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Battle of Hill 776
Part of Second Chechen War
Date 29 February – 1 March (or 3 March), 2000 Location Hill 776, Argun Gorge, Chechnya Result Chechen separatist victory
Belligerents
VDV and Spetsnaz	Chechen separatists Foreign fighters
Commanders and leaders
Mark Yevtyukhin †	Abu al-Walid
Strength
91	2500
Casualties and losses
84 killed	400-500
Note: Their respective official figures according to the both sides involved in the Hill 776 clashes (not the whole battle).

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The Battle for Height 776, the best known part of the larger Battle of Ulus-Kert (there was also fighting over the town of Ulus Kert, the village of Selmentausen, Hill 705.6, Hill 787 and elsewhere in area), was a controversial engagement in the Second Chechen War during fierce fighting over control of the Argun River gorge in the Shatoysky District of Chechnya.

Russian military 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 29 February 2000, just hours after the Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev had assured his government that the war was over, an isolated Russian force based out of the 6th Company of the 76th Airborne Division from 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 inspired several propaganda pieces widely publicized in Russia.

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

Battle

The goal of one of the regimental task forces Russian Airborne Troops (VDV) tactical group in the area, based out of the 104th Guards Airborne Regiment of the 76th Division (including army's Spetsnaz reconnaissance subunits and the velite Vympel (FSB OSNAZ) groups), was to block a gorge while other Russian forces encircled a large Chechen force which had been dislodged from Ulus Kert. The 6th Company was part of the 2nd Airborne Battalion which participated in this blocking force. The company, whose nominal commander was Major Sergey Molodov, was actually led in the field by the 2nd Battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Yevtyukhin. Attached to it were two also reconnaissance teams and a forward observer team (led by Captain Viktor Romanov).

On 29 February, the Russians were caught by surprise by a large-scale Chechen breakthrough. The only Russian force that made it to Hill 776 in the thick of the battle was the third platoon of the 4th Company, personally led by Major Aleksandr Dostovalov (deputy commander of the 2d Battalion). Desperate attempts from other Russian units to rescue them were unsuccessful and the troops eventually resorted to calling in support fire on their own positions. According to official Russian data, 84 soldiers (presumably including members of the units other than the 6th Company) were killed in the fighting on the hill, including all officers on site. Only seven (or six, according to some sources) Russian soldiers survived the clash, four of them injured (the highest ranking survivor was Sergeant Andrey Proshev).

The battle caused embarrassment for Russian military officials who 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 insisted that only 31 of their men died in the battle and denied the unofficial reports claiming 86 soldiers were killed; the Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Chechnya, Sergey Yastrzhembsky, also claimed the 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, as the loss of this unit came just a week after 25 men from the 76th Division were killed in another battle in Chechnya. According to a pro-government Russian source, "unofficially the losses sustained by Russian paratroopers on 1 March 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 strength and the losses among the other Russian units and subunits operating in the 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 revised to 1,500-2,000 by Yastrzhembsky, and raised to 2,500 by 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's statement, 70 rebels 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), the official newspaper of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Chechen casualties in the area totaled approximately 400 dead, including 200 bodies found on Hill 776. However, as of 2008, the official federal estimate rose to about 500 enemy dead according to the government website, while the Russian state-controlled mass media referred to even over 700 rebels killed there.

According to a Russian interview with a separatist fighter, there were some 1,600 fighters in the slow-moving column (weighed down by heavy weapons, ammunition and wounded they were transporting). On their Kavkaz Center website, the rebels admitted losing 12 men on Hill 776, 13 more in other fighting in the area between Ulus-Kert and Duba-Yurt at that 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 claimed to be captured by Russians, after being turned in by a traitor and allegedly executed.) Among the fighters killed while storming Hill 776 were three Turks. The Chechen rebels also estimated Russian losses at up to 200 killed, including about 100 "so-called Pskov commandos."

