Reminiscences Of The Afghan War


22 years have passed since 1989 when the Soviet troops have finally pulled out of Afghanistan. The war has ended but the reminiscences are still alive.
The first days of bringing Soviet troops into Afghanistan: an armored cavalry squadron is driving along the road to the South. The Afghan campaign is only beginning but the roadside sign is already riddled with bullets.


The Tadzh-Bek palace served as a residence for the Afghan government. But after bringing Soviet troops it became its main headquarters where the Directorate of Intelligence was located.


Approaching Gerat city. A concrete road of great quality paved by Americans. A good highway let Russain military squadrons quickly take control of all the administrative centers, bridges, passes and other key objects.


A reconnaissance company on the road to the Baglansky gorge. At the very beginning of the war a long conduit has been built here to provide Russian troops with diesel oil and aviation kerosene.


The main feature of all recon vehicles was a quadriradiate star within a white circle. All requires were abroad – spare parts, additional units of fire, sleeping bags, blankets, tools and containers with water.


On the road near Samangan province.


The Baluchi beduins, residents of the South provinces, were always quite friendly, though never apart from their arms. They agreed to assist and accompany Russians wherever they wanted, and the best price for their services was arms they loved and appreciated so much.


Special recon arms included shooting knives with several bullets, night and telescopic sights for Kalashnikov assault rifles and silencers for both rifles and pistols.


A rifle-attached grenade launcher has been on hand of the Russian army since 1985. Antipersonnel grenades were also quite popular.


Special belts and bags served for the rifle-attached grenade launchers carrying. But there was also enough empty space inside them for storing “frog” grenades which exploded and covered the victim with lots of splinters from above.


The Dragunov’s sniper rifle was very good at long ranges and thus quite helpful in mountain desert conditions. An experienced sniper could easily hit the 30 cm circle at a range of 1 km.


A machine gun was also a very popular arm at that time. A troop had to have at least one machine gunner among every 3, 4 soldiers.


The Kalashnikov machine gun (PK) and its modernized version (PKM) usually had cartridge belts with armour piercing and steel core bullets. Carriages for these guns were almost never used because of their heavy weight and inconvenient transportation.


The heavy machine gun “Utes” had a telescopic sniper sight which let the machine gunner shoot at a distance of 2 km. It usually fired in series of 4-6 shots (aimed firing) or 10-15 shots (barrage firing).


The “Utes” with a sniper machine gun sight. Ammunition boxes, loaded with stones, support the carriage.


The cartridge belts with 50 bullets were very often used.


Massive 50 g bullets hit vehicles in caravans, were able to neutralize firing points and maintained its wounding power in a forested area.


In mountain conditions mortars were the only sort of artillery used. The “Podnos” mortars were the most popular among Soviet troops because of their moderately heavy weight.


Ammunition vests with many pockets were an essential attribute of the military fashion of that time. As the USSR didn’t produce them till the very end of the war, soldiers had to either make them themselves or find among the trophies. Such vests usually contained pockets for 3 loading cases, several grenades and a first aid dressing package.


Ghazni helicopter aviators with the commander of the recon company (with a trophy rifle in his hands and a big plastic pistol holster on his thigh).

sosej

cont


Remote post №9 located on the rock was one of 102 such posts in the defensive belt of Kabul. Their main function was to maintain constant control over the situation in the capital restricted area. They were always built at a high altitude so that to have a good viewpoint. And the garrison had to serve for weeks on inaccessible rocks, in isolation from its own forces.


20200 soldiers and officers served on the sentry outposts and bridges by the end of the first year of the war. Their aim was to control the area, defend and guard the restricted areas around cities, garrisons and magistrals. Pictured: a sentry outpost at the entrance to the Pandzher valley. On the top of the mountain – an observation post, at its foot – a cover for machinery, barracks and a storage.


Every sentry outpost should also have protected 15-20 km of road. But the most difficult thing was to protect the conduit which has always been set off, shot up or simply screwed off by locals who tried to get some free oil. So the most profitable solution of this problem was to pay locals for its safety and sometimes distrubute free oil to them. Pictured: a roadside cluttered with burnt scrap metal.


The shift in a sentry outpost lasted 6 months. Severe conditions, frequent diseases and constant lack of water exhausted soldiers. So they often took dogs and other animals with themselves (sometimes even monkeys) to make the tense atmosphere a little better.


It was helicopters which brought the next shift, food, ammunition and all other requires to the sentry outposts. They also evacuated the wounded, sick, victims of heat and delivered the mail.


A machine gunner in a sentry outpost.


A large-caliber machine gun.


This powerful machine gun fires in short series of several shots.


The ZU-23, an anti-aircraft gun, wasn’t often used in sometimes quite small sentry outposts because of its size.


An officer of one of the recon companies.


An officer of the Afghan special forces wearing a Soviet camouflage suit, Pakistani warm jacket, shot belts for Kalashnikov and compulsive for any muslim prayer beads.


