With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the mighty Soviet Republic, which had originally spanned Europe and Asia, fell apart overnight. The resulting butterfly effect has also triggered a series of chain reactions. In the context of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of the former republics. As the largest republic of the former Soviet Union, Russia is also the main leader in promoting the disintegration of the Soviet Union, in addition to ideology and state system, it basically inherits the main legacy of the former Soviet Union. However, Russia under Yeltsin's leadership inherited the legacy of the Soviet Union, but also inherited many social contradictions within the former Soviet Union. Under the strong state balance capacity of the former Soviet Union, these contradictions were suppressed and eased for a time, but with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of strong state checks and balances, these contradictions began to emerge, especially the ethnic problems of the former Soviet Union. Among them, the problem of the Chechen Autonomous Republic in the north Caucasus region is particularly prominent. At the same time as the Soviet Union collapsed, the republics sought independence. The Autonomous Republic of Chechnya also began to demand independence. However, the situation of the Chechen Autonomous Republic is different from that of other union republics. During the former Soviet era, the Soviet Union gave the union republics the right to withdraw. It is equivalent to the Soviet Union being the chairman of the company, and the union republic being the director with shares, who can request the withdrawal of shares at any time. The Chechen Autonomous Republic belongs to the territory directly under the jurisdiction of the Soviet Union, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it will be inherited by Russia, as one of the 16 autonomous republics of Russia, equivalent to our autonomous region, there is a certain degree of autonomy, but it is absolutely impossible to let it be independent, otherwise other autonomous republics will follow suit, Russia will inevitably follow the back road of the Soviet Union. Moreover, for Russia, Chechnya is not only an important output of oil and gas resources, but also a bridgehead for the implementation of strategic influence on its neighbors in the Caucasus, so from the perspective of maintaining national territorial integrity and geostrategic considerations, Russia is unlikely to allow Chechnya independence.
However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia, which inherited the legacy of the Soviet Union, failed to truly lead the country and its people on the road to prosperity and strength after the implementation of the capitalist system. The whole country is first reduced to a feast for the oligarchies of all kinds of capital, and a very small number of people control ninety percent of the wealth of the whole country. In the face of the carnival of the capitalist oligarchs, Yeltsin did not adopt the correct method of cracking down on and rectifying the situation, but went along with the flow, and even under the foolishness of Western economists, adopted the shock and recuperation method, which led to the almost collapse of the entire national economy, the sharp depreciation of the ruble, the exchange of dollars once reached 3300: 1. Economic and corruption problems spread in all areas of society and eventually eroded into the military. Because Russia's state finances could not make ends meet, military expenditure was cut for a time, and because senior military officers ate military salaries and drank soldiers' blood, many ordinary officers and soldiers could not receive salaries for a long time, armament maintenance was basically abandoned, and logistics supplies could only make a living for themselves. In such a situation of internal and external difficulties, russia's military strength has plummeted, and the entire country's political jurisdiction and military deterrent power have been seriously weakened. It was at this time, when Yeltsin was facing various domestic problems, as early as the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the former Soviet Air Force Major General Dudayev overthrew the Chechen local government by force, and appointed himself president of Chechnya and declared Chechnya independence. Due to Chechnya's special status in Russia and the turbulent environment in the early stages of disintegration, the Russian central government only negotiated to demand that Chechnya abandon its independence claim, and give Chechens a large amount of tax exemption, grant more autonomy, withdraw from the Russian garrison, and even transfer a large amount of weapons and equipment originally stationed in the former Soviet Military District in the Ingushetia region to the Chechen government, the only requirement is that Chechnya continue to remain in the Russian Federation. It is also the appeasement of the Russian central government, and seeing the weakness of the current central government, Dudayev is not satisfied with getting more autonomy, but strongly demands the complete independence of the Chechen Autonomous Republic from Russia, and says that he will not hesitate to use force to solve the problem. In the face of Dudayev's separatist behavior and threats, no matter how dim-witted and incompetent As Yeltsin understood that the consequences of Chechen independence were unbearable, he severely refused and expressed his determination to resolutely defend the integrity of the country at all costs. The two sides were fiercely armed, and finally the first Chechen war broke out in 1994.
