Fight at May Day. Who betrayed our soldiers?
“January 9 1996 of the year in 9.45 in accordance with the instructions of the Director of the FSB of Russia, General of the Army M. Barsukov “A” personnel were raised for alert for further instructions. ”
Ancient and wise Sun Tzu advised: "Feed the soldier a thousand days to use one hour at the right time and in the right place."This hour came in Kizlyar and Pervomaisk. The country is tired of the threats and bloody affairs of the Chechen terrorists. All hoped to win. Completely forgetting to feed and train the soldier.
Then shouted: who is to blame? Worthless generals or gifted terrorists? Completely convince ourselves that the generals and colonels are to blame for all our military troubles.
Who spat and destroyed the army lack of money, thoughtless cuts, insane conversion? Who was yelling from the parliamentary tribunes that the KGB’s “black dog” could not be laundered and, therefore, must be killed?
It turns out that they are not to blame, who, under the guise of a holy war with totalitarianism, were disorganizing the army and the special services. But then who? Until we answer this question, we will be held by the bloody fingers of the Basayev by the throat. We do not see victories in the fight against terror. We cannot protect our citizens in our own land. After all, the pledge of these victories in Sun Tzu's wise advice: feed the soldier for a thousand days ...
... And now we will return to Pervomayskoye.
From the service report of the group "A"
"According to primary information, a group of militants in the number of 300 people, armed with small weapons, firing at civilians, captured around 350 as a hostage in a hospital in Kizlyar, Republic of Dagestan. At the same time, the militants attacked the helipad of the town of Kizlyar, as a result of which the 2 helicopter and the tanker were destroyed, and a dwelling house was also captured.
In 11.30, one hundred and twenty employees headed by Major General AV Gusev, carrying weapons, special means and means of protection, equipment necessary for the tasks of releasing the hostages, left for the Chkalovsky airfield.
12.00. The personnel arrived at the airport and in 13.00 on two Tu-154 aircraft by special flight flew to Makhachkala. In 15.30 and 17.00 aircraft landed at the airport of Makhachkala.
In 20.00, the personnel on the vehicles arrived at the FSB Department of the City of Makhachkala, where Colonel-General Zorin VN, the head of the Russian Federation Federal Security Service’s antiterrorist center. brought the operational situation at the moment.
At 01.20 on January 10, upon the arrival of two armored personnel carriers, the column began to move to the city of Kizlyar, where it arrived at 5.30 "
What did the Alpha fighters see in Kizlyar? In essence, they saw the tail of the column with terrorists and hostages who were leaving the city. By this time, the leadership of Dagestan decided to release the Chechen gangsters from the city hospital and ensure them unimpeded travel to the border of Chechnya. The terrorists promised to free the hostages at the border.
In 6.40, a column of terrorists on 9 buses, 2 vehicles KAMAZ and 2 ambulances started moving. Kizlyar hospital remained mined.
The persecution began. Originally it was planned to carry out an operation on the route: block the convoy and free the hostages. Although, I confess, this option was a considerable risk. Some high-ranking officials, deputies of Dagestan, and a convoy - 9 buses went hostage. Imagine the death of at least some of the hostages. And it would have been inevitable, since the terrorists are not one and not two, and they are armed not with rifles, but with machine guns, machine guns, grenade launchers.
Now “impose” these events on the military, bloody, tense situation in the Caucasus - and you will understand what doubts tormented the leaders of the operation.
In a word, Raduyev and his terrorists were not stopped on the route, not blocked. He safely reached Pervomaisky, disarmed the Novosibirsk OMON checkpoint, which meekly raised their hands, added to the number of hostages and their arsenal.
From the service report of the group "A"
“In the course of further negotiations, the militant commander Raduyev made demands to provide an opportunity for the convoy to enter Chechnya, where he promised to release hostages. In connection with this, “A” headquarters has developed a version of the operation to free hostages on the route.
The plan of the operation provided for the blocking of the column with armored vehicles, the destruction of terrorists by sniper fire, and the detonation of KamAZ vehicles loaded with weapons and ammunition, the inclination of terrorists to surrender weapons and the release of hostages.
Employees of department "A" conducted a reconnaissance of the area and selected possible locations for the operation. The unit was assigned a combat mission and a scheme of communication and interaction was worked out, a calculation of forces and means was made.
However, the efforts of commanders and special forces soldiers were in vain. Raduyev refused the demands put forward, remained in Pervomaisk and began to equip firing positions. I must say that it was a strong move of the bandits. Now the operation of the special - for the release of hostages and the destruction of terrorists - turned into a military. Or rather, in a special, KGB military. By the way, experts still have no consensus on this.The Ministry of Defense considers the operation in the Pervomaisky Special, and the Federal Security Service to be the combined arms. Who is right, who is wrong?
Since the hostages were taken prisoner, the terrorists put forward demands and shot some of the captured, there are all the components for the operation of anti-terror.
