Seventh anniversary of the liberation of Marinka: memories of the soldiers of the NGU
Early in the morning seven years ago, volunteers set off towards Donetsk in order to knock out an insidious enemy from Ukrainian soil. On August 4, 2014, fighters of volunteer battalions “Azov”, “Shakhtarsk participated in the operation to liberate Maryinka, which had been captured by militants for almost a month.” and the 51st OmbR.
Thanks to the combination of forces, the warriors managed to take the central positions of the terrorists. That battle is considered one of the most successful operations of the ATO, which became both defensive and counteroffensive. After that, Ukrainian fighters began stripping Maryinka in the eastern and western directions. Militants at this time were shelling civilians of the city with mortars, grenade launchers, howitzers and Grad installations.
For most of the Azov fighters, the operation to liberate Marinka was almost the first combat experience. Today, experienced warriors remember how they went into battle. Azovets with the call sign “Axe” to Maryinka has already gained experience, liberating Mariupol. The soldier recalls that no special training was carried out, but they constantly trained at the training ground, so they were ready for battle.
Axe was in a platoon under the command of the second “Gala”. The fighter remembered how they entered Marinka:
“We walked in a column, first stopped a few kilometers from the city, the commanders looked at the map and set tasks. The convoy with the equipment came even closer, hurried, lined up behind the tanks and BMP of the Armed Forces and went forward. The unit was on the elevator, and we had to clean the houses. I remember how the shooting started from the high-rise building, somewhere in the field there was an explosion and a tank hit the house. We moved slowly, it was incredibly hot. They followed the equipment and gradually cleaned each building — on the left side and on the right side. Then we were replaced by the first company and it so happened that their group almost immediately blew up on a radio-controlled fugue.”
It was that explosion that took the life of the fighter “Azov” under the pseudonym “Balagan”. This was the first loss for the Azov, another 15 of our fighters were wounded.
The plan of the assault changed in the course of actions, recalls the fighter of the OZSP “Azov” under the pseudonym “Polyak”. For the warrior, the operation to free Marinka was the first combat baptism:
“We expected that we would be one of the first to enter the city, and in the end our platoon provided fire support. The first units were then already passed and the main resistance was received in the form of controlled fugas. After that, we were put into battle, and we began to clear the secondary street, where, according to intelligence, the probability of fire contact was the least. But everything turned out to be completely wrong: where the least was expected, the most turned out. Under the cover of a tank, we went close to the Separatist checkpoint. The militants began to run, to fuss, to take positions of fire, and we did not understand whether this was our checkpoint or the enemy.”
So while the newly arrived soldiers were clarifying the situation, there were two RPGs on the tank, and the Azovs gradually began to retreat back. At this time, the enemy forces started shelling our guys with dagger fire from both sides.
“Then I got into a fight for the first time and was a little confused. The shooting took place with tracers, and there were a lot of them both in us and in the enemy - and it was a kind of phenomenal, bright fire show, - said Poljak. “So my first fire contact was close enough to the enemy, but we, in fact, did not see the separators themselves - we just saw a bunch of bullets flying in the sky and it was like in a Star Wars movie.
“We passed the city almost without stopping, it took more time to comb the yards. We were sharpened so as not to leave the enemy behind, - the Azov fighter's friend Gal recalled in an interview.
The warrior recalls that Marinka was cleaned with almost bare hands. There were two infantry fighting vehicles, one tank, the legendary KamAZ “Gingerbread” and small arms. Despite such simple weaponry of Ukrainian volunteers, the terrorists were frightened.
By evening, the volunteers had completely cleared Marinka, displacing the enemy on the outskirts of the city.
“Further fighting went outside the city from Donetsk side. Now, the fact that the city stands close to the front line is indicated by the windows laid with bricks and bags,” Gal added.
During the battle for Marinka, the enemy suffered significant losses and it was on that day that the strategically important city on the approaches to Donetsk came back under the blue-yellow curtain.
Military Unit Information and Communication Group 3057
