In 1991, the red flag of the Soviet Union was replaced by the Russian tricolor flag, and the national emblem became a double-headed eagle emblem.
When the "red giant" of the Soviet Union collapsed, the former republics became independent. Russia, the largest republic of the Soviet Union, has inherited most of the Soviet Union’s military power, but its collapsed economy and weak political control make it impossible for Russia to prevent the departure of other republics. Perhaps seeing that Russia, the behemoth, has become extremely weak, Dudayev, President of the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation, defied Yeltsin’s repeated warnings and declared independence.
Although the Chechen Republic is only a small land between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, it covers an area of only 17,000 square kilometers and has a population of only about 1.2 million. However, because Chechnya is rich in resources, rich in oil, and its geographical location is extremely important, it is the main throat to enter and exit the Caucasus. Therefore, Russia must not allow Dudayev to become independent in Chechnya. But when Dudayev declared his independence, Yeltsin was busy quelling the attacks on him by the opposition in Moscow's political arena, and he had no time to take care of the Chechen issue. It was not until 1994 that after Yeltsin consolidated his power, he turned his focus from Moscow's intrigue to Chechnya, a "small place" related to Russia's territorial integrity and geographical interests.
On November 29, 1994, Yeltsin issued an ultimatum to Dudayev: return to the central government immediately, otherwise he will bear all consequences! After three years of military expansion and preparation, Dudayev believed that he was full of wings and had enough strength to compete with the Russian Federation. What's more serious is that the Russian army lacks sufficient funds, technical equipment cannot be updated for a long time, the proud armored unit lacks maintenance, and the morale of officers and soldiers is low due to lack of money to support their families. Therefore, Dudayev simply ignored Yeltsin's warning and coldly rejected the ultimatum.
So the war began. At the time, Russian Defense Minister Grachev believed that the Russian army had an overwhelming advantage in weapons, equipment and military quality, and vowed to say: "There is no need to overly detailed plans to deal with those'beggars'. This operation will be easy soon. Win!". He believes that it is possible to copy the experience of Soviet airborne troops in the 1990 raid in Baku with the cooperation of armored forces to solve the racial vendetta in Azerbaijan and Armenia, and it would take Grozny within two hours and completely solve the Chechen problem. Grachev, with the mentality of attacking Chechnya but a large-scale armed demonstration, urged the Russian General Staff to quickly formulate a combat plan: In the first stage, the borders of other republics bordering Chechnya will be blocked by the Russian army and internal forces. A three-dimensional "central attack" tactic was implemented to completely isolate Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, for about 3 days. In the second stage, the powerful armored forces of the Russian army were used to quickly invade Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, and immediately control the Chechen presidential palace. It is estimated that some very important urban departments, such as radio and television buildings, and hydropower plants, will complete the above tasks in about 4 or 5 days. The third stage is to basically eliminate the Chechen rebels and establish an absolute obedience to the Moscow central government in Chechnya. The local government of Chechnya estimated that this part will take about 10 days; the fourth stage is to eliminate the remnants of illegal armed forces who have been defeated and retreated to the mountains of southern Chechnya. It is estimated that this elimination battle will last for half a year.
After hurriedly putting out a combat plan, the Russian Air Force began bombing the Grozny Airport on December 10. The weak air force of the Chechen Republic had nothing to fight back and was burned at the airport, so the Russian Air Force completely took control of the air. On December 11, the three combat groups of the Russian army simultaneously moved to Chechnya from east, west, and northwest. In the early morning of December 19, Russia's "ultimatum" to Chechnya failed. With the support of strong firepower, the Russian army began to attack the outskirts of Grozny. At the same time, Russian border guards and internal guards blocked the borders between Russia and Azerbaijan, Georgia, Chechnya and Dagestan. By December 23, the Russian army completed the encirclement of Grozny. The progress of the Russian army seems to be going well, although the time has exceeded expectations. Beginning on December 27, the Russian army dispatched fighters and organized powerful artillery to cover the periphery of Grozny. Soon the Russian army captured the east and west of GroznyThe main points of the battle on the side control Hankara Airport. The Russian army is optimistic that the capture of Grozny has come as if it were a bag. However, for the Russian army, the crisis is hitting the Russian army.
