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

Chapter 11, Vignette 5 Page 287
ing our base. Khodai-Rahm was one of the DShK gunners. Physically,
he was a weak person, but he took the 34 kilogram (75 pound) weapon
off the mount, hoisted it on his shoulder and fired down into the
canyon. He hit two of the helicopters, one of them in the rotors. That
helicopter gunship climbed to the top of the mountain and then the
rotors quit turning. The pilot bailed out, but he was only 50 meters
above the mountain and he and the helicopter crashed onto the mountain
southern wall near the interior mouth of the canyon. The second
damaged helicopter managed to escape, while the third helicopter
attacked the Mujahideen DShK gunners. Khodai-Rahm was killed
by the third helicopter.
The cheering Mujahideen rushed to the helicopter. There were
five dead Soviets—the pilot, two crew members and two passengers.
One of the passengers was a woman. One of the Mujahideen cut off
the pilot's head and brought it to Mohammad Shah. Suddenly Soviet
fighter-bombers flew over our base and began bombing us. Toward
late afternoon, Soviet transport helicopters flew in and landed
some three kilometers from the canyon mouth. Soviet troops dismounted
and took up blocking positions—presumably to prevent us
from taking the downed crew out. Early the next morning, Soviet
armored vehicles arrived and surrounded the area. (Map 11-6 -
Kaneske 1) Soviet infantry pushed forward, supported by armor.
The Soviet infantry moved on the high ground along the Tora Para 4
toward the crash site. Some Soviets moved along the canyon floor
and the opposite canyon wall, supported by troops on the high ground
of Tora Para. As the Soviets advanced, they marked boulders and
rocks with numbers for orientation. After seven days of fighting, they
reached the helicopter crash site. We retreated to higher ground by
the waterfall. On the eighth day, the Soviets left, taking their dead,
including the headless torso, with them. They left the hulk of the
helicopter behind.
COMMENTARY: One of the more successful Mujahideen air defense
ambushes involved digging in heavy machine guns into caves in
canyon walls. When the Soviet/DRA helicopters flew down the
canyon, the machine guns would fire across the canyon filling the air
with bullets. The helicopters could not attack the machine guns and
were hard pressed to avoid the bullets. This ambush would have
worked well in Kaneske Canyon.
Para means ridge.