The former commander of the reconnaissance unit of the 108th Motorized Rifle Division that fought in Afghanistan, 40-year-old Lieutenant Colonel N.L. Zayats, did not wait for the trial that threatened him and in March 1984 surrendered to the dushmans. After some time, the “spirits” shot him.
I didn’t perform well in my position
There are memoirs of Zayats’ commanders, in which they speak disapprovingly of Nikolai Leonidovich’s leadership abilities, to put it mildly. Simply put, in their opinion, the lieutenant colonel was out of place. Economical and thorough, he would be more suitable for the position of chief of food. For a reconnaissance commander, the Hare turned out to be lacking initiative and too indecisive.
In this regard, at the end of the summer of 1983, Zayats was seriously demoted to head of the regiment's reconnaissance unit.
Why did they want to judge him?
In October, the Hare's reconnaissance company ran into a Dushman ambush. Along with the scouts were a captive “spirit” and an Afghan state security officer (KHAD). According to the words of Zayats himself, who later explained what happened, the lieutenant colonel, noticing how the “spirit” attacked the Khadovite and was trying to take away his machine gun, fired a burst from his AKS-74 and killed both of them. The rest did not see this, they only heard shots - all three, the “spirit”, the KhAD officer and the Hare stood behind the dune.
If Hare had killed a less important Afghan than a local security officer, perhaps this story would have been dropped. But the incident took a serious interest at the very top, and soon the lieutenant colonel was made to understand: he would face a tribunal and up to 10 years in prison. The officer was not placed under arrest, and he decided to desert.
Escape to BRDM
The lieutenant colonel fraudulently took possession of an armored reconnaissance and patrol vehicle (BRDM-2) and stole it to the area of Kunduz province, where the dismantled armored vehicle was found the next morning by helicopter pilots near the village of Saksacol. At the time of its discovery, the vehicle was completely dismantled - it had no weapons, no units, not even wheels - just an armored frame. There were no traces of the battle - the missing Hare did not shoot back.
Local residents were interviewed. They reported that the BRDM was stuck, the officer who got out of the car, apparently, wanted to find out something from the guys who ran up, but almost immediately a group of armed Mujahideen appeared and took the lieutenant colonel in an unknown direction.
A search for the Hare was organized, it lasted quite a long time and the territory was constantly expanding. Local residents, prisoners and detainees were interviewed. The gang, whose members captured the lieutenant colonel, was soon completely destroyed during these searches, without even taking prisoners. Information has appeared about the death of the Hare as a result of a Soviet air strike. The lieutenant colonel was listed as missing in action and the search was stopped.
Valuable prisoner
However, after some time it turned out that the Hare died under completely different circumstances. The captured mujahideen said: they wanted to transport the lieutenant colonel to Pakistan as a valuable prisoner - they could make decent money on this. Subsequently, the Hare could well repeat the fate of deserters, who, after captivity, were brought to meetings of the Hague International Commission of the UN to testify about the crimes of the Soviet Army in Afghanistan.
The transfer of the lieutenant colonel was postponed, and when the prisoner’s location was tightly blocked by our troops, the “spirits” decided to destroy the Hare, who already knew too much at that time. The prisoner was shot and his naked corpse was thrown into the Kunduz River. The truth of just such a denouement for the Hare was confirmed by various sources.
Alas, when the editors received more information about our fellow countryman, it became clear that the material would not turn out to be “heroic” for a number of reasons, which are discussed below. For the same reasons, we decided to change the first and last name of the person involved, and also not to indicate the locality from which he was drafted and where his relatives still live. “Dumskaya” could not refuse the publication completely - after all, the facts we obtained cover one of the many blind spots in the history of the local conflict in the DRA. In addition, there is every reason to believe that Alexander N. (as we will call the serviceman) is still alive, although he is unlikely to be eager to return to his homeland... But first things first.
“RED TULIPS”, HARE HUNT AND LIST-92
The fact that our prisoners of war remained in Afghanistan became known to the general Soviet public only a year after the withdrawal of the “limited contingent”. Before this, the topic of “missing people” was modestly ignored, statistics were not made public, and only combatants and relatives of the “missing” knew that such a category of losses existed at all.
The information vacuum began to be filled in 1990. The first to shoot was the departmental “Red Star”, which, without naming names, spoke about the uprising in Badaber. At the same time, the press began to publish terrible evidence about the fate of those captured. The fragile psyche of Soviet citizens was traumatized by stories about how the unfortunate had their arms and legs cut off, their tongues cut out, their eyes gouged out, or they were made into “red tulips” - they cut the skin on the stomach, pulled it up and tied it over the head, after which the person died in terrible agony .
Igor Rykov and Oleg Khlan in a prisoner of war camp, 1983. Magazine Soldier Of Fortune
A little later, information appeared that some soldiers and officers ended up in the hands of the Mujahideen of their own free will. Some fled out of political convictions, some from hazing, and some from criminal prosecution when facts of theft and other illegal actions were revealed.
The highest-ranking fugitive is the intelligence chief of the 122nd regiment of the 201st motorized rifle division, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Zayats. During one of the operations, he shot two members of the Afghan security service KHAD. The officer was removed from duty, an investigation began, but he stole a BRDM and drove it to the enemy’s location. Then it became known that the intelligence officer was killed by the Mujahideen. According to one version - for refusal to cooperate. However, in his memoirs, the former intelligence chief of the 201st division, and now a professor at the intelligence department of the National Defense University of Ukraine, Nikolai Kuzmin, claims that Zayats not only collaborated, but also directed some of the enemy’s operations. And they “slapped” him when Soviet troops blocked the zone where the traitor was located.
“They tried to take the hare to the mountains several times, but it didn’t work,” writes Kuzmin. “It became clear that its capture by ours was a matter of time. The council of leaders decided that since it was impossible to get him out, and he had been with them for almost 1.5 months, had seen many of the leaders, their bases and caches, then it was advisable to eliminate him as an unwanted witness. Which was done immediately. He was taken to the river bank. Kunduz, shot, the body was stripped naked and thrown into the river. Now, after 1-2 days, it would no longer be possible to identify him: the heat, fish and crayfish will do their job. And there were plenty of ownerless corpses in the rivers of Afghanistan in those years. This is how Lieutenant Colonel Zayats disappeared and died.”
Be that as it may, neither Hare nor other deserters can be called criminals, since in 1988 the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, “guided by the principles of humanism,” issued an unprecedented decree that exempted from criminal liability all persons who committed crimes during military service. services in Afghanistan. Regardless of the nature of these crimes! This amnesty is comparable only to the mass release of prisoners by Kerensky and Beria.
