The 1st MRC dismounted group consisted of 36 people, one 12.7mm utes (cliff) machine gun, one 30mm AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher, and two 82mm podnos (tray) mortars plus small arms. My dismounted group comprised 49 people, two utes machine guns, one AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher, two podnos mortars plus small arms. The dismounted reconnaissance company had 38 men, two utes machine guns, one AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher and one podnos mortar plus small arms.
Intelligence reports told us that there were supposedly three guerrilla forces with a total of 170–200 men in this area.
We prepared for combat during 10 hours of daylight. The troops pulled vehicle maintenance and cleaned their weapons. There were essentially no material reserves to replenish since we had restocked our combat loads when we left Kabul and had not used them during the march.
The subunit commanders received their orders and formulated their own plans. Particular attention was paid to coordination. The way this was done is particularly instructive. The regimental commander took all commanders from platoon leader up on a personal daytime reconnaissance. This group moved to the reconnaissance site in two stages mounted on two BMPs. The majority of the commanders were hidden inside the BMPs and practically all were dressed as ordinary soldiers (without rank and commanders’ accoutrements). The officers had the chance to scrutinize their entire march route and coordinate their movement to the depth of the mission.
Map 19: Advance of a MRB in the mountains at night.
At 2100 hours on 25 February, the regiment moved out. At first, the movement and deployment of the 1st MRB went according to plan. Then, however, the ascent was delayed by an hour and 15 minutes. There were two reasons for the delay. First, a BTR-70 from the movement support detachment hit a mine. The driver was shellshocked and the regimental assistant engineer was wounded. This was a result of the imperfect reliability of our mine detectors when used in the mountains. Second, no one had reckoned on the intervening natural obstacle – the dry river bed. The bank of this river bed was impassable, it was practically sheer and was from one to three meters high. Therefore, we had to jockey our BMPs around and zigzag by some 50 to 100 meters to enter and exit from the stream bed. This also ate up the time.
The approach was done by platoons traveling by bounds. Each successive height was occupied by a platoon which would then cover the advance of the other platoon with his on-board weapons. The success of the advance was also supported by covering fire from the artillery group and supporting BMPs. The 1st MRC advanced up the mountain some 800 meters and the 3rd MRC with the recon platoon some 1,300 meters. The 1st MRC fulfilled its mission at 0130 hours while the 3rd MRC fulfilled its mission at 0330 on 26 February.
During the climb up the mountain, we found several abandoned defensive works and campfires with smoldering embers. We disarmed two explosive devices. However, the delay during our approach and deployment kept us from cutting off the enemy’s withdrawal. At the same time, the guerrilla forces did not succeed in getting out of the area completely since the other side of the canyon was controlled by Afghan government forces.
At dawn, we were able to establish visual reconnaissance. We discovered signs of enemy activity and called artillery fire in on the area and also shot it up with fire from the utes machine gun and AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher. However, the enemy knew the terrain well and was well versed in the art of camouflage. Therefore, the rounds mainly impacted on the ground and effects of the fire were minimal.
With the approach of darkness, we were ordered to come down from the mountain and rejoin the regiment. We travelled on to our base camp, but later learned from agent intelligence that during the time of our action, enemy losses were up to 30 KIA or WIA in that region.
Frunze Commentary: This vignette shows that thorough coordination is necessary when functioning under unusual conditions (night combat, conduct of fire above and between friendly forces). The commander used a variety of means to deceive the enemy (the reconnaissance sweep in the opposite direction, the secret conduct of the commanders’ reconnaissance). The unit also made mistakes. There was insufficient consideration given to the impact of terrain on the combat approach by the subunits, which led to the unforeseen jockeying about to cross the dry river bed. Further, reconnaissance of the march route and mine detecting were poorly done.
Editor’s Commentary: The Soviet infantry carried some incredible weights. Carrying a 58-pound heavy machine gun, its tripod and ammunition up a hill at night is a challenge. The AGS-17 and 82mm mortar are not any easier. How the commander expected his infantry to cut off the enemy escape route, when the nimble mujahideen already had an uphill advantage, is questionable. Airlanded blocking forces seems to be an answer to cutting off escape routes.
The Soviets adopted bounding overwatch in this vignette and apparently throughout the Afghanistan War. Bounding overwatch was not in the European battle book since it slowed down movement tempo. However, bounding overwatch is essential when moving over rough terrain or when your enemy is not totally occupied with your artillery and air strikes.
In this vignette and others, the Soviets had no problem assigning a staff officer as a temporary commander. Here, the recon platoon was attached to a MRC and the battalion chief of staff was put in field command. This was a normal field practice and does not necessarily mean that they were having problems with the regular company commander.
As the vignette demonstrates, mine clearing in mountains is a difficult proposition – particularly against some of the non-metallic mines. Soviet equipment was frequently not up to the job. The Soviet Army lost 1,995 KIA and 1,191 vehicles to mines during the course of the Afghanistan War.
From the entire book, it is apparent that Soviet forces were spread very thin. Vignette 14 required a battalion each from three different regiments from a division spread over 400 kilometers. They could not assemble a single regiment, which would have been more effective, since they had to secure bases and LOCs. Vignette 18 required an understrength battalion to conduct a 500 kilometer road march on BMPs prior to entering combat. Operation “Magistral’” (Vignette 17) pulled most of a division out of the northeast part of Afghanistan to combine with part of another division, but there are indications that KGB border troops came south into Afghanistan to help hold the area during the division’s absence. The Soviets did not commit sufficient force to win the war. They committed forces to bolster the Marxist-Leninist government of Afghanistan and hoped that they could buy enough time for the Afghan government to build up its own forces to fight its own war.
This is not to say that the Soviets did not try to win the war militarily. The 40th Army was much larger that the Afghan Peoples Army and Afghan government security forces and was reinforced by Air Force units and reserves located just across the Amudarya (Oxus) river in the Soviet Union. The Soviets controlled the country and were able to effectively intervene at any point in Afghanistan at any time they desired. However, such intervention was effective only as long as they remained in the area. They could not conquer the country. General Secretary Gorbachev directed that the military achieve victory in 1985 and casualty figures on both sides reflect this effort. This effort failed and Gorbachev finally decided that the Soviet Union must withdraw with dignity from Afghanistan.