At 32, Hero of Russia Denis Vetchinov had a huge combat experience. He has more than one business trip to the "hot spots", participation in the Second Chechen War. On August 7, he was sent to South Ossetia, where nothing foreshadowed the beginning of one of the shortest but bloodiest wars in Russian history, which was the last for a military officer.
"Save at all costs"
This is the name of the film by A. Sladkov, a correspondent of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, who became a participant in the five-day war unleashed by the Georgian side against South Ossetia. It literally describes the tragic events of August 8 and 9, 2008, when peaceful villages near Tskhinval were destroyed from Grad, and then the city itself was attacked by Georgian troops. Tanks fired at point-blank houses and a peacekeeping battalion, to which the convoy of the 58th army, whose commander was once General A. Lebed, rushed to help.
The legendary commander was replaced by no less experienced A. Khrulev, who personally led a rescue squad of 800 people. The convoy advanced from Vladikavkaz included Major Denis Vetchinov, who was responsible for educational work in the 135th motorized rifle regiment.
The details of the two days became public thanks to the participation of the VGTRK, Komsomolskaya Pravda and Moskovsky Komsomolets journalists in the rescue operation. It was they who told that only on the third day did the main forces of the Russian army enter Tskhinval, and 800 soldiers opposing the 18-thousand-strong army of the enemy rushed to provide operational assistance to local residents and the peacekeeping battalion.
First meeting
The video captures Denis Vetchinov (photos are also presented in the article), as VGTRK journalists saw him.
They were struck by two things: the major was responsible for the educational work, but in fact he was negotiating with the reconnaissance group (call sign "Lipa"), adjusting aimed fire at the enemy, that is, he was engaged in the performance of a combat mission. In addition, it was so masculine in it that the television people thought: it is these people who are capable of doing something. They did not know that he was soon to commit it.
The acquaintance of the VGTRK crew, Alexander Kots (Komsomolskaya Pravda) and Viktor Sokirko (Moskovsky Komsomolets) with the major happened after the news of the shelling of Tskhinval. Journalists wanted to get to the city, but it was Vetchinov who turned out to be the officer who refused them. When the operation to break through to Tskhinval began to be prepared, the journalists joined the headquarters column.
Ambush
By 16 o’clock on August 8, it became clear: Georgian troops were coming in an avalanche. By this time, Dzau, located 15 km from Tskhinval, was overwhelmed by the wounded, and the Ossetians were retreating, leaving their positions.
At 17-00 Georgian special forces burst into the city, leaving behind a scorched field. About an hour later, Khrulev decides to act as two battalions, without waiting for reinforcements to arrive. In fact, he only had at his disposal the 135th motorized rifle regiment led by commander Andrei Kazachenko, who had advanced from Vladikavkaz. His deputy was Denis Vasilievich Vetchinov. The convoy contains only 30 combat vehicles.
At noon on August 9, the first serious skirmish occurred at the Goluan height, which is literally a kilometer from Tskhinval, and at about 15:30 the headquarters convoy is ambushed at the approaches to the city, trying to enter it from the southeast side. The fighters had a task - to break through to the peacekeeping battalion, stationed on the southwestern outskirts.
According to eyewitnesses, Georgians surrounded the convoy, arising from nowhere. They immediately knocked out two armored vehicles, using the factor of surprise.
Feat
It is possible that the Georgian special forces were deliberately preparing for the attack, trying to capture Anatoly Khrulev. The enemy acted prepared, taking the column into a tight ring.
Next, Denis Vetchinov’s feat will be described according to the memoirs of Alexander Kots, who is in the staff car, where he interviewed General Khrulev. He describes that the major immediately tried to organize a circular defense around journalists and the army commander.
When it became unbearable, and everyone began to get out of the fire along the fence, Denis Vetchinov walked in front. He paved the way, avoiding stretch marks. Hoping to catch the BMP, the major peered out for a split second on the road and was hit by an enemy lineup. With broken legs, he continued to resist, firing from a captured machine gun.
A Georgian grenade thrower jumped out from the bushes at the journalists, injuring three people. For Kotz it was obvious: this is the end. But, overcoming the pain, Vetchinov managed to eliminate the enemy. At the same time, he himself received another severe wound. This time in the head. To the last, he covered the retreat of his comrades.