In February 1992, the same “Red Star” finally published the full list of missing people. By that time, public and government structures were already working hard to return the prisoners. Many - like, for example, the future vice-president of Russia and leader of the anti-Yeltsin opposition, General Rutskoi - were ransomed, while some were handed over to the militants for free. To coordinate this activity, the Committee for the Affairs of Internationalist Soldiers was formed in the CIS (unofficial name - Committee-92). Over the first ten years of work, employees of this organization found 29 former military personnel, 22 of whom returned to their homeland, and seven remained to live in Afghanistan.
Last, but hopefully not the last, in March of this year we managed to find a private of the 101st motorized rifle regiment, Uzbek Bakhretdin Khakimov, who went missing in the province of Herat in September 1980. In a battle with the dushmans, he was seriously wounded and was unable to withdraw with his unit. Local residents picked him up and took him in. The former soldier remained to live in Afghanistan. Gradually, he learned the secrets of herbal medicine from the elder and himself became a respected physician under the name Sheikh Abdullah. I didn’t want to go back...
MISSING ON NEW YEAR'S NIGHT
But let's return to our fellow countryman. Junior Sergeant Alexander Mikhailovich N. was born in 1964 in a small village on the border of Odessa and Nikolaev regions. Graduated from a local school. The guy was drafted into the ranks of the Soviet Army on March 27, 1982. In August of the same year, he ended up in the artillery division of the 122nd motorized rifle regiment of the 201st Gatchina division, which was stationed in the province of Kunduz.
Alexander N. Photo from the conscript’s personal file, website salambacha.com
According to official data, from December 31, 1983 to January 2, 1984, serviceman N. went missing. For 30 years now there has been no word from him. His old mother and sister are still waiting for him.
“Immediately after school I joined the army. I wanted to serve myself. No one was forced there at that time. Sasha was one of three who were called up from the entire region to Afghanistan. A good, strong and kind person. Mom dreams of him every night and says that he will return soon,” says sister N. Valentina Mikhailovna.
When the family learned about the disappearance of the soldier, the mother traveled to Kyiv and Moscow, wrote numerous letters to all authorities, but the answer was the same: “There is no information about your son.” And only in 1992 did they find out that Sasha was alive, but in captivity. Neither they nor local authorities were given details. To this day, every February 15th - the day of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan - junior sergeant N. is mentioned at official events in the region as a hero.
Unfortunately, he was not a hero, as evidenced by both the criminal case closed after the announcement of the “Afghan” amnesty and the testimony of his colleagues.
“Sergeant N. is a traitor who left the Ak-Mazar garrison (until the end of 1985 there was a control platoon and three guns of the second fire platoon of the 3rd howitzer battery of the regiment’s artillery division - Ed.) My platoon stood three kilometers from them. I remember very well how the search for him went, what intelligence information came in and how negotiations were conducted with the spirits about his extradition, although unsuccessfully,” says former platoon commander Sergei Polushkin.
According to him, junior sergeant N. was the commander of the gun crew. His unit guarded the Termez-Kabul highway in the area of the city of Aibak, Samangan province (and not in Kunduz, as indicated in the Red Star list).
“Unlike motorized riflemen, artillerymen were involved in operations only when it was necessary to shell the territory within the radius of destruction of howitzers - about 15 kilometers. The rest of the time, the artillery division’s fighters sat on the high-rise without moving out and had no contact with other units. No one knew what was happening there,” recalls the commander of the 3rd battalion of the regiment, Mikhail Teteryatnikov.
“He left on New Year’s Eve and was declared missing on January 2. I talked to a soldier who saw the guy just a few minutes before his escape. Alexander was absolutely calm. He took with him a machine gun and six magazines, two of which he put in his boots. Why he ran away is unclear. Anything could have happened - from hazing to ideological convictions. But it was a shock to everyone when he left. The Uzbeks and Tajiks were leaving, and here was a Slav! I can say one thing: he did this intelligently, because after that he fought against us,” says Sergei Polushkin.
Artillerymen of the 122nd MRR, photo from 1985
Alexander N. defected to a gang of Mujahideen that acted against the regiment.
“After his desertion, the enemy group sharply became more active, they began to behave quite impudently - the traitor knew our tactics and could predict our moves. He spoiled a lot of blood for us. Whether he personally killed Soviet soldiers or not, I don’t know. We need to ask him if this creature is alive,” Polushkin does not hold back his emotions.
Other veterans of the 122nd regiment say that N. worked for the Mujahideen for quite a long time. He taught them to lay mines, attack transport convoys and other military wisdom. He took an active part in military clashes. Sometimes he would break into the air using a walkie-talkie and mockingly invite his former comrades to surrender.
Viktor Rodnov, who served in the communications company of the 122nd Motorized Rifle Regiment, says that immediately after the sergeant disappeared, the entire regiment was sent out to search for him:
“I don’t know of a single case when we abandoned our own. Even corpses were taken out of gorges and prisoners were sometimes ransomed. But only those who want to be free can be freed. N. himself came into radio contact with us during the battle on those frequencies that only his own knew, and cursed at us. The fact that because of him the spirits then calmly passed our posts and laid mines is a fact,” says the veteran.
“KHAD employees negotiated with the Mujahideen to hand over the deserter - at first there was hope that this was an accident. But when Alexander refused the transfer, everything became clear. The group sent to recapture him was ambushed. Several people were injured,” adds Polushkin.
Dumskaya's sources in the Ukrainian special services confirmed that in their archives there are references to the escape of Sergeant N. For some time, despite the amnesty, he appeared in the orientations as a particularly dangerous criminal, during whose arrest weapons can and should be used. However, in the early 1990s, according to our interlocutors, the man was taken to Canada by CIA officers, and since then his trace has been lost. Whether Alexander is alive now is unknown. The motives that prompted the young man from a small Ukrainian village on the shore of the Tiligul estuary to forget about the oath also remained unclear...
(Fragment from the book "Afghanistan. Notes of the Chief of Intelligence of the 201st Motorized Rifle Division")
I want to tell you about another person with whom fate brought me together in Afghanistan.
Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Leonidovich Zayats, at the time of my first meeting with him in March 1983, was the intelligence chief of the 108th Motorized Rifle Division.
Then we, all the intelligence chiefs of the formations, were called to the expanded Military Council of the army, where we were given a good “prochukhon” for the increased activity of the “spirits” on the Termez-Bagram pipeline. Daily (or rather nightly) sabotage, hundreds of tons of fuel spilled onto the ground and no actions of the Limited Contingent could prevent this.
