters would most likely have been burned over this stadium.” 3
The leadership developed a “brilliant plan”: when we start sending troops into the city from the north, the militants will “get scared” and run to the south, where pre-established ambushes will await them on the main roads. It was these ambushes that we had to organize, and this explains the distribution of 40 kilograms of explosives for each person.
We are celebrating the New Year near the boathouses after the failed landing in the mountains. Somewhere there in the dark in the ranks is me.
Returning to Mozdok on the evening of the 31st, we immediately stepped up to guard Grachev’s train. New Year I met, guarding this train. There were BB posts across the field, and when the chimes struck, they opened fire with tracers in our direction, apparently believing that there could be no one in the field. My friend and I fell behind a thick poplar, branches cut down by bullets fell on us, he took out a can of beer stolen from an “officer’s” gift, and lying behind the poplar, we drank it in honor of the coming New Year.
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Here, by the way, is a very good video filmed by an officer from the 901st battalion. All our officers are here, almost all the guys from our group. I will comment on this video, summarizing the “peaceful” part of the service - from the PPD in Kubinka to the location in the boathouses at the Mozdok airfield. There were a lot of videos on the regiment on the Internet, but these videos disappear from time to time, perhaps the owners delete accounts.
Loading before departure on the battalion's central parade ground.
01:00. Battalion commander Nikulnikov and the commander of the 3rd company Cherdantsev stands with his back.
01:46. Senior Lieutenant Konoplyannikov, commander of the first reconnaissance group. On January 5, 1995, in the hospital, he will receive a bullet in the head, the Sphere will save him: the bullet will pierce steel, Kevlar, lining, all layers, and, having pierced the skin, will stick into the skull, but all the consequences will be a hefty bump.
01:53. A high officer - Major Cherushev, in my opinion he will later become a battalion commander after Nikulnikov.
14:21. Boxes with gifts from Menatep Bank. We called the black round hats “menatepovki”. Ironically, just before the storming of Grozny, they sent us gifts from “Menatep” - such cardboard boxes, they were brought on the 30th. The boxes were “officers” and “soldiers”. They all had writing materials: notebooks, pens, and also sweaters and hats like this. The "officer's" boxes also contained a bottle of champagne and a can of imported beer. Whoever compiled these kits had a very good understanding of what a soldier needed. Many years later, to be honest, I am stunned, knowing the arrogance of the current oligarchs: to send a gift to a soldier and also consult with a knowledgeable specialist about what exactly the soldier needs. This had to come down... The fact is that a fucking soldier's helmet only fits on the top of the head with a fur army earflap, and the whole point of the helmet disappears, but here they sent caps - the consultant clearly understood the situation.
So we ran around in these hats. In general, it turned out that all the uniforms and equipment were very poorly suited for active combat operations. Upon arrival at the PPD in Kubinka, these caps were taken to the warehouse by order.
A few years later, in the St. Petersburg metro, I saw a man wearing such a hat. I stood and looked at him for a long time, trying to understand whether he was in Grozny...
15:41. On the right in the frame is Lieutenant Andrei Gridnev, the future Hero of Russia. I remember how Gridnev just came to the unit from school as a young lieutenant, he was only 21 or 22 years old, he was assigned to our company as Konoplyannikov’s deputy, he was immediately very motivated to serve. From the first days, Gridnev was seriously involved in training and educating the guys from the group, they regularly ran with him, ran extra cross-country races, and every evening he came and forced them to douse themselves with ice water (in fact, we didn’t have hot water in the company at that time). They called it “Karbyshev’s bathhouse”. He gave the impression of a very tough person. But I remember when his wife arrived at the unit, when he had already settled into the officer’s dormitory, and we were helping him bring in furniture and things, he, secretly from his wife, took a box with jars of raspberry jam, and in the dark around the corner of the dormitory, he handed it to us, saying : “Here, guys, eat some jam!” I remember being very touched. After Konoplyannikov was wounded on January 5, Gridnev will take command of the reconnaissance group and will successfully lead it. The guys from the group recalled that he was very lively in battle, they laughed, saying: “The battle is being fought by Lieutenant Gridnev and ten of his squires,” because he was constantly running from one fighter to another, shooting from a grenade launcher, then from a machine gun, then He would take the rifle away from the sniper, the guys laughed that if they started giving him shells, he would throw shells at the militants’ positions even without a gun. And when I found out that he was given the Hero star, I was not surprised at all.
15:53. Company commander Nikolakhin and on the left in a winter hat and camouflage uniform are the deputy company commander and the commander of the combined group of snipers (included soldiers armed with SVD and VSS) Konstantin Mikhailovich Golubev, who will die on January 8, 1995. They were friends, and Nikolahin was very upset about his death.
16:11. Our political officer Bannikov waves his hand.
16:15. A big mustachioed guy is the battalion's main demolition bomber, I don't remember his name. When classes on subversive training were taking place, he said: “Explosives can be made from last year’s leaves; whoever stays for a contract, I’ll tell you how.” Behind him is a healthy guy - our machine gunner Yura Sannikov, from Siberia, a very kind guy, one of two in the company with a higher education.
