Yuri Babansky biography. Roovp regional public organization of veterans-border guards. - The Chinese decided to attack again

DOMODEDOVO, March 3, 2017, DOMODEDOVSKIE VESTI - Awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Babansky has long been a living example of the courage and heroism of soldiers in green caps. Soon, as often happens, he turned from a living person into a legend, and in the 90s, some "far-sighted" politicians and ideologists did everything to make her forgotten too. However, retired Lieutenant General of the FSB, the legendary Hero of the Soviet Union Yuri Vasilyevich Babansky is alive and well, in the ranks and continues to serve the Motherland, which he defended in his youth. But first, let's remember the March days of 1969 and the situation on the longest border of our country - with the People's Republic of China.

"Cultural Revolution" in Chinese
Today, China is one of the serious allies, economic and diplomatic partners of our country, but this has not always been the case. Relations between the two largest in territory, original and self-sufficient states periodically gave serious cracks, putting the countries on the brink of a serious armed conflict. Given the presence of nuclear weapons and the US attention to their relationship, all these conflicts could lead to catastrophic and global consequences. Fortunately, this did not happen, but it is necessary to remember those events and people who were at the forefront.

The peak of disagreement between two seemingly ideological partners - the USSR and communist China - fell on the 60-70s. China's leader Mao Zedong fails one after another all projects within the country: from the policy of "Hundred Flowers" and "Three Banners" to the "Great Leap Forward". From catching flies, sparrows and rats (as Vysotsky sang: “Crush the flies, reduce the birth rate, Destroy your sparrows!”), The “great helmsman” moves to radical measures. In the course of the so-called "cultural revolution" units of the Red Guards destroy tens of thousands of temples, monasteries and libraries, and burn millions of books. Mao accuses the USSR of "socialist imperialism" and does not want to hear about the peaceful coexistence of the two systems. In 1959, relations with the USSR were severed, our country recalled specialists and stopped financial assistance to the PRC.

In the late 1960s, Mao stopped revolutionary terror, suddenly thought about rapprochement with the United States, and after the Prague Spring, he switched to a policy of open confrontation on the border with the USSR. Inevitable armed conflicts began with the conflict on Damansky Island in March 1969. I must say that rumors about these events were one of the main topics of “kitchen conversations” throughout the Union (there was practically no official information then) until the 80s. Along with honor and admiration for the heroism of the border guards, citizens of the USSR shared "reliable information" about the use of "our" new, terrible weapons, which stopped hundreds of thousands of invaders. Rumors ranged from the use of a powerful "laser" that cut Chinese columns to pieces, to the unprecedented power of shells, rockets, and even atomic bombs. The number of dead was also estimated in the tens - hundreds of thousands, and Damansky Island generally "went under water." Together with the movements of tank and motorized rifle divisions to the border in the Far East and the continuous flights of combat aircraft (which I myself witnessed in the 70s, visiting my grandmother in Transbaikalia), all this only produced new rumors.

In fact, everything turned out to be less ambitious, but this did not make the conflicts on the Soviet-Chinese border in the late 60s (and there were several more: near Lake Zhalanashkol in Kazakhstan, for example) no less dangerous. Some quarter of a century ago, the Japanese also tried our ability to protect the eastern frontier at Khasan and Khalkhin Gol. And again the borders of the country remained inviolable. Here there was a place for the heroism of our border guards and the use of new weapons, but first things first.

The feat of the border guards
The conflict on Damansky Island lasted almost two weeks. On March 2, 1969, Chinese military personnel invaded our territory and treacherously shot a group of border guards led by the head of the outpost, Ivan Strelnikov, who demanded to leave the territory of the USSR. At the same time, the group of Sergeant Rabovich was almost completely destroyed. The third group, under the command of junior sergeant Yuri Babansky, took on an unequal battle with superior forces of provocateurs. After a forty-minute battle, five border guards survived, the cartridges were running out, but Babansky and his subordinates heroically held their positions under the fire of mortars and heavy machine guns. Reserves from neighboring outposts began to approach the conflict area. A group of senior lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin attacked the Chinese in two armored personnel carriers and inflicted serious damage on them, but soon Bubenin's armored personnel carrier was hit and Yuri Babansky again took command. He held the position until the reserves of the border detachment approached, until the Chinese retreated.

A new round of conflict took place on March 14-15 and could lead to a large-scale war. By that time, a Chinese infantry regiment and our motorized rifle division were deployed in the border area, artillery and mortars fired from both sides. Thus, the regular units of the Chinese army entered the battles on Damansky, and from our side, the tanks and armored vehicles of the reserve of the border district and the Soviet army went on the attack. In these battles, the head of the border detachment, Colonel Leonov, died, and secret Grad rocket launchers struck the enemy positions. The Chinese retreated and made no further attempts to attack. Junior Sergeant Yuri Babansky during this period more than ten times went to reconnaissance on the island. His group carried out the bodies of the dead border guards of the Strelnikov group and Colonel Leonov. Chinese losses are not exactly known and range from 300 to 3000. 58 Soviet soldiers and officers died in the battles on Damansky Island. Five were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union: senior lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin and junior sergeant Yuri Babansky, three - Leonov, Strelnikov and sergeant Orekhov - posthumously.