As always in such cases, the intelligence officers were blamed for everything. Chief of Staff 40A Lieutenant General Ter-Grigoryants N.G. almost foaming at the mouth, he accused us of criminal negligence and unwillingness to conduct reconnaissance, why don’t we know who will break through the pipeline and where? In short, we found the switchmen.
But it would have been necessary, as it turned out later, to simply restore order in the pipeline crew. After all, only they benefited from accidents and sabotage on the pipeline. Blaming the huge losses of fuel (aviation kerosene) on the dushmans, they actually traded it left and right, selling it for next to nothing to the Afghans. By the way, when six months later they imprisoned a large group of soldiers, officers and warrant officers of this brigade, for some reason the activity of dushmans on the pipeline immediately decreased significantly.
I got a little distracted from the main topic. So, after this meeting, we met with the Hare one more time, again in Kabul.
Lieutenant Colonel Zayats, short in stature and densely built, impressed me then as a thrifty and thorough man. However, these qualities, necessary for an officer, especially a commander in peacetime, were absolutely not valued in war. There, personal courage, the ability to organize a battle and take care of soldiers were especially valued.
Protect in the sense that, again, wisely organize and conduct the battle, do not make a career out of other people’s lives, so that the soldier is provided with everything, from dry rations to artillery and air support.
Not to mention the organization of medical support; helping the wounded is the main thing. In war, no one is immune from this. And such a commander will be literally carried by his subordinates in their arms and will go with him into fire and water. And doubly so in intelligence.
The hare, on the other hand, was not eager to fight and did not show initiative. If he had been deputy commander for logistics or weapons, I am absolutely sure that he would have served his term in Afghanistan very well, received his order and left with honor for the Union. But he was a scout and something completely different was required of him.
Knowing well the chief of staff of the 108th Motorized Rifle Division, Colonel Gennady Ivanovich Kandalin, who was my regiment commander in Kushka, his exactingness, intolerance for lack of initiative, I was not particularly surprised when at the end of August 1983 I learned that, on Kandalin’s initiative, Zayats was removed from his post with with the wording “for the loss of intelligence leadership and personal unpreparedness.”
After much deliberation about what to do with him next, he was demoted as the chief of reconnaissance of the 122nd infantry regiment of our division instead of Major V.F. Bondarenko, who had recently died during an ambush.
This was not uncommon in Afghanistan. As I wrote earlier, in our 201st Motorized Rifle Division, in just over two years, two division intelligence chiefs with a similar formulation were replaced.
The first - Lieutenant Colonel Ryzhenko in 1981 was removed and sent to the 860th separate infantry regiment (Fayzabad) by the head of intelligence, and my predecessor Lieutenant Colonel R.S. Zakharov. at the end of 1982 he was sent to the Union to a major position in Samarkand.
In Afghanistan (as in the Great Patriotic War) it was very popular to take revenge on intelligence officers. Then I was convinced of this from my own experience, but that, as they say, is another story.
Therefore, I greeted the news of Zayets’ appointment calmly. Although in 122 SMEs the situation in intelligence was paradoxical. The commander of the reconnaissance company there was also the removed chief of staff of the 1083 road commandant battalion from Surubi, Major Boris Aldokhin. True, he was removed not for official omissions, but because, after drinking with friends, they were driving around Kabul in an armored personnel carrier and ran into a member of the Army Military Council.
However, I knew that Zayats was an experienced officer, he had held all positions in intelligence, he was the commander of a reconnaissance battalion in the GSVG and had established himself well there. So, you never know what happens in life?
About two weeks later, I met with him, we talked, he was optimistic, I supported him and we parted mutually satisfied.
And then I was almost not alarmed by Major Aldokhin’s statement that the Hare was a coward and anything could be expected from him. I humanly understood that Hare was almost 40 years old, he had two children, and besides, he had not been removed from his position quite fairly, that is, it was stupid to expect any special enthusiasm from him. A man does his job - and that’s fine.
However, subsequent events showed that I was wrong, and the Hare was not a hare at all, but was looking like a good wolf.
On October 16, the following happened. The reconnaissance company of the regiment in full force, led by Hare, went out to ambush. As a guide, they took a captive dushman from the local residents of the area, who was serving his sentence in a local prison. He reported the passage of a caravan with weapons that night. The data was so important that the “spirit” was accompanied by a KHAD officer with the rank of major. We went out at night in pouring rain.
Then I’ll tell you in the words of the Hare himself, “..we walked about 10 kilometers, I decided to get my bearings on the map. I stopped the column, together with the Afghans, we moved 50 meters behind the dune to determine the direction on the compass. I look at the map, and suddenly I see that a captured dushman has attacked KHAD officer and tries to snatch the machine gun from him. I instinctively fired a burst in the spirit, but both fell. I looked, both were dead...."
The platoon commander and the soldiers who witnessed this testified that after the Hare and the Afghans left behind the dune, they soon heard shots. Having run there, they saw that the Afghans were lying dead, and the Hare was standing next to him with a machine gun in his hands. All this was more or less true, although here and there questions arise.
But what follows is completely absurd. The hare orders the Khadovets to take the machine gun, they throw the corpses of those killed in the steppe and return to the regiment. There he reports to the regiment commander that the Afghans turned out to be traitors, they wanted to kill him, but he got ahead of them and shot them both on the spot.
The regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Vasilyevich Zubko, did not look into this too much; there were many cases of Afghans betraying him, and he reported this to the division commander in the morning. The question seemed to be settled, but in the middle of the day a Soviet KHAD adviser arrived at the regiment with Afghan Khad officers and asked where the dushman and the officer accompanying him were. They didn't come back in the morning, what happened to them?
They definitely did not believe Zayets’ version; the adviser demanded that the regiment commander bring the corpses and called an Afghan doctor who examined them. Then he interrogated the officers and soldiers of the company, and clearly proved that the Hare committed the deliberate murder of two people.
They reported to the top, there was a loud scandal, the division commander immediately removed him from his post and summoned him to Kunduz for investigation.
I later spoke with the Hare more than once. I asked him, because everything could have been imagined completely differently. All that was needed was not to throw the dead Afghans into the steppes, but to bring them to the regiment and report that the company itself was ambushed and the Afghans were killed by dushmans. After all, there were no other Afghans with them anymore, and the officers and soldiers of the company would confirm everything that they were told. And that's it!!!
No one would bother to look into it anymore. Although, of course, if we had taken out 5.45-mm bullets from the Afghans from the AKS-74 assault rifle, which only ours had, then this would have raised the first doubts. Well, if they had also carried out a ballistic examination of the company’s weapons, they would definitely have found the weapon with which they were killed. But this is under normal conditions, but here it is unlikely that they would do this.