The camera moves to the right, and we again see Gridnev and Lieutenant Gonta, a tough guy, on the second trip he will be the commander of a combined reconnaissance group, in which I will be, we will destroy the ambush at height 970 in the Serzhen-Yurt area under his leadership. Then I will have a good relationship with him. In Grozny he was the commander of the second reconnaissance group. At the very edge of the frame on the right is Dima T., a sergeant from our reconnaissance group, who transferred to the RMO after the assault on Grozny. Now in Europe he is a chef in one of the hotels.
17:20. Formation of officers of our 1st company. The tallest in the ranks is Glukhovsky! Vladimir Glukhovsky, at the age of 27 at that time, was already a very experienced officer, commanding a reconnaissance group in Transnistria in a separate 818th special forces company, subordinate directly to the commander of the 14th Army Lebed, which carried out complex combat missions, and was disbanded after the withdrawal from Transnistria. Glukhovsky was sent to our regiment, and it so happened that he was a captain, former commander group, who was already wounded, fell under the command of the junior senior lieutenant Nikolakhin. Glukhovsky was a man of character, very energetic and treated war as a sport. I never saw him scared or tired, although he sometimes slept less than we did.
Behind Glukhovsky, the last one in the ranks is his deputy. Vadim Pastukh. On his second trip in the summer of 1995, Shepherd will be the commander of a group providing support for a detachment of drones. And the commander of this unit will be Sergei Makarov, the second in line. In the event of a drone being shot down by militants, Shepherd’s group was to ensure its search and return.
"THE CITY WAS DESTROYED, MANY HOUSES WERE BURNED"
I don’t remember exactly, but it seems that on January 1, 1995, on the Urals, we moved to Grozny with two companies: the 2nd 218th battalion and our 1st 901st battalion. The second company, under the leadership of Major Nepryakhin, entered first. The third company of our battalion entered Grozny one or two days later than us.
I always thought that they entered the city late in the evening on January 1st. The day before there was turmoil: departures, arrivals, train security... Perhaps one day (December 31, 1994) slipped out of my memory.
Before leaving for Grozny, near the boathouses, we tied the Urals with boxes of sand, and it was during the day, I remember exactly. The thaw began, and, by the way, they brought “sphere” helmets by car, which the officers immediately snapped up, but they brought few helmets, so not even all the officers had enough. Apparently, this happened on the afternoon of January 1, and we set out, accordingly, on the second, because on December 31 we were closely busy with these attempts to fly somewhere, and the Urals were not tied with boxes that day. But I was always sure that the entrance to the city took place on the first of January.
In the video there are metal trusses of a cannery; there were infantry machine gunners on all the platforms, who began firing bursts at any sound.
Then, if the 218th battalion reached the canned food facility approximately at the time indicated on the timer in the video frames of Lyubimov’s film, then it turns out that our company arrived at night after them. Nepryakhin says in the video that they entered with a fight. And then we, the first company of the 901st battalion, moved separately (our column was not large, just a few vehicles). Grozny is only about 100 kilometers from Mozdok.
We moved in a column behind the second company of the 218th battalion, already in the dark. The city was destroyed electric lighting there was none, but many houses were on fire. At one point, a mortar mine exploded in front of our Ural. The driver stopped, and immediately a second mine fell behind the car. I saw how Glukhovsky, who was sitting at the edge of the body, ran to the cabin and began banging on it with his fist, shouting: “Forward!” The driver drove off, and where we were standing, the third mine exploded. One of the mines hit a private house, which was located on the left side in the direction of travel. We entered the cannery late at night on January 1st. The company was located in a two-story building on the second floor. My friend and I were immediately put on guard to guard the Urals. The mortar shelling continued and several mines exploded nearby.
There were already infantry at the plant, the remnants of some units. In the darkness, we met a surviving warrant officer from the Maikop brigade, who told us about the death of their column, about how the Chechens shot the crews of the vehicles leaving the burning equipment. The cannery was generally a safe place, despite periodic shelling. All the stories about compote from this factory - however, we drank compote all the time, no one broke these cans (Obviously this refers to a scene from A.G. Nevzorov’s feature film “Purgatory”, 1997: “Why are you destroying banks, huh?”)
Over time, the plant became a kind of springboard where suitable units were pulled up.
“[The plant] was a series of barracks-type premises, but built very thoroughly. Some of them housed unit headquarters, others housed units withdrawn from battle and their armored vehicles. Some of the warehouses were still filled with canned juices and compotes. there was a constant stream of people carrying away the cans." 4
After entering the cannery, Glukhovsky ordered to find wooden pallets, and from these pallets to build a floor for sleeping in the two-story building where we were located. It must be said that Glukhovsky took the organization of everyday life very seriously and always forced the creation of the most comfortable conditions possible for sleep and rest. He immediately dispatched one of our soldiers to make lamps from shell casings. It turned out that this ancient, proven method of lighting has no alternative. Later, when the building is hit by a mortar, we will move to the basement, and there, too, our commander will force us to equip sleeping places, build a stove from a barrel, and make a dozen lamps from shell casings. This habit of making our locations as comfortable as possible will remain with us until the end of our service.