Yuri Vasilyevich, you are a living witness of those events. Thousands of border guards, including me, have been brought up on your feat and name. Tell us how you now assess the significance of those distant years.
- You know, neither then nor now I had no doubts and no. It was necessary to defend the border, our land, to push back the enemy. Revenge for fallen comrades. Of course, after 30-40 years I have to take part in various scientific conferences, disputes with the participation of senior officers, scientists, historians. New facts are being revealed, secret documents are being found that testify to China's serious preparations for an armed conflict, about Mao's attempts to find close contact with the United States, for which this provocation was conceived. Of course, the whole world then froze in horror that here it is - the third world war. Of course, I, having gone through all the steps in my service and life - from a simple young man from the village of Krasny Yar in the Kemerovo region and the commander of a border outpost department to lieutenant general - today I understand the seriousness of that time much more clearly. However, the border guards have such a duty. It needs to be done. What did we all - both the dead and the living - do then. I have no doubt that they would do the same now.

Border guards often face the fact that the development of the situation in one direction or another in the global terms of relations between countries depends on their actions, endurance or, conversely, initiative. So it was in 1941, in the late 60s and mid-90s. Often, it is the border guards who are balancing on the verge of a medal to a tribunal.
- This is true and, in continuation of the first question, I can say that the armed conflict on Damansky was preceded by a long chain of provocations and clashes without the use of weapons. We literally expelled provocateurs abroad by force, with our fists. They carried out the order, did not give a reason and stopped conflicts without the use of weapons. All the blame for the transition of the conflict to an armed level lies with the Chinese side and led to the vile execution of the Strelnikov group.

Readers not familiar with border specifics may ask how it happened that junior sergeant Babansky not only commanded a group in battle, but went on reconnaissance to the island many times and became one of the main characters during these events.
- The border service is different from the army. There are three officers at the outpost. But every day outfits with weapons are sent to the border under the command of sergeants, corporals, privates. All carry out the task of protecting the border. And they make decisions too. A lot depends on each border guard. We then suffered heavy losses, and I knew the site of the outpost well, I was already an experienced squad leader. In general, during those events, many decisions were made at the lower command level. Now you hear various names and high positions, but, for example, the decision to launch a volley from the then secret BM-21 Grad installations was also made by senior lieutenants, who saw what losses we were suffering, and not high ranks. And I think they did absolutely the right thing, showing our determination and capabilities. Moreover, in the future, there were no more attempts from the Chinese side to try our strength (and not weakness, I emphasize).

Returning to the assessments of the entire conflict, I will say that it is not known how it would have ended if we had shown liberality or indecision.

Yuri Vasilyevich, after military service, you connected your fate with the border troops, graduated from college and the academy, went through all the steps of the career ladder, and the collapse of the Union found you in Ukraine, where you held a high position. Almost nothing is known about this period of your life, as well as about what happened after.
- I became deputy commander of the Western Border District, whose headquarters was located in Kyiv, and with the collapse of the USSR, I ended up as deputy chairman of the committee for protecting the border of Ukraine. Soon there began a policy of removing Russians from all state institutions, from which no laws could save. Moreover, an ultimatum was delivered, behind which stood the fate of many of my subordinates, who found themselves under the threat of various sanctions - from dismissal to deprivation of pensions. I quit my job and returned to Russia, where I was not needed by the then command of the Federal Border Service. At the age of 45, I was left out of work, and in high offices they sometimes said that they would erase the memory of former heroes very quickly. I even had to work as the director of the French Galleries shopping center, to experience all the “charms” of default. Then, the Center for the Protection of Employees and the Fight against Terrorism in Transport, especially in the south, was established in the Ministry of Railways. Now I am working in several areas in the Russian Association of Heroes under the leadership of Colonel-General Vladimir Shamanov, one of which is the Park of Heroes of the Fatherland on the territory of Domodedovo. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin pays special attention to patriotic education. Andrey Vorobyov, Governor of the Moscow Region, has also repeatedly asked us to be more actively involved in this work, not limited to mass actions and solemn events. Moreover, I once managed to get acquainted and work with the generals - winners in the Great Patriotic War Chuikov and Bagramyan, Rodimtsev and Telegin. I have something to tell the youth. I am grateful to the head of the administration of the district, Alexander Dvoinykh, with whom we began to interact, for his attention to our initiatives.

- Tell us about the project "Park of Heroes of the Fatherland". How do you see it?
- You have a very interesting place - the Children's Dream Space park, next to which we intend to implement our project, and subsequently combine them into a single system. The Park of Heroes of the Fatherland will be a platform where it will be possible to place military equipment, various structures - hangars and exhibitions, a museum of five oceans, an obstacle course, a shooting gallery. Maybe a fancy paintball. It will be possible to hold both large-scale actions of the Yunarmiya and other organizations, as well as other patriotic events, as well as sports competitions. There will be a place for seminars, conferences and master classes. At the same time, small children and their parents will be able to walk along the alley of fairy-tale characters, visit museums and just relax in the park. Thus, there will be a combination of non-commercial and commercial direction. At the same time, the patriotic direction should be completely freed from any commercial components and carry only an educational, teaching and developing quality. In the future, we plan to lay an ecological path or otherwise arrange this topic, especially in the Year of Ecology. Although a lot has already been done in this direction, it is not for nothing that the author of the park, Alexander Cherkasov, is a member of the environmental council under the governor of the Moscow region.

We assume that in the implementation of our plans there will be a unique center that combines many areas where you can spend the whole day with your family and learn a lot of useful, interesting, and even essential knowledge.

Thank you, Yuri Vasilyevich, for an interesting interview. I wish you success in the implementation of important projects, we are always looking forward to your visit. What do you wish our readers?
- Firstly, I congratulate everyone on Defender of the Fatherland Day, now our country is again paying worthy attention to our Armed Forces, and they, in turn, are ready to protect us from any challenges. I wish everyone a peaceful sky, health, interesting work, fulfillment of desires. Be happy!