At this time, the Russian army continued the combat thinking formed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, dreaming of a vigorous armored duel in the Great Plains of Europe, and had almost no knowledge of urban street fighting, and even used maps. The scales are all 1:100,000. In fact, the Soviet army has a wealth of experience in urban street fighting. In order to successfully conquer urban areas, the attacking party must effectively siege the city so that it cannot receive foreign aid. At the beginning of the siege, investigation was the first, followed by surveying and mapping. Be careful when preparing the siege plan, and be sure to prepare a preparatory plan to prevent accidents. The troops should enter the city in a small organization and be prepared for hand-to-hand combat and house-to-house sweeps. Then, create a special attack team or assault group. When dealing with urban street fighting, a standard assault group should be composed of one infantry battalion, one engineer company, one armor company (or self-propelled artillery company), two mortar companies, one cannon or howitzer company, and one or two divisions. It is a reinforcement of the artillery company and attached a fire platoon. In addition to the attackers, an assault group should be divided into three to six additional combat groups as support or reserve teams. Each combat group should have one infantry company, supplemented by one or two engineer units, an anti-tank infantry unit, two to five chemical soldiers (carrying flamethrowers and smoke generating equipment), and three or four soldiers carrying light Support weapons. However, the Russian army at the time was arrogant and lazy, and had long forgotten the experience of the Soviet army summed up with blood and life. More deadly, the Russian army actually used clear code transmission in the communication process, which not only allowed the Chechen army to easily steal the Russian army’s intelligence, but also had the opportunity to enter the Russian army’s communication network to release false information.
Looking back at the Chechen rebels, apart from being able to easily grasp the movements of the Russian army, they also turned the city of more than 100 square miles into a fortress. As early as when the Russian army issued an ultimatum. Dudayev, who knew his strength was not as good as that of the Russian army, knew that the Chechen armed forces did not have the strength to confront the Russian army, so he decided to adopt flexible guerrilla warfare tactics. At the same time, Dudayev took advantage of the historical grievances between the Russians and the Chechens to encourage Chechnya to hate the Russians, and issued weapons to the residents of Grozny to use force to defend the city. The Chechen soldiers and civilians who were clamored by Dudayev willingly acted as cannon fodder for Dudayev's rebels. The city has a large number of high-rise buildings and narrow streets, turning it into a paradise for ambushes. Therefore, when the Russian army launched an attack, Dudayev commanded the Chechen armed forces to resist for a while outside the city, and then withdrew into the city, preparing to use street fighting to kill and wound the active force of the Russian army. In order to cope with the Russian offensive, Dudayev split the Chechen armed forces into parts and formed combat teams. This combat team includes 3 infantry soldiers, 2 RPG launchers, and 1 sniper, including a tank hunting sniper team. These hunting teams are either hidden in the ruined walls of Grozny, or focused on key strategic locations for ambushes.
In this asymmetrical condition, the Russian army began to attack Grozny. At this time, there were about 38,000 Russian ground troops assembled around Grozny, 2221 tanks and armored vehicles, and 388 artillery of various types. In the early morning of December 31, the first echelon of the Russian army, composed of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, with the support of ground-to-air firepower, launched a strong attack on the city of Grozny from three directions: east, west, and north. The Russian army believes that investing a large amount of armored forces can deter Chechens and force them to surrender. In order not to affect the assault speed of the armored clusters, the Russian army did not require the infantry to disembark and fight with tanks and armored vehicles. As a result, the Russian 131st motorized infantry brigade first fell into the ambush of the Chechen armed forces. The Russian attack on the city of Grozny was met with fierce resistance from Chechen armed forces, and progress was extremely slow everywhere. However, the 131 brigade did not encounter any resistance, and passed through the city unimpeded, and occupied the Grozny railway station. The soldiers of the 131 brigade were drunk in the easy victory, but they did not take further action, just hid in chariots and tanks and kept watching. Just when the officers and soldiers of the 131 brigade were doing nothing at the train station, due to poor communication, they did not know that the other directions had been severely damaged by the Russian army and withdrew from the battle, while the other Chechens were coming from various places to the train station. Surrounded the 131st Brigade. firstThe first to be attacked were the reserve vehicles of the 131 brigade parked on the side street. After the Chechen armed forces used RPG to destroy these chariots, the main Russian forces lined up in a long snake formation and compressed into the narrow streets. Russian tanks and infantry fighting vehicles began to use artillery to try to counterattack, but due to the unknown situation of the enemy, the Russian attack was just a waste of ammunition. At the same time, the huge flame produced by the artillery exposed its position. The Chechen armed forces concentrated on the RPG against the T-72A tank numbered "537". As a result, 7 rockets made this steel behemoth weighing tens of tons instantly die. Three members died on the spot.
