The group commander, senior lieutenant Oleg Petrovich Onishchuk, was born in 1961 in the village of Putrintsy, Izyaslavsky district, Khmelnitsky region. Graduated from the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command School.

Since April 1987, he fought in Afghanistan as part of the 186th special forces unit. Oleg Onishchuk’s group captured several caravans with weapons, including: an Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun with two thousand shells, 33 machine guns, a light machine gun, a HF radio station, 42 mines. By the end of the summer of 1987, during his six-month stay in Afghanistan, he already had ten military operations under his belt and a strong reputation as a “lucky guy”; he was awarded the medal “For Military Merit” and the Order of the Red Banner.

On October 28, 1987, the reconnaissance group of Senior Lieutenant Oleg Onishchuk received the task of moving to the area of ​​the village of Duri in the province of Zabol, near the border with Pakistan, to destroy the caravan. A group of 16 people left the base at six o’clock in the evening and reached the ambush site in two night marches of forty kilometers.

Zabol Province, Shahjoy, 186 OSN, 1988.

It housed about 1,400 people:

3rd battalion (less one company) of the 317th parachute regiment;

186 separate special forces detachment;

4th helicopter detachment of the 205th separate helicopter squadron (Covercot helipad);

276 separate airfield technical support company;

147 garrison tropospheric communication center;

9 artillery battery 1074 artillery regiment;

Reconnaissance point of the operational-agent group “Kalat”.

The head of the garrison was the commander of the parachute battalion.

On the night of December 30 to 31, a convoy of three Mercedes cargo vehicles was discovered, moving at intervals of a kilometer and a half. From a distance of nine hundred meters, the scouts used a grenade launcher to knock out the lead vehicle and gunned down the lead guard with machine gun fire. Onischuk carried out inspections of the destroyed caravan and partially carried the weapons to the group’s location.

However, most of the heavy weapons remained on the damaged vehicle, which was reported to the detachment command. The arrival of the helicopters was scheduled for 6.00 am and the group was allowed to stay until the morning. It was first a gross mistake in the large series of tragic events that followed. The SN group should not remain near the ambush site and, for safety reasons, should have been removed to a safe area or evacuated to the PPD. Moreover, there was a heavily fortified area near the ambush site and the command could not have known about it.

Panorama of the permanent deployment point of a military camp with the code name “Shahjoy”.

Without waiting for the support group to arrive, at about 5.30 am Onischuk decided to inspect the car himself. It was second and the most tragic mistake, which cost the lives of 11 of the 16 scouts of the group. At night, the “spirits” ambushed the car, and large forces were pulled up and positioned on the mountain, opposite the location of the camp.

And again - complete carelessness! None of the scouts remaining on the mountain bothered to look through binoculars at those returning or at least communicate with them on the radio. But Officer Jr. was left there as the senior officer. Lieutenant Konstantin Gorelov (however, we will be lenient with him, because he was just a company translator and had no special training). This is already mistake number four. They noticed that bearded men were coming towards them, not their own guys, too late, as a result, five people remained alive.

Due to the slackness of the detachment’s command, the helicopters arrived at 6.50 later than promised, when the main part of the group was destroyed. This fifth and the last tragic mistake. Because Onischuk, going for inspection, was sure that helicopters would appear any minute and cover him from the air. The heroism shown in that battle could no longer save the situation...

There was a lot of controversy about the last battle of the group of senior lieutenant Oleg Onishchuk back in Afghanistan, and even now a general line has not been drawn. Some believe that the reason for the death of a group of scouts during the operation to capture a caravan is the criminal slowness of the command, others are looking for an answer in a fatal coincidence, and others are of the opinion that the group commander himself was negligent. Is there a need to embellish, sugarcoat, and thereby depersonalize a heroically fighting group? She completed her combat mission, and that says it all. Let the death of Onischuk and ten of his subordinates serve as a bitter lesson for all SN intelligence officers.

