War without embellishment: memories of a Russian conscript about Chechnya. Memories of the First Chechen War "We tried to stop them, but they walked and walked"

20 years ago, Russian troops entered the territory of Chechnya. It was on December 11 that the First Chechen campaign began. Military actions on the territory of the republic led to numerous casualties and serious losses. We decided to remember those who died in Chechnya and those who survived there. Read what this war looked like in excerpts from memoirs and books about Chechnya.

There are houses along the road, consisting of one facade, behind which there is nothing, just a wall with window openings. It is strange that these walls do not fall on the road from drafts.

The boys look at houses, at empty windows in such tension that it seems that the tire will burst now, many will explode with it. Every second he thinks that they will start shooting now. From everywhere: from every window, from roofs, from bushes, from ditches, from children's gazebos ... And they will all kill us. They'll kill me.

"Pathologies", Zakhar Prilepin

No. 2169 - decree "On measures to ensure legality, law and order and public safety on the territory of the Chechen Republic ”was signed by B. Yeltsin on December 11, 1994.

Seryozha died in the very battle when my legs tore. Sergei always climbed ahead of everyone. Of all of us - Vaska, Igor, Seryoga and me - only I returned ...

Seryozha was stitched in the back, when they were leaving the burnt column, he was lying on the slope, and only yelled, firing back - "Pull Dimka, pull ..." He was lying like that, bloodless, on the slope, when the spirits sewed him out of anger in bursts ...

... and I went to gym, I howled, but loaded my legs ... Now I don't even limp ... My son will be called Seryozha ...

"Slope", Dmitry Soloviev

When I flew into my tiny tent, located twenty steps from the artillery site, my heart strove to jump out of my mouth and gallop off somewhere in the direction of Dagestan. Throwing in an unloading vest with magazines and hanging a machine gun on my shoulder, I did not at all imagine that my personal contribution to the common cause would make a global turn in the course and outcome of the battle. In general, it is quite funny to look from the outside at a certain category of officers who are preoccupied with demonstrating their own belligerence, such as: cool stripes, headbands and throwing hand grenades at an enemy that does not exist. The main weapon of an officer of any rank in modern combat are binoculars, a radio station and brains, and the absence of the latter cannot be compensated for even with biceps as thick as an elephant's leg. But without a Kalashnikov and one and a half to two dozen shops, you feel like you are without pants - that is, that is. So I brought myself into battle formation and darted to the artillery site like a snake.

Over 2,000 servicemen were killed during Operation Jihad (the Dudayevites attacked Grozny on August 6-22).

We won back another five-story building. More precisely, what is left of it. We do not move further, since the last unbroken infantry fighting vehicle took away the wounded. We have only one RPG out of serious weapons. And opposite the militants are stubborn, and there are many of them. They fire, sparing no cartridges. Do not smoke them from grenade launchers and machine guns. We fire off. We are waiting for the reinforcements that were promised two hours ago.

Suddenly, on the side where the militants sat down, a great commotion began. The "Czechs" are firing somewhere behind their backs. Some of them run out to our side with fright. We shoot at them, a lot puzzled by their behavior. The shooting is getting closer. Breaks, a pillar of smoke. The roar of the engine. From behind the destroyed wall, like a Phoenix from the ashes, a T-80 jumps out. He rushes straight towards us. We see the tank is not Dudaev's. We try to catch our eyes so that he does not inadvertently overwhelm his own. Finally the crew saw us. The tank stopped. A heavy car is like a crumpled blotter. Active armor hangs in rags. The tower is covered with bricks and plaster. The tankers who have crawled out of her gut do not look more beautiful. On black-smoked faces, eyes shine and teeth whiten.

- Have a smoke, infantry?

"Pacifist Fiction" by Eduard Wurzeli

- Guys, - shouts the chief, - we have almost arrived. The order has just arrived to return, they say, the zone is dangerous. How are you?

This is not to say that we are such heroes. And that, as in the films, when they said: "The task is voluntary, whoever agrees is a step forward!" - and the whole line at once took this deadly step, or they said "there is such a profession to defend the Motherland!", Or such heartbreaking calls as: "For the Motherland!" However, we decided not to return.

"Seven Minutes", Vladimir Kosaretsky

85 people killed and 72 missing, 20 tanks destroyed, more than 100 servicemen were captured - losses Maikop brigade during the assault
Grozny.

But no matter how hard the Dudayevites tried to morally break our soldiers and officers, they did not succeed. Even in the first days of the storming of Grozny, when many were seized by fear and despair from the hopelessness of the situation, many examples of courage and resilience were shown. Tanker Lieutenant V. Grigorashchenko - the prototype of the hero of A. Nevzorov's film "Purgatory" - crucified on a cross, will forever remain a model for the current and future defenders of the Motherland. Then in Grozny, the Dudayevites sincerely admired the officer from the special forces brigade of the North Caucasus Military District, who alone held back the enemy's onslaught. "Everything! Enough! Well done! - shouted to the surrounded and wounded Russian soldier. - Leave! We will not touch you! We will carry you to yours! " - promised the Chechens. “Okay,” said the lieutenant. - Agree. Come here!" When they approached, the officer blew up both himself and the militants with a grenade. No, those who asserted that as a result of the “New Year's” assault the federal troops were defeated are mistaken. Yes, we washed ourselves with blood, but we showed that even today is a time of vague ideals, the heroic spirit of our ancestors is alive in us.

