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

Chapter 11, Vignette 14 Page 337
engaged a helicopter coming toward them, but missed. The helicopter
went over the crest of the hill where Abdul Ghani was waiting
with a RPG. Abdul yelled that the helicopter was landing infantry
and he would get it. He shot it with his RPG. Only four or five personnel
had gotten out of the helicopter when he hit it. The remains
of that helicopter were there for more than year.
We had deployed our forces to maximize the fire power of our
seven 82mm recoilless rifles, five ZGU-1 machine guns, six DShK
machine guns and many RPG-7s. We also had some mortars, but we
could not use the mortars very well. A mortar is good against a
stationary target, but is hard to use against a moving target. Most of
the fighting was between their armored vehicles and our recoilless
rifles and RPGs. They were so close that we could hear their Russian
voices. They were also using loudspeakers telling us to surrender
since our plight was hopeless and we would be killed. That language
was Pushto from their Afghans. We answered these broadcasts with
fire and destroyed seven tanks and APCS. We shot down one jet and
they intensified their fire. As they launched their attacks against us,
they would show their location to the supporting aircraft with red
smoke. This kept their own aircraft from attacking them.
Night fell and everything was confused and chaotic as we lost
command and control. No one knew where the Soviets were and where
the Mujahideen were. We Mujahideen fought on until 0200 or 0300
hours in the morning. Then, as we ran out of ammunition, we began
to slip away to the northeast. A close friend of Pir Mohammad's was
standing close to him when he was killed. Pir Mohammad carried his
body to high ground, where he left the body in a safe place and left the
area. There were 220 Mujahideen in the base. We had 22 KIA—21 of
our Mujahideen and one guest who was spending the night at our
base. Most of the 198 survivors escaped to the northeast. The Soviets
now owned the base. They spent 24 hours there, looted it, and
destroyed as much of our installation as they could.
Before Commander Razek had left Chaghni, he had sent groups out
to scout the road. They reported that the roads from Kandahar and
Arghestan were closed. He sent out scouts again the next night and
they reported that the roads were still blocked. The next day, toward
late afternoon, he went to Shahr-e Safa by tractor and then north into
the mountains and then turned and followed the Arghandab River
Valley down to Kandahar. The trip took five days. At Kandahar, he
discovered that the airport was very busy as waves of aircraft flew
in and out. He was told that the ground detachment had also left