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

Chapter 11, Vignette 5 Page 289
The Soviets painted numbers on boulders and rocks to provide
reference points during their attack. This is a good technique as it aids
adjusting air and artillery fire and keeping track of the progress of
units as they advance. Still, the Soviet attack was a frontal attack
which allowed the Mujahideen to concentrate their fires against the
Soviet advance.
A SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE
In March 1983, our group leader, Mawlawi Mohammad Shah,
took the bulk of our Mujahideen to Nimruz Province. Iran had
supplied him with weapons and encouraged him to join the
Mujahideen in Nimruz Province in attacking the DRA 4th Border
Guards Brigade at Kang Wolowali (District) near the Iranian border.
Along with the Iranian weapons, Mohammad Shah took most of our
DShK machine guns. The attack on the border post failed and
Mohammad Shah lost 35 men. His own son lost a leg in the fighting.
It was a heavy blow to our group and we felt that Iran had conspired
in our defeat. At the time, Mohammad Shah was about to form an
alliance with the Maoist Gul Mohammad and Parviz Shahriyari.
Both were from Harakat (IRMA) and receiving arms from Iran.
Under the alliance, we would leave Sharafat Koh and move to
Chahar Burjak. This would have strengthened the Mujahideen and
Iran wanted to weaken us and make us dependent on Iran. As a
result of the disastrous attack, the Sharafat Koh Front was now
weakened and we only had 25 men in our base. After the disaster, I
was preparing to leave the base and visit my home, but as I moved
out I saw that the Soviets were fighting in Shiwan, so I returned to
the base where I made radio transmissions supposedly sending 50
men to this ridge and 40 men to that ridge. This radio deception was
supposed to keep the Soviets at bay.
I was sleeping at Nizam Qarawol, the gate security post at the
mouth of the canyon, when, early in the morning, we heard a helicopter
flying over. (Map 11-7 - Kaneske 2) We put our ears to the
ground and heard the noise of tanks approaching. We quickly moved
through the darkness to our base, pausing only to lay some antitank
mines. Mohammad Shah's deputy, Haji Nur Ahmad Khairkhaw, was
in charge. We had gathered in the darkness discussing what to do
when Malek Ghulam Haidar and his Mujahideen from Shiwan
joined us. They had noted the Soviet preparations and guessed that
we were the target, so they came across the desert to join us. They