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On March 2, 1969, at the beginning of the twelfth, Vladivostok time (it was four in the morning in Moscow), the Chinese invaded Damansky, at point-blank range, from an ambush, shot two groups of our border guards on the Ussuri ice. Nineteen-year-old junior sergeant Yuri Babansky, who was part of the third group, did not lose his head, took command and, together with his comrades, organized a rebuff to the border violators. More than three hundred provocateurs opposed the defenders of the Soviet borders. Of the entire outpost, only five people remained alive, and these five continued to fight to the death. Help arrived in time from a neighboring outpost, and the attack was repelled.

On March 15, the provocation was repeated.

An avalanche of fame and popular love fell upon the border guards who defeated the Red Guards. At the epicenter of universal adoration was yesterday's Kemerovo boy Yurka Babansky with the Golden Star of the Hero on his chest.

Caressed by people's love, Babansky remained to serve in the border troops and rapidly made his career. While in a halo of glory he reached his next peak - the general's stripes - a new "invasion" of Damansky was being prepared. through diplomatic channels. In accordance with the Agreement of May 16, 1991, the hydrograph's red pencil moved the border line to the main fairway (according to international law), and a nondescript piece of land with curly trees, sandy bald patches and swampy-silty gullies, with Russian blood clots caked in the lower layers of the soil defenders of the island, moved to the wrong side.

What will he say about this, what will he remember about those tragic days of the anxious confrontation between the USSR and China on Damansky, will today's Babansky shed light on some of their obscure sides? Now completely forgotten, having disappeared from the field of view of both the people who once adored him and the ubiquitous media ... To be honest, I did not quite believe that he would take on an open conversation, would be ready for a public rethinking of the changes that had taken place on the Russian-Chinese border. For some reason it was thought: he still remains on his Island and will not give up a single inch of it.

Yuri Vasilyevich, I have heard opinions, even wishes: this Damansky was given to you ?! The island is no longer ours, under the Agreement it is transferred to China, so stop stirring up the past. Imagine you were recommended this - your reaction?

A similar question was asked to me in 1991. In April of that year, a KGB collegium was held, and I, already a member of the military council of the Western Border District (Kyiv), was invited to this meeting. Kryuchkov unexpectedly asked me: "How do you feel about the long-standing events on the Soviet-Chinese border?" I quite consciously said that a serious mistake was made by our diplomacy, our government and our party in that we could not find a common language with the Chinese side and, instead of conducting the negotiation process, turned on a tough apparatus of pressure, to which the Chinese responded with rifle- machine gun fire. Still, the fact that they started shooting first is a fact. This is like a truth that does not require proof. And the fact that we behaved incorrectly on the eve of these events is also a fact. After all, events have been brewing for a long time. They were not born overnight. And this is the fault of our politicians.

How did Kryuchkov react to your frankness?

Didn't react at all. He said, "Thank you," and I sat down in my seat.

Who was present at that meeting?

Board members and heads of border districts.

What prompted the question about these events?

I spoke on the topic. The collegium was discussing the question of the 6th article of the Constitution - remember, there was one, about the leading role of the Communist Party - and suddenly they ask me something completely different. I think that the question came from Kryuchkov's mouth due to the fact that he obviously had some information about the upcoming demarcation and he decided to clarify something. Perhaps he needed to check his opinion with the opinion of others regarding our previous agreements with China. Maybe. Because this question was then addressed not only to me, but also to other participants in the meeting.

I will repeat today what I said at the collegium in 1991. I am of the opinion that we behaved incorrectly. Now it is unlawful to say whether we were aware of whose territory it was - ours or China's. It was determined: Damansky is our island, and we defended this territory. We were soldiers. And the fact that over time I began to look differently at this problem of belonging to the island, there is no betrayal in this. Time teaches us, over time, much is revealed, and the history of the island's belonging has also been revealed.

You say: we misbehaved. What was it expressed in?

The leadership of the Soviet Union, and not the people, believed that only they knew the only correct path for the development of civilization and how this could be achieved. And according to this template, it believed, all countries should follow. Angola, Cambodia, Cuba and all the others - the entire socialist camp, as they said then. And this was the mistake. Because each country followed its own path of development, each had its own specifics, and this had to be taken into account. But our dogmatic government - Suslov, Brezhnev - wanted to line everyone up and - to communism! It was a serious mistake. These dogmatists did serious damage to the development of relations between the Soviet Union and all other states. During this period, we lost almost all our authority, our state image, and therefore, when Gorbachev came, they quickly turned their backs on us. They were already prepared for this by the whole course of events, they were ripe. After all, relations were based on our material and military assistance, and they could not turn against us. Today, the International Monetary Fund is helping us to overcome the economic crisis and demands: do this, this and this. So our dogmatists then believed that only they were the ultimate truth. It won't be as they said, so we won't give you anything. No weapons, no bread, no specialists in industrial construction. And we will give it to others. Some thought it was wrong and objected. Like China, for example. And everything crumbled. Up to Bulgaria, which at one time even tried to become a union republic and sought to join the Union, believing that the USSR is a big shield, and in the Balkans, if it joins it, there will always be peace.

By saying this, you mean our behavior in the political sphere and do not transfer mistakes to the military sphere, say, in the field of relations on the border?