Hero's death
Remaining on the go BMP broke out of the environment. Sokirko managed to stop one of the armored vehicles, loading the wounded Vetchinov and Kots onto it. The latter was taken out of the fire, bandaged. Then, KamAZ was taken to the hospital in Dzau. From there, a seriously injured journalist was transferred to an ambulance in Vladikavkaz.
Khrulev was seriously injured in the battle, to whom the leg bone, as well as members of the VGTRK crew, were crushed by a fragment. They managed to evacuate all of them, promptly providing medical assistance. Denis Vetchinov died on the road to Dzau, eight bullet wounds were found on his body.
Alexander Sladkov in a documentary about the events in Ossetia will say: "If, by dying, a man saves his comrades, in Russia this is called a feat." Journalists believe that on the approaches to Tskhinval they were born a second time, and this owes to the 32-year-old political leader, whose competent actions saved their lives.
Memory
The war in South Ossetia lasted five days. On August 10, Russian paratroopers and special forces were thrown against the Georgian military. Few people know that only 800 fighters of the motorized rifle regiment, who covered themselves with real glory, began to save the peacekeeping battalion and the inhabitants of Tskhinval.
After the article in Komsomolskaya Pravda, special attention was riveted to the personality of the 135th regiment regiment, and on August 14, the Decree of D. Medvedev, President of the Russian Federation, on awarding him the title of Hero of Russia appeared. On August 15, the officer’s body was interred in Volgograd.
A year later, A. Sladkov returned to Tskhinval, accompanying the monument to a Russian officer who defended the country's interests in the Caucasus. On the 10th anniversary of the feat in Pyatimorsk, on the Heroes' Alley, a bust of Denis Vetchinov was installed. The hero of Russia is immortalized among 10 other soldiers and officers who gave their lives for their homeland.
Biography Pages
And the major is remembered and honored in Kazakhstan. He is a native of the village of Shantobe, Akmola region, whose population was about 8 thousand people. Denis was born in 1976, on June 28.
He was born in a respected family in the village. Father, Vasily Vladimirovich, taught auto-making at a local school, and his mother, Lyubov Gavrilovna, worked in a kindergarten. Denis grew up a modest guy who did not know the difficulties of a transitional age. His family always had a warm, trusting relationship.
After military service, the young man decided to get a higher military education. In 1995 he entered the Combined Arms Command School in the city of Omsk. After its disbandment, it transferred to Kazan, graduating from a branch of the Chelyabinsk Tank School.
He began his service in 2000, immediately finding himself in Chechnya, being ranked as the 205th Infantry Brigade. He rose to major. He received the title in 2005, and three years later - the post of deputy regiment commander. He dreamed of an Academy of the General Staff, where he planned to enter in 2009. Did not happen.
A family
At the time of the death of Denis Vetchinov, his parents still lived in Shantobe, and his family - his wife and daughter - in Volgograd. It was here, at the Central Cemetery, that the Hero of the Russian Federation was buried.
Ekaterina Vetchinova became a widow at 25, she has in her hands one and a half year old daughter Masha, who remembers her father exclusively from photographs. The family at that time did not have an apartment. She appeared a few years later with the help of friends and those who consider Denis Vetchinov their savior.
The biography of the hero has become the subject of study of the young generation, which is looking for decent examples to follow. On the Web you can read the memories of people who knew Denis closely. And everyone speaks of him with respect: “companionable”, “cheerful”, “sympathetic”, “good comrade”.
On the 10th anniversary of the memory of Vetchinov his family gathered. Parents moved to Volgograd to be closer to their granddaughter. A. Kotz and A. Sladkov visit the officer’s grave every year and even call Lyubov Gavrilovna mom any. Catherine never married, the only man in their house with her daughter is the cat Philip.
Masha every year more and more resembles her father. And not only externally.
Instead of a conclusion
The five-day war with Georgia claimed the lives of one and a half thousand residents of South Ossetia and 60 peacekeepers. And behind each name lies the human destiny and tragedy of the family.
Three could live in an apartment finally obtained by Ekaterina Vetchinova. Masha, who entered adolescence, must have a father. But life judged differently. Above all, Denis Vetchinov set himself the task of serving the motherland.
They say that the main wealth of our country is oil and gas. This is not true. Her main wealth is people. Such as Denis Vetchinov. A handsome, strong-willed, courageous and kind person. One of those on whom Russia stood for centuries.