Andrei Savenkov - the hero of war and peace
American experts dealing with the psychological effects of military campaigns based on historical studies, note that, no matter how remarkably prepared the soldiers, no matter how coordinated the actions, no matter how knowledgeable and skillful their commanders are, many fighters cannot withstand the psychological stress that falls on them during battles. And besides, evidence is given that any person who is on the battlefield for a long time cannot but suffer from a variety of mental disorders. The volumes of such diseases are acquiring truly colossal proportions. In the literature, you can find data that during the Second World War, the American army alone lost more than five hundred thousand soldiers due to psychological disorders. This number of soldiers would be enough to staff fifty infantry divisions that could change the course of any military battle.
Managing to remain a Man after the trials of war, to find a foothold that allowed to bring good and meaning to the world, only a few combatants could. One of such people was the hero of our story, a veteran of the First Chechen War, Andrei Savenkov, the owner of two Orders of Courage for participating in operations in the North Caucasus.
In the distant 1995 year, after the assault and seizure of the capital of the rebellious republic, a new task was set before the Russian troops - to establish complete control over the lowland territories. By that time, almost all key heights had already been cleared of militants. At the same time, explanatory work was carried out with the local population, in which the Russian military leadership saw one of its main allies. However, despite all efforts, huge groups of armed Chechen militants were not destroyed. They could freely leave their secret shelters, bases, camps and navigate the secret paths of a familiar area.
Local fighting also continued in the western part of the republic. After fierce battles for the village of Samashki (7 and 8 on April 1995), a combined detachment consisting of the URSN consolidated group and reconnaissance brigades of the Sofrinsky brigade (which included Andrei Savenkov) was ordered to move to the Bamut settlement on the night of 13 on April 14. Their goal was Bald Mountain, which the detachment was supposed to take up to 3: 45 nights in order to allow the twenty-first separate brigade to pass unhindered to the village. The task was successfully completed, but our guys did not have time to equip new defensive fortifications at the seized height, and therefore they had to use old militant trenches and natural stone obstacles as shelters in the future battle.
At 9 in the morning of April 14, unsuspecting “spirits” approached our team, which was entrenched on Bald Mountain. A shootout ensued. The enemy, eager to regain the conquered heights, was perfectly prepared and armed. As it turned out later, the avant-garde of the enemy, the Abkhaz group of Shamil Basayev, consisting of two hundred or three hundred militants according to various sources, opposed the Russian detachment of thirty-four soldiers. After four hours of violent exchanges with the enemy, who constantly increased their strength, the brigade was ordered to leave the battlefield. KP also reported that the forces of the twenty-first brigade entered Bamut. However, the moment, which was successful for the special forces, was missed, the militants, who had a considerable numerical superiority, had already begun to encircle the group of Russian soldiers who were keeping their height. The distance between the gangsters and our guys was reduced to twenty meters, and the commander of the joint detachment, Captain Kazakov, decided to call mortar fire on himself. Special Forces rushed for a breakthrough. When they finally managed to escape from the embittered enemy, only a few cartridges remained in the machine gun stores of most of the fighters. However, each of them left for himself one grenade ....Received the hardest wounds (including in the head), wounded Andrei Savenkov was taken away by his comrades from the combat zone and immediately taken to the hospital. Several fragments with a total weight of just under one kilogram were extracted from his body. It so happened that during the reporting from the scene of the fighting in Chechnya, Andrei's mother saw a wounded son. After that, she called the brigade to find out about his fate. But to her incessant requests and pleas in response, only rude curses sounded, no one could sensibly explain what happened to Andrei and how seriously he was injured. In the end, after many calls and long sleepless nights, the mother heard the voice of her son in the receiver.
The battle for Bamut is one of the most dramatic episodes of the First Chechen War. In the spring of 1995, the largest enemy group in the region gathered in the village and in its district. It was here after the battles in Grozny that the Abkhaz battalion of Basayev settled down (two hundred men). In addition, there were militants of the "Gelendzhik Regiment" (two hundred and fifty people), representatives of the Gudermes, Argun and Shali groups (totaling about three hundred people), foreign mercenaries (four hundred Asians, Arabs and Europeans). By the most conservative estimates, they had about twenty units of armored vehicles and the same number of mortars and artillery systems, as well as two Grad installations.
Federal Forces Special Forces occupied nearby heights on the night of April 14. The 15 numbers began an assault, but failed to take Bamut and on April 17 troops returned to their original positions. Repeated assault on April 18 also gave nothing. On the same day, during the assault on the height of 444,4 (called “Lysa Hora”), in the vicinity of Bamut, soldiers from the Rosich special forces detachment were ambushed. During the battle, special forces soldiers managed to pick up the bodies of two Russian soldiers from the intelligence of the Sofrinsky brigade, who were killed on April 14. By their actions, the Rosich detachment diverted more than a thousand militants, thus facilitating the work of the operational brigade that conducted the operation in Bamut. In this unprecedented battle, the special forces lost ten people killed and seventeen wounded. Five of them were later posthumously awarded the title Hero of Russia. Today, the battle on “Bald Mountain” is thoroughly analyzed in military academies, it is described in magazines and books.