Aftermath

The battle is viewed 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 have been quickly enshrined in heroic myth. Even though some in the Russian army view it as a shameful defeat that could have been avoided, it is officially seen in Russia as an example of bravery and sacrifice. 22 Russian soldiers (all 13 officers and nine enlisted men) were awarded the highest medal of the Hero of the Russian Federation (in comparison, only 65 medals of the Hero of the Soviet Union were awarded for the entire duration of the 10-year Soviet War in Afghanistan, in which more than 14,000 Red Army soldiers died).

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", a move that sparked further controversy in Chechnya.

Awards

On 12 March 2000, Vladimir Putin signed an ukaz conferring Russian state awards upon members of the 6th Company. Twenty-two desantniki received the title Hero of the Russian Federation, as follows:

• Mark Yevtyukhin †
• Sergey Molodov †
• Alexander Dostavalov †
• Roman Sokolov †
• Viktor Romanov †
• Alexey Vorobyov †
• Andrey Sherstyannikov †
• Andrey Panov †
• Dmitry Petrov †
• Alexander Kolgatin †
• Oleg Yermakov †
• Alexander Ryazantsev †
• Dmitry Kozhemyakin †
• Sergey Medvedev †
• Alexander Komyagin †
• Dmitry Grigoriyev †
• Sergey Vasilyov †
• Vladislav Dukhin †
• Alexander Lebedev †
• Alexander Gerdt †
• Alexey Rasskaza †
• Alexander Suponinsky

Sixty-three of them also received the Order of Courage.

In 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 ("I have the Honour"), the 2006 four-part television film Grozovye vorota ("The Storm Gate") and the 2006 movie Proriv ("Breakthrough").

See also

• Battle for Hill 3234

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. ^ The Independent (10 March 2000): Russia claims rout of rebels in mountain area, but fighting continues
4. ^ BBC News (6 March 2000) Chechen rebels besieged
5. ^ The Independent (15 March 2000) Nation grieves for lost paratroops of Pskov,
6. RFE/RL (7 March 2000) Chechnya: Russia Provides Conflicting Reports On Casualties
7. ^ CBC News (7 March 2000) 31 Russian soldiers killed in Chechnya battles
8. GlobalSecurity.org (6 March 2000) On The Situation in the North Caucasus
9. Chicago Sun-Times (12 March 2000): Russians confirm troop deaths 84 fatalities in worst battle of war with Chechen rebels
10. The Guardian (11 March 2000): No way back: Refugees stranded as Chechnya declares all-out war
11. The Jamestown Foundation (11 May 2006) Putin address conceals challenges in the North Caucasus
12. Venik's Aviation (7 March 2000) War in Chechnya - 1999
13. BBC News (10 March 2000): Russia admits heavy losses
14. Russian embassy to Thailand: CHECHNYA: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
15. Grani.Ru (26 March 2002) "We don't consider ourselves conquered and we never will."
16. Kavkaz Center (29 February 2004) Kremlin's lies about Battle of Ulus-Kert
17. The Jamestown Foundation (7 April 2005) Turkish Volunteers in Chechnya
18. Chechenpress (8 March 2005) The battle of Ulus-Kert gives no rest to Moscow
19. ^ The Independent (15 May 2006) Kremlin film makes heroes out of paratroops it left to be massacred
20. ^ The Moscow Times (19 March 2008) Fairy Tales of Glorious Battles in Chechnya
21. The Moscow Times (16 April 2001) Putin Takes Quick Trip to Chechnya
22. Prague Watchdog (29 January 2008) Enemy Street
23. Prague Watchdog (22 February 2008) Grozny street renamed in honour of Pskov paratroopers
24. Евтюхин Марк Николаевич
25. Gazeta.ru (18 June 2004) Bizarre Chechen War Musical Hits Moscow Stage
26. 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
• ULUS-KERT: An Airborne Company's Last Stand- The same U.S. Army CAC article, as a separate document on a standalone server
• Template:Ru icon Photos of the desantniki of 6th Company

42°57′47″N 45°48′17″E / 42.96306°N 45.80472°E / 42.96306; 45.80472

• Misplaced Pages articles needing copy edit from August 2009
• 2000 in Russia
• Battles of the Second Chechen War