The Chechen Autonomous Republic is located in the North Caucasus Mountains, with an area of about 15,000 square kilometers and a population of about 1 million, the vast majority of which are Islamic peoples. However, compared with Russia in terms of size and national strength, this is a land of bullets. It was also based on this that, in the first war against Chechnya, as a shelling of the White House, following Yeltsin in dismembering the Soviet Union, who had the title of a defecting general, and who rose all the way to the defense minister by speculation, out of self-righteous arrogance and light enemy, actually tried to emulate the Prague Spring to solve the Chechen problem within a few days. According to the operational plan formulated by the Russian Ministry of Defense at that time, about 30,000 people in the sea, land, air, border defense and internal affairs forces (subsequently increased to more than 60,000 people), 230 tanks, 454 infantry fighting vehicles, 388 artillery and mortars, as well as helicopter gunships and fighter jets and all conventional weapons except nuclear weapons, were directly attacked by several combat groups in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. By occupying Grozny, chechen armed forces were forced to abandon resistance and seek peace. The situation of the Chechen army is more complicated, mainly 4 armed forces, the local forces of the Chechen Autonomous Republic, independent militias, mercenaries (including Arab mujahideen) and the Presidential Guard, with a total strength of about 20,000 people, about 130 tanks, 66 armored vehicles and infantry fighting vehicles, 123 artillery and rocket launchers, and a small number of prevention and control weapons and aircraft. Although the number of armed personnel in Chechnya is lower than that of the Russian army, the vast majority of them are veterans of the former Soviet Union who participated in the war in Afghanistan, and many of the mercenaries are retired soldiers of the European and American special forces, and their combat experience and quality can be seen. On the other hand, although the number of Russian troops is larger, many of them are temporarily recruited, the guns have not been fired several times, and the operation of many combat equipment is even more unfamiliar, and the combat effectiveness can be imagined. Therefore, although the large weapons and equipment of the Russian army are stronger than those of the Chechen army, the operation proficiency of the recruits is too low, and the role of advanced weapons is further limited by urban street battles. On the other hand, during the former Soviet Period, Grozny was built as a military fortress due to its special strategic location, and a large number of tunnels crisscrossed the city's underland areas, and various bunkers and bunkers were densely packed. In order to resist the Russian attack, the Chechen armed forces further turned the Grozny fortress into a fortress, set up tank barriers and roadblocks on the city's roads, built a number of permanent fire points at key locations, laid out a large number of minefields, many women and children were evacuated to the countryside, and many military aid from Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries and even Europe and the United States were continuously sent into Grozny. At the same time, in response to the characteristics of the large-scale mechanized operations of the Russian army, the Chechen armed forces did not engage the Russian army head-on, but adopted a flexible special operations mode, dividing all the troops into several combat groups, each group was equipped with snipers, assault riflemen and anti-tank rocket artillerymen, and then dispersed in various strategic points in Grozny. Through the special operation mode of urban street warfare, the advantages of the Russian army's advanced weapons and personnel numbers are effectively offset. In addition, they obtained more advanced communications equipment and GPS positioning equipment through assistance, which played a significant role in subsequent operations.