Junior Lieutenant Konstantin GORELOV, translator of the 2nd company:

I didn’t believe that Olezhka could have died. Everyone believed in him as if he were a god. It happened that, after completing a task, he pulled the group out of such situations, which is simply incomprehensible to the mind. In twenty-three outings, of which eleven were effective, he did not allow personnel losses, excluding the last outing. They envied him. They called him lucky. And he sat at night over two-kilometer routes, drawing diagrams, “playing out any possible and impossible options.” Every operation with him was based on sober calculation.

Company political officer, senior lieutenant Anatoly AKMAZIKOV:

He was a competent officer. There are good practitioners or theorists. In Oleg, both were perfectly combined. He generously shared his experience with other officers. Sometimes, before going out into battle, he would sit down with me and tell me in detail where and through which mandekh (ravine) I could go, where it would be better to sit out during the day and go out onto the plain at night. It would never even occur to the rebels that the group was on the plain.

Junior Lieutenant Konstantin GORELOV:

On the first night, the caravan was not found and at three o’clock in the morning they left for the day, five kilometers to the south, closer to the rebel fortified area. This is a characteristic tactical technique of Onischuk. With such extraordinary decisions, he achieved the accomplishment of the combat mission and saved personnel from losses. We spent the day in the folds of the terrain. Were not found.

The next night we went to the ambush site again, despite the fact that on the night from Thursday to Friday, caravans are usually not escorted. Since according to the Koran, Friday is a day off. But the rebels could take advantage of this, and Onischuk decided to exclude this possibility. But that night there was no caravan. Another day among the hills. We left the day at 19-00 on the thirtieth of October. We covered a distance of five kilometers in 40 - 50 minutes, and about twenty hours later we organized an ambush again. Soon they saw the headlights of a car. Caravan!.. Three cars, the first was a hefty three-axle Mercedes. Onischuk from an AKM equipped with a night vision device “picked up” the driver from a rather impressive distance, about 700 meters. The car stopped. The other cars took off. There were no big problems with the guards, who were not expecting an attack. The escort and cover group for the caravan, which tried to recapture the car, was scattered with the help of two flying “humpbacks” (Mi-24 helicopter).

Captain Valery USHAKOV:

Olezhka was obsessively focused on results like no one else. He considered it a matter of honor to carry out any exit effectively. But right away I didn’t like him. Seemed arrogant. I tried to be the first in everything.

Once he even said: “I bet you a box of mineral water that our team will win your football game?” - he started it, as they say, with a half-turn. They played with excitement. And his team won. And they drank mineral water together.

Major A. BORISOV, battalion commander:

The death of the group is partly the fault of Onischuk himself. There is an order: the inspection of a “clogged” caravan should be carried out upon the arrival of the inspection team, during daylight hours. Onischuk knew this order and personally signed it, but this time he did not carry it out. At night I went to the damaged car with part of the group and carried out a search. We returned safely and took out thirty small arms. But, at the same time, Onischuk exposed the reconnaissance group to unnecessary danger. Fortunately, the rebels did not have night vision sights.

Captain Valery USHAKOV:

When Onischuk reported that he had “scored” the car, the battalion was in high spirits. Everyone has been waiting for this result for a long time. This was reported to regimental headquarters. Everyone was eager to find out what was in this large three-axle Mercedes cargo truck. And although no one gave the order to search Onischuk, they requested it several times. The conversation went something like this:

What did you “score”?

- “Mercedes”.

Well done. Spirits don't fire?

Not anymore.

This is good. What do you know about the car?

No.

And then the management is worried. Well, okay, in the morning at 6-00 the “turntables” will come and take it away.

The desire to find out what was in the car gripped Onischuk. So he went. Eh, Olezhka, Olezhka, hot head!.. I remember he and I were in the Kandahar hospital with hepatitis. We were discharged ahead of schedule, exactly two days before this ill-fated exit. Oleg was still very weak. I convinced him not to go this time. And he joked in response. Like, we’re having a school reunion soon, and I don’t have enough awards. Moreover, my wife is a classmate. She must be proud of me.

