In connection with the battle of Severodonetsk, where brutal fighting remains ongoing, the Wolverines were sent on a mission to clear enemy mines. Their objective was to create a safe path for their unit’s vehicles in advance of a Ukrainian assault planned for the following morning.
There was a full moon that night, and heavy fog. Zabielski and another American fighter named Gary were to go out in front of the squad and establish an observation post. Their job was to keep watch on the Russian line, which was not far away, while the others marked the land mines for clearance.
They finished this dangerous work around two in the morning. At that point, a decision was made to postpone the next morning’s attack, due to the thick fog. That meant that Zabielski and Gary would have to maintain their observation post for another full day, even though they were all sleep-deprived. Nettles hadn’t slept in twenty-four hours. Such is the miserable life of infantrymen.
Two of the fighters made their way to the observation post to relay the order and resupply Zabielski and Gary with water and fresh batteries for their equipment. When they learned that they would have to stay out another twenty-four hours, Zabielski and Gary decided to move to a position they considered more suitable.
Nettles blames the thickness of the vegetation, the heaviness of the fog, and a failure to maintain proper distance between personnel for what happened next. “Stephen apparently triggered a trip wire, which detonated a mine that killed him and severely injured Gary,” Nettles says.
The bad news went out over the radio, and a Canadian fighter named JT drove a vehicle in the direction of the explosion to evacuate the casualties. But JT had trouble crossing some train tracks, and in an effort to get over, he made a serious mistake. He maneuvered the vehicle over a portion of the tracks that had not yet been cleared of mines. “Which resulted in his vehicle exploding with him still inside,” Nettles says.
With the sun coming up over the horizon and the Russians in close proximity, the rest of the squad had to bring the casualties out on foot. When they got to the burning vehicle on the train tracks, they found that JT, while severely injured and badly burned, was able to walk. Down where the other two guys had been hit by the land mine, they found Zabielski already dead, and Gary badly wounded, both of his legs broken below the knees.
They squad carried Gary out on a makeshift stretcher. Extraction of Zabielski’s body would have to wait for the following day. Already it was light out. “There was no security,” Nettles says. “We should have all been slaughtered, because no one had guns on the wood-line, and most everyone was being extremely loud, and we were very close to the burning vehicle right next to the Russian position. If the Russians had any tactical competence or courage at all, they would have sent a forward observation team, who would have seen our group with no weapons up, carrying a stretcher, and killed us all.”
Back at the rally point, JT and Gary were loaded into an SUV that drove hell-for-leather in the direction of the nearest hospital. On the way there, Nettles recorded a video of the wounded men. It shows Gary’s bloody legs horribly broken, the bones inside completely snapped, his pant legs shredded. He sucks in ragged breaths, moaning in agony, as the SUV jostles over a rough road. “We’re going to be there soon,” Nettles says, trying to reassure him, but his voice is shaking. JT, his head wrapped in a white bandage, appears to be conscious but in shock. The Canadian “didn’t look as bad” as Gary, but “was actually worse,” Nettles says. “He was in the car when it blew up and roasted before getting out.”