An unexpected "slaughter" has begun. Chechen armed only with light weapons and RPGs used terrain advantages to "slaughter" armored vehicles and their personnel. In two days, Russia’s 131 Motor Infantry Brigade lost 20 out of 26 tanks and 102 out of 120 armored combat vehicles. Among more than 1,000 officers and soldiers, more than 800 people including Brigadier Savin were killed. .
The Russian army's first attempt to capture Grozny ended in failure and had to withdraw from Grozny. Only the 255th Russian Motorcycle Regiment from the northeastern cluster invaded the city of Grozny and occupied the hospital complex separated by the wall from the Chechen Presidential Palace. Using the Gundam building, the regiment's tanks were effectively protected and defensive positions. So they sent seven tanks to shoot forward in turn. After a short shot at the exposed targets of the Chechen armed forces, they immediately retreated to the defensive position, imitating the Chechen armed forces to counterattack with RPG and anti-tank missiles. As a result, the cooperation of the tanks and infantry of the 255 motorcycle infantry regiment secured the only stronghold for the Russian army in Grozny.
The other Russian troops who withdrew from Grozny seriously summarized the first battle and re-integrated their forces. First, the battalion-level units are used as the core force of the urban fortified group, and then supplemented by tanks as fire support, and then equipped with self-propelled artillery to suppress the Chechen militants hidden in high-rise buildings. At the same time, it is stipulated that the interval between each vehicle in the assault group needs to be more than 50 meters, and the tanks need to alternately cover and shoot. When the first tank fires and shoots, the other tank pays close attention to the movement of the open area opposite the building, preparing to suppress the enemy's flat shooting Fire attack. The infantry marched through the safe passage between the building and the tanks and armored vehicles, and at the same time eliminated the enemies in the ground floor or basement. Thus, the Russian army once again entered the city of Grozny. The newly formed assault group of the Russian army played a great role in the new combat. The Chechen armed forces were either killed by tank fire or were killed by the dense barrage of anti-aircraft guns. Even if they were lucky enough to escape the two types of fire damage, the Russian infantry again threw the dense rain of bullets. As a result, the attempt of the Chechen armed forces to use the sniper team to kill the effective forces of the Russian army in urban warfare was dashed. The Chechen armed forces changed their tactics and used the ruined city buildings that were bombed by Russian artillery to ambush a large number of snipers. This kind of tactics caused the Russian army's losses to rise sharply. The enemy's secret environment made the Russian army unable to fight back and did not know how to annihilate the Chechen armed snipers. In order to deal with this situation, the Russian army began to counterattack with snipers against snipers, but this extended the war indefinitely. Time is the most unfavorable enemy for the Russian army. The prolonged war not only eats up the limited funds of the Russian army, but also puts the Russian army on the battlefield on the verge of mutiny due to supply difficulties. At the same time, the West has also begun to use so-called "human rights" issues to suppress Russia. . The Chechen armed forces can also take the opportunity to incite Chechens’ hatred of the Russian army for destroying their homes, and have more time to recruit overseas terrorist forces to participate in the war in Grozny. In order to end the war as soon as possible, the Russian army finally gave up the tug-of-war between snipers and snipers. Instead, they sent infantrymen to carry "Trichogramma" rocket launchers and ride armored vehicles into the enemy's defense line. Launch a deadly burning air explosive warhead. At the same time, the BTR-80 armored vehicle simply replaced the 14.5mm machine gun in the turret, and replaced it with the AGS-17 grenade launcher to launch the "fly" grenades. These two tactical changes have prevented Chechen armed snipers from hiding in small spaces.
Finally, relying on heavy firepower and personnel advantages, the Chechen armed forces were gradually compressed from the south of the city. On January 19, the Russian army finally captured the Chechen Presidential Palace, the headquarters of the Chechen armed forces. In order to achieve this goal, the Russian army has paid heavy casualties, only the official Russian figuresThe number reached 1,376 people killed, 408 missing, and more than 200 tanks and armored vehicles destroyed. It can be said that the Russian army's attack on Grozny was in exchange for the lives of young Russians. This "passage" into the city was almost flooded with blood.
It's a pity that this city, which was captured by the blood and lives of countless Russian troops, fell into the hands of Chechen rebels only two years later. Russia was forced to sign the "Kassavot Treaty" with the Chechen armed forces. Not only did it surrender Grozny, it also withdrew its troops from Chechnya. The first Chechen War left a bloody memory of Russia, which was a shame. It was not until 1999 that the strongman Putin took decisive military action in the face of the terrorist actions of the Chechen rebels, and finally defeated the Chechen rebels and regained control of Chechnya and Grozny.