On December 11, 1994, the Russian army marched to Chechnya in 5 routes, and the initial battle situation was relatively smooth, basically driving straight in. On 26 December, Russian troops approached Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, and began a siege. The Chechen side originally did not intend to defeat the Russian army in the field, and its main combat purpose was to drag the Russian army into the city and fight in the streets of the city, so that the Russian army could break the sand in Grozny. After regular artillery preparations, in the early morning of December 31, four groups of Russian troops deployed on the outskirts of Grozny marched to the city, ready to replicate the Czechoslovak model and quickly take over the city. However, to the surprise of the Russian army, the "New Year's Storm" scheduled by the Ministry of Defense to end the operation within a few days not only far exceeded 1 month, but also plunged the Russian army into a flesh and blood mill similar to the Battle of Stalingrad. On the same day, the first to drive to the city were the three units of the 81st Regiment, the 131st Motor Brigade and the 272nd Regiment in the northern cluster, which were tasked with encircling the Presidential Palace in the south. The 81st Regiment served as the main force, assisted by the remaining two units. At that time, the 81st Regiment carried a total of 31 T80 tanks, 96 infantry fighting vehicles, 24 BTR armored personnel carriers, 38 self-propelled guns of various types, and 159 trucks.
As the third generation of Soviet main battle tanks, the T80 was developed from the T64 main battle tank and was the first main battle tank in history to be mass-produced with gas turbines. The tank is equipped with a sweat hole gas turbine engine modified 985 horsepower gas turbine, the engine is small, powerful, fast start,light weight, high reliability, easy to replace. The tank was armed with a 125 mm smoothbore gun, a 7.62 mm machine gun and a 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun, equipped with an automatic loader and three crew members. These 31 T80 main battle tanks, as the main offensive force of the 81st Regiment, were equipped with three tank companies under the regiment's 3rd Tank Battalion. However, in the historical background of the time, the turbulent social environment, the corruption and incompetence of the government, the situation of the troops was also very bad, the maintenance of these 31 tanks was very bad, the tank soldiers were mostly new recruits, lacked combat experience and corresponding quality, and more fatally, the tanks lacked explosive reactive armor, which also made the entire tank battalion suffer in the ensuing battle. On the road from the outskirts of the city to the city, the 81st Regiment encountered only sporadic battles along the way, and did not suffer large-scale battles. This also took the Russian commander lightly, and instead of letting the infantry get out of the car and accompany the tank troops on foot, they lined up in a long snake formation to the presidential palace. However, when the convoy reached the intersection of Mayakovsky and Bogdan-Amny Meliniski Avenue, it was ambushed for the first time by Chechen forces. Chechen forces first destroyed the two chariots at the head and tail of the convoy with bazookas, causing the entire convoy to neither advance nor retreat in time, and the entire convoy congested on the street. Chechen forces hid in the surrounding high-rises, using SVD sniper rifles and RPG rocket launchers to inflict a lot of damage on Russian personnel and vehicles, many tanks were destroyed because they were not equipped with explosive anti-armor, and more infantry were sniped without firing a single shot, facing an ambush, when the entire convoy fell into chaos. However, because the Chechen armed forces used more advanced communication equipment and interfered with Russian communications accordingly, the rear troops did not know that the 81st Regiment had been ambushed. Just before the total annihilation of the army, they were lucky enough to encounter a group of more than 200 paratroopers. These paratroopers risked a huge risk to attack the Chechens from behind the flank, killing a bloody road, which allowed some of the 81st Regiment to escape, while the Russian troops left in the encirclement were basically annihilated.