"My war. Chechen diary of a trench general ", Gennady Troshev

The soldier's pale, somewhat tense face showed no fear, pain, or any other emotion. He did not look at me either - only his lips moved:

- Nothing, okay.

Oh, how many times have I heard this "nothing"! Sorry guys, the rest is not here, but after ten kilometers - nothing, commander! It is forbidden to open return fire - nothing, commander! Lads, there will be no grub today - nothing, commander! In general, like this: neither the enemy, nor nature, nor any other objective circumstances are able to defeat the Russian Soldier. Only betrayal can defeat him.

"Die Hard", Georgy Kostylev

80,000 civilians of Chechnya died during the conflict, according to the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation
A. Lebed.

Cold palms and dullness, and a lot of smoked cigarettes without the taste, and ridiculous thoughts that are constantly spinning in my head. So I want to live. Why do you want to live so much? Why don't you want to live in common days, in the peaceful?

"Pathologies", Zakhar Prilepin

S.I.Sivkov. Taking Bamut. (From memories of the Chechen war of 1994-1996.) // Voenkom. Military commentator: Military-Historical Almanac. Yekaterinburg: Publishing House of the Humanitarian University; Publishing House "University", - 2000 N1 (1) .- 152s. http://war-history.ru/library/?cid=48

I don’t know about others, but for me the battle on Bald Mountain was the most difficult of all that I saw in that war. Perhaps that is why the events of those days are remembered to the smallest detail, although four whole years separate me from them. Of course, the outcome of the war was not decided in this battle, and in general the battle at Bamut can hardly be called a battle. Nevertheless, it is worth telling about him: many of the participants in those events never returned home, and those who survived in Chechnya are becoming fewer and fewer every year.

On the night of May 20-21, I changed from the guard, when a vehicle with ammunition arrived at the location of our 324th regiment. The entire personnel went to unload, and each of us already knew about today's offensive. A large camp of the Ministry of Internal Affairs near Bamut, where we appeared on May 17, was constantly fired upon by Chechens from machine guns and automatic weapons, but this time everything went without loss. The ammunition was unloaded and divided here, they took as much as they could (I had 16 stores, one and a half zinc cartridges in bulk, 10 or 11 grenades for underbarrel grenade launcher: total weight each had about 45-50 kg of ammunition). ... It should be noted that not regiments and brigades went into battle, but the so-called mobile (or combat) groups, assembled from all combat-ready units of a particular military unit. Their composition periodically changed: one of the "militants" guarded the location of the unit, someone was sent to accompany various cargoes. Usually there were 120-160 people in the group, a certain number of tanks, self-propelled guns and infantry fighting vehicles ... This time we were out of luck: the day before the 2nd company left the convoy and was "lost" - she returned only on May 22. As a result, 84 people moved to the assault in eight infantry fighting vehicles. In addition, the attackers were supported by artillery (several self-propelled guns and mortars). Our battalion was then commanded by Major Vasyukov. A real "father to the soldiers", he was rooting for his people and did everything he could for them. At least we had order with food, but everyone got out cigarettes as best he could: the battalion commander did not understand the problems with tobacco, because he himself was a non-smoker.

We did not sleep long and got up at four o'clock in the morning, and already at five o'clock all the columns were lined up - both ours and the neighboring ones. In the center, the 324th regiment was advancing on Lysaya Gora, and on our right, the 133rd and 166th brigades stormed Angelica (I do not know what names these mountains have on the map, but everyone called them that). Special forces of the Interior Ministry troops were supposed to attack from the left flank on Lysaya Gora, but in the morning they were not yet there, and we did not know where he was. The helicopters were the first to attack. They flew beautifully: one link quickly replaced another, destroying everything in its path. At the same time, tanks, self-propelled guns, MLRS "Grad" were connected - in a word, the whole firepower... Amid all this noise, our group drove to the right of Bamut to the MVD checkpoint. Coming out from behind him into the field (about one and a half kilometers wide), we dismounted, lined up and moved forward. The BMP went ahead: they completely shot through the small spruce grove that stood in front of us. Having reached the forest, we regrouped, and then stretched out into one chain. Here we were told that the special forces would cover us from the left flank, and we would go to the right, along the field. The order was simple: "No sound, no squeak, no shout." In the forest, the scouts and the sapper were the first to go, and we slowly followed them and, as usual, looked in all directions (the closing of the column - back, and the middle - to the right and to the left). All the stories that the "feds" went to the assault on Bamut in several echelons, that they sent forward unharmed soldiers urgent service- complete nonsense. We had few people, and everyone walked in one line: officers and sergeants, warrant officers and soldiers, contract soldiers and conscripts. We smoked together, together we died: when we went out to fight, we even appearance it was difficult to tell us apart.