A light armor vest consisted of 2 parts joined together by strings. The front part was able to stop a bullet and provided quite good protection while the back part protected only from splinters.


Checking the arms before leaving. Everybody had his own rifle or machine gun adjusted for himself.


All heavy firepower equipment, its ammunition and other things were distributed among the soldiers who, besides that, had to carry their belongings as well.


Landing of the recon detachment.


An armed helicopter fires at the ground targets.


The recon group at the mountain foot. Always staying in the shade, they avoided both sun heat and detection by the enemies.


The mountain outfit was in deficit. Soldiers, spending so much time walking, were often especially in need of shoes.

wa pernah dengar ada gak orang kita jadi mujahedin..pernah jumpa buku, blog atau apa2 tentang pengalaman mereka?

mumuchi wrote:

wa pernah dengar ada gak orang kita jadi mujahedin..pernah jumpa buku, blog atau apa2 tentang pengalaman mereka?

salah seorang daripadanya bernama C N Al Afghani..

jadi apa citer dia bro..story mory la sikit...

mumuchi wrote:

jadi apa citer dia bro..story mory la sikit...

saya tak de buku tu tapi pernah baca... menurutnya ada beberapa lagi rakyat malaysia yang turut sama berjuang menentang pendudukan USSR di Afghanistan, ada yang terbunuh di dalam pertempuran. Kalau tak silap bulan lepas nama C N Al Afghani naik pasal dia buat buku menceritakan penyelewengan beberapa pemimpin parti XXX di dalam pengurusan Tabung Mangsa Memali...

yup ada kenal sorang, tapi kalau korang kenal dia korang terkezutnya..low profile sampai wa segan nak tanya kat dia

Ni buku tu

pergh tks bro..leh cari ni..

petikan kata-kata Colonel Trautman kepada Chief tentera USSR ketika disoal siasat "Every day your war machines lose ground to a bunch of poorly-armed, poorly-equipped freedom fighters! The fact is that you've underestimated your competition! If you'd studied your history, you'd know that these people have never given up to anyone. They'd rather die than be slaves! You can't defeat a people like that. We tried - we already had our Viet Nam. Now you want to have yours!" US masih tak belajar dari cerita Rambo 3 ni...

Anak melayu kita byk gi Afganistan dlu,

wa igt, waktu duduk kubang buaya ada satu abg nih, panggil Abng Zakaria Ikan,

dia jual ikan naik motor, 3 tahun duduk Afganistan jadik mujahidin, dia pakar explosive.

orang tua siap belajar lagi cara nak pasang explosive cara dia, main bateri saiz D je

tu aku nak tanya, ATM tak nak ambil depa jadi assymetrical warfare instructors ka?

Rasanya pada peringkat awal masa dorang balik kena ISA dulu kan? atas kebimbingan pengaruh jihad dan islam yg pastinya menjadi fobia bagi sesetengah pihak.

aku dengar itu macam ada gak..tapi tak tau semua ke tidak..

Manaf pernah berperang di Bosnia, Afghanistan selepas bersara

KUALA LUMPUR 28 Feb. - Bekas pegawai tentera, Leftenan Kolonel Abdul Manaf Kamsuri yang ditahan di bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) kerana disyaki terlibat dengan Jemaah Islamiah (JI) pernah berperang di Bosnia dan Afghanistan selepas persaraannya.

Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Norian Mai berkata, polis mempunyai bukti kukuh Abdul Manaf pergi ke Bosnia dan Afghanistan untuk berperang.

``Polis sentiasa mencatatkan rekod-rekod perjalanan dan kegiatan bekas Leftenan Kolonel terbabit dan kita mempunyai bukti dia pernah berperang di Bosnia dan Afghanistan,'' katanya selepas majlis penghargaan kepada anggota-anggota polis yang terlibat dengan Sidang Kemuncak Ke-13 Pergerakan Negara-Negara Berkecuali di sini hari ini.

Menurut satu sumber, Abdul Manaf yang berasal dari Jalan Kebun, Klang pernah pergi ke Bosnia sebanyak dua kali iaitu pada tahun 1995 dan 1998 iaitu selepas menamatkan perkhidmatannya pada tahun 1994.

Kata sumber itu lagi, selain terlibat dalam peperangan dia yang ditangkap pada Khamis lalu itu ditugaskan melatih pejuang sukarela di Bosnia yang datang ke negara berkenaan untuk menentang puak Serb.

Sumber memberitahu, Abdul Manaf memasuki Bosnia atas nama mewakili pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) dan bukannya memasuki negara itu bersama-sama kumpulan JI yang lain.

Bagaimanapun, sumber itu berkata, pihak polis masih menyiasat kesahihan dakwaan yang membabitkan Abdul Manaf yang tidak mempunyai sebarang jawatan dalam JI.

Mengenai penglibatannya dalam peperangan di Afghanistan, sumber itu berkata, perkara itu sedang disiasat.

dipetik dari http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2003&dt=0301&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Dalam_Negeri&pg=dn_06.htm bertarikh 1 Mac 2003