Private Akhmad ERGASHEV:

A few hours before the caravan was “slaughtered,” the group commander had a severe attack. My liver hurt. He didn’t eat anything, he was throwing up inside out, and at times he lost consciousness. We tried to help in any way we could. And when he felt better, they fed him dietary pate, collecting the last jars of those who still had left.

They gave us tea. Senior Lieutenant Onischuk forbade radio communication about the fact that he was ill.

Correspondent:

— Why did Onischuk in the morning, without waiting for the inspection team, go to inspect the “clogged” car a second time?

Onischuk calculated everything. At five thirty he sent a cover of four people: two machine gunners (Private Yashar Muradov, Private Marat Muradyan) and two machine gunners (Private Mikhail Khrolenko, Junior Sergeant Roman Sidorenko). The group’s task is to position itself on a commanding height near the vehicle and, if necessary, cover the inspection team. At five forty-five Onischuk with five fighters moved to the car. Me and five soldiers, including radio operators Nikolai Okipsky, Misha Derevyanko, machine gunner Igor Moskalenko, sergeant Marikh Niftaliev, private Abdukhakim Nishanov, were left in the same place and tasked with establishing contact with the battalion and, if necessary, supporting with fire.

It's a fifteen minute walk to the car. At six o'clock the helicopters arrive. This was the case last time, when Onischuk’s group captured the Oerlikon automatic cannon. Let's go light. They took only one round of ammunition. This is ten to fifteen minutes of a good fight.

At six o'clock the rebels attacked. They seemed to be coming from everywhere.

Private Mikhail Derevyanko:

“We supported the advancing group with fire as best we could.” Under the fire cover of the DShK and ZU, who were shooting from the village, firing without recoil from the “green stuff”, the “spirits” fell at full height, despite the fact that our machine gunner Private Igor Moskalenko mowed them down in batches. He was really disturbing them, and the sniper took Gosha down, hitting him right in the heart area. He croaked: “Men-and-and-and-and-and-and-and-and-and fell on the machine gun. Gosha died without dropping a drop of blood from cardiac arrest caused by painful shock. I closed his eyes.

At six fifteen the group was finished. Forty minutes of battle passed. But there were still no turntables...

Captain V. USHAKOV:

The death of Onishchuk’s group was facilitated by the actions of the commander of the helicopter detachment, Major Egorov, and the former battalion commander A. Nechitailo. When Onischuk reported at night that the caravan was “clogged,” the battalion commander A. Nechitailo gave Major Egorov the order to fly out the helicopters with an inspection group at five-thirty, arriving in the designated area at six o’clock. However, under the impression of success, both forgot to sign the order book. The holes for the orders were pricked and washed by bitches... There are plenty of witnesses to this. Just don’t write about it, I don’t want to disgrace the battalion.

Sniper of the third company Sergeant Niftaliev:

Onischuk’s group was destroyed by their own people. Onischuk called “sushki” (airplanes) at night to “clean up” the area. The CBU confirmed that there will be planes. But only two “humpbacks” arrived (Mi-24 helicopters). They scared the “spirits” with NURS and that’s it.

When the caravan was “killed,” an armored group consisting of a company came out from the battalion to Onishchuk. But for some reason the battalion commander returned her and ordered us to wait for the “turntable” until the morning. If reinforcements had arrived in time, everyone would have been alive.

Hero of the Soviet Union Captain Yaroslav GOROSHKO:

On the thirty-first of October at five-twenty, my group and I were running around the runway in the hope of finding the launching helicopters. Then he rushed to wake up the pilots with obscenities and kicks. They blinked their eyes, not understanding anything. It turns out that the flight order was not given to them. While they found Egorov, while they contacted Air Force headquarters and received permission to take off, while the helicopters were warmed up, the time for departure had long passed. Eh, what can I say! The combat Mi-24s took off only at six forty. And the evacuation Mi-8 at seven twenty.