On the same day they will bring in a captured artillery spotter. Then there was a version about “a captain dressed in a uniform,” I don’t know if these are different people or not. But the spotter is not a myth, and I have seen it myself.
Officer 22 Special Special Forces Vyacheslav Dmitriev:“For some time we were harassed by mortar fire, from which there was no escape. This continued until the spotter was caught. One of the sentries noticed a man of Slavic appearance in the uniform of a captain Russian army, who alone then entered and then again left the territory of the cannery. They checked him, the unit number in the documents did not coincide with any number of military units that entered Grozny, and the artillery compass and the Japanese radio station dispelled all doubts. During interrogation it turned out that he was a Ukrainian mercenary. Further fate his is unknown. Some said that he was sent to Mozdok to a filtration point of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, others that he was shot here, behind the barracks. In those conditions, both could be true." 4
The captured spotter will boast: “Welcome to hell!” There were rumors that infantrymen took him on the roof of either a five-story building or a nine-story building nearby; he had a walkie-talkie with him, but this is also unlikely, rather he was “rummaging around” near the plant, and apparently lost his sense of smell from impunity. It was a Chechen with big nose, unshaven, spoke with an accent, was dressed in black trousers and a long black leather jacket with pockets. Now I think it wasn’t a mercenary, but most likely one of the locals, such as a surveyor or a retired military man; you can’t teach a simple shepherd to use a compass so quickly. I'll see him the next day. The spotter was kept in the basement of the house where we lived at first. There, near the porch, the next morning I saw him and didn’t recognize him, his face was very badly damaged, he cried and said: “Don’t kill me, I’m a soldier like you!” A tall, thin general spoke to him gloomily.
It became psychologically difficult already on January 2: constant lack of sleep, knee-deep mud, shelling from mortars, snipers. Even to smoke - I had to hide.
On January 2, if I’m not mistaken, the first reconnaissance group received the task of moving to the Petropavlovskoye Highway area (but this is not accurate information). The fact is that troops were planned to approach the highway, and the militants set up ambushes there, and it was necessary to carry out counter-ambush measures.
Major Sergei Ivanovich Shavrin, FSK Special Operations Directorate:"The task of the corps commander (commander of the 8th Guards AK, Lieutenant General L.Ya. Rokhlin) He entrusted us with a difficult task: to ensure the safety of the column routes along which military equipment and troops advanced. This is Lermontovskaya street (Lermontov Street, adjacent to Petropavlovskoye Highway). On one side there are houses, a private sector, and on the other there are modern buildings. Militants in groups of 5-6 people made their way into houses and fired at the columns. And the street is completely clogged with combat vehicles, tankers, and vehicles with ammunition. In general, every shot results in a hit and a lot of damage and losses. From our joint team with special forces paratroopers, we formed four groups and cleared the neighborhood of bandits. They set up ambushes, and when they found militants, they entered into battle. The bandits are afraid of open battle and avoid it. They have one tactic: bite and run, bite and run... They soon realized that there were ambushes, there were special forces, there was danger. And the bandit raids stopped. Several blocks along the road were clear." 3
On one of the night outs, machine gunner Sergei Dmitruk, from the first reconnaissance group, died, number 3 or 4, I don’t remember exactly. The first loss in our company.
The mentioned cleansing of the private sector, where exactly, I don’t know exactly, maybe somewhere in the area of the Petropavlovskoye Highway. The voice of the commander of the first reconnaissance group of our company, Konoplyannikov: “Slash to the right, Mustafa!” Mustafa is the nickname of a sniper from the VSS Radik Alkhamov from Bashkiria. Radik was very kind and very slow, but he was transformed in the ring at competitions hand-to-hand combat. He was small in stature, very sinewy, with prominent muscles, like Bruce Lee. Radik was a hand-to-hand champion in the battalion; they pitted huge guys against him and he defeated them all! When we jokingly asked: “Radik, why are you so slow?”, he drawled and answered: “The sniper must be slow!”
I remember in the morning I went on some errand to the plant, and saw a car trying to break through the bridge over the Sunzha at full speed - a white “six” with four men in it. I don’t know if they were militants, but this maneuver was tragic for them: it turns out that our tank was standing opposite the bridge behind a concrete fence in a caponier and with the first shot the hood with the engine was torn off the “six”, the driver and passenger in the front seat were killed, and two passengers They jumped out of the back seat and rushed back across the bridge. Immediately, heavy fire was opened from all the metal trusses of the plant on those escaping, and I saw how the bullets began to tear their clothes. I sat with my neck craned and looked over the fence, which wildly infuriated Glukhovsky: “Do you want a bullet in the head?!” - He hit me on the helmet with the butt of his helmet.
And the next moment a mine flew into the territory of the plant and a shrapnel cut off one of our Ural drivers, he fell as if he had been knocked down. The guys immediately grabbed him and carried him to the doctors. Only upon arrival in Kubinka did we learn that he had survived.
SOURCES
1. God comes himself.-M., Printing house "News", 2012.-112 p., ill. Page 107.
2. Valery K. “I can’t be an atheist,” story. Published in the author's edition.