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Battle of Hill 776
Part of Second Chechen War
File:Ulus-Kert.jpg A Chechen fighter stands over Russian paratroopers killed in action on Hill 776
Date February 29-March 1 (or March 3) 2000 Location Argun Gorge, Chechnya Result Chechen victory
Belligerents
VDV and Spetsnaz	Chechen separatists Foreign fighters
Commanders and leaders
Mark Yevtyukhin †	Abu al-Walid
Strength
91	At least 70-75
Casualties and losses
84 killed	At least 12 killed

The Battle of Hill 776, the best-known part of the larger Battle of Ulus-Kert , was a highly-controversial engagement in the Second Chechen War during the fierce fighting over the control of the Argun River (Caucasus) gorge in the Shatoysky District of Chechnya, where the Russian forces attempted to surround and destroy a large Chechen rebel force withdrawing from Grozny to Shatoy and Vedeno following the 1999-2000 siege and capture of Grozny.

On February 29, 2000, just hours after the Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev had assured his government that the war was over, an isolated Russian force based on the 6th Company of the 76th Guards Airborne Division from the city of Pskov found itself cut-off in the Chechen mountains; after heavy close-quarters fighting, the Russians dug-in on the hill were overrun and almost entirely wiped-out. The incident was widely publicised in Russia, in part because of several propaganda pieces it inspired, and is known to fascinate the Russian leader Vladimir Putin personally.

Uncertainty continues to surround many aspects of the engagement, including how people were engaged in the battle on both sides, how many casualties the Russians suffered and themselves inflicted, how much artillery and close air support they were provided, and even how long the fighting for the hill raged (with the time span ranging, according to the widely conflicting Russian official statements, from a six-hour overnight battle to even four days).

The events

One of the regimental task forces Russian Airborne Troops (VDV) tactical group in the area, based on the 104th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 76th Division with attached Spetsnaz reconnaissance subunits and elite Vympel (FSB OSNAZ) groups, was to block the gorge while the other Russian forces encircled a large Chechen force that was dislodged from Ulus Kert. The 6th Company was part of the 2d Airborne Battalion belonging to this blocking force. The company (whose nominal commander was Major Sergey Molodov) was then being led personally by the 2nd Battallion commander Lieutenant Colonel Mark Yevtyukhin. Attached to it were also two reconnaissance teams and a forward observer team (led by Captain Viktor Romanov).

Once the large-scale Chechen breakthrough started, the Russians were caught by surprise. The only Russian force that made to the Hill 776, now suddenly in the thick of the fighting, was the third platoon of the 4th Company led by Major Aleksandr Dostovalov (the 2d Battalion deputy commander). Desperate attempts from the other Russian units to rescue them were unsuccesful and in the troops resorted to calling support fire on their own positions. According to official data, 84 soldiers of the 6th Company (presumably also including attached members of the other units) were killed in the fighting, including all officers at the spot. Only six (or five according to some sources) Russian soldiers on the hill survived the battle, including four of them injured; the highest-rank survivor was Sergeant Andrey Proshev.

Losses by sides

The battle caused severe embarrassment for Russian military officials who then attempted to conceal their loss of an entire unit. Russia's high commanders, including Marshal Sergeyev, VDV commander General Georgy Shpak, and the commander of federal forces in Chechnya General Gennady Troshev, initially all insisted that only 31 of their men died in the battle and denied the reports based on unofficial sources saying 86 soldiers were killed; the Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Chechnya, Sergey Yastrzhembsky, also claimed 31 dead were "the total losses of that company for several days". After days of government denials, top Russian officials eventually admitted that 84 paratroopers died, some of them apparently from friendly fire. Russian newspapers reported that Sergeyev had ordered the losses to be covered up; the loss of this unit came just a week after 25 men from the 76th Division were killed in an another battle in Chechnya. According to a pro-government Russian source, "unoficially, the losses sustained by Russian paratroopers on March 1 are blamed on the decision of the Eastern group's commander Gen. Sergey Makarov and the VDV tactical group's commander Aleksandr Lentsov."

The total Russian strenght and the losses among the other Russian units and subunits operating in area of Ulus-Kert were never officially disclosed. In the first days after the battle, Troshev said 1,000 rebel fighters were involved, this figure was soon later revised to 1,500-2,000 by Yastrzhembsky, and even 2,500 according to Troshev later. At the same time, Colonel-General Valery Manilov, first deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, claimed there were only 2,500 to 3,500 rebels in all of Chechnya. According to Yastrzhembsky at the time when the fighting in area still continued, 70 rebels also surrendered at what he called a "pocket" at Selmentausen, while "up to 1,000 might have succeeded in escaping". According to 2001 the article in Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star), official newspaper of the Russian Ministry of Defence, Chechen casualties in the area included approximately 400 dead, including 200 found on the Hill 776. However, as of 2008, the official federal estimate apparently rose to about 500 enemy dead according to the government website, while the Russian state mass media spoke even about over 700.

