In the battle for the village of Khryaschevate, the further fate of Lugansk was decided. And the fate of the battle for this village depended on the only tank of the militia…
There is such a fictional character in army folklore as Black Demobilization.. In the army, and in general in Soviet mythology, there were a great many such "black" characters, but they all had nothing to do with reality. Luhansk has its own "black" history, only it is based on real events, although in five years she managed to acquire full-fledged urban legends.
On the very outskirts of Luhansk, near the village of Khryaschevate, a wrecked T-64 tank stands alone on a pedestal by the road. The drama of the spectacle is added by the fact, that the deceased car is completely painted black. Nevertheless, black armor is always decorated with armfuls of flowers. Today it is a monument to all the LPR tankmen who died in the war., but in fact it was erected as a symbol of the heroism of a very specific crew in a very specific battle. But over time, this event was overgrown with legends so much, that today there are two most famous versions of that fateful battle.
Source photo: wikipedia.org
The most popular is the story of Afghan veterans. At the beginning of August 2014 of the year the Ukrainian Armed Forces pulled together the ring around Luhansk. Particularly heavy battles unfolded for the village of Khryaschevate, through which passed the last fully militia-controlled exit from the city.
The Ukrainian command was in a hurry to take the city in a ring as soon as possible, therefore threw all available forces into battle. But the Ukrainian army was in a disgusting state, and many vehicles were out of order even before the start of the battle. So, a group of reconnaissance militias accidentally happened to come across a tank abandoned by the Ukrainians. For some unknown reason, he flew into a ditch and did not start.
Source photo: wikipedia.org
In those days, the militia had practically no heavy weapons.. Therefore, it was decided to find a tractor and drag the tank to Lugansk., repair the car there and find a crew for it.
The tank was repaired in a couple of days., but with the crew it turned out to be more difficult. By that time, the militia already had several T-64s., but there was nowhere and no time to train tankers.
in the evening 17 August, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a major offensive on Khryaschevate. The village was defended by militia infantry and a pair of BMPs. A full-fledged tank company and several simpler equipment units moved on them.. With such a balance of forces, the outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion, therefore, a message of urgent support was sent to Lugansk.
It was decided to equip the tank with at least someone, slightly familiar with the technique. Suddenly, one of the nondescript peasants volunteered, who supervised the repair of the captured T-64. As it turned out, he served as a tank driver in Afghanistan. Besides, he declared, that he has a couple of Afghan friends, who, although they were not tankers, but could quickly figure out the management. An hour later, the patched up trophy T-64 was already moving towards Khryaschevaty.
The tank went to the outskirts of the village almost simultaneously with the appearance of the enemy, so there was simply no time to find shelter, Afghans opened fire directly from the highway.
In this direction, one tank platoon of the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked Khryaschevate, a pair of BMPs and several branches of motorized riflemen. With the first shot, the militia destroyed the nearest BMP, which was moving along the road towards. After this "hello", the infantry took refuge in a couple of nearby unfinished houses, while waiting for the unexpected enemy to deal with their own tanks.
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Source photo: wikipedia.org
Four Ukrainian vehicles immediately tried to take up protected positions, what was a fatal mistake. An Afghan tank standing on a hill was able to hit one of the enemy tanks with the second shot. The shot was successful and detonated the ammunition - the Ukrainian T-64 threw the tower into the sky.
However, enemy tankers on the move could not conduct such accurate fire.. Thanks to this, the militias were able to confidently hit another T-64 APU..
But with the other two enemy vehicles, everything was not so simple.. The tank of the commander of the Ukrainian platoon fired a new volley and this time hit right under the tower. She got jammed, and T-64 Afghans lost the ability to conduct aimed fire. The crew began aiming with the hull, but there was no more talk about accuracy. By a happy coincidence, they managed to damage the chassis of one of the Ukrainian cars., but not more. Meanwhile, the tanks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were able to safely stop in an open field and aim at the unfortunate enemy..
But time was wasted. Additional forces were already entering Khryaschevate from Luhansk and the Ukrainian assault group could only retreat.
The skeletons of three tanks stood on the road for several weeks.. Later, the wreckage of the Ukrainian T-64 and BMP was pulled into a ditch, and then completely dismantled and taken out. The heroic tank was installed at the battle site as a monument..
The second version differs from the first in details and is presented as a story of direct participants in the battle.
So, in this version the crew consisted of simple young guys, not Afghans. The battle has begun 13 August from reconnaissance of two infantry fighting vehicles of the Luhansk battalion "ZARYA". The militias monitored distant approaches to Khryaschevaty, when they almost ran into an armored column of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Command, assessing the situation, ordered the group to return to Luhansk. There a strike group began to form, whose task was to cover the right flank of the village, where was the road to the city.
Source photo: wikipedia.org
in the evening 13 August, two reconnaissance infantry fighting vehicles gathered near Khryaschevaty, a pair of T-64 tanks by numbers 11 and 23, as well as two armored personnel carriers. "Armor" was supported by three to four dozen infantry. Artillery worked on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at night, but, contrary to the original plan, there was no signal for a preemptive strike. The group was ordered to wait for the enemy's advance in ambush and shoot him point-blank.
Tanks and armored vehicles of the militias were dispersed along the right edge of Khryaschevaty. T-64 numbered 23, one infantry fighting vehicle and a dozen fighters took over the defense of the track. The terrain on this site was mostly open, so letting the enemy get close would not work, and the battle began at a distance of three hundred to five hundred meters. During the battle, the 23rd managed to knock out two Ukrainian tanks and damage another, everything is as in the first version.
But at the same time, Ukrainian mortars began to hit the militia infantry.. The Ukrainian Armed Forces gunners took refuge in an unfinished building nearby and coordinated the strikes quite accurately. The infantry requested assistance to destroy this makeshift fortification of the Ukrainians. This required a short drive to the track, from where it was possible to hit the building directly.
The first "leaned out" the BMP, but at the most crucial moment her gun jammed. Then the T-64 rolled onto the road, gave an accurate shot, destroying the enemy. The car was already rolling back, when a shell from a Ukrainian tank arrived on board. Ammunition detonation did not occur, but the fire started. probably, the commander and gunner received severe concussions or died from shrapnel, but the driver managed to leave the car and get to his.
Despite the loss of the car, the fate of the battle was decided. In the rest of the battle, the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was choked, and the enemy retreated. The Ukrainian forces could no longer regroup and the plan to blockade Luhansk was thwarted.
