Читать книгу The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War - Ali Ahmad Jalali - Страница 13

Table of Contents

by Haji Sayed Mohammad Hanif

(Haji Sayed Mohammad Hanif is from Logar Province. [Map sheet 2885, vic grid 0674].)

In May 1981, we joined other Mujahideen for an ambush in Kolangar District, Logar Province (Map 4 - Kolangar). We were 11 Mujahideen with an RPG-7, seven Kalashnikovs and two Enfields. We moved into the area the night before, spent the night in a village and set up our ambush site the next morning north of Kolangar District Headquarters. We were told that a column was coming from Kabul to Gardez, and so we had time to set up during the daylight before the column arrived, since the convoys always left Kabul in the morning well after dawn. Kabul is about 50 kilometers north of the ambush site. We set our ambush just south of the Tangi Waghjan Gorge. There, the river continues to run parallel to the road and restricts maneuver while providing better firing positions for the ambush force. We had a collapsed electric pylon that we stretched across the road as a road block. We put in an RPG firing position for Mulla Latif,^[1] our RPG gunner, and put two other Mujahideen on the edge of the river in positions. Then we set up the rest of our positions and went to some nearby houses for breakfast. At that time we were so popular with the population that we didn't have to worry about supplies and the people were always feeding us in their homes or sending us prepared food. Mulla Latif left his RPG at the ambush position since the people were moving about freely and would keep an eye on things.

As we were leisurely enjoying our breakfast, some people came into the house and said that the convoy was coming from the north. This was at about 1000 hours. While we were running to our positions, the lead tank in the column came to our road block. The tank driver stopped his tank, got out of the tank and moved the barrier. He had gotten back into his tank and driven past as we reached our positions. Mulla Latif was breathing heavily as he picked up his RPG-7 and fired at the next tank. His first shot missed. He reloaded, fired again and missed again. He was still breathing too heavily to aim accurately. He then reloaded, jumped out of position, and ran down to the road. He then sat down in the middle of road and fired at the tank from close range. He hit the tank this time and it burst into flames. The column was just coming out of the narrow Tangi Waghjan Gorge. This burning tank stopped the convoy since there was no room to maneuver or pass. Other Mujahideen from other areas and groups ran to the area and moved up the gorge by the trapped column and started firing at the vehicles. There was not much resistance from this supply convoy. The column consisted of 150 to 200 trucks full of many things such as food and furniture. Whatever we could take away, we did. Hundreds of Mujahideen came and looted the column. We captured 15 trucks for my group which we eventually moved to our base in Durow canyon. We torched the vehicles we could not take and left the area around 1300 hours. After we had finished, helicopters and aircraft came and bombed some areas around the ambush site. Despite our lack of warning when the lead vehicle came toward our ambush site, the ambush turned out well.

There is a reason why we were not in our positions when the column came. Prior to any ambush, we would select and prepare our ambush positions, but we would not occupy them since helicopters would always overfly the route ahead of the convoy looking for ambushes and roadblocks. Normally, we would not put out the roadblock until after the flyover, but for some reason this time we did. The helicopter flyover was our usual tipoff that the convoy was coming, and our signal to put out the roadblock and occupy our positions. The helicopters did not do their road sweep in front of this particular convoy. I later learned why the helicopters were absent. DRA President BarbakKarmal was flying to Moscow that day and so the DRA had imposed a "no fly zone" over Kabul. This meant that helicopters were either grounded or had to refuel at Ghazni. The helicopters were not available to do the sweep.