How the Cossacks defended Bakhmut. The feat of the “Siberia” squad

Alexei Selivanov, official representative of the Consolidated Cossack Brigade “Don”.

Someone will say that the feats of the past are imaginary. That there is no such thing. That people can’t rush under tanks with grenades. That they are afraid to stand under a hail of shells against a tenfold superior enemy. That no one will call fire on himself.

_{We have seen that all this is reality. And, most importantly, that our contemporaries are capable of incredible feats. Feats worthy of the ancient “Three Hundred Spartans”. Worthy of the “attack of the dead” of World War I. Alexander Matrosov and the Panfilov crew of the Great Patriotic War.}

This feat, an example of collective heroism, took place on May 11-12, near the village of Yagodnoye near Bakhmut. Behind the village begins Bakhmut itself. Had the Ukrainian Nazis occupied Yagodnoye – they would have entered the town unhindered from the north.

Cossack volunteers of the Sibir Battalion held forward positions near the village. The majority had not participated in fights before that. But Ataman Oleg Likontsev with a call sign “Kan” was already an experienced soldier. And he managed to train his fighters. Not only militarily, but also psychologically.

The Cossacks held firm under fire on May, 9. Then the enemy pounded on the positions of the Siberians, finding a weak spot. And the next day, the PMC fighters behind the Cossacks withdrew. Apparently, they received an order to change their position. Volunteers were left without a rear. This means that they had to run far away and under fire to fetch water, fuel for generators and ammunition. Each trip there and there is a feat.

So Cossacks stood for three days. Receiving a small portion of water only once a day, at night. And on 11 May, at 4 a.m., the Ukrainians began a massive bombardment of the “Siberia” positions. The Ukrainians spoke Polish, English, Finnish and even Russian. Then the “Kan” commander received the first splinter. In the head.

Cossacks, Batya has been hit!” – a cry went through the trenches.

This cry led not only the Cossacks, but also the commander himself. The infantry battle was beginning…

At 10 o’clock the offensive began. Against the Cossacks there were from a thousand to one and a half AFU fighters. They were pouncing on the trenches, trying to throw grenades at them. And then the ataman would call in fire on himself… “Kan” himself was in the forward trench, where he had 10 fighters with him. The rest took positions 100 metres behind him. We had to save ammunition.

In front of the ataman’s eyes, a tank machine gun cut a friend in two. A shell knocked down a large oak tree, which fell on the front line trench, thereby saving the lives of all who remained in it. “The Ukropians simply could not believe that there could still be people alive in the forward trench, in the epicentre of a fiery inferno. That was what saved the ataman.

The enemy concentrated fire on the positions behind them. Therefore there were more people wounded by shrapnel there than in the outpost. And when the “Ukropians” approached this outpost, thinking that no one was there, the Cossacks hit them with accurate fire.

Between the Cossack trenches lay the “300th”, thrown out by the explosion. The enemy would not let the medics get near it – the Ukrops were deliberately aiming at the medics. In that battle out of four medics of the evacuation team three died trying to save a wounded man.

When the tank came closer, the fighter, call sign “Cherkash”, dragged the ATGM 300 meters to hit the armor for sure – the stumps of trees prevented aiming. The “Cherkash” hit the turret – it went up in smoke. Although the tank’s engine was humming for another 5 hours, the crew remained in the tank forever.

_{When the Cossacks realized that the Nazi attack dried up, they made a breakthrough. They not only held their own positions, but also captured the enemy’s. They scattered captured enemy mines in front of them in order to prevent the enemy from approaching them. After all the Siberians had only one and a half of cartridges left for each of them.}

In that battle no one retreated. For 16 hours they repulsed the attacks and held their positions until the replacements came. There were no cowards – as they are called at the front, “five hundredths”. Out of 150 men only 29 remained unharmed. The rest were wounded and shell-shocked. And nineteen Cossacks – did not return from this battle…