The hare then told me, “I didn’t want to deceive.” Quite a naive explanation for a 40-year-old man. But I think that, on the contrary, he wanted publicity.
Now I think that Aldokhin was right then. The hare was a terrible coward in the 108th division, where he was the chief of intelligence, and even more so in the regiment, where it was already much more dangerous. Apparently this animal fear pushed him to commit a crime. He thought that who would make a fuss about some Afghans? They will remove him from this position, send him quietly to the Union away from the scandal, and there he will make up for his time.
He did not take into account the fact that he killed not an ordinary Afghan, but a state security officer, and as they say in Odessa, these are two big differences. The Hare had no high patrons, and no one was going to cover for him.
However, the issue was decided at the very top, and they did not know what to do. Judge him or limit himself to administrative measures: expel him from the party, dismiss him from the army. Of course, according to the law, for a double murder there is no trial.
But again, putting in prison a senior officer, a lieutenant colonel, who has honestly fulfilled his duty in Afghanistan for a year is also somehow not right.
Therefore, for about two months the Hare was, as it were, between heaven and earth. He was removed from his position and they did not decide what to do with him. To keep him busy, the division chief of staff, Colonel Chernov V.I. assigned him to the operational department, where he began to engage in military service, checking security, etc.
I refused to take him on reconnaissance missions. I quickly found a replacement. A few days later, the head of intelligence of the KTurkVO, Colonel Taushanov I.Kh., arrived at the division. with verification of intelligence issues. He listened carefully to my report and looked at the documentation.
He was favorably impressed by the card index of the gangs in the division's area of responsibility. The card index was my brainchild and my pride. I led it personally, not trusting my assistants.
It was a regular metal box, divided into 6 compartments (according to the number of provinces in the area of responsibility). In each compartment there were standard cards, which indicated information about the gang and its leader: numbers, national composition, weapons, area of operation, where, when and how they showed themselves. Some of the cards contained photographs of the leaders, obtained from the state security agencies and Tsarandoy.
This file cabinet always made an impression on senior commanders, since it was obvious that the intelligence officers in the division took their work seriously and records of gangs were kept.
Keeping track of gangs was a serious matter; only to the uninitiated it might seem that the bandits around were all the same. My analysis showed that of the 380 gangs existing in our area of responsibility, only about 60 had a clear anti-government orientation. They committed sabotage, mined roads, attacked authorities and fired at our columns.
The rest are just self-defense units. Each village collected money, bought weapons, hired young guys and maintained this small detachment of 10-12 people. After all, the police and prosecutor's office in Afghanistan existed only in cities, and only during the day. And at night the dushmans ruled there. What can we say about villages?
Anyone who came there with a machine gun could do whatever he wanted. Kill, rob, rape - there were a lot of such cases.
Therefore, without relying on the authorities, residents resolved this issue this way.
Such detachments did not pose any harm to us, unless, of course, sometimes out of ignorance, and sometimes out of malicious intent, we struck and carried out “cleansing operations” against them.
Any such action means killed, wounded, maimed civilians, destroyed houses, burned crops. And then the self-defense squad became an active squad of avengers.
It was this card index that made it possible to divide gangs into active and passive ones. After all, we received combat orders for airstrikes and “cleansing operations” from Kabul, received from intelligence sources. And these sources, sometimes for provocative purposes, exposed those who did not want to cooperate with the dushmans to blows. And with our own hands they created enemies for us.
Having received a combat order for action, I always turned to the card index and if it contained data that this formation was not fighting against us and the authorities, then I turned to the division commander and reported the state of affairs.
Shapovalov was an intelligent and experienced commander; he did not want to increase the number of our opponents. Therefore, often, instead of airstrikes and combat troops, he sent a BAPO (combat propaganda and propaganda detachment) to a given village, whose translators and officers talked with the elderly, and sometimes with the leaders of self-defense, convincing them to sign a cooperation agreement.
It is a pity that this was not always possible, since the majority of village representatives agreed to sign such an agreement with the Soviet troops, but with the authorities - not at all! Local authorities were considered corrupt and unreliable. And we did not have the right to conclude such agreements. Also a kind of vicious circle.
So then, at the end of his report to General Taushanov I.Kh. I reported difficulties in intelligence of the 122nd MRR: the old intelligence chief, Major Mikhailov, left to be replaced, the new one is Major V.F. Bondarenko. died a month after his arrival, Lieutenant Colonel Zayats, who was appointed in his place, was removed from office a little over a month later and a criminal case was initiated against him.
The district intelligence chief was sympathetic to our difficulties and literally a week later I was introduced to the new regiment intelligence chief - Captain Alexander Vasilievich Grishchenko, who arrived from the officer reserve in Tashkent.
Looking ahead, I will say that Alexander Vasilyevich successfully won his term in Afghanistan, first in 122, then in 149 Guards. SME, was awarded the Order of the Red Star
We met in 1992 already in the national army of Ukraine; he served in my department until 1996. Now retired, lives in Kyiv. Sometimes we meet at “Afghan” events.
However, let's return to the story of Lieutenant Colonel Zayets.
Somewhere at the end of January 1984, they finally made a decision on him: definitely - to judge! They didn’t arrest him, they said, where would he go from the submarine? But as it later turned out, it was in vain, since he deserted.
From meetings with the investigator, he realized that, with all the mitigating circumstances, he could not avoid 9-10 years in prison and trial. He was very confused, he did not expect this. Apparently out of confusion, out of helplessness to change something, but something had to be done. So he decided to illegally sneak into the Union, and see how it turns out. In Volyn, where he was from, was he going to sit out in the former Bandera caches?
However, these are all my fantasies. What he planned and what he decided, only he himself knew. The only fact was that on March 15, 1984, he deserted.
A convenient opportunity helped him in this. The division went into combat in the province of Badakhshan. Over the course of the previous few days, there was the usual turmoil and confusion in such cases. Columns are formed, groups of vehicles scurry from garrison to garrison - which was not allowed under normal conditions.
This is the picture. Standing near the road is the BRDM-2 of the commandant's company of the division, there is only one driver in the car. The Hare comes up and the following dialogue took place between them: - “... is your car going out for surgery? - Comes out. - Ready for departure, is the car in good working order, refueled? - Everything is fine. - Let me check.” The driver knows the lieutenant colonel as a division headquarters officer who has been in their company more than once. Without any second thought, he gets out of their car, the Hare takes his place, starts the engine and drives away.
A soldier costs an hour, or two. It’s already getting dark, there’s no car. Their company commander drives by and asks why he is standing here. The soldier explains the situation. The garrison has only one road around the airfield, so there is nowhere to get lost.