At five fifty-nine, a message came from the radio operator of Onischuk’s group: the rebels were not firing, everything was quiet. And at six o'clock they were attacked by a force of about two hundred people. If Onischuk had not gone to inspect the car, but had remained at the ambush site, the group would have fought off before the helicopters arrived. There could have been losses, of course, but minimal.

Chief of Staff Major S. KOCHERGIN:

Onischuk is a heroic guy. The four of us rushed to help out our comrades on the high-rise, leaving Sergeant Islamov and Private Erkin Salakhiev near the car to cover the retreat. But they never managed to get there. The dushmans killed private Mikhail Khrolenko with a direct hit from a grenade launcher, and junior sergeant Roman Sidorenko was killed. Machine gunners Private Yashar Muradov and Private Marat Muradyan, having shot all the belts, fought back with grenades. Pieces of rebel meat were scattered around them. And yet they were shot almost point-blank. Having occupied the heights, the “spirits” began to shoot the scouts climbing as they squabbled. Privates Oleg Ivanov, Sasha Furman, Tair Jafarov were killed. Onischuk was the last to be seen.

When the helicopter landed, the “spirits” fired at us. Private Rustam Alimov was mortally wounded. The bullet flew through the helicopter's blister and hit him in the neck. One of the fighters, pressing his palm to the wound, tried to stop the blood gushing out like a fountain. We had to urgently evacuate two people at once. Rustam did not make it to the hospital. A few minutes later he died, right in the air.

When my group landed, under cover of fire, we rushed to look for Onischuk’s group. One after another, I discovered several corpses of our guys. Onischuk was not among them.

And then I saw a group of people in our intelligence uniform. I was glad that some of the guys were alive. He was sure that Onishchuk could not die, he even took with him five letters for him from his wife and mother.

The spirits fired from three sides. Trying to overcome the roar of the battle, he shouted with all his might:

Oleg, don't shoot. This is Peas. We'll get you out.

In response, machine gun fire thundered. And when I saw flashing beards dressed in our uniforms, I understood everything... Such hatred gripped me. I was ready to rip their filthy throats out with my teeth.

The guys were lying on the mountainside, stretching out in a chain from the car to the top of the mountain. It is about them that is sung in the song “... and a bullet came flying towards him from the slope.” Have you heard this one? A song about them...

Onischuk did not reach the top by some thirty meters. “Thirty meters between night and day...” He lay clutching a knife in his hand, tormented, stabbed with bayonets. They violated him, stuffing his mouth with a piece of his own bloody body. They cut off his “farm” and stuffed it into his mouth.

I couldn’t look at it and used a knife to free Oleg’s mouth. These bastards did the same thing to privates Misha Khrolenko and Oleg Ivanov. Marat Muradyan's head was cut off.

Correspondent:

— Onischuk blew himself up and the dushmans surrounding him with the last grenade?

Hero of the Soviet Union Captain Y. GOROSHKO:

I cannot say that Oleg blew himself up with the last grenade. Perhaps he threw it at these bastards, or maybe the bullet cut off earlier, and he did not have time to pull out the ring. No, not the last one, not the penultimate one - he didn’t blow himself up with any grenade. I saw his corpse... It was badly mutilated, but there were no traces characteristic of a grenade explosion on it.

Correspondent:

— Did anyone see how Onischuk died?

Junior Lieutenant K. GORELOV:

No one saw Onischuk’s death. We were separated by eight hundred meters. And the last thing we saw was the back of Onischuk, climbing alone to the top.

Correspondent:

— Who heard that Onischuk, in his last second of life, shouted: “Let's show the bastards how Russians die”?

Junior Lieutenant K. GORELOV:

Nobody heard this. At such a distance, and even in the roar of the battle, it was impossible to hear. And who could he shout to? Islamov, who stayed with the damaged Mercedes and blew himself up with a grenade? Salakhiev, who died from his wounds? Or the soldiers who died even earlier with whom Onishchuk went to help the head patrol? And in general, Oleg was Ukrainian.

