The exploits of our contemporaries, heroes of the Afghan, Chechen and other wars of the end of the twentieth century, make no less impression than the heroism of those who went through the Great Patriotic War.
Battle for Birkot Fortress
Kunar province is located in the east of Afghanistan and borders the Afghan-Pakistani border itself. The bulk of the province's population is Pashtuns. During the Afghan war, the situation in the Kunar province was very tense: the proximity of the Pakistani border ensured the active activity of the Mujahideen formations on the territory of Kunar.
The recognized spiritual and political leader of the Afghan opposition that fought in Kunar and neighboring provinces was Mohammad Yunus Khales (1919-2006). A native of the Khugyani Pashtun tribe, Khales received a spiritual education and enjoyed great prestige among the Pashtun population in several eastern provinces of Afghanistan. In 1973, he relocated to Pakistan, where he first joined the Islamic Party of Gulbeddin Hekmatyar, and then created his own Islamic Party of Afghanistan.
In the mid-1980s, the American and Pakistani special services, realizing that the provinces on the border with Pakistan were least controlled by the central authorities of Afghanistan and the Soviet troops that came to the aid of the DRA, hatched a plan to create an "independent state" in the Pashtun border regions. Its center was supposed to be the settlement of Birkot.
With the support of Pakistan, the Afghan mujahideen were going to suddenly attack Birkot and take possession of this settlement, turning it into the epicenter of the creation of a new "state". The Pakistani military and instructors from the US Central Intelligence Agency carried out training for militants to take Birkot. They hoped that the border regiment of the DRA, stationed in Birkot, would not be able to offer serious resistance to the Mujahideen, and that the forces of Soviet military advisers and specialists would not be enough to organize resistance to a surprise attack.
In the capital of the province of Kunar, the small city of Asadabad, the 334th special-purpose detachment of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces was stationed. In OKSVA it was called "Assadabad huntsmen", and officially - the 5th battalion, for camouflage. It was the most belligerent OSN, to which, in fact, the combat situation in the province of Kunar obliged.
On December 25, 1986, three scouts from the detachment, disguised as Afghan refugees, were transferred by helicopter to Birkot. They had to study the current situation, find out the time of movement of caravans from Pakistan and organize several attacks on the caravans. But they failed to complete the task - on the night of December 27-28, 1986, the Mujahideen attacked the positions of the border regiment of the DRA army. Within a few hours, the militants managed to lay almost completely two border battalions, the third battalion was on the verge of defeat.
And then three Soviet intelligence officers entered into action, led by a lieutenant from the GRU special forces detachment. They were able to restore the morale of the Afghan border guards, mined the approaches to the fortress, and started shooting the militants who were approaching it.
Meanwhile, the higher command became aware of the battles in Birkot. General of the Army Valentin Varennikov, head of the Directorate Group of the USSR Ministry of Defense in Afghanistan, flew to Kunar. The commander of the 15th separate special-purpose brigade, Colonel Yuri Timofeevich Starov, whose subordinates were scouts from the 334th detachment, reported on the situation in the Birkot fortress. Varennikov contacted the fortress by radio.
- You can't leave the city. We have sets of mines "Okhota-2", a lot of ammunition, dry rations. We'll hold out if you send reinforcements,”said the lieutenant in command of the scouts.
The Mujahideen tried to take Birkot for a whole week, but ultimately could not cope with his defenders. Having lost 600 people killed and wounded, the militant units were forced to retreat to Pakistani territory.
Assadabad detachment
The lieutenant who led the defense of Birkot was named Oleg Alekseevich Yakuta. He was only 22 years old. Oleg, a simple Belarusian guy, was born in 1964, and in 1980, after the start of the war in Afghanistan, he entered the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School. Even then, the guy dreamed of fighting in Afghanistan. As soon as he graduated from college in 1985, he was assigned to the 334th Special Forces Detachment of the GRU.
Already in the first months of service, yesterday's "Kremlin cadet" proved himself to be an excellent commander, a brave and brave warrior who not only fought bravely, but also a coast of people, was able to brilliantly perform the most difficult tasks. And the tasks were almost all difficult.
The 334th Separate Special Forces Detachment was formed in December 1984 on the basis of the 5th Separate Special Forces Brigade of the Belarusian Military District. The detachment included servicemen who arrived from the special forces of the Belarusian, Leningrad, Far Eastern, Carpathian and Central Asian military districts. Then the detachment was transferred to the Turkestan military district and transferred to Chirchik.
It was from Chirchik that the special forces were taken to Afghanistan - to Asadabad, to the aid of the 66th separate motorized rifle brigade. So the Soviet special forces found themselves in the east of this mountainous country. Actually, Assadabad was also the most eastern point of deployment of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Moreover, the special forces were responsible for the impressive territory from Barikot to the Asadabad-Jalalabad road.