The company commander drove around the garrison, nothing. I got worried. I reported to the division chief of staff, who ordered the search to begin. It turns out that the BRDM of the commandant's company of the division at 15.30 passed through the checkpoint in combat guard with a small column to Northern Kunduz, which is recorded in the log.
They called there and found out that the BRDM was indeed in a convoy, but did not arrive at the garrison. In the morning, they sent a couple of helicopters, which soon found him 20 kilometers northeast of Kunduz in the green zone of Kalai-Zol county near the village of Saksacol, a place in the full sense of a bandit.
The battalion of the 149th Motorized Rifle Regiment was immediately sent there, and after some time the results were reported: the BRDM was completely disassembled, the weapons were removed, all the components were removed, even the wheels - only one armored box remained. There are no signs of battle.
Interrogated local residents testified that this car was stuck in this place in the evening. An officer came out and tried to explain to the boys who ran up. Seeing that besides the officer there was no more “shuravi”, and the officer was without a weapon, about 5 local dushmans came up and took him away with them. We couldn't find out anything else.
That's it, emergency! They reported to the army and the district. We started searching. But the difficulty was that just on that day, in the morning, the division went to Badakhshan for a planned operation (essay “On the Roof of the World”), there were few remaining forces and it was not possible to organize large-scale searches “hot on the heels”.
I also left with the main staff of the headquarters and returned only a month later. I learned that the Hare had not been found, although the search gradually expanded, and significant forces of 40A already took part in them. Suffice it to say that the search was personally led by the Chief of Staff of the KTurkVO, Colonel General Krivosheev.
I immediately joined this search, went with scouts to villages, interviewed local residents, interrogated prisoners and detainees.
On these very days, I personally had an incident with a “representative of higher headquarters.” I'll tell you about this in more detail.
These representatives came to Afghanistan like flies to honey. The reasons for this are very prosaic. Firstly, high travel allowances - 17 checks per day (for comparison, we received 11 checks). Secondly, the opportunity to distinguish yourself and receive an order. Thirdly, receive a “baksheesh” (gift) from your auditees.
To the credit of our OKSVA officers, especially the combat units, they did not pay much attention to them, because in the central districts and groups of troops abroad they could frighten officers by transferring them to places “where Makar did not herd calves.” But there was something to scare us - and so we walked on the edge of life.
The most unpleasant thing was that the “newcomers” were trying their best to distinguish themselves, submitting stupid ideas, which naturally we had to implement.
I already wrote in the essay “On the Roof of the World” how such a visiting general from the General Staff demanded that I take his “language”, absolutely not understanding either the local conditions, in particular, or the peculiarities of the war in Afghanistan in general.
The assistants of these chiefs tried especially hard. Having no combat experience, they tried to teach us how to fight, what to do, but they didn’t know how to do it.
And then one day I received a combat mission: with a group of scouts, 20-25 people, in two helicopters to fly to the green zone of Kalai-Zol county. There, comb the group of houses in which the dushmans allegedly hid the Hare. The data was allegedly obtained from a very reliable source and the division commander decided to entrust this responsible task to me.
The chief of staff of the division, Colonel Chernov, assigning me a combat mission, warned that a representative of the operational department of the district headquarters, a lieutenant colonel, I don’t remember his last name, would fly with us. Why is it flying? Ostensibly to see how we act.
In fact, the man really wanted to “cut down” the order easily. What if the Hare is there and we take him. That's it, if there is a hole for the order!
Of course, I didn’t care, and I didn’t believe in this information. We received such “disinformation” several times every day. And always false when tested. Therefore, I was very skeptical about this information, but for some reason the “newcomers” believed it so much that they all recklessly began to ask to come with us. Their boss appointed the one I mentioned.
Well, it flies, it flies, what do I care?
However, as soon as we got into the helicopter, the lieutenant colonel began to show activity, almost setting me tasks. I kept quiet and didn’t “emerge.” I’m sitting, thinking about how I can complete the task.
The helicopters dropped us off at the edge of the desert, 400-500 meters from the “green zone”. I assigned a task to the helicopter pilots to hover over the zone and see if there were any armed people nearby.
The helicopters took off and went in circles. Soon I hear cannon and machine gun fire. Helicopter commanders report that they see several groups of armed people scattering in different directions.
It’s clear that there are spooks in this area. I got my bearings, found these houses, or rather a small village that we must comb. I assigned tasks to the commanders and checked communications. The lieutenant colonel tried to intervene several times, but I stopped him rather impolitely. He pouted and walked away.
The scouts lined up in battle groups and began to move toward the target in rolling motions. So, in dashes, we reached the outskirts, surrounded the village and began checking the houses. The helicopters got in touch, reported that they were running out of fuel and left for the airfield.
We were left completely alone; the artillery could not support us, since we were no less than 50 kilometers away from the garrison.
They checked the houses and found several local residents. My translator Namoz interrogated them. They swear and swear that they have not seen any Soviet officer and know nothing about it. They searched the houses and found no weapons. It's clear that they've caught the misconception again. I go on the radio to the division's central control center and report the situation. I was ordered to go to the site and wait for the helicopters.
I give the necessary orders. However, the lieutenant colonel suddenly began to protest: “How can we leave, you haven’t found the Hare, let’s check that group of villages over there, maybe he’s there.”
I’m trying to explain to him that evening is approaching, there is a green zone around and it’s deadly dangerous to go deeper into it. There are only 25 of us and we have no air or artillery support.
As soon as a small group of dushmans, 5-6 people, comes into our flank, we will have serious problems. There will be dead and wounded again. And for what? After all, there is no evidence that the Hare can be in these villages.
Nevertheless, the lieutenant colonel insists and says: “Don’t be afraid, scout, we’ll break through.” Well, I couldn’t forgive him for that. He moved close to him and quietly growled: “You, rear rat, are you going to teach me? If you interfere in my actions and interfere with my command, I will order you to be tied up and gagged in your mouth so that you shut up. You are not responsible for anything.” , and I am for everything to the fullest."
Apparently I looked determined, he stepped back and muttered: “You will regret this.” I answered him: “I won’t warn you anymore.”
We also moved out of the green zone and focused on the site. Half an hour later the helicopters arrived, we quickly took our seats in them and took off. The flight to the airfield was uneventful.
Having sent scouts to the battalion, I went to the chief of staff and reported on the results. I didn’t report the incident with the lieutenant colonel, I thought he would remain silent. However, no, half an hour later a messenger from headquarters comes running: “The division commander is calling you.”
I arrive at headquarters and enter the division commander’s office. There, besides him, there is the head of the operational group of the KTurkVO headquarters with the rank of colonel and the same lieutenant colonel. Already complained, sits, looks at me like a wolf. The division commander says: “What happened? I was informed that you were almost going to shoot the district headquarters officer?”
