Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War - Bennett Park Raiders

Page 244 The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War
around it, occupied the high ground and began attacking some of the
Mujahideen positions. The column from Kabul occupied Pul-e Alam
and from there sent one detachment to the west around Mir Abdal
mountain to flank the district from the northwest. The column from
Gardez moved west of the road to the Altamur plain and covered the
southeastern axis to the district. The column from Wardak occupied
positions on the district's western flank. The enemy blocked practically
all major axes out of the area. Since we Mujahideen commanders
knew of the upcoming offensive, we had gathered earlier to draw
up a joint defensive plan. All faction commanders participated and
we constituted the southeastern and northwestern defensive sectors
and assigned defensive areas within these sectors to different factions
and units. We organized our forces into small groups to insure
our ability to maneuver and then occupied positions in the perimeter
villages of our district. We constituted mobile interior reserves and
kept them available to react to enemy actions.
I commanded the southeastern sector. I had approximately 800
Mujahideen, armed and unarmed, under my command. Our weapons
included ZGU-ls, DShKs, many RPG-7s, PK machine guns, 82mm
mortars, 82mm and 75mm recoilless rifles, machine guns, and a
number of .303 bolt-action Enfield rifles. These Enfields were quite
effective against dismounted Soviets. They had a maximum effective
range of 800 meters compared to 400 meters for the AK assault rifle.
Further, the more-powerful .303 round would penetrate Soviet flak
jackets while the AK round would not.
The enemy deployed his artillery on the Altamur plain and at
Pul-e Alam. His column from Wardak occupied the line Dashte
Delawar—Cheltan hill—and the northern villages to the high
ground. The enemy initiated their attack with heavy artillery fire
and air strikes on the villages and suspected Mujahideen positions.
The artillery fire continued for several hours. They hit the positions
of the ZGU-ls and set the entire area on fire. The enemy advanced
from the southwest between Cheltan and the road and entered our
villages and searched them. They also attacked from the other directions
against the perimeter villages that they were facing. Our
Mujahideen fought them from their forward positions and fell back to
back-up positions as the enemy entered the villages. The villages and
orchard provided good cover and concealment and, although the
enemy had the area surrounded, we were able to move freely within
the 10-kilometer-wide area. We began to launch small-group counterattacks
with our scattered groups of Mujahideen. We hit the