Our Story
With pleasure our boys have received the package, because it was eagerly awaited. At least in time, because the first snowflakes now already announce a very cold winter. But with the warm clothes they will heat up the invaders. Because in the snow you are almost like in the Carpathian home village again.
I am 50 years old and a soldier (medic) in the Teroborona (militia) in Transcarpathia. I volunteered for the Ukrainian army in May 2022. My unit is the 2nd Company of the 69th Battalion of the 101st Brigade. After we left the Sumy area from the northern border in early April, we learned that both of the houses we had been quartered in for almost a year had been destroyed by Russian mortar fire shortly after we left. Even here I was incredibly lucky! Our first stop was Slowjansk (Donetsk Oblast). We stayed in a school there for a few days. 2 days after our departure, this school was also hit by a rocket. The parking lot and some vehicles were destroyed or damaged. There were no casualties. This was the second time I was very lucky.
Destroyed Quarters in Sumy
When we got to Bakhmut and the first suburbs of the city on April 3, the air changed immediately. It stank of smoke and the air was thick with gunpowder and sulphur. It was as hot as a furnace, although the weather was still very cool at this time of year. Even in the suburbs, all the buildings were almost completely destroyed, there were virtually no houses left intact. The first few hours were pure terror, it was an unfamiliar state of constant threat and fear, until after a few hours we slowly got used to it. There was constant machine gun fire and regular artillery strikes in the area. I would have loved to hide in a hole like a mouse, we were all terrified. I didn't see any dead bodies here yet, just lots of rubble and garbage, which was scattered almost everywhere.
destruction in bakhmut
The fire breaks were the scariest for us, we feared permanent Russian attacks. When we arrived in Bakhmut, our 4 companies (120 men) were ordered to occupy and hold a vocational school complex in the south-west of Bakhmut.we were taken to the school complex in civilian pick-ups (Mitsubishi). Our 120 soldiers were then distributed throughout the complex. We mainly had light weapons: our AK rifles and 6 MGs (four PKM and two MG3). We also carried RPG-7 launchers, some RPO rocket flamethrowers and an M2-Cal. 50. The latter was so heavy that it had to be carried by three people. From time to time a mortar squad (2 launchers) from the company also came to our aid.
My comrades and I slept and lived in the school library. Later we slept in an adjacent dry cellar of a large house. The house must have belonged to wealthy people because it was full of expensive furniture and there was a large brick swimming pool in the garden. In their haste, the inhabitants who had fled were probably unable to save much of it, as most of the household goods were still there, even clothes were hanging in the cupboards. Next door was a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall.
On the very first day of my arrival, the Russians launched their first attack.
At the beginning of the attack, I gave first aid at the evacuation point with two other medics. The evacuation point also served as a casualty collection point and was located a few hundred meters behind our positions. Russian special forces (black uniforms, all about the same height at 1.90m and very athletic and agile) attacked our positions at the garages near the school with gas masks and irritant gas grenades. The grenades were thrown by the Russians under the door and through the windows. The enemy was much better prepared than we were. Among other things, the Russians used the uniforms of 3 Ukrainian soldiers who had previously disappeared to deceive our people and get close to the garages (later, 2 undressed bodies were found by our troops).
When our people tried to escape from the gas in the garages (there were no gas masks!), they were shot at with mortars. There were hand-to-hand fights. I heard everything over the radio and from subsequent stories from comrades and fortunately wasn't there myself. Some of the attackers were also hit and killed, as friends told me later. For example, some of the attackers were shot down by one of our machine guns while crossing a road. I was also told that the M2 hit three Russians with one salvo. Another remarkable event: shortly before retreating from the garages, one of my comrades actually picked up one of the Russian gas grenades from the ground and took it with him to have it examined later in a laboratory. He wanted to know what kind of gas they had fired at our people. I don't know what came of it in the end.
One by one, the first casualties arrived at the assembly point. The first had a large triangular piece of shrapnel from a grenade launcher lodged in the top of his skull, just a few millimeters from his brain. He came to us on his own, without any help. He survived and is healthy again today!