The fighting near the village lasted until June, and then was suspended in connection with the terrorist attack in Budennovsk. The third assault on Bamut began only on May 19, 1996. On May 24, parts of Vladimir Shamanov took the village and the dominant height of 444,4. The military officials attributed the success of such a long defense to the use by the Chechens of underground communications of a strategic missile unit located on the territory of the settlement. Shelters designed for a nuclear war were invulnerable to any Russian aviation, not for Grad.
Federal Forces Special Forces occupied nearby heights on the night of April 14. The 15 numbers began an assault, but failed to take Bamut and on April 17 troops returned to their original positions. Repeated assault on April 18 also gave nothing. On the same day, during the assault on the height of 444,4 (called “Lysa Hora”), in the vicinity of Bamut, soldiers from the Rosich special forces detachment were ambushed. During the battle, special forces soldiers managed to pick up the bodies of two Russian soldiers from the intelligence of the Sofrinsky brigade, who were killed on April 14. By their actions, the Rosich detachment diverted more than a thousand militants, thus facilitating the work of the operational brigade that conducted the operation in Bamut. In this unprecedented battle, the special forces lost ten people killed and seventeen wounded. Five of them were later posthumously awarded the title Hero of Russia. Today, the battle on “Bald Mountain” is thoroughly analyzed in military academies, it is described in magazines and books.
The fighting near the village lasted until June, and then was suspended in connection with the terrorist attack in Budennovsk. The third assault on Bamut began only on May 19, 1996. On May 24, parts of Vladimir Shamanov took the village and the dominant height of 444,4. The military officials attributed the success of such a long defense to the use by the Chechens of underground communications of a strategic missile unit located on the territory of the settlement. Shelters designed for a nuclear war were invulnerable to any Russian aviation, not for Grad.
After discharge, the whole bandaged, “decorated” with numerous scars, with a plate in his head, Andrei Olegovich Savenkov returned home to his native Kondrovo, where his family moved from Central Asia. It was in this city, located in the Kaluga region, a young man grew up and graduated from high school. Here he returned after the dismissal of special forces for disability.
In the conditions of a small town of the 1996 model, where it was hard for even a full-fledged healthy person to rise, the disabled soldier Savenkov did not sit and wait "from the sea for the weather." At first he got a job as a bodyguard, made some money and decided to marry. True, the first family experience failed - Andrei soon broke up with his wife, who bore him a daughter. Uncertainty and uncertainty did not suit the former soldier, and local businessmen were not going to help. The guy decided to take the fate in their own strong hands - organized a family taxi.
Having successfully mastered this type of business, Andrey handed it over to his comrade, and he himself found a new occupation - he decided to clean up a wild pond located near the city and build a small restaurant on its bank. Everything that he could do with his own hands, the rest - he trusted the masters. Savenkov very much wanted to create a sort of zest in his small homeland, where people could relax in a beautiful setting. There was a lot of work, but Andrei was not accustomed to retreating in the face of difficulties, with all his strength, achieving his goal. And everything went great for him until one event occurred. A veteran of the Chechen campaign, the owner of a very hot temper and a heightened sense of justice, once had a big argument with one of his clients. It came to a fight: Andrew could not stand the boorish attitude of the “businessman”, who brought his waitress to tears. The enemy was very vindictive and very influential, the restaurant Savenkova soon burned ...
Recalling Andrei’s childhood, his mother told us that he never stood out among his peers and grew up as an ordinary urban boy. And soon after being drafted into the army, he was sent to Ossetia, among other soldiers. He returned from a hot spot in the middle of the night. Vera Georgievna, who rushed to meet her son, remembered the meager words of the group commander, who uttered that “Sava” (as friends called Andrei among themselves) is a real man who you can always rely on. ”
Many in Andrei’s situation would have given up on helplessness. All that remained of the veteran after the fire - the memories of the combat past, but the cherished Order of Courage. But such an outcome, “Sava” was not up to par. He did not go and complain about the offices, he did not have such a character. I decided to start everything from scratch, literally to be reborn from the ashes. A new life began with a new family union, Savenkov ventured again to build family happiness. However, the wedding euphoria did not last long, living with a man who had passed through the war is a very complicated matter, requiring tremendous patience. As a result, a few years later, Andrew returned to his first family, where his daughter was growing up.
