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Transcarpathian in the right

Unique. Hardened and real. 128 separate mountain assault Transcarpathian brigade has come a long way from an ordinary post-Soviet mechanized division to one of the most powerful units in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Its history, like that of many other brigades in the Armed Forces, can be divided into two stages - before and during the war with the Russian occupation forces.
 

In the first stage from 1991 to 2014, despite the general tendency to reduce combat capability and destroy the Armed Forces, the brigade showed its best side when "big water" came to Transcarpathia. During several floods in the 1990s and early 2000s, the unit's personnel were repeatedly involved in dealing with the aftermath of natural disasters. 1998 and 2001 were particularly difficult. At that time, the brigade provided a variety of assistance to save the native land: providing Transcarpathians with hot food, evacuation, clearing debris, setting up pontoon crossings, repairing roads and more.













 

The brigade's personnel repeatedly helped the locals during the heavy snows that paralyzed Transcarpathia. At that time, servicemen were involved in clearing snowdrifts. All this made it possible to stabilize the situation in the region, to restore rail and highway connections.

At that time, namely in 2000, by presidential decree, the brigade received the honorary title of "Transcarpathian", which remains with her to this day.

It is not superfluous to mention the participation of servicemen of our brigade in peacekeeping missions. Iraq, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

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     However, the brigade gained real combat experience in 2014, when the insidious "brother" first annexed the Ukrainian Crimea with his unmarked units, and then with the help of numerous terrorists and collaborators.  tried to cut off from our land Donbas.

     Then, in the first months of the anti-terrorist operation, the first battalion-tactical group of our brigade went east and was baptized by fire on the approaches and directly in the battles for Luhansk airport.

Then, in the summer of 2014  year, the servicemen of our brigade together with fellow paratroopers made their way to the blocked defenders of the resort, which at that time was almost without food and water, providing only air (parachutes were dropped). At that time, Luhansk airport was covered with all possible weapons. Unlike the airport in Donetsk, Russian troops did not spare buildings from the very beginning, they were leveled to the ground with everything they could. "Grady", "Tornadoes", various barrel art, including "Peonies".

As a result of the August offensive of Russian regular troops, the airport was surrounded again, the airport buildings were completely destroyed by Russian artillery, and on the 146th day the Ukrainian defenders, destroying the airfield runway and breaking through the encirclement, withdrew. Fighting for him claimed the lives of 29 defenders, and another 49 paratroopers were killed in a plane shot down by terrorists.

From the memoirs of Sergeant Vladislav Zhovtani: "We were surrounded. Fighting continued around the clock, food and ammunition ran out… We slept for two hours a day. After a while we went east of the airport. From the Russian Federation we were fired upon by "Hurricanes", "Hail". The fire was fired simultaneously from nine cars, respectively, they covered a huge area.

     There, in the Luhansk region, we lost our first brother, when on June 14, 2014, at the Stalingrad checkpoint near the village of Makarovo, soldier Roland Popovych, a grenade launcher of the 15th separate mountain infantry battalion, was killed.

     Until the end of 2014, part of the brigade performed tasks in Luhansk region, but in August of that year several units of the brigade were involved in tasks on the "Debaltseve bridgehead", which in the future will be a place of true heroism of 128 OGShBr fighters. in the minority, our troops gave a decisive rebuff to the enemy.

     Thus, since October 2014, the servicemen of the brigade have been taking part in fierce battles near the village of Ridkodub, where they are capturing a Russian "Marine".

     But the real hell of the war for the brigade's soldiers began in the winter, when the Russian occupation forces decided at any cost to take the Debaltseve bridgehead in the ring and make a boiler there. Not least in order to destroy Ukraine's position in the international arena, as it was at that time that negotiations on the second Minsk agreements were being held.

     While Ukrainian diplomats kept their fight in their offices, our fighters kept theirs around Debaltseve. Thus, on January 25, 2015, a battle took place in the village of Sanzharivka , where the enemy's goal was to cut the defense and establish control over the M03 section of Artemivsk-Debaltsevo. The system of defense of the Debaltseve bridgehead included height near the village of Sanzharivka , occupied at that time by pro-Russian fighters. The prevailing height of 307.9 meters allowed to control the territory, so the battles for it were the fiercest. Adalbert Kovach, Fedir Lopatsky, Volodymyr Pytak, Andriy Kapchur, and Oleksandr Levrints, fighters of the 128th UGPBR, were killed in the battle for this height while defending the Valera support. On that day, January 25, the Valer base attacked the enemy three times - the attacks were repulsed at a high price.

Despite the numerical advantage, the enemy suffered significant losses -  the mountain infantry repulsed the offensive after the offensive. For example, part of the convoy of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles between Troitsky and Myronivka was destroyed by Ukrainian soldiers with the support of artillery: part of the column, the separatists threw what survived on the battlefield. The guys and I went to pick up a single behu. However, they could not start. They chased after diesel fuel, put another battery. Did not start. They pulled him out with a tank, also a separatist one - the tankers took him in, picked him up and pulled him out. Then they shamanized me, I went again. "

     Two days earlier, on January 23, fierce fighting had taken place a few miles away  "Valery" - on the base of "Lech", where the Ukrainian mountain infantry also showed real heroism, in fact, completely destroyed the enemy column.