After five or six kilometers, we came out onto some small plowed field (it looked as if a half-ton aerial bomb had exploded here). From here it was clearly audible as fire from the forest was being fired at our planes, and then some idiot launched a rocket "orange smoke" (designation "I am mine"). He, of course, got it for this case, because this smoke was visible very far away. In general, the further we walked, the more "fun" it was. When the group entered the forest again, the fathers-commanders began to find out whether Bald Mountain was here or not. Here I really almost fell: after all, we did not go through so much, with a normal topographic map such questions should not arise at all. When finally it became clear where Bald Mountain is, we moved forward again.

It was difficult to walk, before the ascent I had to stay for five minutes to rest, no more. Very soon the reconnaissance reported that everything seemed to be calm in the middle of the mountain, but at the top there were some fortifications. The battalion commander ordered that they do not climb into the fortifications, but wait for the rest. We continued our ascent up the slope, which was literally "plowed" by the fire of our tanks (the Chechen fortifications, however, remained intact). The slope, fifteen to twenty meters high, was almost steep. Sweat poured out in hail, it was a terrible heat, and we had very little water - no one wanted to drag an additional load up the hill. At that moment someone asked the time, and I remember the answer well: "Half past ten." Having overcome the slope, we found ourselves on a kind of balcony, and here we simply fell into the grass from fatigue. Almost at the same time, shooting began at our neighbors on the right.

Someone said: "Maybe the Chechens have already left?" After a few seconds, everyone realized that no one had gone anywhere. It seemed that the fire was coming from all sides, the AGS of the Chechens was working right above us, and half of our people did not even have time to climb up (including all the machine gunners). Scattered, we fired wherever we could. Leaving the BMP unprotected seemed dangerous - the crew of each vehicle consisted of only two people - so all the armored vehicles were sent back half an hour later. I don't know if the command made the right decision then. It is quite possible that the IFV fire would have helped us in difficult times, but who could have guessed what would happen to us in the next few hours?

I ran to the end of our company (there were 14 or 15 people in it, the company was commanded by Captain Hasanov). Here the ravine began, and beyond its edge, higher up the slope, was the main dugout (or command post). Some Chechen constantly shouted "Allah Akbar" from there. When they shot in his direction several times, they answered us with such fire that we didn't want to shoot any more. Thanks to my radio station, I could imagine everything happening within a radius of four kilometers. The scouts reported that they had lost all the commanders and were starting to retreat. In the first minutes of the battle, they got the most: it was impossible to hide from bullets and shrapnel among the rare trees, and they were constantly firing at them from above. The battalion commander shouted that if they roll back, then our entire group will be surrounded, then he gave the order to destroy the ACS at any cost. Our political officer was a graduate of the military department of the UPI (Lieutenant Elizarov, a chemist by profession), and he was always drawn to exploits. He decided, together with two soldiers, to get close to the ACS from below, which I reported on the radio. We (the political officer, the machine gunner and I) were already starting the descent when the battalion commander called us idiots and ordered us to "calculate the target visually."

Due to the dense foliage, it was possible to "calculate" the AGS only after three hours, when he had already done his job. They suppressed it with mortar fire (the mortarmen generally fired very well, and the self-propelled gunners worked just fine: the spread did not exceed 10-15 meters). Meanwhile, the Chechens repulsed the attack on Angelica. Two days later, in the camp, we learned about what was happening on our right flank, where the guys from the 133rd and 166th brigades were advancing (there were two hundred of them, no more). They met such a dense fire that they lost 48 people just killed. There were many wounded. It came to hand-to-hand combat, in which 14 Chechens were killed, but it was still not possible to break through their defenses. The battle groups of both brigades rolled back, and the Chechens began to transfer the liberated forces to their right flank. We saw well how they were crossing the river one and a half kilometers from us, but we could not get them. Did not have sniper rifle, and the Chechens have one more AGS. Our losses increased dramatically: many were wounded two or even three times, and the promised special forces were still missing. Reporting on the situation, the battalion commander could say one thing: "It sucks: I'm losing people." Of course, he could not report exact data on the losses on the radio: everyone knew that the air was being listened to by Chechens. The commander of the group told him then: "Yes, at least you stay the last one, but don't surrender the mountains: I forbid you to leave." I personally heard this whole conversation.

The 3rd battalion went on the attack and knocked out the Chechens from the first line of defense, but the second one immediately began behind it, the existence of which no one suspected. While our soldiers were reloading their weapons, the Chechens launched a counterattack and regained their positions. The battalion simply physically could not resist and retreated. A protracted fire battle began: we were shelled from above and below. The distance was short, mutual abuse and mate fell on both sides. Anyone who knows Russian will easily imagine what we talked about there. I remember a dialogue with two Chechen snipers (apparently, both of them were from Russia). The first responded to the rhetorical proposal of one of our soldiers in the sense that she has enough of this good here and there in abundance. The second, on the promise to find her after the war, with all the ensuing circumstances, said: "Or maybe you and I are neighbors on the site, but you won't know it anyway!" One of these snipers was later killed.

