The North Caucasus: Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia

[SWJED]

Including the Kaimov article above I have located interviews of 16 Chechens - here are the remainder:

Suleiman Bustaev - Commander, took part in the operations against Gudermes (December 1995), Pervomaiskaia, and Grozny.

Dalkhan Khozhev - Chief of Ahmad Zakaev’s HQ in the South-West.

Ahmad Zakaev - South-West Commander.

Aydemir Abalaev - Commander of the Zandak Regiment.

Ali Demaev - Head of communications for the South-East Commander-in-Chief.

Ruslan Alikhadzhiev - Commander Southern Front.

Ali Atgireyev - Commanded units in all battles of Grozny, took part in the Pervomaiskaia expedition, was commander of the Shelkovski raion during the 1995-6 cease-fire, previously took part in military operations in Abkhazia.

Apty Batalov - Commander of Naursky and Nadtechny raions.

Husein Iskhanov - Aslan Maskhadov’s ADC.

Hamid Iangulbaev - Village Commander.

Ilyas Akhmadov - ADC to Shamil Basaev and later to Aslan Maskhadov.

Magomed Khambiev - Commander of the Chechen National Guard.

Payzullah Nutsulkhanov - Aslan Maskhadov’s Chief of Staff, in charge of logistics.

Said Iskhanov - Intelligence on Grozny.

Said Iskhanov - Part II - on weapons employment.

[Tom Odom]

It was then that we decided, against all military logic, to counter-attack. It was a first in terms of military tactics and we forced tank units to retreat. How was it done? Our soldiers did not know how to dig trenches, they considered it humiliating, but there was no choice – the houses were too small and fragile, they could not withstand a tank attack. So we made a line between the Sunzha and Minutka, dug trenches, and with approximately 40 / 50 men facing the tanks we advanced meter by meter, digging more trenches as we crawled forward until we reached the tanks and burned them. We pressed them until the tanks retreated, then we build more trenches and advanced further. It was highly unconventional trench warfare!

That's from Mashkadov's interview! It reminds me of how the original "sappers" used trenches and tunnels to undermine castles and forts in siege warfare. Sounds like the tank crews saw their tracks as mini-forts.

Thanks, Dave!

Best
Tom

[SWJED]

On the Chechnya Page in the SWJ Reference Library. Includes articles by two old friends who did a lot of great work in support of our urban operations efforts - Les Grau and Tim Thomas.