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

Page 360 The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War
of my hospital. They began shelling the hospital and I had to evacuate
the wounded. We managed to move the hospital outside of the cordoned
area to the north at night. We carried the wounded on stretchers
for about 500 meters where we were met by other Mujahideen from
the Baghran front. The Baghran front sent trucks and moved our
wounded to safety on the trucks. After I evacuated the wounded, I
returned to Musa Qaleh at about 2200 hours. The front council met
and we decided to break out-of the encirclement. That night, the
weather cooperated with the breakout. There was a heavy gusty wind
which blew sand around. The noise of the wind and the dust concealed
us as we moved between the enemy tanks. There were many
Mujahideen in that cordon. There were Mujahideen from two districts
and other areas as well. About 2,000 Mujahideen escaped into the
night. The dust and wind also helped the civilians exfiltrate and covered
their escape. When we got out, the wind died down. Later on,
people said that this was the hand of God that got them out. The
Mujahideen went to the surrounding mountains. I went to Kohe Musa
Qaleh, the small mountain just north of Musa Qaleh.
After this heavy defeat, we decided to keep a presence in Musa
Qaleh but to establish a mountain base where we would keep our
heavy weapons, ammunition stocks and supplies. We set up our
mountain base in Ghulmesh Ghar (mountain) about 30 kilometers
northeast of Kajaki dam. The base was in a narrow canyon leading
into the mountain. The canyon opened up into a bowl in the mountain.
The canyon was about 10 kilometers deep. We protected this base with
ZGU-ls and DShKs. We named the base Islamabad (built by
Muslims).
The following year, in October 1984, the Soviets attacked |
Islamabad. They sent a major column from Girishk and again laid
siege to Musa Qaleh, while another moved further north and attacked
Islamabad. There were few Mujahideen in the mountain base since
the majority were in Musa Qaleh. The Soviets landed air assault
troops on the high ground and attacked with the ground column to capture
the base after three day's fighting. They destroyed the base and
left it unusable due to all the mines that they left behind.
We then moved our base and stores to Khanjak Mazar south of
Kalata-e Baghni. We distributed our ammunition to different bases
and districts so that the capture of our central base would not cripple
us completely.
COMMENTARY: The area around Musa Qaleh is open, flat tank country