A mortar was soon connected to the Chechen AGS. According to our battle formations, he managed to release four mines. True, one of them buried itself in the ground and did not explode, but the other hit for sure. Before my eyes, the daukh soldier was literally blown to pieces, the blast wave threw me several meters and hit my head on a tree. For about twenty minutes I was recovering from a shell shock (at this time the company commander himself directed the artillery fire.). Further I remember worse. When the accumulators sat down, I had to work at another, large radio station, and I was sent to the room as one of the wounded. Running out onto the slope, we almost fell under the bullets of a sniper. He did not see us very well and missed. We hid behind some piece of wood, rested and ran again. The wounded were being sent downstairs. Having reached the pit where the battalion commander was sitting, I reported the situation. He also said that they could not get hold of those Chechens who were crossing the river. He ordered me to take a Bumblebee grenade launcher (a hefty tube weighing 12 kg), and I only had four submachine guns (my own, a wounded man and two dead). After all that had happened, I didn't really want to drag the grenade launcher, and I ventured to address: "Comrade Major, when I went to war, my mother asked me not to run into trouble! It will be hard for me to run along an empty slope." The battalion commander replied simply: "Listen, son, if you don't take him now, then consider that you have already found the first trouble!" I had to take it. The way back was not easy. Just in the field of view of the sniper, I tripped over some root and fell, pretending to be dead. However, the sniper started shooting at the legs, tore off his heel with a bullet, and then I decided not to tempt fate anymore: I dashed as best I could - that saved me.

There was no help, only the artillery supported us with constant fire. By evening (at five or six - I don't remember exactly) we were completely exhausted. At this time, shouting: "Hurray, special forces, forward!" long-awaited "specialists" appeared. But they themselves could not do anything, and it was impossible to help them. After a short skirmish, the special forces rolled back down, and we were left alone again. The Chechen-Ingush border passed not far, a few kilometers from Bamut. During the day she was invisible, and no one even thought about it. And when it got dark and electric lights were lit in the houses in the west, the border suddenly became tangible. A peaceful life, close and impossible for us, passed alongside - where people were not afraid to turn on the light in the dark. It's scary to die anyway: more than once I remembered my mother and all the gods there. It is impossible to retreat, it is impossible to advance - we could only hang on the slope and wait. It was okay with cigarettes, but we had no water left by that time. The dead were lying not far from me, and I could smell the decaying bodies mixed with powder smoke. Someone no longer knew anything from thirst, and everyone could hardly resist the desire to run to the river. In the morning, the battalion commander asked to hold out for another two hours and promised that water should be brought up during this time, but if not, he would personally lead us to the river.

We occupied Bald Mountain only on May 22. On that day, at nine o'clock in the morning, the 3rd battalion launched an attack, but met only one Chechen. He fired one burst with a fan in our direction from a machine gun and then ran away. They could not catch up with him. All other militants disappeared unnoticed. Some of us saw a car at night leaving the village. Apparently, in the dark, the Chechens picked up the bodies of the dead and wounded, and retreated shortly before dawn. That same morning, several of our soldiers went to the village. They understood that the bridge was mined, so the river was forded. The fact is that we had nothing but weapons, ammunition and cigarettes; Nobody knew how long we would sit on Bald Mountain in anticipation of an attack - after all, they had promised to change the group the night before. After examining the abandoned houses on the outskirts, our people took several blankets, polyethylene and were about to return. At the same time, some troops launched a colorful "offensive" on Bamut (if I am not mistaken, these were the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs). From the top of Lysaya Gora we could clearly see how, under the cover of a smoke screen, tanks slowly advanced through the village, followed by infantrymen. Meeting no resistance, they reached the cemetery, stopped, and then the same soldiers saw them, descending. When asked why there was a stop, the "attackers" replied modestly: "So you haven't gone further yet." Ours, of course, returned back, and they spent the night at the cemetery. We could only laugh: there were seven or eight people on Bald Mountain at that moment, no more.

On that day, the battalion commander was asked if he needed reinforcements. He replied that if we go to take the village, then we are needed. People from the regiment's commandant company were sent to Bamut by helicopter and they were given all who could go. These reinforcements arrived after it was over. On May 23, we crossed the river again, but this time it was more difficult to walk: because of heavy rain, the water rose, and the current intensified. The Chechens were nowhere to be seen. When we went ashore, the first thing we did was inspect the bridge and immediately found several anti-personnel mines (at least five). It seemed to me then that they had been lying here since 1995 - they were so illiterately placed. After the war, I read an article about Bamut in the "Soldier of Fortune" magazine, written by some Ukrainian mercenary who fought on the side of the Chechens. It turned out that this "military expert" had placed the very mines (which our machine gunner, a conscript soldier, simply picked up and threw into the nearest swamp). ("Soldier of Fortune", # 9/1996, pp. 33-35. Bogdan Kovalenko, "We are leaving Bamut. UNSO fighters in Chechnya." raises doubts about the author's participation in hostilities in Chechnya, and in the Bamut region. B. Kovalenko writes: "The Chechens had a lot of mines and all kinds. Among them there are many MES. Usually they dropped a weight on them to check the action. I mined the only surviving bridge across the river (before that, mines had not been placed for a year). Some expressed their displeasure: now they had to wade the river. The situation changed when some "katsapchuk" was blown up by a mine. It is doubtful that the "katsapchuk" s "after the militants left Bamut, the latter could not observe in any way ... - owkorr79) It turned out that the Chechens did not have time to take all their killed. The house, which stood by the bridge, was simply covered with blood, and there were several bloody stretchers lying here. We found the body of one of the militants in the same house, and the remains of the other were sewn into a poplar by a direct hit from a self-propelled gun. There were no corpses near the river. In the dugout, they also found a group photo of a Chechen detachment of 18 people defending here (there were no Slavs or Balts among them - only Caucasians). Not finding anything interesting here for ourselves, we walked around the nearby houses, and then moved back.