State policy is reflected in all forms of life - in diplomacy, in the social sphere, in the military sphere. When the line of conduct on the border was determined for the border guards, all this was in mind. Although we tried to resolve buffer issues in politics peacefully, according to tradition, it looked different on the border. On one frontier, we were told, we could use weapons, but on the other side we shouldn't. On one section of the border, we walk around with machine guns and a fastened magazine, and on the other - only with a bayonet-knife. It was these moments that characterized the different attitude of the USSR towards its neighbors on the state border.

Let's go back to the events of March 1969. You've been asked about them a million times. You answered a million times: Strelnikov, the head of the Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost, and the Chinese shot his group point-blank, and you took command. The Chinese claimed that the incident was provoked by Soviet border guards. Answer for the million and first time - given the opportunity to speak now openly: what really happened on that morning of March 2, which put the two great powers, who lived in good neighborliness, to the brink of conflict with an unpredictable outcome?

What actually happened was what happened. It has been written about. And in this sense, neither then, nor today, nor tomorrow will I change my position. If there had been some fault of ours, it would have been proven long ago. Our investigating authorities conducted a thorough investigation into this fact. They interviewed literally all the surviving participants, witnesses of those events, worked on the other side, with the Chinese side, in an operational manner, in order to compare our testimony with their data. Counterintelligence, frontier representatives, the prosecutor's office - they were all connected. This was done as soon as this fact became known. Because it was necessary to tell the world with all certainty what happened. And if we suddenly did not have an objective evidence base, if we asserted something, and then it turned out to be wrong, then, of course, we would thereby inflict serious damage on ourselves in the eyes of world public opinion.

The Chinese were preparing for this action. The mere fact that more than three hundred beds were prepared during the night on the island, food, ammunition, weapons were brought there, communications were made, suggests that everything was planned. The Chinese, having provoked us, led us to that ambush, and the ambush, having received a signal that Soviet border guards were drawn into the agreed place, opened heavy fire - this is an objective fact proving that we are the injured party.

Do you think that the appearance of a chain of Red Guards near the island, who descended from the Chinese post of Gunsa on the other side of the Ussuri, is the bait that we had to peck at and appear exactly at the place where the ambush lay?

One hundred percent. Knowing the Chinese, after all, I happened to go out on the Ussuri ice many times and speak with them in the language of fists and clubs, today I once again affirm, as I affirmed then, in 1969, that was a group that was intended to lure us into an ambush for execution. The goal was to kill everyone. To leave no witnesses. And then it was possible to sculpt "facts" of any nature from this incident. Shoot our guys from any angle, proving that they are on Chinese territory (they could be dragged anywhere), that they are invaders and the like. Therefore, in terms of the actions themselves - we were talking about the prelude before, and these are direct military actions - no deviations from the truth can be allowed that it was they who provoked the fire. This is clear. I am ready to meet with any Chinese statesman and I don't know who else, who will refute the facts established then, and I will prove that it was not us - they attacked first.

In your opinion, what prevented the provocateurs from carrying out their plan to the end?

They had endurance, organization, but we were more prepared. They were let down, probably, by the breakdown of the plan. After all, Strelnikov entered with the group first. They thought that everyone had already arrived. And they started shooting. And then we appeared - twelve more people. And Rabovich's group arrived. She was running parallel. And help came in the person of Bubenin. And then the helicopter showed up. That is, we acted according to the plan that we worked out for such a case. They obviously didn't know about it. They didn't know about the interaction between us. Ignorance of this played a fatal role for the Chinese, and they were unable to restrain our onslaught. Well, the ability of our guys to fight also affected.

There was an order - under no circumstances should weapons be used against the Chinese. The decision to open fire to kill the Chinese who invaded Damansky would inevitably lead to an armed confrontation between the two great powers - China and the USSR. Strelnikov, head of the outpost, was killed, all were shot. No one to consult. Did you then, junior sergeant, realize this to yourself, were there hesitations, doubts, or did everything happen automatically, against your will, and you commanded yours: “Fire!”?

I think that none of the border guards, even today, taking into account the bitter experience of such situations behind them, will allow themselves to thoughtlessly pull the trigger. The point is different. We are being prepared at the border, and well prepared. And at that time the commanders prepared people especially well. Many of them went through a great school of life, some were participants in the Great Patriotic War, in particular, Konstantinov, head of the political department of the detachment. In the classroom, we practiced various situations, including the actions of squad commanders in the event of the death of the head of the outpost. Before that, we had repeatedly traveled to suppress provocations and participated in the expulsion of the Chinese from our territory in the Ussuri, and therefore their next attack was not a big surprise for us. The ambush was a surprise. And on March 2, the decision came to me as if automatically. I saw that my comrades were falling bloodied, the Chinese were brutally finishing them off with bayonets and rifle butts. There was a fighting situation. The blood shed by provocateurs gave rise to opposition.

When Strelnikov died, did you remain senior in rank there?

This is not the main thing. We didn’t ask there, we didn’t call around: who was left alive, rake here, we will share the vacant post of commander. And everything happened by intuition. According to the situation. But the title also determined my status, my actions. Besides, I was not the last person in the detachment. He was at the forefront of various events. Usually sports. Usually participated in the shooting team as a senior, then as an assistant leader.

They say that you were then, how to put it mildly, so as not to offend you, far from being an ideal soldier. In the sense that their behavior did not quite correspond to the principle of an excellent student in combat and politics: serve according to the charter - you will win honor and glory. This is what impressed the fathers-commanders most of all: decisiveness, resourcefulness, initiative were expected from anyone, but so that the violator of discipline Babansky ... You yourself are inclined to think: you were drawn to a feat, or simply, having got into an extreme situation, you remained themselves - did not get confused and decided to top-drive?