On the other hand, the 131st Motor Rifle Brigade, which was assisting in the offensive, made a breakthrough at the city's railway station according to the battle plan. The 131 motorized infantry brigade had 1459 officers and men, carrying 26 T72 tanks, 120 BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, and 16 artillery pieces of various types. As the brigade's troops were dispersed into several parts, they were weaker and suffered more severe blows. The brigade commander, Colonel Savin, was killed in battle, more than 800 people were killed in the whole brigade, 78 people were captured, and heavy equipment such as tanks and infantry fighting vehicles were almost lost, so it can be said that the 131st Brigade was basically completely destroyed. After the war, according to the surviving officers and men of the Russian army, when they were violently attacked by the Chechens, the Chechens used the commanding heights of the surrounding buildings to attack using SVD sniper rifles and RPG rocket launchers, and the hit rate was quite high, and it could be seen that the Chechen armed forces were not ordinary scattered soldiers, but professional armed forces with strong combat qualities, and it was said that there were even members of the Lithuanian National Shooting Team. Many of the Russian army itself are new recruits, lack of combat experience, and many heavy equipment such as main station tanks can not shoot at the targets of high-rise buildings and the bottom floor due to the limitation of the elevation angle, and although the infantry fighting vehicles have better elevation angles, but because the 12.7 mm machine gun firepower is insufficient, it is difficult to completely penetrate the cement walls and bunkers of the building, the lethality is limited, and it is impossible to exert firepower superiority to attack chechen weapons. The real anti-personnel armored vehicle that could play an effective role at that time was the Tunguska anti-control armored vehicle, which was equipped with a 30 mm machine gun, the penetration was much stronger than that of the 12.7 mm machine gun, and the elevation angle was almost unlimited, which had an absolute advantage over the Chechens hidden in high-rise buildings and cement bunkers. Unfortunately, due to the small number of equipment and the losses suffered to varying degrees when encountering ambushes, it was difficult for a single tiger to defeat the wolves, and in the end it was impossible to turn the tide of the war.
When the 81st Regiment and the 131st Brigade were caught in a bitter battle, the other coordinated forces that had not yet broken into the urban area on the outskirts were violently blocked by the Chechen armed forces, and they could not support the friendly forces in the urban area that were caught in the bitter battle in time, and they also suffered considerable losses. According to post-war statistics, from December 31 to January 2 alone, the Russian army lost 250 tanks, armored vehicles and infantry fighting vehicles, the Russian 131st Motor Infantry Brigade was surrounded, the 81st Regiment was destroyed, the 74th Tank Battalion was almost completely destroyed, and the 255th Motor Infantry Regiment suffered heavy losses.
In the face of the continuous heavy losses suffered by the troops who were completely caught up in the bitter battle in the city, the Russian military top brass also realized the severe situation that they fell into because of their own light enemy risks. Therefore, while continuing to increase troops, tactics were also adjusted in time, using air force and long-range artillery to indiscriminately bombard the urban area, almost flattening the commanding heights of the entire city and destroying a large number of ground fortifications. Then, the Alpha, the Signal Banner and even the Special Police Unit of the Ministry of internal affairs and elite paratroopers were brought in, and the tactics of the special forces against the special forces were used, and through the brutal street battles of gradual advancement, house-by-house competition, and layer-by-layer clearance, the remnants of Chechnya were finally expelled from Grozny and occupied the entire Chechen capital. Although the Russian special forces and paratroopers have strong combat effectiveness, because the Chechen armed forces are indigenous operations, familiar with the geographical environment, and think that they are protecting their homeland, the will and desire to fight are stronger, so the Russian special forces have also paid high losses in the process of operations.
It can be said that the Grozny Street Battle is one of the most brutal street battles fought by the Russian army since the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Berlin in World War II. At that time, even U.S. military observers said that even if the Russian army was replaced by the U.S. military, it might not be able to fight better. This battle has also become a classic example of warfare that is studied intensively in the military classrooms of various countries. After a brief understanding of the historical background of the outbreak of the entire Chechen war, as well as the basic history of the Grozny Street Battle, we can get some inspiration from the following aspects.
First, mechanized field units are not suited to the needs of fighting urban street warfare. First of all, due to the special geographical environment of the city, it is impossible to fully deploy large-scale mechanized troops and put them into the battlefield. Heavy equipment such as main battle tanks and artillery equipped by field troops is more suitable for use in the vast frontal battlefield, and in urban street battles, it is often impossible to fully exert its firepower superiority. Therefore, the mechanized field troops mainly undertook the encirclement of the city, using the fire superiority to attack and suppress the defenders and fortifications inside the city, and cut off all communication channels for the defenders in the city, as well as sniping at enemy reinforcements.