In the afternoon, everyone noticed that something strange was going on below. Under cover of a smoke screen, some screaming soldiers were running somewhere, shooting different sides... Tanks and infantry fighting vehicles rolled after them: houses turned into ruins in a few seconds. We decided that the Chechens had launched a counterattack, and we were facing a new battle, now for the village, but everything turned out to be much easier. This television of ours filmed a "documentary" report about the "capture of Bamut". That evening we heard a message from Radio Mayak about the very battle where we had just fought. What was said in that message, I do not remember exactly: the journalists, as usual, were talking some kind of nonsense (they "reported", in particular, about the losses on our side - 21 people were killed).

The sensation, of course, was disgusting, but the worst awaited us ahead. On May 23, a torrential rain began, which lasted ten days. All this time we sat in the open air and waited for further instructions. Cartridges and weapons got wet, dirt and rust had to be ripped off with anything. They no longer thought about themselves, there was no strength - people did not fall asleep, but simply fell. Usually twenty minutes was enough for us to come to our senses and keep on. At the end of the war, one of the journalists asked our company commander what quality of a Russian soldier should be considered the most important. The company commander answered briefly: "Endurance." Maybe he recalled that many-day "sitting" on Bald Mountain, which ended for us the capture of Bamut ...

Hello friends and just caring readers!
I continue my "memoirs" - memories of what my friends and I had to go through in the Caucasus.
I go through my old films, photographs. On his chest, over his bulletproof vest, he constantly wore a small camera "Agat", 72 frames, filled with colored film "Kodak". Burnt equipment, uncleaned corpses right on the streets, twisted tram rails, the "skeleton" of the Government House.
Still, it's hard to remember some moments. I have a clear conscience, but there are many things that I would not want to repeat. How they entered and then left Chechnya, betrayed by "le **** em" - the Khasavyurt peacekeeper, like company battalions in front of each other "vyzhivalsya" who has a cooler bathhouse, but still, "beteers" are lice, who are not understood, overpowered, as on the radio communicated directly with the "hottabych", how ... However, it is necessary, it is necessary to describe everything ...
I remember how we were greeted by local Russian residents, with tears in their eyes, “sons, there would be bread, they would have met with bread and salt, for God's sake - don’t leave!” ... September 1996, the devotees left and felt themselves traitors to the remaining Russians. However, the helicopter crash ... Probably, the top listened to the wishes of ordinary people.
I start to remember, I can't fall asleep until morning, if I smoked, then empty packs of cigarettes would fly away from the trash ...
Soldiers write, remember, thank for life, in Odnoklassniki, in mail.ru
How they hated me, when I drove them with my officers at the training ground until the tenth sweat, how I shot the mash found in secluded places at the checkpoint instead of targets (more correctly called the checkpoint), how I "cleaned" the psyche with special exercises in tents after combat soldiers, so that there is no BPT (combat trauma), so that there is no notorious "Vietnamese-Afghan-Chechen" syndrome. This is how I was taught in psychology at the Academy.
As he himself, upon arrival home, asked his wife to include something about the war on the video, so that it would be easier to fall asleep under the shots. Well, and an inadequate reaction the first time, when he shied away from innocent firecrackers on the street (on New Year's Eve).
Well, the main "secret" that real officers know. Feed the soldier, teach him, do something useful, control it and everything will be all right, however, there will still be those who are itching to ...
Combat service at "checkpoints", or rather, checkpoint, together with police squads. Constantly tense, constantly lack of sleep. At the same time, we conduct combat training, information, and study of laws with officers and sergeants with personnel.
I found a glass bottle with cherry plum, covered with sugar - BRAZHKA ... I put it at a hundred meters and, with my outstretched hand, aim at the bottle from the RPK-74 ... The first single shot - at the target!
A sigh of disappointment. Sniper exercises from SVD - in cans of vodka 300-400 meters away. By the way, the Tula policemen poisoned themselves with vodka mixed with methyl alcohol.
We are sitting after the combat crew at the armored personnel carrier with a comrade ... A sudden rattle overhead - the Grad “works”. Everyone is shocked, and the observer spirits were so amazed! They were just in disguised positions opposite ours.
Six months before my "business trip", this checkpoint was seized by Khattab ...
Relaxed personnel, non-duplicated communications, small combat (trenches) positions, the "order" of the black Arab sponsors - all are in captivity. They let someone out by exchange, ransom. And the majority escaped from the concentration camp of the Children's State Security Service of Chechnya on their own. The story is almost incredible. The camp guards were distracted during the prayer. They left their weapons aside, and got used to the obedience of the Russians. The soldiers, however, seized the moment and ... In general, they escaped, walked overnight from Alleroy to Girzel about ten kilometers per night, moreover, loaded with weapons of bandits. Honor and praise to them!