I have a hard time evaluating myself. I am who I am. Violations of discipline, military order - it was. I am a guy from the countryside, I grew up independent. How is it in the village? You know how to protect yourself - you live as a normal guy, and if not, then they ride you. I lived in the village of Krasnoye, Kemerovo Region, for eighteen years. I saw the steam locomotive for the first time when I was going to the army. Can you imagine? I traveled by bus, but nothing else. There lived a person in me who developed in those conditions - harsh, ascetic, in a word, Siberian, and who had to not squish his nose and not run all the time to tell dad and mom, but stand up for himself.

There, in Krasnoye, everyone knows: I didn’t allow big stupid things. I climbed, like all boys, through gardens and kitchen gardens, but it was natural for me to protect the younger, weak one. I never hurt the younger one. This is not for red words. It was in my nature. Stronger or equal, I could compete, and there were no questions. Therefore, such a hooligan characterization of mine is essentially objective. I don't hide. I was not an ideal soldier, I was not an ideal sergeant, and I can not be set as an example in this regard. But when these things happened...

By the way, I even ended up at the outpost where everything happened, as a punishment - it was considered remote, service there was difficult, there were constant skirmishes with the Chinese. I served at another outpost, with Major Chepurnykh, in Lesozavodsk. He served well enough, conscientiously treated his duties. But some initiative was aimed not at the zealous performance of the service, but at the satisfaction of his boyish, or something, interests - to be honest, he ran AWOL. Once I got fifteen days. Just in time for the New Year. Conditions on the "lip" were severe, and I caught pneumonia there. Cured and out of sight - sent to the 2nd outpost of the Iman border detachment, now the famous "Nizhne-Mikhailovka".

At that time there were intense fights going on. Almost every day on the ice of the Ussuri, fistfights broke out with the Red Guards, who made claims to our islands. On the 25th of January I was thrown from a helicopter. I came to the outpost. Look, it's empty. To meet Kolya Dergach, a fellow countryman, they studied together at a vocational school. "Where are the people?" - asked him. - “Yes, everyone is on the ice, they are fighting with the Chinese!” Then a car drove up for help: cooks, stokers. I grabbed someone's machine gun and together with everyone - forward. I remember it was a frosty sunny day. And I, who came from the detachment, sat up on the garrison "lip", warmed up a little there.

Then they gave me a second section. Everyone is older than me. After this fight, they lined up, cleaned their weapons, put themselves in order. I looked and there was something I didn't like. Well, I nailed them. Some, of course, were offended by me: I didn’t have time to come and already shakes the rights! But I knew that because of all sorts of little things, as a rule, things end in tears. It ended like that - the second they died, these guys. I don't know if this is the reason or not, but the fact remains. And so they say: nothing, we will fix you. And they were told: they already tried to fix this guy at the training, in the commandant's office, in the rifle team - and don't try. You will be worse off. All. Left behind. Good relations have been established. I especially liked to mess around with young boys. He taught them to work on a tractor, to prepare firewood. The taiga is there. One hundred to one hundred kilometers. Scream do not scream - no one in the area. And on a tractor right into this taiga. The trunks were felled by a tractor, they were also hooked to the outpost with a cable. I liked this service. Great places.

As far as I know, you were presented to the Red Star for your participation in the events of March 2. But His Majesty chance intervened: the second provocation of the Chinese on March 15, and then you did something there, which forced the authorities to rewrite documents for you and make an introduction to the Hero. Meanwhile, nowhere in the press is anything concrete said about Babansky's actions after March 2. It seems as if you have disappeared somewhere, as if you did not exist. Please explain what you were doing so that it was drawn to the Golden Star, but it was closed from publicity? There were rumors that it was intelligence related.

Well, they don't talk about intelligence.

What can you tell me anyway.

What can I say. Since the beginning of hostilities on March 2, the Chinese have brought a huge number of troops, weapons, and equipment to the border. And they began to launch sabotage and reconnaissance groups on our side. Our troops were also concentrated, and we needed to ensure their safety and security. We had radar stations and other devices, in particular night vision, which made it possible to track the movement of Chinese troops and small groups. Our group, which included seven people, was led by an army lieutenant who knew Chinese. We went out to intercept Chinese reconnaissance groups; they tried to do it on their own territory, or, as they say, on neutral territory, on the river. Task: to prevent the penetration of saboteurs to the troops and, if possible, capture a representative of these groups and obtain certain information. We succeeded. There were also some incidents. Such a mutual character. And then they had to scatter in different directions, not having completed their combat mission to the end.

From the 2nd to the 15th.

How did you get into this group?

Of the entire outpost, only five of us survived. Who went sentry, who on duty. I got this place in the scout group. We lived at the outpost. We were raised on a specific command. Most of those who were there did not even know about our mission.

Was it such a delicate task that even today it is impossible to fully tell about it?

Certainly. Why talk about her? There were also certain results, actions that do not fall under open coverage.

I'll ask differently. Did you go to that side?

Not a step!

Is this the final answer?

Yes. (Pulls out an inhaler.) Asthma is a little pressing... I can once again emphasize that the guys did everything - both the dead and the survivors, who were severely traumatized by these events. They are great, they acted very competently, patriotically. They must be honored, glorified, as we honor the heroes of 1812, the Great Patriotic War. Today, unfortunately, many of them are forgotten, that glory is gone.