Second, intelligence gathering and battlefield communications have an important impact on the development of the war situation. If there is a lack of necessary intelligence collection on the battlefield, then there is no objection to blindness, which is likely to directly affect the implementation of the entire combat plan and the progress of the war situation. From the first Chechen war, we can see that the pre-war Russian military intelligence collection is almost completely missing, almost nothing is known about the deployment of Chechen armed forces, urban defense, etc., and even the military maps used for their own use are from the seventies, so this is also one of the main reasons for the heavy loss of the Russian army's light enemy. In addition, the entire communication system of the Russian army during the war was interfered with by the Chechen armed forces, resulting in the complete paralysis of communication between superiors and subordinates and between friendly troops, and even being eavesdropped by Chechens, and using the radio frequency of the Russian command to issue wrong orders to the troops, resulting in a bad incident of accidental injuries in the Russian army.
The third is how to adopt correct tactics and weapons in modern urban street warfare. On the battlefield of Grozny, the Russian 81st Regiment, 131st Brigade and other units were attacked by light enemies, and without the accompanying infantry, they drove all the way to the front until they were ambushed, and many infantry were eliminated before they could get off the bus, resulting in a large number of casualties. It was not until later that the Russian army adopted the correct method of using special forces, cleaning up house by house, and gradually advancing, which turned the situation around. In addition, the Russian army was equipped with a large number of main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, but it was obviously powerless to face the Chechen forces hidden in fortifications such as high-rise buildings and underground bunkers. As mentioned above, tanks are limited by the elevation angle, insufficient firepower of infantry fighting vehicles, etc., and cannot effectively kill or injure the enemy. On the contrary, the small number of Tunguska armored vehicles equipped for air defense at that time played a good role, and the small number of cloudburst rocket launchers equipped by special forces had a significant effect on the enemy hidden in the bunker.
Fourth, the reason why the Russian army suffered heavy losses in the Grozny Street Battle, from the perspective of the course of engagement, mainly existed in the lack of intelligence collection, backward means of communication, improper application of tactical tactics and unsuitable weapons. However, from the perspective of the whole country, it is more important because at the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the whole Russian society was turbulent, the government was corrupt and incompetent, bureaucracy was prevalent, the military expenditure was insufficient, the lack of modernization reform, the combat thinking was rigid, ordinary officers and soldiers could not make ends meet, some officers ate empty salaries and drank the blood of soldiers, and even colluded with illegal businessmen to sell many weapons and equipment to Chechens through the black market for huge profits. This series of reasons led to a serious decline in the combat effectiveness of the entire Russian army, so it suffered huge losses in the Grozny Alley Battle of the First Chechen War.
Grozny Street Battle has passed more than twenty years ago, in the entire history of human warfare, perhaps this is only a small local battle, but its combat mode, combat thinking and characteristics for modern warfare under the urban street warfare has important enlightening significance. In any era, when any army faces urban street warfare, it is not an easy task, the ancients said: "Five attacks and ten are encircled." Therefore, if you encounter a city that is difficult to attack, the best way is to cut off all the water, electricity and food resources of the city under the premise of having absolute superiority in troops, besiege the entire city, and finally force the defenders to surrender. However, the siege time is generally longer, and sometimes the competition is also the staying power of the attacking and defending sides, and when the attacking party cannot implement a long-term siege or cannot meet the requirements of the siege, it can only take the offensive, and this will undoubtedly open the street warfare mode. In the mode of modern warfare, under the premise of not using nuclear weapons, how to fight urban street warfare well is one of the topics that every country's armed forces should focus on studying, and how to use modern information technology to collect battlefield intelligence, develop and use weapons and equipment that are more suitable for the needs of urban street warfare, and adopt more effective tactics to achieve combat objectives under the condition of not damaging the city as much as possible and reducing casualties on its own side. Of course, in the end, only with the support of a strong national defense comprehensive strength, all this can be gradually realized