Rodon spring near Khasav-yurt. We took baths in moments of respite. There are also showers in tents. And in each subdivision there is a BATH !!! It is impossible to describe it - each company praises its steam room, who has more spirit in the bath, brooms are "more useful". Tents, shelters, dugouts, even "chem-dymovskaya" roasting - everything went on.
I also remember our workhorses - MI-8 ...
“A tailwind is good!
But not during takeoff and landing! " A song about the aviation of the Internal Troops.
Somehow on March 27 (BB day) the Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Kulikov flew to us - he gave the worthy watches, certificates, "Crosses" - separate conversation... Badge "for distinction in service in the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia" 1 and 2 degrees, the so-called. "Silver" and "gold". It is worn with pride not only in the Internal Troops, but also by the rest of the military and the police (of course, those who deserve it - I hope).
Brought "business trip" to the regiment several times. Amounts? Decent. It's hard to tell at today's prices. But then it seemed decent. RD-ka (paratrooper's knapsack) to the eyeballs. We go in a column, I am in the lead, after the guard - the reconnaissance armored personnel carrier. Undermining! I am flying ... I woke up, I was lying on the side of the road, the first thought - was the money in place? Like yes, the spine? I move ... The third - where am I, what happened to me? I get out to meet the soldiers with machine guns at the ready. I still have Vidik, his face is covered in blood, he is covered in mud, they ask something - I don't hear anything. Concussion, damn it. By the way, then nothing was counted for the wound.
By the way, for payment - double travel, "trench", triple length of service. In the second - double length of service, and the time of direct participation in hostilities - triple, and so-called. "Fighting". And the distribution of "combat"? ... no comment, alas!
Dry rations - "the times of Ochakov and the conquest of the Crimea." A cardboard box, a couple of cans of porridge, one with a stew, tea and sugar in bags ... If you get caught in the rain - throw it away, everything is wet. By any hook or by crook, our logisticians and the fathers-commanders of the IRP (individual food ration) or "frog", as it was also called for its green color, obtained it.
We are sitting in negotiations with the elders of one of the villages at the same table, breaking bread. They swear by Allah that everything is calm, there are no bandits, no weapons, and right there at night shelling from the village at us ... Eh Budanov-Budanov! No comments. By the way, lard and vodka are on the table.
Their expression: "Bless Allah, white oat meat!" Pour, drink, eat!
It's summer, it's time to replace officers. As a rule - 3 months, then fatigue, to put it mildly. I end my vacation, take the replacement of three more officers, a demand, an order, and so on. We issue train tickets - Moscow-Kizlyar. We drove beyond Astrakhan - "Soviet" power ends, the train - as in a civilian, people side by side in the aisles. We arrive, "turntable" in a couple of days. We hire a taxi and go to the location, well, don't wait two days. "We didn't wait!"
At the telephone booth in Khasav-yurt, a woman regretfully says to me:
-You are Russians, you came here from Russia, you don't know anything!
I answered her:
-I'm not Russian, but Belarusian, I did not leave Russia, tk. Chechnya and even Dagestan have always been and remain Russia, but I have kunaks in Kurush, in Zandak. In Kurush, for example, they will first give me tea, then they will feed me lunch (well, like - the local Gabrova).
An interesting town is Khasav-yurt. Big Cherkizon is a market town. Everything to provide goods to the eastern part of Chechnya and central Dagestan. Lamb is three times more expensive than sturgeon. Black caviar lies on the market in kilograms, at a price of red in Moscow. Well, these are my observations, maybe somewhat subjective ...
Easter - my soldiers are boiling and painting eggs all night. The next morning I leave for the city, to the church, receive a blessing from the local priest, illuminate the eggs. I come and, with his blessing, talk to the soldiers. For God's sake, I'm not a chaplain or some kind of military priest, but sometimes I take it upon myself. Nearby are my own Muslim soldiers. I ask them: listen, stand by, pray to Allah, he will understand!
How did Chechnya end up for me personally? Certain health problems (concussion, etc.). Report to the table - I quit. A year on vacation - should have had weekends, passages, like land to the collective farm.
War veteran's certificate. A certain monthly amount for pension (something about 2 thousand rubles). Attachment to the clinic. Perhaps that's all.
I still have my own memories ...

1st Chechnya. January 1995
Behind me is a soldier with his mother (they let her and her son go to the PPD), two soldiers with machine guns accompanied. Suburb of Grozny, I don't remember offhand, the next village from Tolstoy-yurt towards Mozdok, evening, I'm in a UAZ. Surrounding the car with a dozen "spirits" in the village ...
There is nothing to lose, I go with an outstretched hand to meet.
"Salam!"
"Salam!"
What, how, why? Conversation of two not boys already. I saw a familiar Belarusian accent in their elder. And he begins to look at me more closely ...
Me: "Where are you from?"
He: "Belarus!"
...
A classmate at the Bobruisk motor transport college, distribution to Grozny, marriage to a local (this does not often happen!).
They stood for half an hour, talked, gave a signal to their people to pass back and took them back to the nearest checkpoints, and in the morning they put the soldier and his mother on a minibus in the direction of Mozdok ...
How is my Belarusian countryman?
Inspired by memories of the war ...
Someday I will write an article in more detail, there is something to remember! Chechnya, Abkhazia, Karabakh, Fergana Valley!
I have the honor!