I report: “Shooting, of course, is too much. Although it would have been necessary. This officer interfered with my actions and interfered with the fulfillment of the combat mission. What else should I have done in a combat situation? I consider my actions to be correct.” The division commander asked me a couple more questions and let me go.
And then, the division commander and the head of the operational group gave such “pepper” to the lieutenant colonel that when he met me the next day, he pointedly turned away from me. He didn’t ask to go into combat anymore. The division commander did not remember this incident and I realized that he was on my side.
Why was I so outraged by the lieutenant colonel's behavior?
Firstly, the impudence with which he tried to interfere with my actions. Thinking that since he is a district headquarters officer, he has the right to command.
Secondly, a disdainful attitude towards the lives of soldiers and officers: if he wants to distinguish himself, then he doesn’t care - at what cost.
It is not for nothing that there is an expression: if a boss swears to lie down with his bones, but to complete a task, he does not mean his bones.
The death of a son is a huge grief for parents and loved ones. I myself am the father of two boys and I know how much effort and time it takes to bring your child at least to adulthood.
The soldier’s parents raised him all his life; he was the one and only for them. And so, at the age of 18-19, he left for Afghanistan and will return from there only in a zinc coffin due to the fault of such a zealous boss. It is rightly said: “Romance exists until the first person is killed.”
The search for the Hare continued. During the ongoing hostilities, we defeated many “spirits”; the most distinguished were the 2nd MSB and the reconnaissance company of the 149th Guards. SME So, 28.04. In 1984, near the village of Gortepa, they destroyed a large gang of more than 120 people; they took 75 machine guns alone, 4 DShK machine guns, many other weapons and heaps of ammunition. A significant role in this, of course, was played by the fire defeat of the blocked group of “spirits” by artillery and mortars, and attacks by combat helicopters. But the ferocity of the battle was also high. Suffice it to say that in some places it came to hand-to-hand combat.
Gangs of smaller numbers, but no less harmful, were destroyed. Of course, the local residents also suffered.
Naturally, they themselves suffered losses. 6 reconnaissance officers and motorized riflemen of the 122nd infantry regiment, which bore the brunt of the search, were killed.
- Sergeant Zhereshenkov Viktor Viktorovich - reconnaissance company, seriously wounded in battle on April 13 and died in the hospital on April 25, 1984.
- Private Borshchevsky Ivan Viktorovich, died in battle on April 14;
- senior lieutenant Valery Alekseevich Yankovsky - commander of the MSR, died in battle on April 14;
- Lieutenant Apanasov Alim Khozrailovich - commander of the MSV, died in battle on April 14;
- junior sergeant Nikolenko Viktor Andreevich - reconnaissance company, died in battle on April 13;
- Senior Lieutenant V.A. Yankovsky - commander of the MSV, died on April 14, 1984.
An entire company of officers was killed on this bastard!
However, the traces of the Hare were completely lost. The gang that took him prisoner in the village of Saksacol was completely destroyed, and they failed to take a single prisoner. Some locals saw a Soviet officer in a gang, someone heard something, then information appeared that Zayats died during our airstrike. This version was considered plausible, he was declared missing and the search was stopped.
This would have been the end of this story, but a few months later I accidentally found evidence indicating the death of the Hare.
Somewhere in early September of the same year, I and a reconnaissance detachment of 40 people, 6 infantry fighting vehicles, and two 152-mm Akatsiya self-propelled guns operated in the area of the Kalamkuduk wells (50 km west of Kunduz). There was a “land of unafraid birds” and spooks walked freely.
At dawn, we suddenly attacked the village located near the wells, the “spirits” did not accept the battle, we did not allow them to go into the mountains with cut-off artillery fire, so we had to surrender.
A gang of 36 people, captured weapons - one Parabellum pistol from 1917 and several old English Boer rifles. As the prisoners showed, they were going to Pakistan, the bulk of the people were young people destined for training in rebel training camps. In the spring they were supposed to return with weapons, trained and ready for action.
During the search, documents were found on them, including several photographs, which did not raise doubts about what they were doing, although at first they pretended to be civilians.
One document aroused my particular interest. It was a handwritten letter with 6 seals. My translator, although with difficulty, read the contents of this letter. It was like a letter of recommendation written by 6 rebel leaders of the Kalai-Zol district to the rebel leaders in Pakistan. In it they described the exploits of this gang in colors and colors.
I was especially interested in the words “.... in March a Soviet general was captured and executed...” Considering the time and place of action, I realized that this was about the Hare.
Having thoroughly interrogated the leader of the gang, Mullah Saidzhon, a young man of about 30, and other members of his gang, I came to the conclusion that I was on the right path. The mullah himself categorically denied this and other facts cited in the letter. He said that this was written to give “weight” to his group in order to get more help and weapons. He didn’t even see the Soviet officer, although he had heard about him. He named the leader of the gang to which the Hare surrendered, this coincided with the previously received information.
The “spirits” wanted to take the hare to Pakistan. Such luck! A lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Army, who also surrendered himself - this has not happened in Afghanistan for more than 5 years.
You could get a lot of money for it. The fact is that in The Hague (Netherlands) there was an international UN commission to investigate Soviet crimes in Afghanistan. Our prisoners acted there as witnesses and gave evidence.
These were mostly deserters, ready to do anything, because the dushmans killed our soldiers captured in battle after the battle. And what exactly can you take from a soldier, what has he seen and what does he know besides his company?
The hare is a special article. Until now, officers of this rank have not yet been taken prisoner. And he did not hide the fact that he was a scout, which clearly increased his price. But while the “spirits” were deciding what to do with the Hare, passing him from gang to gang, ours tightly blocked the area of his possible location.
It was a difficult area between the Kunduz and Talukan rivers, measuring 10 by 20 km. However, this entire area was surrounded by desert, through which it was impossible to pass unnoticed.
They tried to take the hare to the mountains several times, but it didn’t work. It became clear that its capture by Soviet troops was a matter of time. The council of leaders decided that since it was impossible to get him out, and he had been with them for almost 1.5 months, had seen many of the leaders, their bases and caches, then it was advisable to eliminate him as an unwanted witness. Which was done immediately. Of course, no one asked him for consent.
He was taken to the river bank. Kunduz, shot, the body was stripped naked and thrown into the river. Now, after 1-2 days, it would no longer be possible to identify him: the heat, fish and crayfish will do their job. And there were plenty of ownerless corpses in the rivers of Afghanistan in those years. This is how Lieutenant Colonel Zayats disappeared and died.
