At 1900 hours on 3 April, the company set out for the ambush site on foot. They moved along a gully floor. Two patrols moved 50 to 60 meters in front of the main body and two patrols moved 40 meters behind it. By 0200 hours on 4 April, the company reached the ruins and established the OPs. The rest of the company moved to the day laager and concealed themselves.

Map 45: Recon company ambush using radio-intercept data in the area of Khanabad.

At 0530 hours on the 4th of April, radio interceptors detected a radio transmitter in Ishkamesh talking to a radio transmitter in Khanabad. Traffic pattern analysis indicated the enemy was preparing to move a convoy. However, our observation posts saw nothing of the enemy during the day. By 1700 hours, our radio triangulation attempts had located several radio transmitters located along the Ishkamesh-Khanabad approach. As night fell, the company occupied the ambush. The ambush consisted of two OPs, a support group, a security group and a snatch group.

At 2005 hours, two men walked down the road. Twenty minutes later, a division OP reported that a truck had entered the canyon with its lights on. He let it pass. Twenty minutes later, two trucks roared into the ambush area at the maximum possible speed. As they entered the kill zone, the company commander detonated a mine which was the signal for the support group to open fire. They destroyed both trucks. At the commanders’ signal, the snatch group then moved into the kill zone to inspect the trucks and pick up any weapons and ammunition. As the bronegruppa approached, the ambush party discovered a pocket of enemy who were moving toward the ambush. The ambush force cut down part of this group and the armored vehicle fire cut down the rest. The company then moved back to the mount-up site, loaded onto the carriers and rode back to our base camp.

Our ambush killed 12 mujahideen, and destroyed two trucks. We captured a lot of weapons and ammunition. The reconnaissance company had one soldier wounded.

Frunze Commentary: The success of this ambush was due to the following factors: the use of intelligence generated by radio intercept; the undetected deployment to the ambush site; the well-organized ambush on unfamiliar ground; the excellent employment of OPs, a support group, and a snatch group; the use of surprise; and the excellent combat training of the personnel. Further examination of the vignette, however, shows that the company commander could not adjust mortar fire effectively.

Editor’s Commentary: This is the second example of the use of a bronegruppa in an ambush. In the first example (Vignette 38), the bronegruppa sneaks the ambush party closer to the ambush site. Then, the rest of the company mounts these vehicles. Later, when the Soviets spring the ambush, this mounted company drives to the ambush site to support by fire and cut off the enemy escape. In this vignette, the bronegruppa provides fire support from the same direction as the ambush party and provides a rapid, relatively safe exit for the ambush party. Since ambush parties are frequently counter-ambushed on their way back to base camp, this appears to be a reasonable solution.

This is an interesting example since it shows that presumably strategic code-breaking assets were used to break tactical encoded radio traffic. This emphasizes the importance that the Soviet high command placed on intercepting the mujahideen LOCs.

46. A reinforced motorized rifle company conducts an ambush to the northwest of Jalalabad

by Major V. P. Podvomiy¹⁷

In the second half of 1986, the general situation in Kunar Province began to turn in favor of the Soviet forces. The ambushes conducted by our separate motorized rifle battalion in our AOR in Kunar Province were successful.¹⁸ The mujahideen had suffered appreciable losses which were causing him to improve his tactics for moving munitions and armaments by caravan.

Beginning in 1986, Soviet ambushes that had contact with the enemy noticed that the mujahideen had noticeably beefed up the forward security element on his caravans and their actions when ambushed had become more precise. When the mujahideen detected our ambush force, his counter-action took two forms. If the mujahideen had superiority in personnel and weaponry, he would try to flank the Soviet ambush force and destroy it from the flank or rear. If the mujahideen lacked superiority, then, as a rule, they would go around the ambush site using an alternate route leading to cover.

We learned that platoon-sized ambushes were pointless. A proper ambush required a motorized rifle company, reinforced with a sapper subunit and supported by artillery fire.

On the morning of 2 October, the 2nd MRC commander was directed to interdict the flow of mujahideen caravans along the road some 25 kilometers northwest of Jalalabad. The company had 96 men, 12 BTRs, and its TO&E weaponry. An artillery battery would support the company. The company would move to the ambush site in two stages. The dismounted company would hitchhike with a convoy from its base camp to the Soviet military outpost on the Jalalabad-Kabul highway. The convoy would go on to Kabul for cargo. The company BTRs would arrive later. The company would stay in the outpost and depart at night on foot more than 24 hours prior to the time they would be required to be at the ambush site. They would carry TO&E weapons, three combat loads of ammunition (one of these loads would stay on the BTRs), and three days of dry rations. They had to be ready to deploy by 0500 hours, 3 October.

The organization of combat activity in a separate motorized rifle battalion requires maintaining high combat readiness: one company was usually on combat duties, another company was on round-the-clock details and the third company was involved in combat and political training, but was kept ready for combat. The 2nd MRC was in combat training, so we had them prepare to conduct the ambush. The training included: the organization of combat; personnel training in weaponry and mission accomplishment; political-educational work; and practical work by the battalion commander, his deputies and the chief of the operations section.

The organization for combat included: the company commander’s decision and his briefing it to the battalion commander; issuing orders to the platoon leaders; and working out coordination on a terrain model. Company preparations included: studying the assigned area of combat; training in the applications of tactical fire support and engineering relevant to mission accomplishment; conducting radio checks to ensure that the radio sets were working; checking the night-vision devices; resting the personnel; and reporting to the battalion commander that the company was ready.

The battalion commander, his deputies and his chiefs of services approved the company commander’s plan; assisted in coordination with the artillery battery and the supply and maintenance support to the company; issued the battalion order to the company for combat; and conducted a full lay-down inspection of the company to check its readiness for combat.

Map 46: Ambush by a reinforced MRC supported by an artillery battery.

At 0600 hours on 3 October, the company moved out secretly with the convoy to the outpost. When night fell, the company moved out by dismounted platoons to the ambush site. By 2300 hours, they were in ambush positions with overlapping and interconnected fields of fire. Their flanks and gaps were covered by minefields.

At 0300 hours 4 October, the forward security patrol for a mujahideen caravan moved down route #1. They moved through the kill zone of the 1st Platoon and in an hour were in the kill zone of the 2nd Platoon. This particular caravan stretched out over 1.3 kilometers. The company commander decided that the bulk of the caravan was located in front of the two platoons and ordered the 1st and 2nd Platoons to open fire while the artillery pounded the caravan rear guard. The majority of the mujahideen and their pack animals were destroyed, but a part of the caravan was able to withdraw.