Alexey Kichkasov, a native of the Kovylkinsky district, in December 1999, during the assault on Grozny, rescued a reconnaissance detachment of the 506th motorized rifle regiment. Under the hurricane fire of the militants, he brought out his children, who were surrounded by them. They wrote about this feat “ TVNZ", The journal of divisions special purpose"Brother", the ORT channel reported. Alexei was nominated for the title of Hero of Russia, but our fellow countryman still has not received a well-deserved award.

We met with Alexei in his native Kovylkino. In May last year, he retired to the reserve. The officer's biography of our hero began to be banal simply. After leaving school, Lesha entered the Yevseviev Mordovian Pedagogical Institute. Chose faculty physical culture, Department of Fundamentals of Life Safety. Kichkasov has been engaged in martial arts for a long time. At competitions he managed to take prizes. At the end of the fifth year of his studies, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant. Kichkasov did not expect that the Motherland would call him under its banner. When he was studying, there were a lot of plans, but in none of them his life did not intersect with military roads. He worked a little as a teacher at the Kovylkinsky GPTU, was a karate-kyokushinkai trainer.

Lieutenant stars

Kichkasov did not manage to stay in civilian life for a long time. The Minister of Defense issued an order calling for reserve lieutenants. In the military registration and enlistment office, he was offered to pay his civic duty to the Motherland. Lesha agreed. So our fellow countryman ended up in one of the most famous Russian divisions - the 27th Totskaya peacekeeping division. He came here among seven lieutenants from Mordovia. Most of them were assigned to the 506th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment. He got into the reconnaissance company, then this unit, according to Alexei, experienced an understaffing of the officer corps. The young lieutenant decided to take the maximum possible from two years military service, to acquire harsh military experience, to temper character. Where else, if not in intelligence, can this be done? And so he liked his stay in Totsk. Exercises, tactical exercises were replaced by field exits. Lieutenant Kichkasov took part in all this. He quickly mastered what cadets in military schools have been studying for several years. It was impossible otherwise. The 506th regiment for a long time was a peacekeeping regiment, which passed through Transnistria, Abkhazia and the First Chechen, became part of constant readiness... This meant: if a flame breaks out somewhere a new war they will be thrown first.

Second Chechen

In the fall of 1999, after the invasion of Basayev's and Khattab's bands into Dagestan, it became clear that a new war was inevitable. And so it happened. At the end of September, the regiment's echelons reached North Caucasus... Columns of the 506th entered Chechnya from the direction of Dagestan. The first serious clashes with the militants took place in the area of ​​the Chervlyonaya-nodal station. The guardsmen did not lose face. Corr. "C" just then managed to visit the area, and we are witnesses that the motorized riflemen really performed such combat missions that the elite units of the internal troops could not cope with. Moreover, they managed to get out of the most dangerous situations with minimal losses. This is the great merit of the regimental intelligence. The company was relatively small, it numbered 80 people. At first, Kichkasov commanded a platoon of armored reconnaissance and patrol vehicles, and, in principle, could not participate in going out to the rear of the enemy. But in one of the skirmishes a lieutenant of a neighboring platoon was wounded, and our fellow countryman took over command of his platoon.

"Capital C" has repeatedly written about the depressing state of the Russian army. The troops are now equipped in something even worse than in the days Afghan war... Satellite navigation systems, thermal imaging surveillance devices that allow detecting the enemy not only at night, but also in rain, fog, under an impressive layer of earth - all this has long become a familiar attribute of Western intelligence units. In the Russian army, all this is known as exotic. And although our industry can produce systems no worse than foreign ones, there is no money for their purchase. And as in the years of the Great Patriotic War, all hope is for a sharp eye and strong legs of our servicemen. And where the Americans would send a remotely controlled flying reconnaissance, ours were forced to go on their own, sometimes even in the very heat. The only reconnaissance attribute were AKM assault rifles with a silencer and binoculars.

Mordovians against militants

As Alexei recalls, at the beginning of the Second Chechen Company they managed to penetrate 10-12 kilometers into the enemy's location. Previously, in order not to get under fire, the command was warned about the direction of movement. The lieutenant took 7-11 of the most trusted people with him. By the way, there were guys from Mordovia among them, for example, Alexei Larin Kichkasov now lives in neighboring houses. During one exit, his namesake stumbled and fell into the river, got very wet, and there were already frosts, but they continued on their way. After all, going back meant disrupting a combat mission, and in a war, failure to comply with an order is fraught with losses in the ranks of attacking motorized riflemen. And the fighter, soaked to the skin, never complained during 14 hours of the sortie. This is where the proverb, well-known in civilian life, acquired a specific meaning: "I would go on reconnaissance with him."