Confirmation of this version appeared a month later.
The Afghan state security agencies (KhAD) captured and handed over to us a former construction soldier from the Kunduz UPR, Private Demidenko.
This man deserted from his unit in August 1980 and went over to the dushmans. He converted to Islam and received the name Tajmamad, which is very common among Tajiks. Of course, they searched for him for a long time, but to no avail.
For 4 years later, this Tajmamad took an active part in hostilities against Soviet troops and the Afghan authorities, and was wounded several times.
His merits to the dushmans were so great that they gave him a house, married him without a bride price (kalym is a bride price, and a considerable one at that) and gave him money for the wedding. By now he had several children and a respected position.
But finally I got it. I was present at his interrogation. He was a man of unknown age, short, thin, with a haircut like all Afghans, wearing national clothes and black tanned. If I had met him somewhere in a village, I would never have doubted that he was an Afghan.
During interrogation, he refused to speak Russian, citing the fact that he had not spoken Russian for 4 years and had forgotten this language. That's what they said through an interpreter.
Looking at this geek, I thought, why does he have such hatred for us? Why did he desert two months before his transfer to the reserve? After all, he was not a young soldier who fled because of the notorious tyranny of the “grandfathers”.
After interrogation, he was dressed in a soldier's uniform without shoulder straps and sent by plane to Tashkent, where a harsh, but, as they say, fair trial awaited him. The verdict did not take long to arrive; the former soldier was sentenced to death and executed a month later. The verdict of the Military Tribunal was then read out in all parts of 40A.
And in order to completely close this topic, I will say that in the spring of 1997 in Kyiv I met with the son of the Hare. I told him everything exactly the same as here, I quite humanly understand the tragedy of this family. However, history cannot be rewritten. What happened, happened.
Later, several years later, in Ukrainian newspapers and, especially on veterans’ Internet sites, the topic of the lieutenant colonel missing in Afghanistan repeatedly arose, and the most incredible versions arose - after all, to this day he is listed as missing. “Historians” also appeared for unknown purposes, making him almost a hero: of course, after all, the dushmans shot him! So, he probably refused to serve them? Moreover, this is stated by “figures” who have not sniffed not only Afghanistan, but also the army in general! Here I specifically indicated the list of our military personnel who died while searching for this scoundrel. Only people like him can justify him.
I didn’t write to the newspaper; everything I write about here, I told his son personally. Therefore, I don’t want to intrude into their family affairs. Time itself has already put everything in its place!
In Kamchatka, military investigators closed a criminal case against a Lieutenant Colonel of the Ministry of Defense, who was accused of beating a teenager. “The investigation was terminated due to the lack of evidence of a crime. You know, beatings have been decriminalized,” the press service of the military investigation department for the Pacific Fleet commented on the situation to the Kam 24 news agency.
A law decriminalizing domestic violence in Russia was passed last year. Now a rowdy who beats his wife or child faces not a criminal penalty, as before, but an administrative penalty - a fine or arrest for several days. Skeptics warned: this would give people a free hand to those prone to violence—not just family violence. Life in Russia confirms these fears.
Hooligan in uniform
A high-profile incident involving two 14-year-old schoolchildren and a 41-year-old officer occurred in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on January 19 last year. Seventh graders played snowballs outside. A lump of snow hit a passing SUV. A strong man in military uniform came out. The students apologized loudly.
It seemed to the officer that this was not enough. He swore and began throwing pieces of ice at the boys (he, thank God, did not have a service weapon), then approached one of the seventh graders, smashed his face bloody and threw it to the side.
The schoolboy fell into a snowdrift, and the driver got behind the wheel and drove off as if nothing had happened.
The incident was reported by the media. Relatives of the injured child filed a statement with the police. Police initially doubted that the suspect was an officer. They thought that some hooligan, perhaps not quite mentally healthy, put on someone else’s uniform. The act of aggression towards a teenager by an adult seemed too unmotivated. It took investigators several days to identify the owner of the SUV. He actually turned out to be a serviceman - lieutenant colonel of the anti-aircraft missile regiment stationed in Petropavlovsk Andrei Zaitsev.
The inspection materials were transferred to the military investigation department for the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky garrison.
Investigators initially refused to initiate a criminal case at all, since the diagnosis of a “fracture of the nasal bones” made by a civilian doctor in the teenager, according to their data, was not confirmed.
Over time, after the intervention of State Duma deputy Konstantin Slyshchenko and the prosecutor’s office, a case was finally opened under the “decriminalized” Article 116 (“Battery”). True, as we now know, only to be closed again soon - for lack of evidence of a crime. Although no one denies the fact of the beating.
In the materials of the prosecutor's inspection, the plot of the incident is described as follows: “Minor R. hit the windshield of a passing Toyota Land Cruiser Prado car driven by Lieutenant Colonel A.G. Zaitsev with a snowball. Using this minor reason to commit further illegal actions, the Lieutenant Colonel got out of the car, caught up with R., grabbed him by the jacket and struck him one blow with the fist of his left hand in the neck area on the right and one blow with the palm of his left hand in the nose area, causing bodily injuries in the form of a bruise of the nose and chipping of the enamel of the first right tooth of the lower jaw.”
Less than three hits
According to Russian law, a beating is at least three blows, but the lieutenant colonel only hit him twice. So (the investigators) found out that there was a broken nose and a chipped tooth, but no beatings.
The student's parents, of course, still have a chance to bring the aggressive rocket scientist to justice administratively. But they are unlikely to do this.
“I simply no longer have the strength to continue the useless struggle. My son was summoned several times for interrogations, confrontations, and examinations. It was a huge stress for both him and me. We carefully followed the investigator's instructions. But everything turned out to be in vain. The case was quietly closed without even notifying us about it,” Ksenia, the mother of the injured child, told Novaya.
The investigation, which the teenager’s family hoped would restore justice, became another test for him.
“The military man inflicted physical trauma on my son, and the investigators – moral trauma. I’m afraid that it will be even more difficult to heal her,” says Ksenia.
What? - the inspector did not understand.
Stormy, prolonged applause,” the soldier repeated with a pure heart.
The inspector looked at the head of the PO in bewilderment, and he threw lightning at Solonenko.
Solonenko remembered that he didn’t listen to Adir Shakhmirza-ogly yesterday, but in vain.
For those who have never read the materials of the party congress, I will explain. This brochure clearly reproduced the atmosphere of this forum. After each significant speech or statement by the speaker, according to the convention script, there was a reaction from the audience. Something like: “Stormy applause”, “Stormy and prolonged applause”, “Stormy and prolonged applause, turning into ovation. Everyone stands up and continues to give a standing ovation.”