Correspondent:

Abdukhakim, based on the material of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, you are the only eyewitness to the death of Onishchuk and Islamov. Please tell us in more detail.

Private Abdukhakim Nishanov:

I did not see how Onishchuk and Islamov died. They died in different places. Onischuk is on the hill, Islamov is near the damaged car. The last thing I saw was that the group walking towards the car stretched out in a chain and, not reaching fifty meters from the car, was attacked by “spirits”. “Spirits” crawled out from everywhere and shot, shot, shot... Then Onischuk ran to the hill to help out the cover group. I didn't see him again. But I heard Onischuk scream shrilly. I didn’t hear what he was shouting.

Correspondent:

— You may have had an auditory hallucination. You just wanted to hear his voice, to know that the lieutenant was alive?

No, I definitely heard him scream.

Private Nikolai Okipsky:

They hit us with recoilless rifles and mortars, DShKs and small arms. It was impossible to hear anything in this roar, even if you screamed in your ear. I didn’t even hear the arrival of the helicopters. And only when they passed right in front of my nose did I see them. One “pinwheel” sat down next to us. The four of us loaded weapons and property and boarded. Junior Lieutenant Gorelov demanded that the crew fly up to the damaged vehicle and pick up the wounded. They didn't listen to him. I also asked for them and wanted to jump out of the “turntable”. But the flight mechanic pulled me out of the opening and slammed the door. At the same time, the mechanic shouted: “I still want to live!” I don’t want a bullet in the jaw!” Why exactly in the jaw?.. I was ready to put a bullet in him somewhere else. The guys held me back... We flew away. The second “turntable” came away empty.

Gorelov, damn it too...! We had to go and rescue Onischuk, and he was in contact, keeping in touch, firing... The bitch shit himself... I better leave, otherwise I’ll say something like that!..

Senior Lieutenant A. AKMAZIKOV:

The surviving guys from Onischuk's group experienced severe mental trauma. This manifests itself differently for everyone, but it breaks the “roof” specifically. For example, Kostya Gorelov stuttered for two months after that. We are trying to get the guys out of this state as best we can.

You can understand Private Okipsky - the soldiers loved their commander. But in this case, he is wrong. Kostya Gorelov acted competently: his group ensured communication with the battalion and held back the enemy with fire. And this was under direct fire from “without recoil” and heavy fire... And the attempt to go to Onischuk’s rescue was doomed. In general, if it weren’t for Kostya, everyone would have been killed.

Private A. NISHANOV:

What can I say? Lieutenant Colonel Oliynik writes in “Red Star”: “The battle of October 31 is still before my eyes,” the holder of the Order of the Red Star A. Nishanov, one of the few survivors, told me. And what kind of “cavalier” am I if I don’t have this order? Not awarded... And I didn’t talk to him - they didn’t give it... Oliynik said, they say, we’ll meet in Hairatan - you’ll tell us everything. We have been standing in Hairatan for a month now, and on May 28 we will cross the border. And where he? I wrote more lies! If I see you in the Union, I’ll spit in your face.

Junior Lieutenant K. GORELOV:

It hurts to read lies. They write that there were seven corpses of rebels around Onischuk. There is almost a mountain around Islamov. How much they killed was seen only by those who will never be able to tell us about it. Onischuk’s body was first discovered by Goroshko. Niftaliev loaded Islamov’s body into the “turntable.” At that moment there were no dushmans around them. And it couldn’t be, since “spirits” never leave their dead and wounded. And they had time for this.

Correspondent:

Why didn’t Onischuk, knowing that there was a powerful fortified area nearby, numbering two and a half thousand rebels, not destroy the car, and then leave the area?