The events at Damansky are already history. Indeed, much has been said about them. You added something new with your story. However, there are still points that are not fully understood, not clarified. Here is one of them. What was the motive that pushed the Chinese to provocations in March 1969? Surely there must be some reason? The question is related to this. A few years before those events, the Chinese went out on the ice, and you went out too, fighting wall to wall there. In 1968 alone, forty provocations by the Chinese took place in the sector of the Iman border detachment. However, never before has it ended in armed attack, in blood. Probably, something must have happened that forced the Chinese to ambush our border guards. What do you think could be the reason for this?

Don't know. Can not say. Because nothing has changed in our behavior. We didn't provoke. We did not trample this island once again. We even had sentinel trails along the river bank, and the outfit did not go to the island once again, so as not to tease the Chinese. So, except that a crow flew there from our shore.

I don't see any such reason. Apparently, some internal reasons pushed them to this.

On February 7, 1969, a month before Damansky, an incident happened when a Chinese was crushed. In an interview with APN, which was given by you, Konstantinov and Bubenin, who came there, on Damansky, to your rescue, it was stated that nothing like this happened on the 7th. Here is a snippet of that interview:

“Question: The Maoists are spreading news around the world about some events on February 7th. The information department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry sets out its version of the claim to Damansky Island, gives a map, schemes for an attack from two sides by Soviet armored personnel carriers on Damansky Island, even publishes photographs, dating them to February 7th. Two Soviet armored personnel carriers and a gas truck are walking, and Chinese soldiers are standing in front of them. Moreover, everything takes place on the main channel not far from the fairway.

Bubenin: Chinese soldiers went to an area that did not belong to them. Strelnikov drove up. I drove up too. The Chinese made a noise and left. We didn't even leave the APC. They protested."

Yuri Vasilyevich, was it really so? Is this not one of the reasons for the ensuing denouement?

It was like this. The Chinese came out in droves. They were brought and brought. We cut through the ice hole. The frost was over twenty degrees, and she quickly froze. And then another batch of Chinese arrives and frantic cries begin: "Your officers are CIA agents, traitors, let's go to us, here is bread, tobacco, cigarettes - everything is for you." At this time, they are trying to cross the border, to put pressure on us with a crowd. We demanded to be left alone, they said: "Damn it - and not a step for it." I personally spent it with a stick in the snow. And I say: "Whoever steps over this line, he will receive it." And that's it. The Chinese continue to fanatically yell and move forward. We stand. There are five meters left, a meter between us. They all go. Here's the line. Crossed the line. And we have the most severe order: in no case should we allow violations of the State Border of the USSR. What is it like for us, soldiers in chains, in front of this brutal crowd? Has anyone for a moment imagined what it is like to be constantly under spitting, under the blows of their sticks, studded with nails? No one but us, the border guards, experienced this. Even the local population did not know anything about what was happening on the Ussuri ice in those years. Everything was carefully hidden.

Is the line a boundary?

Yes. And so they moved on. And we started pushing them out. Hand-to-hand ensued. We beat them, they beat us. There were many more. And our armored personnel carrier began to cut through them. They would have crushed us in a crowd, they would have simply trampled us into the ice, one wet place would have remained. And the armored personnel carrier cuts them into small groups. Groups are easier for us to manage. And then the driver of the armored personnel carrier did not notice, he crushed the Chinese. He pressed him not with wheels, but with his body. He also jumped out from under the front end, ran for a while and fell. Blood came out of his mouth. We didn't touch him again. They, I believe, finished it off themselves. And on this basis they raised a fuss that we deliberately crushed it.

Could you talk about it in an interview? Personally, you...

We should not have given the slightest reason that we are to blame for something. They could interpret everything differently. We couldn't say a word about it. But objectively, they ran into it themselves. We were told: you do not disclose this fact to the end. And don't touch it at all. But I was young then and could be tempted to be frank. I still didn’t quite understand that global politics was involved there. The organizers of the interview probably understood this state of mine, and therefore I did not answer this question ...

How was your life after Damansky?

Life, in principle, has developed normally, favorably, and this is mainly due to the fact that after my military service I remained in the border troops. I felt the care of the leaders of the troops - Zyryanov, Matrosov, Ivanchishin and many others. You can't name everyone. This is a whole family. Unfortunately, happiness then changed. In 1988, after graduating from the Academy of Social Sciences, I was sent to Kyiv as a member of the military council of the Western Border District - it was a solid promotion for me, then a newly minted general. But soon there was a collapse of the Union. The people who remained in the Russian border troops grew up well and served their Motherland. And I was left out of work, unclaimed. Thus, I had to first part with the border troops of Russia, then Ukraine, and, in the end, leave the service due to illness. Then he returned to Russia.

Forty-nine of our border guards gave their lives in March 1969 as a result of two Chinese provocations on Damansky Island. In the wake of the bloody tragedy on the Far Eastern Ussuri River, after the first provocation, the Government Commission worked. Its conclusions were submitted for consideration by a special meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the materials and decisions of which went into a long archive box. The country still does not know the details of the leaders' conversation behind closed doors about those events*. As part of that commission, an employee of the Political Directorate of the Border Troops of the KGB of the USSR, later Major General Pyotr Ivanchishin, worked.

Pyotr Alexandrovich, what happened on Damansky was a complete surprise for the country's leadership, as stated in the government note?

Each side interpreted the passage of the border in its own way. The Chinese recognized as its fairway, we - the red line of Muravyov, drawn by a thick line near the Chinese coast on the map when signing the Aigun Treaty.