Another soldier had a large leg wound caused by splinters and a heavily bleeding neck wound. He covered it himself until he arrived at the casualty collection point on his own. He was also injured in the arm. After we bandaged him up, he smoked cigarettes until he was evacuated and complained about the bandages being too tight. He also survived. I met him recently in the village and he is in excellent health.
Later they brought in the first dead. The first dead man (Petryuk, 35 years old, 2 children) had received a splinter directly into his heart. The brother of the deceased was present, but was unable to realize the death of his beloved brother due to the shock (state of extreme stress!). You simply function in this exceptional situation. This was the first time I had seen someone killed in action.
Another of my comrades was killed with several hand grenades in the garages, his body has still not been recovered (Sherba, 40 years old, 2 children).
Three of our soldiers were hit by a single mortar shell as they tried to escape from the garages. Comrades who tried to help them were also shot at and killed. A total of 5 soldiers were killed.
Another soldier had two shredded legs. He screamed incessantly in pain, which was very distressing for everyone present. As far as I know, his legs were saved by the surgeons at the hospital.
Another had a huge hole in his buttocks and dozens of smaller splinters in his body. We had to stuff 4(!) bandages into this wound. This soldier also survived despite the high blood loss and a shattered hip.
In general, it can be said that the surgeons and doctors in the hospitals in the safe hinterland did a very good job and were very well equipped. We medics at the front were also very satisfied with the equipment available to us.
On the second day, the garages were occupied by the Russians. Our mission was now to recapture them. As our unit was unable to do this (Russian fire was too heavy), an SSO unit tried to approach the garages. They also failed. It was then decided to shell the garages with artillery, which was done.
On the third day, the Russians left the garages and we tried to reoccupy them. By this time, the garages were almost completely destroyed by the fighting and the shelling and it would have made no sense to reoccupy them. The Russians took most of their dead with them, but not all of them.
The fourth day was relatively quiet. There was hardly any shelling on us and we sat in our positions, but the noise of battle did not let us rest. Although we were not under fire, the tension was always palpable.
sleeping quarters in the libary
The fifth day then began with heavier artillery fire from the enemy on us. There was an impact every 10 seconds. The plaster trickled off the walls and the ground shook. The shelling lasted for 2.5 hours, during which we sought shelter in the cellars. It should be noted that our firepower in Bachmut was about a third of that of the Russians.
Of 10 shells fired in Bachmut, 7 were of Russian origin.
During the artillery bombardment, 30 men from the company arrived as reinforcements. The men were not properly briefed and not properly distributed. Of these, 15(!) were killed in a short time, 9 of them in a single hit, they were effectively burned up!
Now we received the order to defend ourselves, the Russians were getting ready to attack. Their target was the school and the library where we had taken up position. The Russians were using AGS grenade launchers and RPGs.
I saw them myself and fired about 50 rounds from my AK74M at the enemy infantry. Our distance to the enemy was about 300m. I saw quite a few Russians fall under our fire in the distance. We fired from all guns and all our weapons were used. We estimate the Russian losses in this attack, which consisted of several waves, at about 50-60 men. Most of the Russian losses were probably caused by our mortars. Both sides used the well-known RPO flame rocket launchers ("Schaitan Truba" - devil's pipe). Fortunately, we were able to repel the Russian attack, as the enemy was unable to advance any further under our fire and suffered increasing losses.
I suffered a moderate concussion and a blast trauma during this battle when a shell from a Russian AGS launcher hit the neighboring room.
We were finally evacuated on the sixth day. We set fire to the library and the house next door with gasoline from our electricity generator and then retreated.
During the evacuation, a Ukrainian-made armored vehicle, the Kozak-2, was also used. One of these vehicles was damaged by a mortar, but the crew survived unscathed. The vehicle was salvaged because only one tire had to be changed.
After our evacuation at the end of the battle, the silence that followed was so eerie and unfamiliar that many of us had trouble sleeping. We were so used to the constant shooting.
Of the 120 men in our battalion, 60 were injured and 25 killed during those 6 days.