Battalion commander Major A. BORISOV:

The fact is that after each combat mission, the commander draws up a detailed report. And it just so happens that the result that can be touched with your hands or seen with your eyes is more valued. That is, either deliver the captured caravan, or photograph it and then destroy it. And only the inspection team can do this. It turns out to be a vicious circle. Yes, Onischuk could have blown up the car and left without losses. But, let's face it, they simply wouldn't believe him. And the result would be classified as weak. So the guys risked their lives for the sake of unnecessary display and pomp. I believe that the installation and orders for the inspection of caravans should be reconsidered.

I follow all orders and instructions from letter to letter. And I demand the same from my subordinates. Although sometimes I know that this will not bring any benefit. The combat tactics developed to combat caravans need serious changes. We have completely forgotten the experience of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War. But the dushmans are well acquainted with him. Once the paratroopers seized the books “The Partisan Movement in Belarus” in Pashto and Dari. So, were the partisans, having attacked an enemy column, sitting and waiting for reinforcements to take out the trophies? No. They took the most valuable thing that could be carried away. And they destroyed the rest and immediately moved away, disappeared, dissolved.

Would you believe Onischuk? Personally, I and the battalion officers would believe it. But they would not have been able to defend Onischuk’s result in front of higher headquarters.

The case with Onischuk’s group is not an isolated one. But this cannot continue like this. This shouldn't happen!

Correspondent:

—Aren’t you afraid of the boldness of your judgments?

Chief of Staff of the battalion, Major S. KOCHERGIN:

I'm afraid... The spirits kept frightening me. They kept raising the stakes on our heads - I wasn’t afraid. And I'm afraid of my own people. I still have to serve, but they won’t pat me on the head for telling the truth.

Correspondent:

- How much are heads today?

Chief of Staff of the battalion, Major S. KOCHERGIN:

After this memorable battle, during which about 160 rebels and their leader Mullo Madad were killed, the dushmans vowed to take revenge on the leader’s grave. And they even released leaflets that read in green and white:

For a soldier's head - 20 thousand dollars;

For the officer's head - 40 thousand dollars.

Correspondent:

— How do you know the number of killed dushmans, because they don’t leave corpses?

Chief of Staff of the battalion, Major S. KOCHERGIN:

This information is painstakingly collected by our special department and KHAD - the state security service of the Republic of Afghanistan.

Correspondent:

— What did you like and what didn’t you like about Onischuk?

Didn't like it? Perhaps many did not like Oleg’s maximalism, exactingness and selectivity towards himself and those around him. Onischuk had his own special opinion about everything. But he didn’t force it on anyone. A special relationship developed between Oleg and his subordinates. The soldiers respected him. And in battle he did not look back at them. I knew they wouldn’t let me down and they wouldn’t shoot me in the back.

Loved to cook. Sometimes, when he cooks something up, it’s delicious. Ukrainian, he is also Ukrainian in Shahdzhoy (the village of Shahdzhoy is the location of the 7th battalion). He liked to please people.

Oleg was a monogamous man. He spoke with warm tenderness about his wife and daughters. In September 1987, their second daughter was born. Oleg was beaming with joy. But he didn’t see his daughter...

Commander of the battalion, Major Yuri SLOBODSKY:

“You can’t throw out the words from a song: “...the third toast, let’s keep quiet, who’s missing, who’s a master...”.” Low bow from the entire battalion to you guys, your families and parents.

List of fallen scouts group No. 724 “Caspian” :

JAFAROV Tahir Teymur-ogly(23.06.1966 - 31.10.1987)

IVANOV Oleg Leontievich(17.04.1967 - 31.10.1987)

ISLAMOV Yuri Verikovich(05.04.1968 - 31.10.1987)

MOSKALENKO Igor Vasilievich(18.12.1966 - 31.10.1987)

MURADOV Yashar Isbendiyar-ogly(16.11.1967 - 31.10.1987)

MURADIAN Marat Begeevich(18.07.1967 - 31.10.1987)

ONISCHUK Oleg Petrovich(12.08.1961 - 31.10.1987)