The situation in Kunar province was very tense. Here, Soviet servicemen were in a very dangerous position, since the territory of Pakistan began across the Kunar River, where about 150 training camps of the Mujahideen were located. In fact, the militants had almost endless manpower resources that were trained across the river.
The caravan paths along which weapons and ammunition were delivered from Pakistan to Afghanistan passed here, new trained militants went to replenish the Mujahideen detachments. Naturally, the 334th special forces detachment had to regularly conduct raids against caravans, capture "languages" capable of telling about the plans of the Mujahideen.
Major Grigory Vasilyevich Bykov (call sign "Cobra", Afghans called him "Grisha Kunarsky") commanded the 334th special forces detachment at the time when Oleg Yakuta served in it. Bykov managed to maintain the highest level of both combat training and discipline in the detachment, so the unit was unique in its kind, brilliantly fulfilling the assigned tasks. Pakistani officers and instructors from the CIA who trained the mujahideen had heard about the 334th detachment. It was they who called the Soviet special forces "Assadabad Jaegers".
Three stars of Lieutenant Yakuta
On December 3, 1985, in the area of height 1.300, a group of Yakut special forces entered into battle with the Mujahideen, coming to the aid of the ambushed scouts. Despite the current dangerous situation, the officer and his people did not think for a second - they got involved in the battle, protecting their colleagues.
Lieutenant Yakuta received two bullet wounds, in the arm and knee. But even when he was wounded, he continued to command subordinates. As a result, the Mujahideen were forced to retreat. Special forces under enemy fire evacuated the dead and wounded from the height of the body. Oleg Yakuta received the Order of the Red Star.
In January 1986, Oleg Yakuta was appointed commander of a special group for capturing prisoners, which was tasked with capturing the mujahideen and formation commanders. And soon he received his second Red Star. Then Oleg Yakuta with his subordinates was able to interrupt the guards of a prominent field commander, and capture the leader of the dushmans himself.
In total, in 1985-1987, Oleg Yakuta managed to personally capture 20 leaders of gangs operating in Eastern Afghanistan. For this he received the third Order of the Red Star.
When it was decided to send the Soviet intelligence officers to Birkot, it is not surprising that the choice fell on Oleg Yakuta - as one of the best officers of the special forces detachment. And with his actions, his selfless courage and the real ingenuity of the special forces soldier, he fully justified the hopes of the command.
Hero Yakuta was never given
The feat of Lieutenant Oleg Yakuta in Birkot, where a young Soviet officer actually led the defense of the fortress, although there were officers who were more senior in rank and age, it was necessary to note a high award. Army General Valentin Varennikov, struck by the lieutenant's courage, was confident that Oleg Yakuta would be given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. So he said to the young officer - if, they say, a hole for the Golden Star.
Varennikov ordered to introduce Oleg Yakut to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but the young officer was never given the Golden Star. A year later, the headquarters of the Turkestan Military District replied with a resolution: "The lieutenant (!) Is alive, he cannot be a Hero …" The commander of the 15th brigade, Colonel Starov, was told that the awards from Yakut were enough - he already had three Orders of the Red Star.
In 1987, Oleg Yakuta returned from Afghanistan. It would seem that before the heroically fighting 23-year-old officer, a direct path was opened for a brilliant military career. He entered the Military Academy. M. V. Frunze, successfully graduated from it. But then the Soviet Union collapsed, many servicemen were never able to adapt to the changed conditions of service. Among them was Oleg Yakuta. He, who passed Afghan, three times a holder of the Order of the Red Star, had to face the most common problems - bureaucracy, misunderstanding on the part of higher commanders. In 1992, Captain Oleg Yakuta retired from the post of deputy battalion commander.
Grigory Bykov, who commanded the 334th special forces detachment, after Afgan fought in Yugoslavia, commanded a volunteer battalion. But like many in the military, he was left out of business in the 1990s. And in 1995 a tragedy struck - a military officer, who was not even forty, committed suicide.
Colonel Yuri Timofeevich Starov (pictured) retired in 1992, then retired and since then has been actively involved in social activities in veteran organizations.
Army General Valentin Varennikov, more than twenty years after the feat of Oleg Yakuta in Birkot, already in March 2008, wrote a letter to the then President of Russia Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev with a request to restore justice and confer the title Hero of the Russian Federation on Oleg Alekseevich Yakuta - for courage and heroism shown when performing special assignments in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
At the same time, Varennikov emphasized in the letter that he was well aware of the feat accomplished by the officer, since at that time he personally directed the actions of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. But the letter of the honored military leader remained unanswered. On May 6, 2009, retired Army General Valentin Ivanovich Varennikov also died.
