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

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Chapter 1, Vignette 2 Page 11 back to Kabul and others were abandoned. There were some intact abandoned trucks outside the kill zone. Dead and wounded lay on the ground. Only damaged vehicles were left in the kill zone. We had no casualties. In one of the jeeps we found some movie projectors. We also captured 11 AKs, two pistols and one heavy machine gun (which was mounted on an armored vehicle). We took what we could and split the spoils. HIH got all the projectors. We left and went to Wazir Kala some four kilometers away. Helicopter gunships came and fired at our old positions. Four Soviet helicopters came and took away their dead and wounded. We stayed in Wazir Kala for two or three hours. The helicopters were bombing and strafing the positions all of this time. In the late afternoon, when everything settled down, we returned to the area to search and see what was left. We removed the heavy machine gun and projectors at this time. We stopped a passing bus and asked the passengers for matches. At first they refused, not wanting to be accomplices, so we searched their pockets and got some matches and set fire to the damaged vehicles. Two days later, the Soviets sent a force to search our old positions. Of the 13 men in the ambush, only Baryali, Asef of HIH and I survived the war. COMMENTARY: Both the Soviets and Mujahideen set patterns. The Mujahideen use the Mamur Hotel ambush site over and over again, yet apparently the Soviets or DRA seldom dismounted troops to search the area to spoil the ambush or to try to set a counterambush. This last example is from 1986, yet there seems to be no learning curve on the part of the Soviets. Air support is tardy, artillery fire is unavailable and there is no reserve to move against the ambush. Aggressive patrolling, specially-trained counter-ambush forces and priority counter-ambush intelligence are lacking. The standard Soviet/DRA counter-ambush techniques include an aerial patrol in front of the column, an engineer sweep in front of the column looking for mines, armored vehicles in the front of the column, occasional armored vehicles throughout the column and a robust rear guard. Once hit, the armored vehicles in the column would return fire while the soft-skin vehicles tried to drive out of the kill zone. Seldom would the ambushed force dismount forces to clear the ambush site and pursue the ambush party. The Mujahideen did vary ambush positions in the same ambush site. Their primary concern was to hit the column where it was weakest—usually in the middle or rear—unless the purpose was to bottle up the column. In most ambushes, a small number of highly-mobile
Page 12 The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War Mujahideen were able to move and attack with little logistic support, but were unable to conduct a sustained fight. The RPG-7 was probably the most effective weapon of the Mujahideen. When used at close quarters with the element of surprise, it was devastating. In this region, Mujahideen ambushes occupied a very wide front. This was a function of the open terrain and the spacing between convoy vehicles. Convoy SOP was to maintain 100 meters or more between vehicles. In order to have enough vehicles in the kill zone to make the ambush worthwhile, the Mujahideen had to constitute a kill zone much bigger than that employed by most Western armies.
Page 2: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN: Muj
Page 5 and 6: Chapter 3: Shelling Attacks 105 Vig
Page 7 and 8: Chapter 14: Urban Combat 365 Vignet
Page 9 and 10: FOREWORD When the Soviet Union inva
Page 11 and 12: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book would not
Page 13 and 14: PREFACE Afghanistan, a multi-ethnic
Page 15 and 16: system, an oppressive central gover
Page 17 and 18: each other than trying to establish
Page 19 and 20: through various Afghan political fa
Page 21 and 22: Academy and Army Staff College. His
Page 23 and 24: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN: Muj
Page 25 and 26: Page 4 The Other Side of the Mounta
Page 31: Page 10 The Other Side of the Mount
Page 35 and 36: Page 14 The Other Side of the Mount
Page 56: VIGNETTE 9 DEH-KHWAJA AMBUSH by Com
Page 64 and 65: VIGNETTE 11 KANDAHAR AMBUSHES by Co
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Page 70 and 71: VIGNETTE 12 AMBUSH AT QALA-E HAIDAR
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Page 74 and 75: VIGNETTE 13 AMBUSH AT THE SADRE AZA
Page 76: VIGNETTE 14 AMBUSH AT MAZAR CREEK b
Page 80: VIGNETTE 15 AMBUSH AT QAFUS TANGAY
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Page 62 The Other Side of the Mount
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Chapter 1, Vignette 16 Page 66 thei
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CHAPTER 2 RAIDS The raid is a surpr
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VIGNETTE 1 RAID ON THE TOTUMDARA SE
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VIGNETTE 2 CHAMTALA RAID by Tsaranw
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Chapter 2, Vignette 2 Page 75 the e
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VIGNETTE 4 ATTACK ON THE TSAWKEY SE
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Chapter 2, Vignette 4 Page 79 COMME
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Chapter 2, Vignette 7 Page 91 Mujah
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VIGNETTE 8 RAID ON LATABAND SECURIT
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Chapter 2, Vignette 9 Page 99 eight
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VIGNETTE 10 RAID ON THE BRIDGE POST
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Chapter 2, Vignette 10 Page 103 cha
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VIGNETTE 1 A SHELLING ATTACK TURNS
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Chapter 3, Vignette 1 Page 109 troo
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Chapter 3, Vignette 1 Page 111 COMM
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Page 114 The Other Side of the Moun
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CHAPTER 4 ATTACKING A STRONG POINT
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VIGNETTE 1 TAKING ALINGAR DISTRICT
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Chapter 4, Vignette 1 Page 121 capt
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VIGNETTE 5 STORMING GULA'I by Haji
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CHAPTER 5 MINE WARFARE Mine warfare
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VIGNETTE 1 MUJAHIDEEN DEMOLITION ME
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VIGNETTE 2 MINING ATTACKS NEAR MEHT
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Chapter 5, Vignette 2 Page 145 set