     Also, one of the legendary pages of the brigade is that during the battles for the Debaltseve bridgehead, our fighters repeatedly captured enemy equipment. For example, the T-72 tank. In early February 2015, soldiers of the 128th Brigade captured a Russian tank near Debaltseve, which "nightmared" them for more than a week, shelling positions. It was not possible to destroy it with artillery fire - the enemy "seventy-two" appeared suddenly, fired one or two shots and hid. According to the gunners, he got them decently, there was no strength. Then ours decided to go on a raid. At 2 o'clock in the morning, 7 brave men made their way to the "separatist" territory and found this hated tank. He was standing near a small house. The boys did not enter the house so as not to make noise. Among the gunners was a mechanic-driver of MTLB, he offered to steal the tank. When the T-72 roared and moved, our fighters saw the grief-stricken tankers jump out of the house and run away in panic. Probably, they thought that Ukrainians were shooting at the house with a cannon. On the trophy tank, the gunners successfully returned to their positions. The Ukrainian flag was immediately hung on the captured combat vehicle. Russian documents and Russian biscuits were found inside.

     And although our gunners are skilled "tank thieves", they are remembered by the enemy primarily by others, namely by their work. When, at times, the artillery of the mountain infantry had to resist the onslaught of the enemy, having a sector of fire of 270 degrees, and this is a unique phenomenon in artillery practice.

Artillerymen, contrary to the recommendations and rules that can be found in textbooks on artillery, built their own methods of warfare. This was a forced norm, because we often had to get into situations about which nothing is said in the textbooks.

It was necessary to learn an extremely complex deadly craft in the literal sense of the word on the go. Often defenders of Ukrainian land,  going against the recommendations and rules that can be found in textbooks on artillery, built their own methods of warfare. This was a forced norm, because we often had to get into situations about which nothing is said in the textbooks.

However, a small group of experienced officers in a short time managed to form from yesterday's infantry, paratroopers or even sailors (and there were some) a professional artillery fist.

     One such "fist" was the "Ghosts", which not only effectively covered the infantry units, which were constantly under pressure from foreign barrels, but also won artillery duels, destroying concentrated groups of the enemy and his convoy.

Five months of constant wandering (separatists called them "ghosts" because no one could count them, listened to their talks about being fired upon by some "ghosts", the name was fixed). It was possible to save the lives of people and equipment only by changing the location as often as possible. For almost six months, cold, often flooded with diesel armor, became home to the "gods of war".

     However, despite all efforts, the brigade was forced to leave the Debaltseve bridgehead. As early as February 18, 128 UCPB units left the city and its environs in full order with minimal losses, not allowing themselves to be surrounded.

     After those legendary battles, the brigade performed tasks in the Donetsk direction (Pisky village, near the destroyed DAP), in the Horlivka direction (Toretsk and its environs, in particular - Zaytsevo, where between the positions of our defenders and the enemy were several tens of meters, and fighting almost did not stop), in the Dokuchaev direction.

     As of spring 2019, the team is at a permanent location and is waiting for recovery and coordination to be ready to perform any task again, where necessary.

     Now the brigade consists of: one separate and two line mountain assault battalions, MPB, tank and separate engineering and sapper battalion, a powerful BRAG and other units.

     It is important to mention the Heroes of Ukraine of our team:

Colonel Vasyl Zubanych, who  commanded the 15th separate mountain infantry battalion of the brigade, whose fighters took part in the battles near Bakhmutka, Stanitsa Luhanska, Shchastya, Trokhizbenka, Debaltsev. But the most famous operation involving the Hero was an 85-kilometer raid by an assault group to Luhansk airport with a breakthrough in the ring in which his defenders were. On March 23, 2015, he was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine for a successful breakthrough to Luhansk airport.

Major General Serhiy Shaptala. The legendary commander of the mountain infantry, whom the fighters lovingly called "Nanny" (father in Transcarpathian). During his command, the brigade had to go through the most dramatic moments in modern history: the exit from Debaltseve, the defense of Luhansk airport, the outskirts of Donetsk and the village of Luhansk. On February 18, 2015, Serhiy Shaptala became the Hero of Ukraine.

Colonel Serhiy Sobko. Behind him is the Battle of Saur Tomb and a raid on the edge of the 95th Brigade. Serhiy Sobko, then still the commander of the mechanized battalion of the 30th Brigade, successfully commanded the battalion-tactical group that took part in these historical events. The actions of the raid group allowed to ensure the exit of the Ukrainian military, which was surrounded near the state border. On March 23, 2015 he was awarded the title of Hero  Of Ukraine. In August 2017, he took command of 128 UCPBRs.

Posthumously, three of our servicemen became Heroes of Ukraine:

Lieutenant Oleg Dovgy, who died from a sniper bullet while helping wounded brothers;

Senior Sergeant Andriy Konoplyov, who in January 2015 was the first to detect the militants' attack while defending a platoon base in the Nikishino settlement. He warned his comrades-in-arms and joined the battle.  He personally destroyed two enemy tanks, but also died himself, saving his comrades-in-arms at the cost of his own life;

Senior soldier Oleksandr Kapush, who died on February 6, 2015 during a battle near the village of Chornukhyne, was wounded by a shrapnel from a grenade in his temple. A group of spies led by Alexander defended their positions against the overwhelming forces of Russian terrorists. At the most difficult moment of the battle, a grenade was thrown at the group from the enemy. Alexander covered his friend, and he died on the spot.

The uniqueness of the team is added by its "highlight" - multinationality and culture. With the first waves of mobilization, the ranks of combat units began to be filled with residents of the region, including many ethnic Hungarians, Romanians, Slovaks, and the Transcarpathian dialect may seem foreign to a person unfamiliar with it. Transcarpathia, in general, is a multinational region and a place where many European cultures intersect. Often, from the first days of the war, such a variety of languages gave rise to rumors about foreign mercenaries fighting for Ukraine. In some places, locals whispered to each other that it was most likely French legionnaires. The Legionnaires turned out to be ordinary Transcarpathians and gave their lives for Ukraine without hesitation, although they were of other nationalities. And so the unofficial name "Transcarpathian Legion" became attached to us.