Song: Sektor Gaza - Чёрная Магия
The Battle of Komsomolskoye was fought between the 6th and 24th of March, 2000 during the Second Chechen War. It pitted the Chechen militant forces commanded by Ruslan Gelayev against the much better armed Russian military, who encircled the Chechens within the town of Komsomolskoye. Gelayev’s fighters were apparently deceived by fellow Chechen rebel commander Arbi Barayev, in return for his troops being through the town (which was a common path Chechen rebels took to flee Grozny following the heavy Russian bombardment) unimpeded.
The Russians surrounded the town and commenced a massive bombing campaign that almost totally levelled the town, before sending in troops to remove any remaining rebels. By the end of the battle, about 50 Russians were dead and 700-800 Chechen fighters from Gelayev’s force were killed, with only a handful including Gelayev himself managing to break through the Russian lines to escape.
The town was utterly decimated, described as “looking like a pile of shattered matchsticks - not a single building was left intact” and an unknown number of civilians were killed after being given little time to flee between bombings.
It is considered the largest Russian victory of the Second Chechen War.
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