The Airborne Forces are the elite of the Armed Forces. Therefore, any landing unit is special. Nevertheless, the Don Cossack Airborne Assault Brigade, which is now commanded by Colonel Igor Timofeev, deserves a separate discussion.
The realities of today …
The brigade begins with the 351st Guards Landing Airborne Regiment, which during the Great Patriotic War had a chance to participate in the liberation of Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia. In 1949, the named regiment became an airborne assault regiment, and 30 years later - a separate airborne assault brigade. With the outbreak of hostilities in Afghanistan, one of the airborne assault battalions of the brigade as part of the 40th Army went "beyond the river" - the paratroopers had to guard the Salang pass and the Salange-Somalia tunnel, which ensured the advance of Soviet troops into the southern regions of Afghanistan. And soon the entire brigade was deployed to Afghanistan, which was stationed in the Kunduz region and was fighting throughout Afghan territory. In less than a year, a new move was made to Gardez. In total, the brigade's guardsmen had to spend almost eight and a half years on the "undeclared war". During this time, about 13 thousand rebels were destroyed, about 1.5 thousand were captured. Dozens of caravans, thousands of small arms, hundreds of guns, rocket launchers and mortars, dozens of cars and tanks have been liquidated. And this is an innumerable number of the lives of our soldiers and local civilians saved.
However, Afghanistan did not become the last combat test for the paratroopers. In 1990, the personnel of the brigade had the opportunity to carry out special tasks in a state of emergency in the Azerbaijan and Kirghiz SSR. And then - in the North Caucasus. By the way, after the collapse of the USSR, the brigade was relocated to the North Caucasus region. From October 1992 to June 1993, it was located in Karachay-Cherkessia. Then - until August 1998 - in the Rostov region. It was from here that the brigade's battalion tactical group set off in December 1994 to restore constitutional order to Chechnya. The paratroopers were among the last to leave the rebellious republic - at the end of October 1996.
The new movement (this time to the Volgograd region) coincided with the withdrawal of the brigade from the Airborne Forces and the transfer to the North Caucasian Military District. Then, in fact, an experiment was carried out to create a new staff structure: the airborne assault regiment formed on the basis of the brigade became part of the Volgograd motorized rifle division of the North Caucasus Military District. "Division of the XXI century" - this name was given to a reinforced motorized rifle formation. It was assumed that the introduction of dshp in the structure of the division would make the latter the most combat-ready. The idea was a success. With the outbreak of a new Caucasian war in August 1999, the paratroopers, along with servicemen from other units of the compound, went to Dagestan, and then to Chechnya. They fought in the most difficult areas. The main operations were not done without the Volgograd residents. The liberation of Dagestan, the assault on Chervlennaya, Grozny, Komsomolsky - this is not a complete list of the military successes of the Guardsmen. And the paratroopers have always been at the forefront of these battles. The landing in the Argun gorge and the destruction of the militants who were there were among the most successful actions of the airborne units. The guardsmen of the airborne assault regiment also participated in the destruction of a number of odious militant leaders, including Arbi Barayev, Ruslan Gelayev and others.
- On May 1, 2009, the dshp became a brigade again. And from July 1 of this year, it moved to a new state and began to be called a separate airborne assault brigade (light), '' Lt. Col. Oleg Nedbailov, deputy commander of the ODBR for educational work, concludes the excursion into the history.
The states in the brigade have indeed changed significantly. And in many ways it was very successful.
- The talks about what would be the right thing to unite the rear and technical units have been going on for a long time. Now it has become a reality, - commented the commander of the logistics battalion, Major Sergei Belosheikin.
In the created battalion, which Major Belosheikin headed, several companies at once: support for airborne assault battalions, support for a command battalion and artillery units, material support, supply, repair of vehicles and repair of weapons. From now on, all issues of support for training and combat activities, and if necessary, even combat operations, are in the same hands. In principle, there can be no inconsistency. Major Sergei Belosheikin, who has in his arsenal studies at the Ryazan Airborne School, training at the Volsk rear military educational institution and training at the academic courses of the Academy of Logistics and Transport, as well as endless long business trips "to war", not even in theory, but in practice, I realized: the battalion commanders should not have a headache about the supply of ammunition, refueling equipment, nutrition of personnel. These issues are required to deal with auxiliary units.
