The time which we were able to gain gave me the opportunity to give detailed orders to my subordinates and arrange coordination. During the daylight, we put out mines and trip flares5 on the approaches to our position and also worked on repairing the road and bridge.
The enemy employed various ruses against our defense. For example, on the next day Private Tagirov noticed that a small group of men, disguised as local natives, was crossing the bridge carrying some kind of material on donkeys. He saw that a thin stream of some kind of liquid was spilling out from one of the packs onto the wooden bridge. We investigated and found that the liquid was gasoline. We washed part of it off with water and covered the area with sand. That night, the enemy fired many tracer rounds at the bridge, but were unable to set it on fire.
Frunze Commentary: The proper organization of the security force and the timely undertaking of necessary measures allowed a motorized rifle platoon to successfully defeat the mujahideen attack.
Editor’s Commentary: Bridge and road repair is a mission that western armies would normally give to an engineer unit. Here, a motorized rifle platoon leader is put in charge of some Afghan troops and civilians and is expected to accomplish this mission. He apparently does so.
Usually, in a defense, the bronegruppa serves a mobile reserve, capable of rushing to a threatened sector. Here, the bronegruppa is the basis of the defense.
In this vignette, the platoon leader does not incorporate high ground into his defense, but leaves a significant piece of high ground immediately outside his perimeter. He may have done so because he could not position his vehicles onto that ground or, when there, his vehicles would not have been able to support each other. Still, it is remarkable that he apparently did not even put a security post or observation post on the dominant terrain.
28. Organizing a security outpost in the suburbs of Kabul
by Major S. V. Mos’kin6
At the end of May 1982, enemy diversionary/reconnaissance groups conducted actions against Soviet Army base camps. In particular, they fired directly on the 40th Army headquarters. The leadership of the guerrilla forces announced that they would destroy the headquarters in the near future. Therefore, the high command decided to upgrade the defense and security of the army headquarters.
As a result, Major Avramenko, my battalion commander, decided to establish a new security post which would be manned by my motorized rifle platoon which had three BTR-70s and 28 men.7 My platoon was reinforced with two AGS-17s and three PK machine guns with night sights. We also received some night vision devices for night observation. An engineer excavator came to the site and within 72 hours, dug the primary and reserve fighting positions for my BTRs and men and then connected all the positions with deep fighting trenches. We dug secret forward redoubts on the flanks of the security outpost for our machine gun crews.
We also built an observation post for a long-range field of vision over our area. We established visual communications between the secret dugouts and the observation post to assist in coordinating fires. We built two barbed wire fences all around the security perimeter. Between the two rows of barbed wire fence, we put in an anti-personnel minefield (using both pressure and tension-release mines). On the far side of the wire, we laid in trip flares. A land-line was installed to give us telephone communications with the battalion commander, a neighboring tank platoon and the duty officer at army headquarters. I organized my post to have two-thirds of my men manning their posts at night and one third during the day. Every soldier had his combat crew assignment and instructions in case of an alert.
Map 28: Layout of a security outpost in the Kabul suburbs.
In September 1982, we intercepted an attempt by an enemy reconnaissance/diversionary group to penetrate to the army headquarters. The mujahideen preceded this provocation by shelling our positions with mortars and launch bombs. On the day before the attempt, they did a reconnaissance of our obstacles by driving a large flock of sheep into our mine field.
And on the next night, the mujahideen attempted to penetrate to the army headquarters using a dry river bed and irrigation canal. We killed two of these who wandered into our mines. We recovered weapons and documents from their bodies.
Frunze Commentary: Following repeated, unsuccessful mujahideen attempts on the army headquarters, future attempts by their reconnaissance/diversionary groups were thwarted by thorough, well-thought out measures to protect the army headquarters including the establishment of a new security outpost on the enemy approach route.
Editor’s Commentary: Due to the preeminence of the offense in Soviet military training, the Soviets rarely trained for the defense. There seems to be a hunker-down-and-wait mentality in their defenses, whereas one would expect to see patrols, moving ambushes, mechanical ambushes, and aggressive reconnaissance. This is particularly true at night. The only night patrols done in this vignette are done by the Afghan police. After a unit has gone to ground so thoroughly, it is hard to imagine putting it into an aggressive action without some serious readjustments and retraining. The unit seems to have bunker mentality.
29. Repelling a raid on a security post
by Major I. A. Egiazarov8
During the second half of June 1982, the high command decided to strengthen and expand Afghan government power around the city of Rukha in the Panjsher valley. They decided to do this during the course of an operation in the Panjsher valley which involved Afghan government forces and a SPETSNAZ detachment. The Afghan Army had a series of security outposts on the dominant heights surrounding Rukha. These posts were poorly fortified, there were not enough soldiers and heavy weapons to hold them, and the Afghan soldiers’ morale was low. The high command decided to reinforce the existing posts and to add additional outposts by assigning men from a SPETSNAZ detachment to man them.9
Thus on the 13th of June, I received orders to take my 31st SPETSNAZ Group and occupy the heights opposite the rest of the force across the Panjsher River.10 I was a lieutenant at the time. My commander wanted me to establish an observation post and look for mujahideen activity in the area of the hamlet of Marishtan. This would also deny the enemy the opportunity to conduct his own reconnaissance and launch a surprise attack on our battalion.
There were 15 men in my 31st SPETSNAZ Reconnaissance Group. Besides small arms, we had two AGS-17 automatic grenade launchers, one DShK heavy machine gun and one 82mm “tray” mortar. We were supported by an artillery battery [that belonged to the SPETSNAZ detachment]. We expected enemy action in the region on 15 or 16 July, and that action might include an assault on the security outposts.
Map 29: Repelling a raid on a security outpost.
We occupied our assigned peak on 15 July and began fortifying the position. This was our order of work. First, prepare firing positions and establish an integrated, comprehensive firing plan. Second, fortify the positions with local materials to blend in with the natural terrain and build covered shelters for the troops. Third, build tiered observation posts out of stone and clay. Fourth, mine the approaches to the post. Fifth, on a nearby terrace, build a hidden, tanglefoot obstacle.11 Sixth, organize an uninterrupted schedule of observation and security. Three men were always on guard during the day and seven men were always on guard at night. The detachment resupplied us with ammunition and food every three days.