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Chapter 6, Vignette 2 Page 155 ing,
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VIGNETTE 4 DEFENSE OF A RIVER LINE
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Chapter 6, Vignette 4 Page 163 rive
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VIGNETTE 5 THE DEFENSE AGAINST THE
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VIGNETTE 6 OPERATION GHASHEY (ARROW
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Chapter 6, Vignette 6 Page 177 B. N
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Chapter 6, Vignette 6 Page 179 Ther
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Chapter 6, Vignette 6 Page 181 2. B
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Chapter 6, Vignette 6 Page 183 over
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Chapter 6, Vignette 6 Page 185 COMM
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Chapter 6, Vignette 6 Page 187 moun
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COMMENTARY: The confident commander
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CHAPTER 7 SIEGE WARFARE The Mujahid
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VIGNETTE 1 FAILED SIEGE AT URGUN by
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Chapter 7, Vignette 1 Page 201 At 2
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Chapter 7, Vignette 1 Page 203 the
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VIGNETTE 2 DEHRAWUD OFFENSIVE In th
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Chapter 7, Vignette 2 Page 207 road
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Chapter 7, Vignette 2 Page 209 appr
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CHAPTER 9 FIGHTING HELIBORNE INSERT
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VIGNETTE 1 SOVIET HELIBORNE RAID AC
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Chapter 9, Vignette 1 Page 231 retr
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VIGNETTE 2 SOVIET RAID ON KANDA by
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CHAPTER 10 DEFENDING AGAINST A CORD
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VIGNETTE 1 BATTLE OF BARAKI BARAK b
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VIGNETJE 2 DEFENDING AGAINST AN OFF
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VIGNETTE 3 BATTLE FOR KAMA by Abdul
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Chapter 10, Vignette 5 Page 265 Naz
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CHAPTER 11 DEFENDING BASE CAMPS Alt
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VIGNETTE 1 SOVIET OFFENSIVE THROUGH
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Chapter 11, Vignette 1 Page 271 At
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VIGNETTE 2 DEFENDING SURKHAB BASE C
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Chapter 11, Vignette 2 Page 275 hig
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VIGNETTE 3 FALL OF SURKHAB BASE CAM
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Chapter 11, Vignette 3 Page 279 get
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VIGNETTE 4 Loss OF THE TOR GHAR BAS
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VIGNETTE 6 QALA-E NAW BASE CAMP DEF
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VIGNETTE 7 DEFENDING THE SUBURBS OF
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VIGNETTE 8 DEFENDING THE MALAJAT by
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VIGNETTE 9 BATTLE FOR CHAHARQULBA V
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Chapter 11, Vignette 9 Page 313 tan
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Chapter 11, Vignette 9 Page 315 wou
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VIGNETTE 10 ZHAWAR ONE by Lieutenan
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Chapter 11, Vignette 10 Page 319 D3
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Chapter 11, Vignette 10 Page 321 "b
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VIGNETTE 11 ZHAWAR TWO by Lieutenan
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Chapter 11, Vignette 11 Page 325 DR
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VIGNETTE 12 KRER ONE by Commander A
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Chapter 11, Vignette 13 Page 333 ou
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VIGNETTE 14 THE FALL OF CHAGHNI BAS
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Chapter 11, Vignette 14 Page 339 Th
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CHAPTER 12 COUNTERAMBUSH Counteramb
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VIGNETTE 1 CAUGHT IN A SOVIET AMBUS
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Chapter 12, Vignette 1 Page 345 and
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VIGNETTE 2 AMBUSHED AT FARZA by Com
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VIGNETTE 3 BLASTING OUT OF AN AMBUS
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VIGNETTE 5 AMBUSHED ON THE HIGH PLA
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VIGNETTE 1 A TRIP TO THE "GOVERNOR'
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VIGNETTE 3 ESCAPE FROM THE ARGHANDA
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CHAPTER 14: URBAN COMBAT Urban guer
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Chapter 14, Vignette 2 Page 369 sec
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VIGNETTE 3 INCIDENT AT QALA-E JABAR
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VIGNETTE 7 ALCOHOL CAN BE DEADLY by
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Vignette 14 Raid on 15 Division Gar
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CHAPTER 15 CONCLUSION "As a nation,
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Chapter 15 Page 401 Disunity of Com
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Chapter 15 Page 403 ing the large a
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Chapter 15 Page 405 The overall Muj
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GLOSSARY Afghanistan National Liber
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Glossary Page 409 Korean War. It sa
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Glossary Page 411 Kochi—Kochi are
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Glossary Page 413 Shia—The minori
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Rifleman Light Machine Gun Medium M
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INDEX Abdul-Rahman, Mawlawi 167, 16
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Razek, Abdul 335 Index Page 419 Sad
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The Other Side of the Mountain: Muj
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Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War - Bennett Park Raiders

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