This was written in parentheses. But the soldier, tired of getting paid for saying something wrong, for not learning something, decided to learn absolutely everything that the company commander had outlined for him in the brochure. And he learned and told.
Colonel Zaitsev
Ivan Ignatievich Zaitsev, being a senior officer of the third department of the district intelligence department, was a frequent visitor to the Lagodekhi brigade.
He also came with inspections for the exercises. The officers respected him very much for his inexhaustible humor, deep knowledge of his business and human qualities.
Ivan Ignatievich had a lisp when speaking, so I will try to convey the flavor of this speech.
During the exercises
There is such a wonderful place in Transcaucasia - Karayazy. What is called a real mountain-desert area. In these “blessed” places, which the wits called Karlovy Yazy, exercises and shootings of the Trans-KVO took place. The recently created 173rd Special Forces Detachment was a frequent guest at this “resort”. Colonel Zaitsev, due to his duty, had to oversee his active combat training. During that period, a wave of accidents related to careless handling of weapons swept across the district.
The battalion was preparing to shoot. The cold fog of the early morning did not lift my spirits. Zaitsev lit a cigarette.
Battalion commander, is blinding set?
Yes sir.
Have the soldiers been instructed so that not a single cape gets into the shooting field?
Yes sir.
All is ready?
Yes sir.
Okay, let's give the command.
The battalion commander said something, and a signal familiar to every military man was heard over the training ground: “Po-pa-di!” The first bursts of fire were already heard over the field, when suddenly a soldier appeared from the bushes on the left and headed across the field. For a second Zaitsev froze, his eyes popped out of their sockets, and then he burst. Despite his short stature and modest build, Ivan Ignatievich shouted so loudly that even a soldier on the field could easily hear him. Moreover, among what was said, only prepositions were censored. Suddenly finishing shouting, Zaitsev, in a clear, calm voice, gave the order to stop shooting and send the car into the field to deliver this fighter to the checkpoint. Taking a drag from a very tiny cigarette butt that burned his lips and fingers, Ivan Ignatievich turned to the other officers at the command post and, as if apologizing for his incontinence, said: “After all, for him, damn it, you’ll have to pay for him like a villager!”
At the races
Competitions of special forces groups, or simply “platoon races,” were held annually. They were called horse races because during these competitions groups sometimes walked, and more often ran, up to two hundred kilometers in three days. Of course, not all groups could withstand such loads. Ivan Ignatievich was always on the panel of judges. This is how he recounted one of the episodes of the competition: “We are driving a UAZ. I look - he’s crawling along the road in a masked coat with a backpack and a machine gun. I tell the driver: “Stop!” I drove to the probable direction of crawling out and stopped. He crawled up to me, saw the officer’s boots and then stopped. He climbs and sniffles. I ask: “Group number?” - He's begging. - “The commander’s last name?” - He's begging. - I think: “Okay, pray.” They loaded him into a UAZ, drove him back, about ten kilometers, and threw him out. I say: “Next time I’ll answer the judge’s questions, you damn partisans.”
According to combat calculations
When Ivan Ignatievich Zaitsev was the chief of staff of the Lagodekhi brigade, he was, on duty, responsible for the service of the troops and, of course, for serving on guard. He loved checking the guard and sometimes carried it out in a very unusual way.
Senior Lieutenant Solonenko was on guard. A man who was always very scrupulous about his service. After lunch, having arrived at the guardhouse, Ivan Ignatievich inquired whether the combat crew was being brought to the attention of the guard personnel. Solonenko replied that this is done every shift.
“Good,” said Zaitsev. - Here’s an introduction: “Attack on the guardhouse!”
Solonenko commanded: “Guard in the gun! Attack on the guardhouse! The fighters, as taught, quickly took up their positions to repel the “enemy’s” attack.
“Okay,” said Zaitsev, “but a hundred things need to be done?”
Report to the duty officer,” Solonenko answered and turned the handle of the TA-57 telephone: “Comrade captain!” Attack on the guardhouse! Chief of the guard, senior lieutenant Solonenko.
Zaitsev suggested a continuation: “Two killed and three wounded.” Captain Salei, wise from service experience, was on duty. Therefore, he calmly asked: “Is this an introductory one? Who do you have there?
Zaitsev didn’t hear the question, but he understood and said:
No need to say, this is an introductory one.
Solonenko obediently repeated the tale about the dead and wounded and hung up.
Since there was no reaction from the duty officer, Zaitsev asked to call the duty officer again, but this time the number of those killed had increased. To this, Salei calmly answered the chief of the guard: “Victor, I used to naively believe that you would go on guard duty sober.” And he hung up.
Did you say a hundred? - Zaitsev asked keenly.
“He said that I was drunk,” the nachkar replied.
“Okay,” Zaitsev did not let up, “call again and tell him that five were killed and all were wounded.”
It is difficult to say what exactly the duty officer thought, but the reserve group was raised to the gun and, led by captain Salei, jumped out of the unit. The duty officer looked very determined, and he had a pistol in his hands. At this time, Yarosh Vitaly Yaroslavovich, commander of the 12th Special Special Forces Brigade, approached the unit. Quite puzzled by what was happening, he still managed to grab the last fighter by the jacket.
Son, for God's sake, tell me what's going on.
Oh, Comrade Colonel! There's something like that on guard duty! Five killed and a bunch of wounded!
Yarosh did not listen to him. The next moment he was already running into the guardhouse ahead of the reserve group and the unit on duty.
When it was all over, Solonenko watched as the tall and slender Yarosh walked into the unit, who was excitedly saying something without turning around, and little Ivan Ignatievich walked behind him, looking at the ground in front of him. After another half hour, he dejectedly walked home.
With faith in the future
Ivan Ignatievich Zaitsev was an extraordinary, but very competent officer, whose soul was rooted in the cause. He often stayed late in the unit, working on some official documents.
Solonenko was on duty. A patrol in the city caught three soldiers drunk. Solonenko, without hesitation for a long time, put them in the guardhouse, but so far without a note about the arrest.
Since the chief of staff was in the unit, he decided to report to him about what had happened.
After listening to the report, Ivan Ignatievich lit a cigarette. And he smoked in a very peculiar way. He held the cigarette with his thumb and forefinger, and smoked it to the very end, always burning his fingers.
Taking another puff, he said: “Tell me, Solonenko, Someday, for example, in the year two thousand, the rural thought will reach such perfection, one hundred, as soon as a soldier approaches the fence without a dismissal note, two will immediately jump out of it.” green hands, they will tie you up and send you to the guardhouse. And from the computer of the guard commander, a note about the arrest will come out with five notes and the signature of the guard commander?