23. Destruction of a guerrilla force by a tactical air assault into Lowgar Province

by Major V. V. Selivanov⁸

The enemy increased his activity in Lowgar Province in August 1985. Guerrillas shelled Kabul from the southeast, attacked military and civilian convoys and attacked Soviet and Afghan outposts. According to intelligence reports from the Afghan security service,⁹ guerrilla forward detachments were located in the area bordered by the villages of Khurd-Kabul, Malang, Kala and Malikheyl’. A total of 500 to 600 men in 10 to 15 guerrilla units were located here. The main concentration of guerrilla forces was located some 15 to 20 kilometers further to the southeast of this area. There, in the village of Tizini-Khas, they had created ammunition and armaments caches which were guarded by some 300 men armed with DShK heavy machine guns and mortars. The Afghan government decided to stop the shelling of Kabul from Lowgar Province by establishing a base camp in the Lowgar Valley manned by a “Sarandoy” battalion.

The airborne division¹⁰ was ordered to go after the guerrillas. The airborne division commander decided to move his units for this operation into the area secretly from 9 to 11 August. Then, from 11 to 18 August, he would surround and destroy the enemy forward detachments and prevent their retreat into their major base area.

Two airborne regiments were selected for this operation. One of the regiments was short a battalion and the other was short two battalions. The division commander reinforced this force with the reconnaissance company of the remaining regiment, a separate reconnaissance company, a sapper battalion, a tank battalion and an artillery regiment (which was short a battalion). Two reconnaissance groups were formed – one from the reconnaissance company of the remaining regiment and one from the separate reconnaissance company. Their mission was to conduct a 50-kilometer deep raid on 13 August to block two canyons south of the Lowgar Province valley. The main body of the force (three airborne battalions) would air assault into an area north of the village of Khurd-Kabul, attack the enemy, and prevent his withdrawal to the south. Then, in cooperation with the reconnaissance groups, the main body would complete the destruction of the enemy.

Map 23: Destroying guerrilla forces in Lowgar Province.

However, this operation plan was upset by the guerrilla forward detachments which attacked the new Afghan base camp of the “Sarandoy” battalion. The battalion did not put up any fight but fled from the base in a panic. The division commander then decided that rather than having the recon groups move out to the planned areas, he would combine the two reconnaissance groups into one and add a sapper squad to it. This new recon group would air land to the east of Malikheyl’ village and establish a blocking position of the canyon.

The reconnaissance detachment command group and the regimental recon company were on the first lift. The second lift consisted of the separate recon company and the “Sarandoy” Battalion. Retransmission helicopters would stay on station over the battle area all day to ensure constant communications.

The assault flight took 30 minutes. The two lifts landed on the west slope of the canyon and moved south under heavy enemy DShK and mortar fire. They escaped without any casualties thanks only to nightfall. They could not receive any artillery support since they were out of artillery range and, since it was dark, they could not get any air support. The enemy held the dominant terrain and fired at them from the surrounding heights from three directions. This fire pinned them down while the enemy moved a guerrilla force of approximately 600 men out of the canyon. The reconnaissance company shot at the withdrawing guerrillas, but the plan was to have the entire force down in the canyon blocking this very withdrawal. However, the heavy enemy fire kept the reconnaissance group commander from moving his force into the canyon and he dug them in along a high ridge-line instead. On the next morning, 14 August, the first regiment of the division landed following an artillery preparation of the LZ. The enemy suffered some casualties, however the goal of the operation was not achieved. The air assault came too late and the enemy had already managed to withdraw his main force out through the canyon and away from our strike.

The division commander, General-Major Yarygin, received some more detailed information on the enemy and decided to salvage the operation by preceding to the next stage and capturing the weapons and ammunition caches and also destroying guerrilla forces in the villages of Tizini-Khas and Zandekhkalai.

The remaining tactical air assault force consisted of an airborne regiment commanded by LTC Solov’ev and a reconnaissance group which I commanded. The reconnaissance group was the separate recon company and the Afghan “Sarandoy” regiment which was not inserted the previous night.

The division commander’s plan was that at 1445 hours on 14 August, the force would lift out of the area near Malikheyl’ on Mi-8 helicopters. The force would air assault into the area around Tizini-Khash using three lifts and four LZs. The first lift would establish blocking positions by 1830 and by 1900 would have an integrated fire plan organized and implemented. The main body would follow and be used to destroy the enemy in the region and prevent the enemy main body from withdrawing. After the blockade was established, every company would send a platoon forward to search. The first lift included the 2nd battalion (180 men on 18 Mi-8s) and the first battalion (120 men on 12 Mi-8s) of the 350th Airborne Regiment. The second lift included the division CP, the regimental CP, the regimental recon company, a company of the 1st battalion (180 men on 18 Mi-8s) and the reconnaissance group (120 men on 12 Mi-8s). The third lift consisted of the transferred recon group (180 men on 18 Mi-8s). The landings were distributed so that the 2nd battalion landed at LZ #1, the first battalion (minus a company) landed at LZ #2, the recon group on LZ #4 and the rest at LZ #3. Artillery would prep the LZs from 1412 until 1428. Then airstrikes would pound the LZs from 1430 until 1500. Aviation support would be on station from the completion of the landing until 1800.

The commander of the air assault group made a mistake and set all my groups down six kilometers west of the planned LZ. We had to cross the mountains to get to our correct LZ. The factor of surprise was lost. We did not find any arms and ammunition caches in the village of Tizini-Khas. However, an Afghan guide’s explanation cleared this up. What map names are printed for tiny villages are not necessarily what the villages are actually called or how the locals refer to them. Thus it was with the so-called village of Tizini-Khas. On the map, it is actually named the village of Zandekhkalai. I pushed on to Zandekhkalai, seized it and concentrated my force there. We dislodged the enemy security forces on the approaches to the village and on the dominating heights which sealed off the approaches to the canyon. Then the recon group searched for caches while an airborne company and the Afghan “Sarandoy” regiment covered us.

As a result of this fluke, our recon group killed approximately 150 mujahideen and captured seven weapons caches. The skilled actions of the recon group contributed to the completion of the division’s mission.

Frunze Commentary: The first and second stages of the operation were filled with mistakes: During the first stage, they landed at the end of daylight so that their aviation could not support them. Further, there was no artillery within range to provide fire support. Intelligence did not tie their information to an actual map location. Finally, the flight route and LZs were poorly planned for the second phase of the operation.