We have seen: on the border, the Chinese are building up their grouping, their muscles. However, all our propaganda was aimed at ensuring that in no case succumb to provocations. We squeezed the Chinese out of the fairway back to their side, using sticks and fists. And that's it. We did not have an emphasis on the use of weapons. The country's leadership did not allow the possibility of a bloody denouement, they believed to the end that the escalating situation would sooner or later turn into negotiations at the level of A.A. Gromyko.

Do you remember where the news of what happened on the Ussuri found you? And, in fact, did the border Glavk have information about what happened there?

On Saturday, March 1, I returned from the Alma-Ata border school, where we were graduating the cadet division ahead of schedule. The decision on this release was made by the leadership of the KGB in connection with the deteriorating situation on the Soviet-Chinese border. Final exams took place not in May, as usual, but in February.

I lived then in Khimki-Khovrino, I had just received an apartment and decided to just sleep off the road. Midnight knock on the door. I open. There is a messenger with a package: “You urgently need to arrive at Glavk for a flight to the Far East!”

Rested...

Turned on the radio - nothing about the Far East.

A car was waiting below. We drove through Sunday night Moscow, there was no excitement around.

A group was already gathering in Glavka. She tried to find out the situation from the operational duty officer, but everything looked confusing, vague: either the Chinese beat us, or we beat them.

The group consisted of eighteen people. She was given the status of the Government Commission. It was headed by Colonel-General Nikolai Zakharov, First Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR. He personally reported later on her work to Andropov, and he - to Brezhnev. It included several officers from the GUPV, including myself, then the deputy head of the propaganda department of the Political Directorate of the country's border troops.

Soon a transport was brought in to leave for Vnukovo, where Andropov's plane was waiting for us. We drove with the howler turned on along the reserve lane.

What is this for?

Probably to get there faster...

In Khabarovsk, they transferred to the An-24 and got to Iman, the place of deployment of the border detachment. We got into the business. According to the first reports, it was determined that what happened was drawing on an incident, the issue of which could reach the UN level. This means that we must immediately go and sort it out, document everything on the spot, at the section of the Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost.

And what did you see?

Went out to the island. They counted three hundred and six cells for prone shooting. Mats, low parapets. According to their numbers, it was determined that an entire battalion of the PLA was laid in an ambush that shot the unsuspecting border guards of the outpost of Senior Lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov. A communication wire stretched across the channel to the Chinese coast.

I asked for a helicopter to film the exposure from above. Reluctantly, they gave it to me. Especially from Khabarovsk, I brought a group of newsreels there.

They patrolled, went to the Chinese coast. Then I got scared when I read the Hong Kong and Chinese press - the Chinese had the intention to shoot down the helicopter.

In the first battle, on March 2, thirty-one border guards were killed: the Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost lost twenty-two people (almost its entire payroll), led by its chief, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, and eight more people lost the Kulebyakiny Sopki outpost. Nikolai Buinevich, the detective of the special department of the Iman border detachment, also fell to the death of a hero. They lay in the barn, covered with white sheets. On the bodies of some border guards there are traces of stabbings with bayonets: our guys, still alive, wounded, were finished off by the attackers so as not to leave witnesses. Among them was Private Nikolai Petrov, a detachment cameraman. He didn’t have a camera, apparently the Chinese took it with them (it would be interesting now to look at the material filmed then and it’s also interesting why the Chinese never showed this recording), but under a sheepskin coat, when he was pulled out of the river, a camera was found. The film was shown. It turned out that the soldier managed to take three shots. At the last - a Chinese with his hand raised up - a signal for an ambush.

The survivors carried the smell of smoke and the stamp of battle. More coherently, his picture was revealed by junior sergeant Yuri Babansky, who took responsibility after the death of the commander to return fire. I wrote down everything he said, and his story formed the basis of the coverage of events.

And what was the reason for the Chinese to accuse our side of provoking a clash?

On the second day we went to the wounded in the army hospital in Iman (now the city of Dalnerechensk). Entering, Zakharov immediately asked: “They say you were the first to start shooting?” Someone, not really looking back at the big stars on our shoulder straps, replied: "If we were the first, we wouldn't be lying here."

At the hospital, we saw a stunning picture: as in a war, strings of women with baskets of food were dragging here. And some came from Vladivostok. The head of the hospital, observing the regime of a military medical institution, did not let anyone inside. Zakharov, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, saw these women and even shed a tear. He immediately ordered: let everyone in, this will be moral support for the fighters.

Commissions of this level usually seek to restrict "outsiders" access to the scene, and information is given out in a dosed manner. They say that your “team” did not escape such a temptation, in any case, the journalists complained ...

The commission, although of a high level, but she also got it. Installations from Moscow followed the most controversial. Enough contradictions within the group itself.

When I asked for a helicopter for aerial photography, I was asked why this is needed? But as soon as I lay down to rest at the end of the day, they came to me with a demand: “Andropov gave the command to deliver all the footage to Moscow by morning to present it at a press conference with Soviet and foreign journalists.” TASS correspondent Khrenov was put in a helicopter with a cassette - and the airport. The next day, Zakharov receives another order from Andropov - to hold a press conference on the spot, in Khabarovsk.

Then I was asked not to disperse the journalists, but to collect them. Moreover, we dispersed them so much, not allowing them to reach the outpost, that they took refuge somewhere. Only one did not settle down. Suddenly they report: on a channel near the Chinese coast (to go crazy!) Some Dmitriev was detained, he has a Trud certificate. He says he made his way to Damansky to see everything with his own eyes. What to do with him, maybe a spy?

