Battle of Komsomolskoye

Overview

The Battle of Komsomolskoye took place in Chechnya during the Second Chechen War. Beginning on 6 March 2000 and lasting until 24 March 2000, it resulted in the deaths of more than 50 Russian soldiers and hundreds of Chechen militants over the course of two weeks of siege warfare. An unknown number of civilians were killed in the fighting as well. The fighting resulted in the destruction of most of the Chechen separatist units commanded by Ruslan Gelayev. Scores of Chechens were taken prisoner by the Russian military, and only a few survived the ensuing Komsomolskoye massacre. Marked by fierce urban combat, the Battle of Komsomolskoye was the bloodiest of the entire conflict.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Komsomolskoye, fought from 6 March to 24 March 2000, was the bloodiest engagement of the Second Chechen War. A Russian force of approximately 1,000 troops besieged a Chechen separatist contingent of around 1,500 fighters in what became roughly two weeks of intense siege warfare. The fighting destroyed most of the Chechen separatist units under Ruslan Gelayev, inflicting an estimated 700–800 casualties on the Chechen side while Russian forces suffered around 300 of their own. Scores of Chechen fighters were taken prisoner, and only a small number survived the subsequent Komsomolskoye massacre. An unknown number of civilians also died in the fighting. The near-annihilation of Gelayev's command represented a significant degradation of organized separatist military capacity in the Second Chechen War, and the battle stands as a marker of the extreme cost—on all sides—of the Russian campaign to reassert control over Chechnya.

Tactics

Forces & casualties

Commanders (8)