Battle for Height 776

The goal of a regimental combat group task force of the Russian Airborne Troops (VDV) tactical group in the area, based on the 104th Guards Airborne Regiment of the 76th Division and including also teams from the GRU Spetsnaz, and the elite Vympel group of the FSB, was to block an exit from a gorge, while other Russian forces attempted to encircle a large Chechen force departing the village of Ulus-Kert. The 6th Company, part of the regiment's 2nd Battalion, was part of this blocking force. The company's nominal commander was Major Sergey Molodov; however, it was actually led personally by Lieutenant Colonel Mark Yevtyukhin, commander of the entire battalion. With him were a reconnaissance platoon and an artillery forward observer team led by Captain Viktor Romanov. At dawn of 29 February, in dense fog, the Russians were surprised by a large-scale Chechen breakthrough and were attacked from their rear by a reconnaissance group of about 20 rebel fighters, soon joined by many more who then had them surrounded. After suffering heavy losses (including the death of Major Molodov) from the initial ambush, the rest of the Russians retreated to a hilltop designated Height 776, where they hastily dug defensive positions. They received fire support, including from the regimental artillery battalion's 2S9 Nona self-propelled 120 mm mortars; however, a pair of Mil Mi-24 attack helicopters reportedly turned back after being shot at en route. The only Russian reinforcement that made it to Height 776 were 14 men of the 4th Company's third platoon, personally led by the battalion's deputy commander, Major Alexander Dostavalov. Attempts by the 1st and 3rd Companies, as well as the rest of the 4th Company, to rescue their surrounded comrades or to stop the breakthrough were unsuccessful. Eventually, seriously wounded Captain Romanov called for fire support on his own position before being overrun in the final Chechen attack. According to the Russians, 84 of their soldiers were killed in combat at Height 776, including all of the officers. Only six rank-and-file soldiers survived the battle, four of them seriously injured. ==Controversies==

The battle embarrassed Russian military officials, who attempted to downplay or conceal the casualties they had suffered. Senior military leaders (including Marshal of the Russian Federation Igor Sergeyev, and the commander of federal forces in Chechnya, General Gennady Troshev) initially insisted that only 31 of their men were killed in the battle and denied the unofficial rumours of 86 dead. Sergey Yastrzhembsky, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Chechnya, also claimed 31 fatalities were "the total losses of that company for several days". After days of denials, Russian officials eventually admitted the losses, some of them apparently caused by friendly fire from their own artillery. Russian newspapers reported that Marshal Sergeyev had ordered the losses to be covered up, as the loss came just a week after 25 men from the 76th Airborne Division were killed in another battle in Chechnya. Even after the figure of "at least 85" killed has been confirmed by Sergeyev, VDV deputy commander Nikolai Staskov said they were killed over four days, from 29 February to 3 March. According to one source, "unofficially the losses sustained by Russian paratroopers on 1 March are blamed [by the Russian command] on the decision of the Eastern group's commander Gen. Sergey Makarov and the VDV tactical group's commander Aleksandr Lentsov." The final figure ultimately stood at 84. However the total Russian strength and the losses among the other Russian units operating in the area of Ulus-Kert were never officially disclosed. In the first days after the battle, Gen. Troshev said 1,000 rebel fighters were involved. According to Yastrzhembsky on 6 March, some 70 rebels had laid down their arms at what he called a "pocket" at Selmentausen, while "up to 1,000 might have succeeded in escaping". On 10 March, Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov announced a general order to begin "an all-out partisan war" In an infamous incident later in March, a local girl, Elza Kungayeva, was abducted from her home in Tangi-Chu, then raped and strangled to death by Russian Ground Forces Colonel Yuri Budanov. ==Aftermath==

at a speech in Pskov at the ceremony unveiling a memorial stone erected for the monument to paratroopers of the 6th Company in Pskov in honor of the 6th Company In 2001, Putin flew to Chechnya to visit the former battlefield. In 2008, a day before Russia's Defender of the Fatherland Day, a street in Grozny was officially renamed as "84 Pskov Paratroopers Street", a move that sparked further controversy in Chechnya. ==Awards==

On 12 March 2000, President Putin signed an ukaz conferring Russian state awards upon participants of the battle. In comparison, only 65 medals of the Hero of the Soviet Union medal were awarded for the entire duration of the 10-year Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. Hero of the Russian Federation recipients for this incident are: • Guard Lt. Colonel Mark Yevtyukhin • Guard Major Sergey Molodov • Guard Major Alexander Dostavalov • Guard Captain Roman Sokolov • Guard Captain Viktor Romanov • Guard Lieutenant Alexey Vorobyov • Guard Lieutenant Andrey Sherstyannikov • Guard Lieutenant Andrey Panov • Guard Lieutenant Dmitry Petrov • Guard Lieutenant Alexander Kolgatin • Lieutenant Oleg Yermakov • Lieutenant Alexander Ryazantsev • Lieutenant Dmitry Kozhemyakin • Guard Sergeant (contract service) Sergey Medvedev • Guard Sergeant (contract service) Alexander Komyagin • Guard Sergeant (contract service) Dmitry Grigoriyev • Guard Sergeant Sergey Vasilyov • Guard Sergeant Vladislav Dukhin • Guard Corporal (contract service) Alexander Lebedev • Guard Corporal Alexander Gerdt • Guard Private Alexey Rasskaza • Guard Sergeant Alexander Suponinsky (survivor, interview in Russian) ==In popular culture==

A series of Russian productions loosely based on these events were produced in the years after the battle, including a 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"). In 2022, Russian heavy metal band Radio Tapok released a song about the battle called Высота 776 as the second track on the albulm Наследие (Heritage). During the Russian Invasion of Ukraine Bashkortostan raised the "Alexander Dostavalov Battalion" volunteer unit, named after Major Dostavalov, commander of the 4th Company's third platoon that reinforced the hill. ==See also==