According to a Russian interview with a separatist fighter, there were 1,600 fighters in what the whole slow-moving column weighted-down by heavy weapons, ammunition and wounded they carried along. On their Kavkaz Center website, the rebels admitted losing 12 men killed on the Hill 776, 13 more in other fighting in this area between Ulus-Kert and Duba-Yurt at the time, and about 50 combat dead during the march from Shatoi to Vedeno three weeks later. In addition to these losses, 30 wounded left behind at Selmentausen were said to be captured by Russians because of betrayal and allegedly executed. Among the fighters killed while storming the Hill 776 were three Turks. The Chechen rebels estimated Russian losses at up to 200 killed, including about 100 "so-called Pskov commandos."

Aftermath

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Partially owing to these points of controversy, the battle has been seen in Russia in two ways: firstly, as a defeat for the Russian military, and secondly, as a glorious last stand made by the paratroopers, confirming the VDV's reputation in the same way that the Battle of Camarón did for the French Foreign Legion, and the events were quickly enshrined in heroic myth. Though for some in the Russian army it remains a cause of shame because of avoidable circumstances that resulted in a defeat, it turned out to be officially held in Russia as an example of bravery and sacrifice. Soon, 22 Russian soldiers (all 13 officers and nine enlisted men) were given the highest medal of the Hero of the Russian Federation (for a comparison, only 65 medals of the Hero of the Soviet Union were given for the entire duration of the 10-year Soviet War in Afghanistan, in which more than 14,000 Red Army soldiers died), while another 63 received the Order of Courage. In 2001, Putin flew to Chechnya to personally visit the former battlefield. In 2008, a day before Russia's Defender of the Fatherland Day, a street in the Chechen capital Grozny was officially renamed as "84 Pskov Paratroopers Street", in the move that sparked further controversies in Chechnya.

Popular culture

The Russian government sponsored a series of productions loosely based on these events, including the 2004 theatrical musical show, the 2004 television series Chest imeyu, the 2006 four-part television film Grozovye vorota ("The Storm Gate") and the 2006 movie Proriv ("Breakthrough").

References

1. ^ U.S. Army Combined Arms Center (July 2001) ULUS-KERT: An Airborne Company's Last Stand
2. ^ Russia Today TV (23 February 2008) 'Miracle resistance' remembered in Chechnya
3. ^ Kavkaz Center (29 February 2004) Kremlin's lies about Battle of Ulus-Kert
4. Kavkaz Center (22 February 2008): Murtadin ringleader again showed faithfulness to the murderers of Chechen people
5. There was also other fighting for the town of Ulus Kert, the village of Selmentausen, the Hill 705.6, the Hill 787 and elsewhere in area)
6. ^ BBC News (6 March, 2000) Chechen rebels besieged
7. ^ The Independent (March 15 2000) Nation grieves for lost paratroops of Pskov,
8. ^ The Independent (15 May 2006) Kremlin film makes heroes out of paratroops it left to be massacred
9. ^ The Independent (10 March 2000): Russia claims rout of rebels in mountain area, but fighting continues
10. RFE/RL (7 March 2000) Chechnya: Russia Provides Conflicting Reports On Casualties
11. ^ CBC News (March 07, 2000) 31 Russian soldiers killed in Chechnya battles
12. GlobalSecurity.org (6 March 2000) On The Situation in the North Caucasus
13. Chicago Sun-Times (March 12, 2000): Russians confirm troop deaths 84 fatalities in worst battle of war with Chechen rebels
14. The Guardian (11 March 2000): No way back: Refugees stranded as Chechnya declares all-out war
15. The Jamestown Foundation (May 11 2006) Putin address conceals challenges in the North Caucasus
16. Venik's Aviation (March 7, 2000) War in Chechnya - 1999
17. BBC News (10 March, 2000): Russia admits heavy losses
18. Russian embassy to Thailand: CHECHNYA: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
19. Grani.ru (March 26, 2002) "We don't consider ourselves conquered and we'll never do"
20. The Jamestown Foundation (7 April 2005) Turkish Volunteers in Chechnya
21. Chechenpress (8 March 2005) The battle of Ulus-Kert gives no rest to Moscow
22. ^ The Moscow Times (19 March 2008) Fairy Tales of Glorious Battles in Chechnya
23. The Moscow Times (16 April 2001) Putin Takes Quick Trip to Chechnya
24. Prague Watchdog (29 January 2008) Enemy Street
25. Prague Watchdog (22 February 2008) Grozny street renamed in honour of Pskov paratroopers
26. Gazeta.ru (18 June 2004) Bizarre Chechen War Musical Hits Moscow Stage
27. AFP (21 February 2006) Russians see 'realistic' Chechnya war film, minus the reality

External links

• ULUS-KERT: An Airborne Company's Last Stand July 2001 U.S. Army Combined Arms Center paper based on the Red Star article

• 2000 in Russia
• Battles of the Second Chechen War
• Soviet & Russian Airborne Forces