The success of the assault on the Xadighar Canyon was, to a large extent, due to the direction and guidance of the senior leadership who included all necessary branches of services in this “operation”. It is important when conducting similar operations to create the maximum amount of surprise. To achieve this, it is important to conduct “diversionary/decoy” actions, to take the necessary measures to disguise actions and to deceive the enemy. In a word, one must be creative when carrying out one’s mission.
Editor’s Commentary: In this vignette, a multi-battalion block and sweep is commanded by the chief of staff of the Turkestan Military District. General-Lieutenant Gusev was nowhere linked with the 40th Army’s chain of command, but could field a command group which could control all the aviation required in a section of Afghanistan far removed from the 40th Army CP. It is unorthodox, but apparently worked. This demonstrates, however, that the senior leadership did not always trust their subordinates to “do it right”. More cynically, this practice allowed outside senior commanders to collect combat medals while in the safety of an armored vehicle and saved them the bother of a full, uncomfortable Afghanistan tour of duty while covering their chests with symbols of glory.
This vignette also provides a good look at the employment of SPETSNAZ personnel. Unlike the U.S. Special Forces and the British SAS, SPETSNAZ were mounted on personnel carriers in Afghanistan, but when they were airdropped, the carriers functioned as a bronegruppa. This provided more flexibility in the employment of these rugged soldiers and gave them much more maneuverability.
Three hours of airstrikes is not a good way to achieve surprise. Again, the Soviet force seems to have engaged the rear guard and the “uninformed”.
The distances and direction on this map are wrong. Spinboldak is approximately 70 kilometers southeast of Kandahar.
17. An airborne battalion seizes the Satukandav Pass
by LTC A. N. Shishkov15
In the fall of 1987, implacable insurgents conducted combat against Afghan government and Soviet forces and practically blocked off Khost district. They cut off the lines of communication and limited the supply of weapons, munitions, and food to our forces. The high command decided to conduct Operation “Magistral’” with several divisions and regiments of the army. The main purpose was to crush the guerrilla forces on the Kabul-Gardez-Khost main route [magistral’]. Further, the operation would clear mines from the route and support the resupply of material and the establishment of materiel reserves for the government forces in Khost district.
Prior to the start of the operation, the Afghan government made an attempt to resolve the problem of delivering sufficient food and other resources to the district through peaceful methods without an armed conflict. However, the field commander of the Paktia Province resistance, Mawlawi Jalaluddin Hagani, used the time to augment his guerrilla forces and, in the end, rejected this offer. They decided not to allow Soviet and government forces to enter the province. A key enemy blocking element was those guerrilla forces concentrated in the Satukandav Pass, which is, practically speaking, the only way through the mountains between Gardez and Khost. At the start of the operation, approximately 15,000 mujahideen operated in the area. The Satukandav Pass, which is located 30 kilometers east of Gardez, was touted in the western press as “the unassailable bastion on which the Russians will break their teeth”.
The operation involved a motorized rifle division, an airborne division,27 a separate motorized rifle regiment,16 a separate airborne regiment,17 regiments and subunits of various branches and special forces of the 40th Army plus regiments of the Armed Forces of Afghanistan. General-Lieutenant В. V. Gromov, the 40th Army commander, lead the operation.
In addition to conducting the garrison training18 required by the regular 12-day training time, the regiments and subunits continued additional combat preparations after they moved from their base camps and concentrated in the region of Gardez city on 21 November 1987. We considered several plans to seize the Satukandav Pass and then to develop this success to extend our combat power deep into Paktia Province along the main highway.
Daily we increased our supplies and stockpiled ammunition and other necessary material in the area where we billeted our divisions and regiments. The division and regimental command posts and the Army Artillery Groups (AAG) and Division Artillery Groups (DAG) were positioned and dug in from 21 to 27 November. Every regimental and subunit commander began a thorough commander’s reconnaissance of the area. On 28 November, following unsuccessful negotiations, the 40th Army divisions and regiments plus the Afghan regiments began the attack. General Gromov had decided to determine the location of enemy weapons systems (particularly air defense) and so he faked an airborne landing using 20 dummy paratroopers in parachutes. The enemy fired its weapons on these “paratroopers” which enabled artillery reconnaissance to pinpoint enemy strong points and firing positions. Army and frontal aviation then hit these positions. The airstrikes were followed with a four-hour artillery barrage.
On 29 November, following a short artillery preparation, the dismounted separate motorized rifle regiment (minus a battalion) started up the foothills to seize the dominant terrain along the crest. Following the capture of the crest, they were to establish a strong guard force on the east side and prevent the enemy reserve from moving into the Satukandav Pass from the northeast (from the direction of the Parachinar Salient).
Heavy enemy fire greeted the subunits. Indecisiveness and excessive fear on the part of the regimental commander bogged the regiment down in the initial stage of the operation. On the night of 29–30 November, the mujahideen took advantage of the commander’s mistakes and errors and launched attacks on his motorized rifle battalions along several axes.
The enemy knew the territory well and was well supplied with an ample supply of first-class weapons and munitions. He used these to inflict severe casualties on the regiment.
The regiment did not succeed for several reasons. First, the regimental CP was located a fair distance from the subunits where it could not provide direct combat leadership in the mountains. Second, there was no regimental forward observation post. Third, the commander incorrectly calculated the required amount of ammunition (and by the second day of combat, personnel were down to the emergency ammunition reserve). Fourth, the combat was led in a passive and indecisive manner and the regimental leadership had a poor grasp of the situation.
Map 17: The capture of Satukandav Pass.
General Gromov decided to continue the advance on the enemy positions with subunits of the airborne division together with subunits of the Afghan force. Therefore, on 1 December, the 1st Airborne Battalion of an airborne regiment and a battalion of the Afghan “Commandos” assembled near the CP of the separate motorized rifle regiment.
The airborne battalion commander, Major V. N. Petrov, and the Afghan “Commando” battalion commander thoroughly studied the situation and coordinated their actions. Then they began their assault on the main peak. Two airborne companies captured the nearest dominant terrain and used this lodgement to support the assault on the main peak by two assault groups. Enemy mortar and DShK heavy machine gun fire held up the advance until the airborne battalion commander called in the fires of the DAG on enemy fighting positions and firing points.