But the terrorists are not one or two or even a dozen or two, but more than three hundred bayonets. They are armed with mortars, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, machine guns, sniper rifles. They dug out full-profile trenches, created a fortified defense zone according to all the rules of military science with advanced and cut-off positions, with communications and even blocked gaps. Ask anyone who understands in military affairs a person: what is it? This is nothing more than a motorized rifle battalion in defense. And since the battalion did not dig in the open field, but in a sufficiently large village, then for the attackers it is also a storming of the settlement. With all the ensuing consequences.
What are the consequences? They can be very deplorable, if not perform a few "ifs".
If you do not conduct artillery preparation and do not suppress the enemy's firepower, if you do not create at least three times (during the Great Patriotic War, five and ten times were created), if you don’t throw unprepared soldiers and officers at the assault, then ... I think that's enough. In this case, people who go on the attack will simply die and the attack will choke.
What actually happened. Artillery training by and large was not. The shelling from several anti-tank guns, perhaps, looked more like psychological pressure than the actual destruction of firing points.Wow pressure ... firing cannons, destroyed the village. Yes, and fired, and destroyed. This is all seen on television. But here the gunmen, buried in the ground, firing caused little harm. When, after the shelling, the first units moved to the assault, the terrorists met them with hurricane fire. Dagestan riot police immediately lost several people killed, wounded and retreated. According to the laws of tactics, this meant only one thing - the front edge of the enemy’s defense was not overwhelmed, the gangsters retained their firepower, and anyone who tries to rush forward is expected to die.
From the service report of the group "A"
“On January 15, at 8.30, the management personnel took up their starting positions. After a fire strike aviation and helicopters, the fighting groups in the divisions, setting up a forward patrol, in cooperation with the Vityaz unit, fought with Chechen fighters and advanced into “square four” on the southeastern outskirts of the village of Pervomaiskoe.
During the hostilities on January 15-18, employees of the department identified and destroyed firing points of militants, provided fire cover for the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, provided medical assistance, and evacuated the wounded from the battlefield.
There are many things behind these stingy report lines. For example, the withdrawal from under fire of the fighters of the “Vityaz” detachment, who were, in fact, in the firing bag. They were helped by the employees of group “A”.
In the war, when the attack choked, the artillery was tightened and the front line began to be “processed” again. Whenever possible, they called in aviation and bombed them. Or there was another option: the advancing troops avoided the center of resistance and moved forward.
This option was not the "feds", as, indeed, there was no other. They could not resume artillery preparation, since from the first cannon volleys a howl rose: the hostages were being destroyed.It turns out that there was only one thing left: to destroy our special forces - Alpha, Vympel, Vityaz, throwing them under the dagger fire of the bandits.
I often think of a terrible dilemma: yes, the state must, must save the lives of the hostages. But what is the price of this salvation?
Recently, we often look at the problem through the eyes of a captured unarmed person. The bitter, humiliating role of a suicide bomber, besides innocent of anything. But how humbled and crushed a professional, powerless in his main task - the release of prisoners and the punishment of bandits! What could a fighter "Alpha" in Pervomaisk? Even the most experienced, first-class fighter? To rise to his full height in the attack and heroically die? But this, at least, is nonsense. Although this is enough for the war.
Do not die yourself, save as many hostages as possible, destroy the terrorists - this is the triune task of special units.
The fighters of the group “A” successfully succeed in attacking captured buses, airplanes, houses in which the terrorists are stationed, but are not taught to walk in chains and are not strong in general tactics. Not their business. But then whose? Motorized riflemen, artillerymen, tankmen ...
“We have arrived,” my opponents will say. “Eighteen-year-old unshooted, untrained boys were thrown into the fire, and excellent shooters, athletes, experienced fighters who have been in more than one alteration will remain on the sidelines.”
This is where the main question arises from which I began my reflections and which lies at the heart of all our recent defeats: why are Russian Armed Forces soldiers not shot, untrained, poorly equipped, or even hungry?
All this, by the way, was present in Pervomaisky. And the drivers who made their first march on the BMP, and cold for many days, and the lack of basic living conditions.
I was told by the employees of group “A” how the freezing Russian soldiers were asking for them on the buses for the night. "Alfovtsy" and would be happy to let it go, but they themselves slept sitting, consider, on their knees each other.
And our television is all doldon: a cordon, a ring, a block. Forgetting that every word is people. How many days and nights without sleep and rest can one “block” militants sitting in a trench or in a winter field? Given that the militants were basking at this time in the homes of Pervomaisky.