SALAKHIEV Erkin Iskanderovich(04.08.1968 - 31.10.1987)

SIDORENKO Roman Gennadievich(21.02.1967 - 31.10.1987)

KHROLENKO Mikhail Vladimirovich(10.11.1966 - 31.10.1987)

FURMAN Alexander Nikolaevich

Senior Lieutenant O.P. Onischuk and junior sergeant Yu.V. Islamov was (posthumously) awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. ME AND. Muratov and I.V. Moskalenko were posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin. The rest of the dead were awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

I borrowed part of the material from the site http://www.ser-buk.com by Sergei Bukovsky, written by him in May 1988 in Afghanistan, but recently published for the first time in full, without exceptions by the military censorship that operated under Gorbachev’s “glasnost”.

But back in 1986, the father of the deceased private Sidorenko wrote to Gorbachev about the inhumanity and illegality of sending 18-year-old boys to the Afghan war. Gorbachev remained silent. For him, as in general for many morally insane individuals who have broken through to power, people’s lives are worth nothing. He chose to kill and maim children for almost five years, but did not stop this senseless war and did not even order the military authorities to recruit the 40th army from “soldiers of fortune” who had served in military service, if this war was so necessary for him, but continued to send her conscripts - yesterday's schoolchildren. What kind of morality and morality can we talk about in this case? Normal people are in principle incapable of such inhumanity!

The military prosecutor's office admitted the guilt of battalion commander Nechitailo in the death of the children, but due to Gorbachev signing a decree on amnesty for all persons who committed war crimes in Afghanistan, he was not brought to criminal responsibility.

Afghanistan. I have the honor! Balenko Sergey Viktorovich

Who is guilty?

Who is guilty?

This battle near the village of Duri on October 31, 1987 is described in detail. In official reports, in nominations for awards, in journalistic articles and even in books. But, like every operation with a tragic outcome (the entire group died), it raises conflicting opinions about the causes of the tragedy. Why did “turntables” appear late? Why did O. Onischuk divide the group? Our eternal question: who is to blame?

This reconnaissance group under the command of Oleg Onishchuk, which for about two days, hiding in the folds of the terrain, was “on duty” where the caravan was expected: Sergeant Yuri Islamov, Lieutenant Konstantin Gorelov, privates Abdukhakim Nishanov, Roman Sidorenko, Mikhail Khrolenko, Igor Moskalenko, Erkin Salahiev, Marat Muradyan, Alexander Furman, Yamar Muradov, Tair Jafarov, Oleg Ivanov, Mikhail Derevyanko, Nikolai Okinsky.

What happened when the first car of the caravan was discovered? It was a large three-axle Mercedes truck. The second was visible a kilometer from the first, and another kilometer away - the third. It is impossible to “slaughter” the entire caravan at once. Onischuk decides to hit first. Reported to headquarters.

What did you “score”?

- “Mercedes”.

Do you know what’s in the car?

And the bosses are worried. Well, okay, in the morning the “turntables” will come and take it away.

At this point the first question arises: “who is to blame?” The instructions prescribed that the “clogged” caravan should be inspected by a special inspection team only during daylight hours. And Oleg Onischuk was prone to excitement and decided to test “his” Mercedes himself. As it turns out later, the car had a rich catch: a recoilless rifle, a heavy machine gun, mortars and ammunition for them. But the mistake was not in the search itself, for which O. Onischuk wisely divided the entire group into three parts: he placed one on a nearby high-rise for cover, the second remained at the ambush site, and with the third he went to the car himself. The miscalculation was that the caravan of three cars was only the advance detachment of a large unit of dushmans, which surrounded Onischuk’s entire reconnaissance group overnight. The enemy had 20 times more forces - and this was the whole reason: the group was doomed.

