The fighters were attempting to break through the cordon set up by Russian forces around the Argun river gorge[8] following the fall of Grozny in February.

They were apparently deceived by Arbi Barayev, who had promised to evacuate their wounded with buses, but in actuality lured Gelayev and his troops into a well-prepared federal ambush.

[9] Once in Komsomolskoye, the column was blocked by Russian Internal Troops and OMON and SOBR police commandos from Voronezh, Irkutsk and Kursk, who were soon joined by the military.

[1] However, according to Los Angeles Times interviews with Chechen survivors of the battle, the trapped rebels, many of whom were injured or frostbitten, could not fortify the village or find decent shelter.

On the second day, the Russian forces said that women and children could leave, but they were discouraged to do so by Chechen troops, possibly aiming to use them as human shields.

[2] Civilian survivors said refugees were allowed to return to the village for one hour to take their belongings, but were killed during renewed Russian bombing.

They stated they were able to evacuate from the battle zone after a group of pro-Moscow Chechen militia policemen forced the Russian checkpoint at gunpoint to let them pass.

[1] After four days of around-the-clock artillery bombardment, with fighter-bomber air strikes being conducted every five to 10 minutes[1] including the use of thermobaric weapons (TOS-1 multiple rocket launchers), the storming of Komsomolskoye began.

[1] On 15 March, the deputy commander of the Western Group of federal forces in charge of equipment and armament, Colonel Mikhail Revenko, was killed by a grenade while trying to leave a disabled tank.

The village, described by one journalist as "looking like a pile of shattered matchsticks—not a single building was left intact," was strewn with rotting corpses and wrecked T-80 tanks and armoured personnel carriers.

On 29 March, territorial forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Chechnya announced they had found and buried the remains of 552 Chechens and 628 large animals.

[1][22] Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya compared the events in Komsomolskoye to the Khatyn massacre and called it "a village that no longer exists", as the battle left behind "a monstrous conglomerate of burnt houses, ruins, and new graves at the cemetery."

He asked: "Why was the whole country stirred when the Kursk sailors were dying, but when they were shooting people leaving Komsomolskoe right on the field for several days, you kept silent?