In parallel with this, a new responsible occupation appeared for him: the administration suggested that he should be engaged in refining the lake, whose shores had fallen into extreme desolation and were the gathering place for drunk orgies. In Savenkov, the excitement again woke up: can he cope with such a difficult plan? Soon, he already wanted to not only restore order, but to establish a beautiful recreation center here, so that fellow countrymen could have a cultural rest, and families with children spend weekends. The indefatigable, energetic nature of the veteran and the experience of past deeds helped him overcome all obstacles - not only the local brethren, but also city dwellers soon came to the lake under Kondrovo.
And Savenkov, having finished the construction, did not stop at what he had achieved. At the recreation center, he constantly organizes interesting holidays. In addition, Andrew decided to start raising a worthy shift, the future patriots of Russia. Thanks to his diligence, the children's military club "Lynx" was opened in Kondrovo. In addition, the courageous man set out to build an Orthodox church on the shore of the lake. Said - did. Vladyka Clement himself, Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsky, came to the opening and consecration of the temple.
Of course, the active citizenship of Andrei Olegovich Savenkov is not to everyone's liking. Many in the district like to criticize the veteran, his actions and goals. There have always been enough preachers in our country, but there was a problem with the righteous. There were also dissatisfied officials trying to put sticks in the wheels of the mobile carriage of Andrew. There were serious conflicts with summer residents from the capital, who do not miss the opportunity to complain about the veteran who “occupied” the lake. Savenkov once again participates in a kind of war for peaceful coexistence, in which a third party is now involved, some kind of influential person trying to take away his brainchild from Andrei, namely the lake in order with all the surrounding infrastructure, to which the fighter laid thirteen years of his of life. And since the current owner has repeatedly refused to sell the bidder, he began to act by his own, far from legal methods. But the veteran of the fighting has never retreated and will not retreat.
Every year in April, former members of the legendary brigade gather in Sofrino for a memorial day. Andrei Olegovich comes here too. The old fellow soldiers do not need to prove anything to each other, their common past is stronger than many other bonds. They recall with bitterness those who fell in that terrible battle near Bamut - the three colleagues of Savenkov: Dmitry Gryzak, Gennady Romanov and Sergey Lyapov. At home, Andrei occasionally looks through a cassette with material shot during the assault of Bamut in Chechnya in April of 1995. At these moments, the aged mother looks at her son with anxiety, realizing that Andrei is again plunging into those difficult, experienced events. However, Savenkov himself is well aware that, remembering the past, one cannot remain in it, for this is a dead end, in which many war veterans are stuck.
The Sofrinsk brigade dates back to the 1988 year, when the country's leadership decided to create operational military units capable of skillfully and orderly eliminating hotbeds of tension in the country's regions. The brigade was formed on the basis of the Moscow Region’s 504 training regiment of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs on 10 on October 1988, and on December 27 the first Sophrinians took the oath. On February 12 of the 1989 of the year, the servicemen of the newly minted unit went to Baku. It was from this city that the combat biography of the Sofrinsk brigade began. Then there were Tbilisi and Ferghana, Nagorno-Karabakh and Dushanbe, again Baku, and then Nakhichevan and Vilnius, again Karabakh .... During the events of October 1993, the White House contrary to the order, the Sofrinsk brigade refused to take part in the siege of the Supreme Council and did not moved columns of armored vehicles to Ostankino. Her servicemen remained faithful to the oath and did not participate in the fratricidal battle. In the Chechen Republic, the Sofrinsk brigade carried out operations in the most important areas: in Samashki, Argun, Achkhoy-Martan, Gudermes, Tolstoy-Yurt, Assinovskaya, Darbanha, Vinogradnoy, Belorechye, Dzhalka, Urus-Martan, Komsomolsky, Bamut. Since October 4 of the 1999 year, the brigade has been taking part in counter-terrorism operations in Chechnya. The military unit has rightfully earned a reputation as one of the most combat-ready formations, even Basayev stated that "it is better not to mess with the Soffrins." For the courage and heroism shown during the performance of military duty, more than one and a half thousand fighters of the brigade were awarded orders and medals. In the fall of the 2013 year, the Sofrinsk brigade celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. At the festivities, military leaders, current and former military personnel, again remembered the names of all the heroes who perpetuated the name of this illustrious military unit in glorious Russian history.
Most recently, the deputy of the local council, Andrei Olegovich Savenkov, organized a memorial day in Kondrovo, on which relatives of children who have not returned home are going. He says that one of his goals is to shake ordinary people, remind them that the world in which we live is not always easy, that for him many brave people have given their lives.
Information sources:
Military program A.Sladkova from 12.10.2013
http://kznewskondrovo.ru/
http://www.bratishka.ru/archiv/2011/2/2011_2_5.php
http://www.newstube.ru/tags/sofrinskaya-brigada
Information