And yet questions remain. The “turntables” that O. Onischuk was expecting were supposed to appear at 6:00 am. Therefore, we went to the Mercedes lightly, taking only one piece of ammunition. But at 6:00, instead of the helicopters arriving, a massive attack by the rebels began. This unequal battle lasted for forty minutes. From a high-rise, Igor Moskalenko mowed down the advancing “spirits” with a machine gun, until a sniper’s bullet stopped his heart.

Leaving Islamov and Salakhiev near the car to cover the retreat, O. Onishchuk rushed with the soldiers to the rescue of those remaining on the high-rise. And there, private Mikhail Khrolenko and junior sergeant Roman Sidorenko were killed by a direct hit from a grenade launcher. Machine gunners Yamar Muratov and Marat Muradyan, having shot all the belts, fought back with grenades. They were shot point-blank by the “spirits” who occupied the heights, who then transferred fire to the climbing Onischuk and his fighters.

Y. Goroshko’s group, which arrived at 6:40 a.m. on helicopters, saw a terrible picture. This is what he himself said: “When my group landed, we rushed to look for Onischuk’s guys. They lay on the mountainside, stretching out in a chain from the Mercedes to the top. Onischuk did not reach the top by some thirty meters. He lay tortured, stabbed with bayonets, clutching a knife in his hand. He was abused...

I can’t say that Oleg blew himself up with the last grenade. Perhaps he threw it at these bastards, maybe the bullet cut it off earlier..."

We will not go into further vicissitudes of disputes about who is to blame. They gave their lives dearly. Under these conditions, everyone was a hero, although the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to two - Oleg Onishchuk and Yuri Islamov, who remained with the Mercedes and blew himself up along with the attackers with the last grenade. The cover group at a nearby height, about eight hundred meters from the ambush site, survived: Konstantin Gorelov, Abdukhakim Nishanov, Mikhail Derevyanko and Nikolai Okinsky.

In 1990, Khmelnytsky journalist P. Malish will write and publish a book dedicated to fellow countrymen O. Onishchuk and A. Furman, in which he excitedly and poetically touches on this tragic ending of the battle: “Oleg Onishchuk has run out of cartridges. The “spirits,” probably realizing who he was, approached him and retreated in gloating. (Stop for a moment! Don’t mercilessly take away a second of a young life. Let him, before stepping into immortality, into fiery hopelessness, quietly say: I hug you tightly, my mother, who has turned gray before her time. Farewell, father and brother. I kiss you, beloved wife, and Svetlanochka. I kiss my daughter Natalka, who has never been kissed before.)

The senior lieutenant, tightly clutching the handle of a bayonet knife in his right hand and an F-1 grenade in his left, will rush at the enemy. The sound of a helicopter came from the sky. But why is it so late? Why? Why?.."

No matter how you brush away the “damned” questions, they stick like autumn flies. But why?..

In conclusion, we present two more excerpts from P. Malisch’s book, without translating from Ukrainian:

“The dog barked for the evening,” Maria Ivanivna cried, “and I said: can I, Oleg? Vin mav zvichku appears unexpectedly? I’ll listen, I’ll look at the window - there’s nothing... Yakbi yogo bachila at truni, then maybe I’d believe it...”

“We lived with Oleg for five years,” says O. Onishchuk’s squad (Galina). - More than half of them - at once. If I weren’t too small, I wouldn’t have believed in a great love... I wouldn’t even raise my voice (I’ll be suvorim when I call you, but with my soul I’ll be kind to those below), I’ll help you to calm down.”

Even the ancient Greeks noticed: those who have gone through the test of tragedy are morally purified. If this is true, how many saints do we have?!

And you and I are unlucky,

We can't return to our loved ones,

But mothers are in spite of everything

In the crowd everyone is looking for our faces.

Everyone is waiting for us to come home

We usually stand at the door.

That we are killed with you,

They won't believe it until death.

Don't believe it, moms, we live,

You're not burying us at all,

We will come home in good dreams,

Just wait

Let's come and hug you tenderly,

And tears of joy will flow.

Even if not on your own at this hour,

May our souls return to you.