According to General A. P. Yermolov, Dadi-Yurt was chosen for a punitive expedition long ago due to the fact that the inhabitants of the village were the most daring and successful robbers among the Chechens.

As John Baddeley stated in 1908, «the inhabitants of the village mainly hunted by robbery, but they so skillfully covered up the traces of their dirty deeds that it was very rarely possible to prove their guilt».

[2] However, Yermolov himself wrote in one of his letters:[3] Such an example has not yet been seen in this region, and I only gave it for that, in order to spread horror.A detachment of Major General Vasily Sysoev was assigned to carry out the operation, consisting of six companies of the Kabardian regiment and 700 Cossacks with six guns.

The battle was extremely fierce, each saklya, surrounded by a stone wall, had to be taken by storm, with the help of artillery shelling, breaking through the fence, and then — in hand-to-hand combat, killing the defenders.

[4] One hundred and forty women and children who asked for mercy were left alive, a significantly larger number died during the battle at the hands of the stormers or because of the fires that started.