Map 20: Air assaults in Nangarhar and Laghman Provinces.

On 12 February, the air landing took place near Kama. The 2nd AAslt company swept through the green zone, but did not find any enemy. The bronegruppa moved toward the village of Ghaziabad.

On 13 February, we conducted an air landing with the 1st AAslt company, this time near Ghaziabad to seize the crest of the southern mountain and block the enemy withdrawal. However, before the bronegruppa reached Ghaziabad from the north, the enemy withdrew into the mountains. On the morning of 14 February, the battalion commander decided to pick up the two air assault companies and air land them near the village of Charbagh (in Laghman Province). From there, they would advance across the mountains to Bailam village. According to preliminary intelligence, the mujahideen stored ammunition and had a hospital in Bailam. The advancing companies would work with the bronegruppa to seal off Bailam and destroy the enemy inside it. We had 24 hours to accomplish our mission.

The area around Bailam was well-fortified and had reinforced security. The enemy observed our air landing and the battalion lost the element of surprise. We lacked the necessary combat power to take the village. Finally, toward the end of 17 February, our brigade commander gave us the necessary air and artillery support to take the village. The battalion lost 25–30 men.

Frunze Commentary: This action shows that the first requirement for a successful air landing is surprise. Without surprise, it is impossible to dislodge the enemy unless you have sufficient aviation and artillery support.

Editor’s Commentary: The 66th and 70th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigades were forces created especially for counter-insurgency. They were composed of two or three motorized rifle battalions, an air assault battalion, an artillery howitzer battalion, a reconnaissance battalion, a tank battalion and support troops. There are also some indications that a MRLS battalion might have belonged to this organization. In this vignette, a MRLS battalion is part of the Brigade Artillery Group (BrAG) of the 66th. Evidently it was not brought in just for this action. In Vignette 18, an MRLS battalion supports an attack in the 70th’s AOR. The 70th was located in Kandahar and it was over 400 kilometers from Kandahar to the next major Soviet force. Perhaps the Afghan forces in the area had MRLS, but there is also the possibility that a MRLS battalion was part of both separate brigades.

Soviet military vocabulary is very precise when it differentiates between tactics and operations in the European theater. Tactics are the business of platoons, companies, battalions, regiments and divisions while operations are the business of armies and fronts. When the 40th Army conducts Operation Magistral’ (Vignette 17) it is an operation. When divisions and regiments fight, it is tactics. However, whenever the 103rd Airborne Division, the 56th Air Assault Brigade, the 345th Separate Airborne Regiment, the 66th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, or the 70th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade fight, it’s an operation. This is probably due to the unique combined arms mixes of the separate brigades and the level of impact of the airborne and air assault forces.

In this vignette, the actions of the bronegruppa spook the enemy before the air assault element is in a position to deal with them. Apparently, there were problems with the coordination and communications between the two elements.

It would also appear that intelligence for this operation was very poor. This may be a reflection of poor performance by the reconnaissance forces and a demonstration of an inability to identify enemy positions.

21. An air assault in the area of Rumbasi village

by Major V. V. Kovalev³

At the start of January 1985, the commander of our motorized rifle brigade⁴ received an intelligence report that the enemy planned to hold a conference on 25 January near the village of Rumbasi (located southwest of Kandahar). The meeting would involve the leaders of the main guerrilla forces in a three-province area and was being held to coordinate their future actions. The decision was made to destroy the enemy at this meeting.

The brigade commander decided to conduct an approach march to Rumbasi on 25 January, cut up the guerrilla forces during the approach, launch a tactical air assault to block the enemy in the village and then destroy the enemy. The following morning, the brigade would continue the advance to the southwest and complete the destruction of any enemy in the region. The brigade would move in a single echelon and use the brigade’s air assault battalion⁵ for the air assault.

Our air assault battalion’s mission was to seize an LZ to the southeast of Rumbasi, destroy any enemy in the vicinity of the LZ, establish blocking positions to the east and southeast of Rumbasi and hold these positions until the arrival of the brigade’s main force. Then, we would link up with the brigade and join its subsequent advance.

We prepared our battalion for combat at our base camp from 23 to 25 January. Our preparations included outfitting our soldiers, preparing our weapons and equipment for combat, and conducting air assault training for our soldiers. The battalion staff prepared the load plans for each helicopter and each lift, as well as the assault plan and the materiel and armaments transport plan. The aerodrome was located near our base camp. At 1100 hours on 25 January the battalion began moving to the aerodrome, loading the helicopters and finalizing the lifts. Embarkation was finished by 1300.

Map 21: An air assault in the region of Rumbasi village.

The first lift went in flying low in a single column. A flight of fighter-bombers and two flights of Mi-24 HIND helicopter gunships prepped the LZ and our Mi-8 HIP transport helicopters also hit the LZ with their on-board armaments and door guns. As our lead group of four helicopters set down, the enemy opened up with grenade launchers and small arms fire. Therefore, the LZ location for the main body was slipped one kilometer to the southeast of the first lift’s landing site. The first lift courageously and decisively destroyed the enemy in their LZ and established blocking positions around Rumbasi. During this combat, they killed a large number of enemy and captured over 30 modern, automatic weapons and grenade launchers as well as ammunition.

As the main body was closing up to their first lift, the enemy opened up with interlocking, integrated small arms fire which did not let the main body approach the village. Two Mi-24 HIND helicopter gunships helped support the first lift after the landing, but since we did not haul any artillery along with our assault, we had no way of suppressing the enemy until the brigade closed to within firing range. When the brigade artillery moved to within firing range, they were able to put fire on the enemy and the battalion main body moved forward to take up blocking positions. Mujahideen who tried to withdraw out of Rumbasi to Ruvabad were cut down by fire from our first lift.

Our battalion lost two killed and three wounded. Enemy casualties were over 100 men. We captured a large supply of weapons and ammunition. Our success was due to our achieving surprise, deception measures we took to deceive the enemy (we prepared a feint into another area), and the courageous and decisive actions of our first group.

However, our battalion did not fulfill its entire mission. We had not coordinated fully with the supporting aviation and this resulted in an insufficient amount of aviation ordinance being fired to soften up the LZ. Further, we operated out of the range of the brigade’s artillery and had not considered using smoke or remotely delivered mines (RDM).