However, there are also shortcomings in the new states. The command is forced to immediately appoint the commanders of the companies who come to the troops. And this despite the fact that young officers have little practical knowledge and skills. But their further career growth is slow. In addition, for the time being, the universities of the Russian Ministry of Defense train logisticians and technicians separately. Therefore, it is necessary to improve qualifications already in the troops.
Nevertheless, the battalion commander of the logistics support is pleased that the necessary attention has recently begun to be paid to the logistics support. The battalion continues technical equipment: new 10-ton KamAZ trucks are replacing outdated vehicles, and other equipment is also planned to be supplied. PAKs were previously mounted on the base
ZIL, now in the Urals. It is very convenient that everything is switched to diesel fuel.
We found work in the sky …
The brigade still remembers the times when parachute jumping was almost a form of encouragement. Then, in two years of service, the military made less jumps than now in a year. The head of the airborne service of the brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Tikhomirov, notes with pleasure that the intensity of airborne training is increasing every year. In 2008, a little more than 3.5 thousand parachute jumps were made, a year later - about 7 thousand. This year the plan is 11.448. And by the middle of July 4,838 jumps have already been completed.
The program provides 4 training jumps per year, but in reality, many military personnel jump more. Corrections are made by the exercises, in which the paratroopers of the brigade are brought to participate. So this fall, the brigade will be involved in an experimental tactical exercise, during which the personnel of several units at once will parachute from aircraft. And this means that young people who came to the Oshbr during this call will also "fill their parachutes with blue." A quarter of them - and this is about 200 people - have already successfully completed the parachute jumping program, the rest will have it in the very near future.
“The most important thing is that nothing prevents us from conducting training jumps,” says Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Tikhomirov. - Airborne training is proceeding without disruption.
And again a comparison with the past, when there were problems with the allocation of helicopters and aircrafts. Today, the planned classes are going steadily. Only the vagaries of the weather can make adjustments. The commander of the airborne assault company, Lieutenant Dmitry Peskarev, with whom he had a chance to talk during the jumps, said that his guardsmen are more than actively engaged in combat training. With his subordinates, combat firing of squads and platoons, company tactical and drill exercises have already been conducted. In August, a company tactical exercise is planned, and then a BTU, in which the servicemen of the military lieutenant Peskarev will also take part.
“Today, 25 servicemen are jumping in my unit, six of them for the first time,” explains the company commander. - And there are those who already have 4-5 jumps. My opinion: there is an opportunity - you need to jump …
This opinion is supported by everyone - from the command of the brigade to the "yellow-throated" conscripts. For that, after all, they went to the landing …
According to amphibious assault, according to the laws of the guards …
"Die yourself, but help your comrade" - in the landing this is not just a catch phrase, it is almost a law. Unwritten, but sacredly observed. And there are many examples of this in the brigade. In 2000, junior sergeant of the reconnaissance group, Yuri Vornovskaya, saved his comrades at the cost of his own life. With machine-gun bursts, the guardsman did not allow the superior forces of the militants to pursue the paratroopers. For this feat, junior sergeant Vornovskaya was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
More recently, another scout of the brigade - the commander of the reconnaissance company, Captain Alexei Pavlenko - also accomplished a feat. That's just not in battle, but in a peaceful life. "Red Star" spoke in detail about his feat.
- Today, subordinates of Captain Pavlenko recall that he often repeated: “Do it seriously. I don't want to look your parents in the eye if something happens to you. I'd rather die myself than allow your death …”The officer remained true to his words.
It remains to be hoped that the feat of the commander of the reconnaissance company Alexei Pavlenko will be appreciated by the Motherland - let the officer who saved his subordinate be posthumously awarded a state award …
At the end of last year, a separate Guards Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree, the Don Cossack Airborne Assault Brigade of Colonel Igor Timofeev, was named among the best in the district. And its officers were again among the bonuses on the 400th order of the Russian Defense Minister. And yet, even among the best, there are the very best. These are, first of all, the units commanded by Lieutenant Colonels Vladimir Zhigulin (air assault battalion) and Vitaly Mutygullin (command battalion), the air assault company of senior lieutenant Alexei Gusev and the anti-aircraft missile battery of captain Yevgeny Kobzar. I would like to congratulate them and all the paratroopers of the brigade on their successes in training and combat activities and on the anniversary of the Airborne Forces. Even being part of the Ground Forces, the guardsmen of Colonel Igor Timofeev remain paratroopers.