The scouts studied the places through which the columns of infantry and tanks were to pass. They found the firing points of the militants and called in artillery and aviation fire. Artillery is the "God of War" and it worked much better in this campaign than in the previous one. Howitzers began to hit within five minutes after they were given the coordinates of the target. Anyone who knows even a little about military affairs will understand that this is an excellent result. Moreover, as a rule, the shells hit with high accuracy. And this is without any fancy laser guidance systems. In this battle for Grozny Russian army finally, for the first time, she used all her available arsenal of defeat. Starting from long-range missiles"Tochka-U" (range up to 120 km, accuracy - up to 50 m) and super-powerful mortars "Tulip" (caliber - 240 mm), which turned five-story houses into a heap of ruins. Alexey speaks highly of the Buratino heavy flamethrower (range up to 3.5 km, ammunition - 30 thermobaric missiles). With its long "nose" it fires simultaneously two vacuum missiles, destroying all living things within a radius of several tens of meters.

Kichkasov did not specifically calculate how many times they had to go into the enemy's rear. Sometimes the intensity of reconnaissance was so great that no more than two hours were given for rest. I slept a little - and again forward! The work in the Grozny region was especially difficult. Here it was even necessary to conduct reconnaissance in force. This is when, to identify firing points, they cause a blow to themselves.

Battle for Grozny

In the Grozny operation, the 506th regiment was in the direction of the main attack. Therefore, he suffered heavy losses. The press reported that almost a third of the personnel were out of action in a week. In companies from one hundred and twenty people remained for twenty or thirty. In battalions of four hundred - eighty-one hundred. The scouts also hit hard. On the morning of December 17, 1999, their company was delivered combat mission: move forward and occupy the strategic height 382.1. It towered not far from Grozny, and from it many areas of the Chechen capital were controlled. The matter was complicated by the fact that there were powerful concrete bunkers of the militants. We went out at night. The crossing took about seven hours. And then they stumbled upon militants. An intense firefight ensued. Next to Alexei Kichkasov was Sergeant Major Pavlov, an experienced fighter who had already served in Tajikistan and received the Order of Courage. In 1996, in Chechnya, he was a member of the personal security of the commander of the Russian troops. A fragment of an exploding grenade cut off the crown of the foreman's head. The injury was serious, the brain was affected. Alexei bandaged his comrade, gave an injection of promedol. Already bandaged, he could not fire from a machine gun, but did his best to help the commander. I loaded magazines with cartridges, but soon lost consciousness.

Pavlov will die in a few days in the Mozdok hospital, but that will be later, but for now his comrades have been destroying the terrorists. Sniper fire began. One soldier was shot in the eye. He didn't even have time to cry out. Then five more people died. A machine gun burst in the stomach was seriously wounded best friend Alexei's lieutenant Vlasov. The soldier who rushed to the rescue was killed by a sniper. This time, due to some mistake, the gunners opened fire on their own. Alexey Kichkasov, together with several soldiers, carried out the wounded foreman, then came back. The surviving fighters gathered around the senior lieutenant. The militants, realizing that they were dealing with a small group of scouts, tried to surround them, but the furious fire of ours thwarted their plan.

Lieutenant Vladimir Vlasov died in Larin's arms. Unfortunately, the guys were unable to remove the bodies of the dead from the battlefield. Alexey Kichkasov brought out, or rather saved twenty-nine people. For this battle, the ability to act in a seemingly hopeless situation, Senior Lieutenant Kichkasov will be nominated for the title of Hero of Russia. Komsomolskaya Pravda will be the first to write about this. Several more bloody battles will follow. And the ill-fated height 382.1 was completely occupied in a week, they found the bodies of their comrades in arms, disfigured by spirits. The militants mined Vladimir Vlasov, taking out their impotent anger on him.

Sporty character

Alexey believes that he managed to survive in this war only thanks to sports training. Karate taught him to overcome fear, deadly fatigue. He quickly adapted to a combat situation. The worst thing in war is when complete indifference already sets in, a person does not pay attention to the bullets whistling over his head. Military psychologists have described this condition, it is just as dangerous as the loss of control over oneself. Alexey did everything so that neither he nor his subordinates had this, because the city battles are the most difficult. Here he received a shell shock. He doesn't even remember how it happened. It all happened in a fraction of a second. The infamous Minutka Square was taken without Kichkasov. On ORT, Sergei Dorenko's program included a report about this event, looking into the camera lens, Alexei's subordinates sincerely regretted that their commander was not nearby, they said hello to him. This program was seen by the mother of our hero. Before that, she did not know that he was participating in hostilities. Our fellow countryman spent about a month in the Rostov hospital.

The senior lieutenant retired from the army in May 2000. Now he lives in his native Kovylkino. I wanted to get a job in law enforcement agencies, but it turned out that no one needed his combat experience. As before the army, Alexey devotes himself to karate - he trains children. As for the star of the Hero of Russia, Kichkasov never received it. Although he was presented to this title three times. The fatal role in this was played by the fact that he was not a career officer. It turns out that when a guy was sent into battle, no one understood that behind his shoulders there was only study at the military department, and it came to awards, then, according to the logic of the rear bureaucrats, it turns out that he is not supposed to be a hero. It is difficult to think of something more absurd and offensive. In our country, only the dead are honored.