At 0500 hours, the caravan again began moving, but this time on route #2. The enemy thought that, as was the rule, Soviet ambush forces were small groups and were unable to cover several routes simultaneously. Further, they knew that usually these small groups rapidly abandoned their ambush sites after they sprang the ambush.
When the caravan was in the kill zones of the 3rd and 4th Platoons, the company commander gave the order to open fire. Part of the mujahideen moved to the tail of the caravan and began to withdraw hurriedly. The company commander radioed the artillery in the outpost and ordered them to open fire on the withdrawing enemy. But five to seven minutes passed from the fire command to the start of the firing and the enemy escaped.
At dawn, the company commander called in the bronegruppa and helicopter gunships. When they arrived, he arranged a search of the destroyed caravans and gathered weapons, ammunition and supplies. At 0700 hours, the company loaded onto their BTRs and, under the cover of the helicopter gunships, returned to their base camp.
Frunze Commentary: It proved advantageous, in this situation, to have a motorized rifle company with four motorized rifle platoons.19 The company was able to cover three possible caravan routes simultaneously. After they destroyed a caravan on one route, they did not abandon their positions, but continued to perform their mission. As a result, the company destroyed yet another caravan on another route that same night. It follows that one should note the skillful organization of troop control by the company commander. However, the combat revealed that the company commander could not quickly, correctly, precisely and clearly call in an artillery fire mission and adjust its fire.
Editor’s Commentary: Poor artillery adjustment by company-grade officers is a constant theme in this book. Since the book is didactic and designed to illustrate key points, this is one point that the Soviets chose to emphasize. They solved this problem by putting Forward Observers (FOs) down to company and platoon level. This suggests a training deficiency for what should be a universal skill for professionals.
It is a commander’s call whether to leave forces in place after an ambush to guard supplies and weaponry left in the kill zone or to exit the ambush site. Any enemy who revisits the ambush site following the ambush is either unaware of the previous ambush or in sufficient strength to wipe out the ambush party. The force had night-vision devices and could also have called for battlefield illumination by the artillery in order to police up the first caravan and then shift to another site. The 2nd MRP had an alternate site planned, but did not move to occupy it.
In this incident, the bronegruppa did not have a direct fire mission in support of the ambush. Rather, it remained passively near the outpost until dawn.
In this region, guerrilla forces apparently moved in large groups and, consequently, platoon-sized ambushes were insufficient. Company-size ambushes are much harder to place and control and were probably a unique tactic of this border region.
47. A recon platoon conducts an ambush in enemy-controlled territory
by Major V. A. Stolbinskiy20
Our separate motorized rifle brigade was located some 40 to 50 kilometers from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.21 In the middle of February 1987, we received orders to deny the delivery of weapons and ammunition from Pakistan to the guerrilla forces. Our brigade commander decided to use ambushes to stop caravans from transporting weapons, munitions, and military supplies to the central region of Afghanistan.
Our battalion controlled the northwest outskirts of Kandahar City. Intelligence reports made it clear that at the end of March, a large weapons caravan would travel along the road that connected the Rega Desert with Kandahar. This road ran through mujahideen-controlled territory. The battalion commander told me, an air assault company commander, to prepare and lead the reconnaissance platoon in ambush. In the event that the recon platoon found the caravan, it would have air support.
I went to the “Pipe” outpost with Senior Lieutenant A. N. Kholod, the platoon leader, Sergeant A. R. Babaev, and two scouts. From the outpost, we studied the mujahideen-controlled territory and plotted our approach route. The ambush party would have to cross three mountain ridges to get to the ambush site. According to intelligence, the mujahideen had several OPs which they manned around the clock, on the ridges closest to the outpost. The mujahideen used them to monitor Soviet movements. The “Pipe” outpost was held by the 12th MRC,22 with a 122mm howitzer battery and a MRLS platoon.
After three weeks of close observation, the lookouts at “Pipe” outpost had found a mujahideen OP. After two more weeks, they discovered a second one. The OPs were located on the dominant heights about 1.5 kilometers apart. I decided to move my force between these outposts on New Year’s Eve night (by the Muslim calendar). My trip to the “Pipe” outpost helped me fine-tune my ambush plan and the approach route.
Usually, our battalion commander would report the time, coordinates and number of personnel in every ambush by radio to the higher staff. The majority of our ambushes were not successful. The enemy intercepted our radio messages, deciphered them and, in the best case, avoided our ambushes. In the worst case, the enemy would try to destroy our ambushing force. Since this ambush would be conducted deep in enemy territory, the battalion commander decided not to use the radio, but report the ambush details to the brigade commander in person.
The recon platoon trained for the ambush on a site similar to the actual one. Particular attention was given to training for crossing the mountains, coordination between groups and physical conditioning. Only the battalion commander, myself and the platoon leader knew the time and place of the ambush.
Map 47: Recon platoon conducts an ambush in enemy territory.
The recon platoon moved to “Pipe” outpost a week before the ambush. In order to deceive the enemy, soldiers of the 12th MRC mounted the three BTRs of the recon platoon and returned to our battalion base camp. They did this in full view of the enemy OPs. At the outpost, the recon platoon was hidden from sight in dugouts. I let them come out only at night.
At 2330 hours on 20 March, the 26-man recon platoon, reinforced with an AGS-17 squad, moved out from the outpost toward the ambush site. A three-man patrol moved 30 meters in front of the main body. The platoon traveled in a single column. Some five kilometers from the ambush site, I left a 16-man group commanded by the Deputy Platoon Leader, Senior Sergeant R. A. Usmanov. Their job was to cover the withdrawal of our look-outs, snatch group and covering group. They hid in a cave which they closed from the inside with stones.
My ten-man group continued on. At 0200 hours 21 March, we reached the ambush site. There was no cover close to the road. However, after a while, we found a road culvert for a dry creek bed. I decided to post five men in the culvert. I sent the remaining five men, with the AGS-17 and a PK machine gun to the high ground some 800 meters from the road on the withdrawal route. They were commanded by my squad leader, Sergeant V. A. Sukhanov. The group’s missions were to watch for the enemy, and if necessary, support the snatch group by fire. Communications were by radio. The five men in the culvert were myself, Senior Lieutenant A. V. Kholod – the recon platoon leader, Private I. A. Dzhumaev – the translator, Sergeant A. N. Babaev, and a young machine-gunner, Private A. N. Sivushkin.