Now many people are surprised to ask: how did Raduev slip away? Yes, and slipped away, breaking through with the fights. Because by and large there was no ring there. And not only that external and internal, but even the usual environment. Well, except that the "islands" of defense, one of which was defended by three dozen army special forces. A handful of fighters, to which the gang of Rainbow. They killed the bulk of the terrorists, letting them almost close. However, remember how many people Raduev had - more than three hundred. So the advantage is almost ten times. These Russian special forces guys, of course, heroes. They are almost all injured, there are dead.As it was, few people know. In general, there are only a few of them left after that battle - the special forces of the 22 brigade. Who retired, who went to other cities, military districts. After those events, I hardly managed to find several heroes. Here is one of them:
“We were once again set up. The press then wrote - three rings of encirclement, snipers. All this is nonsense. No rings were there. The guys from our special brigade 22 and took a punch.
The density of the front was 46 man and a half kilometers. Imagine! For all standards, the excess of the length for each fighter is three times. And weapons - only small arms, light, but two armored personnel carriers attached.
Our site was most likely to break through. Why? Yes, because only here, in the only place, you can cross the Terek. I emphasize in the singular. There, the oil pipeline across the river is stretched, and above it is a bridge. And the fool was clear: nowhere else to go.
We offered to blow up the pipe. No, it's oil, grandmas are big. People are cheaper. And they would have blown up - and the "spirits" have nowhere to go.
By the way, on the other side, two KamAZ Chechens approached. Stood, waited. For our part, nothing; the turntables did not work for them.
As such, the training of the terrorists was not. They began firing, and their strike group went on the attack. Coming to a strong point of one hundred meters, the front thugs lay down, began to exert fire pressure. In the meantime, a covering group was pulled up, and everyone rushed forward in a crowd.
In terms of tactics, they acted correctly. In another way and could not. After the battle, we checked the documents of the dead. Afghans, Jordanians, Syrians. About fifty mercenary professionals.
Each, as a rule, has two knapsacks, in one — ammunition and canned goods, in the other — drugs, syringes, and so on. So they attacked in a state of narcotic dope. They say fearless suicide bombers. They were afraid of bandits.
Yes, Raduyev slipped away, but we laid many. About 200 terrorists went into battle. 84 man we destroyed. Not counting the wounded and prisoners. In the morning I looked in the footsteps - twenty people escaped, no more. With them and Raduyev.
The brigade also suffered losses: five died, six people were injured. If two or three companies were put on our site, the result would be different. Much has been done stupidly. In defense a small handful were planted, they did not mine the approaches. What counted on? Maybe someone needed such a breakthrough? ”
The density of the front was 46 man and a half kilometers. Imagine! For all standards, the excess of the length for each fighter is three times. And weapons - only small arms, light, but two armored personnel carriers attached.
Our site was most likely to break through. Why? Yes, because only here, in the only place, you can cross the Terek. I emphasize in the singular. There, the oil pipeline across the river is stretched, and above it is a bridge. And the fool was clear: nowhere else to go.
We offered to blow up the pipe. No, it's oil, grandmas are big. People are cheaper. And they would have blown up - and the "spirits" have nowhere to go.
By the way, on the other side, two KamAZ Chechens approached. Stood, waited. For our part, nothing; the turntables did not work for them.
As such, the training of the terrorists was not. They began firing, and their strike group went on the attack. Coming to a strong point of one hundred meters, the front thugs lay down, began to exert fire pressure. In the meantime, a covering group was pulled up, and everyone rushed forward in a crowd.
In terms of tactics, they acted correctly. In another way and could not. After the battle, we checked the documents of the dead. Afghans, Jordanians, Syrians. About fifty mercenary professionals.
Each, as a rule, has two knapsacks, in one — ammunition and canned goods, in the other — drugs, syringes, and so on. So they attacked in a state of narcotic dope. They say fearless suicide bombers. They were afraid of bandits.
Yes, Raduyev slipped away, but we laid many. About 200 terrorists went into battle. 84 man we destroyed. Not counting the wounded and prisoners. In the morning I looked in the footsteps - twenty people escaped, no more. With them and Raduyev.
The brigade also suffered losses: five died, six people were injured. If two or three companies were put on our site, the result would be different. Much has been done stupidly. In defense a small handful were planted, they did not mine the approaches. What counted on? Maybe someone needed such a breakthrough? ”
These are the bitter confessions.
In that battle, the head of the 58 Army’s intelligence, Colonel Alexander Stytsina, the commander of the communications company, Captain Konstantin Kozlov, and the medical captain Sergey Kosachev, were killed.Lost in Pervomaisk and group "A" of its two officers - Majors Andrei Kiselev and Viktor Vorontsov.
Vorontsov was from the border guards, served in a separate detachment of control in Sheremetevo-2. At first I got into Vympel, and in 1994, I switched to group “A”. He distinguished himself during the liberation of hostages in Budennovsk, for which he was awarded the Suvorov Medal.
Andrei Kiselev - a graduate of the Ryazan Airborne School. He served in the company of a special purpose regiment of the Airborne Forces, was an instructor in airborne training. In 1993 year adopted in the division "A".
Both officers took part in complex operational activities and combat operations. For courage and bravery shown in rescuing the hostages, Andrei Kiselev and Viktor Vorontsov were awarded the Order of Courage (posthumously).
Information