Battle of Grozny | Chechnya, 1994 - 1995

Song: До свиданья, мама - Moralny Kodex An edit of the most well-known battle of both Chechen Wars - the Battle of Grozny. Starting around Christmas 1994, Russian troops entered the Chechen capital with the intention of capturing it. What ensued was one of the worst military battles the Russian military took part in, as the Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers were fired down upon with RPGs and other weapons by Chechen forces concealed in Grozny’s vast maze of city streets. The battle showed the great danger found in using armoured vehicles in urban environments, and how important properly coordinating military units was, as Russian units would sometimes end up firing upon one another in the hellish confusion of the battle. The 1000 man strong 131st Maikop Brigade, which played a major role in the invading force, was almost completely decimated in the fighting, as they were pinned down by Chechen forces throughout the city which also prevented them from receiving any meaningful reinforcement from their comrades. The song I used in this, alongside a good deal of the footage, comes from the 1995 documentary ‘The Betrayed.’ It is a very interesting film and I would definitely recommend it as long as you are not too squeamish. It does an excellent job delving into the sheer bleakness of the First Chechen War and the Battle of Grozny, as it follows a group of Russian mothers trying to find their sons who’ve been left unaccounted for in the war. My next edit will either be of the cleanup following the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, the 1980s JGSDF (If I can find good footage) or of the Bosnian Serb or Krajina Serb armies during the Yugoslav Wars, as I’ve just received a great deal of useful footage courtesy of Lonely Hercegovina Warrior.