The most difficult, tense moment in the work of the commission?

Meeting with the parents of the victims. The Chinese mixed up and in the confusion took away our wounded soldier instead of the corpse of their soldier. I have one woman who came from Siberia, asks: "Whom?" Me: Pavel Akulov. She howls and faints. It turned out to be his mother.

It was incredibly hard for us to remember. Many have lost their only sons. We tried to invite all parents. They came from all over the country. It seemed that the whole country was groaning. By the way, they said that on the way here taxi drivers refused to take money from them, at the airport passengers voluntarily gave them a seat on the plane so that they would have time for the funeral of their sons. There was even a case when one passenger returned the ticket and thus gave way to the mother of the deceased border guard on the plane.

The turning point was introduced by Zakharov. He read out the government's decree on benefits to the parents of the dead border guards. Each family, a widow, was given a fixed pension, regardless of their state of health and age. At that time, high - about a hundred rubles. It made a big impression. As well as the decision on posthumous awards.

It is known how such decisions were made in those days - often according to the order. I have heard that this "tradition" could not be avoided by the border guards even at that glorious hour.

There is no smoke without fire... After the second clash on March 15, we made a simultaneous performance. I was directly in the presentation group, contacted the instructor of the administrative department of the Central Committee of the CPSU. We were assigned four Heroes of the Soviet Union. When we reported how many people distinguished themselves, they specified to us: two alive and two dead.

But we had a fifth, the head of the political department of the detachment, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Dmitrievich Konstantinov. Hot, brave officer. When, in a tank attack, he went to the rescue of Yanshin’s motorized group and the head of the detachment, Colonel Leonov, died, and a critical situation developed - Moscow, after all, urged the immediate return of the island, on which the numerically superior forces of the Chinese settled, - Konstantinov simply took the machine gun and led people in a counterattack. His actions drew on the Hero without any exaggeration. But the Central Committee did not support it. Four and all. They gave Konstantinov the Order of Lenin. I personally felt that this happened.

Probably, in addition to the actions of our soldiers, you also studied the actions of the opposite side? Really, as our official propaganda then interpreted, the Chinese showed themselves helpless and we them with one "Voroshilov blow"? With this approach, one can doubt the heroism of one's own.

We underestimated the combat capability of the Chinese soldiers on the 15th (to characterize them, it is necessary to take the second battle, the first does not count, in the first they simply hit ours from around the corner), their training, their ability to fight tanks on foreign territory. And fanaticism was not taken into account. Their persistence was simply amazing. They directly climbed under tanks and armored personnel carriers and threw grenades at them. Therefore, in personnel, we lost a little, and armored vehicles - a dozen and a half units._ This was not written about then. This information was allowed to be given only at the platoon level. It was a ban. By the way, few people know that six people became PLA Heroes among the Chinese for the battles on Damansky. They do not have the title of country hero, the highest rank is Hero of the National Liberation Army of China.

The commission has completed its work. What is the sediment left in your soul from what you saw and heard in those days?

We, the members of the commission, which included many front-line soldiers, were shocked. We were happy that the traditions of the military generation were alive, that there were guys who, no worse than us, could make self-sacrifice. This heroism I cannot belittle even today. The only thing that causes regret: the border guards and soldiers of the army sincerely believed (by the way, I did too) that Damansky was the original Russian land and they had to defend it and defended it. And we were deceived. How were we to know that the politicians were confused with this piece of land. But it is an integral island in the archipelago of our memory.

(01/07/1927, the village of Pervomayskoye, Rostov Region, - 08/09/1987, Moscow), teacher, full member of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR (1974), doctor of pedagogical sciences, professor (1974). After graduating from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Rostov Pedagogical Institute (1949), he taught courses in pedagogy and methods of teaching physics there (in 1958-1969, vice-rector). In 1975-1977. rector of the Institute for Advanced Studies of Teachers of Pedagogical Disciplines at the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR. Since 1976, Academician-Secretary of the Department of Theory and History of Pedagogy, since 1979, Vice-President of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR. He developed a theory of learning optimization as a scientifically based choice and implementation of a learning option, which was considered from the point of view of the success of solving problems and the development, education and upbringing of students. He considered it possible to use this theory to solve pedagogical problems of a tactical and strategic nature. I interpreted the methodological foundations of the application of optimization as one of the aspects of the general theory of the scientific organization of pedagogical work. He proposed a system of specific recommendations on the choice of effective forms and methods for preventing poor progress and repetition, based on a comprehensive study of the reasons for the failures of schoolchildren. Under his editorship, textbooks for pedagogical institutes "Pedagogy" (1983; 1984, together with G. Neuner) were published.

Lit.: Chobotar A. Isn't it time to re-read Babansky? // Public education. - 1991. - No. 2.

Source: Russian Pedagogical Encyclopedia: in 2 vols. / Ch. ed. V.V. Davydov. - M .: "Great Russian Encyclopedia", T. 1, 1993, p. 67.

The library stock includes the following publications:

Read online:
Babansky, Yu. K. Selected pedagogical works / [comp. M. Yu. Babansky; ed. intro. Art. G. N. Filonov, G. A. Pobedonostsev, A. M. Moiseev; ed. comments A. M. Moiseev]; Acad. ped. sciences of the USSR. - M.: Pedagogy, 1989. - 558, p. : tab., 1 l. portrait - (Proceedings of full members and corresponding members of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR).