The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War/Chapter 1

The ambush is a favorite tactic of the guerrilla since it allows him to mass forces covertly, attack the enemy, seize needed supplies and retreat before the enemy can effectively react. The ambush has long been part of the Afghan warrior tradition and has been a key feature of historic Afghan warfare — whether fighting other tribes, the British or the government. The Mujahideen ambush served to attack the Soviet/DRA lines of communication, provided needed supplies, and forced the bulk of Soviet/DRA maneuver forces to perform security missions. Logistics were key to the conduct of the Soviet/Afghan War and Mujahideen ambushes threatened the resupply of Soviet and DRA forces and limited the number of Soviet troops that could be deployed into the country. The Mujahideen ambush was their most effective counter to Soviet/DRA military activity and threatened the ability of the Soviets and DRA to prosecute the war.

VIGNETTE 1: AMBUSHES AT THE MAMUR HOTEL

 * by Commander Mohammad Akbar

(Mohammad Akbar is from the village of Shahi Kale in Mohammad Agha District of LogarProvince. He graduated from high school in the region and joined the resistance in 1979and fought in Logar Province until the collapse of the DRA. He was a member of the Islamic Party (HIH - Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin). [Map sheet 2885, vic grid 1086].)

A day seldom passed without a clash between the Mujahideen and the Soviets or DRA in Logar Province. In the summer of 1980, my group set an ambush to attack a supply column of Soviet and DRA forces moving from Kabul to Gardez on highway 157. At that time, the populace had not migrated from the area and it was full of people. The Mujahideen had contacts in the government who reported on the movement of columns along the main highway. This was to be our first attack on a major column on this highway following the Soviet invasion. The ambush site was located around the Pul-e Qandahari junction with the main highway. At this point, the Logar River comes within 200 meters of the highway to the east, and the Kuh-e Mohammad Agha hills rise some 700 meters over the highway to the west. Ten kilometers to the south, the road runs through a steep gorge where vehicles cannot easily turn back (Map 1 - Mamur 1). We had 50 Mujahideen armed with Mosin-Nagant carbines, Enfield rifles and two RPG-7s. Our leader, Commander Hayat, divided our men into three groups and put one group in the Bini Sherafghan ruins some 70 meters west of the road. He put the second group to the east of the road around the Mamur Hotel and put the third group to the east in Pul-eQandahari facing the Mohammad Agha High School. Our ambush occupied a two-kilometer stretch. At this time, I was the late Commander Hayat's deputy commander, commanding the Pul-eQandahari positions.

Commander Hayat ordered that the attack would start when the end of the column reached the Bini Shirafghan ruins. The DRA column came. It had about 100 vehicles carrying food, ammunition and fuel. There were quite a few POL tankers in the column. We let it pass and, as the end of the column reached the ruins, we started to attack at the end of the column. In those days, convoy escort was very weak and air support was insufficient. There was practically no resistance or reaction to our attack from the column. Even the APCs which were escorting the column were passive. We left our positions and started moving up the column, firing as we went, and damaged or destroyed almost all the vehicles. We had no casualties. I don't know how many DRA casualties there were, but we wounded many drivers who the government evacuated later. We left the area promptly after the ambush.

The area around the Mamur Hotel was ideal for an ambush and we, and other Mujahideen groups, used it often. In September 1981,we set an ambush at the Mamur Hotel and in Pule-e Qandahari facing the high school. The Mamur Hotel group was commanded by the noted HIH commander Doctor Abdul Wali Khayat and the Pule-Qandahari position was commanded by my commander, the late Commander Hayat. There were some 35 Mujahideen armed with AK-47 rifles and three RPG-7s. The ambush site occupied about one kilometer of road-way. When the column arrived, we destroyed twelve trucks and captured three intact. The three trucks were large, heavy-duty, eight-cylinder trucks and they were loaded with beans, rice and military boots. We needed all this gear. We also captured two 76mm field guns and a heavier gun that I don't know the type or caliber. We did not have any Mujahideen casualties.

In July 1982, the late Doctor Wali Khayat set an ambush near the Mamur Hotel. A Soviet column, moving supplies from Kabul to Gardez, entered the ambush kill zone. During the attack, one Mujahideen fired an RPG-7 at an escorting APC. It hit the APC and a Soviet officer jumped out of the damaged APC and took cover. The officer was wounded. While the fighting was going on, the column sped up and left the ambush area — and left the officer behind. Doctor Abdul Wali Khayat fired at the position where the Soviet officer was. The Soviet officer returned fire with his AK-74. Doctor Khayat fired again and wounded the Soviet officer a second time — this time in the hand. The Soviet officer dropped his AK-74 and took out his pistol. Doctor Khayat threw a hand grenade at the officer and killed him. Then he crossed the road and took his AK-74 and his Makarov pistol. He left the body where it lay and the Mujahideen left the ambush site.

The next day the Soviets returned in a column from Kabul. They cordoned off the area and searched the houses around Mohammad Agha District headquarters and the town of Kotubkhel. They went house to house looking for their missing officer. HIH commander Sameh Jan was in Kotubkhel at that time He coordinated and organized the actions of all the Mujahideen factions which were caught inthe cordon. There were about 150 Mujahideen caught in the cordon.The Mujahideen began attacking the searching Soviets. They launched sudden, surprise attacks in the close streets and alleys of the villages and in the spaces between the villages. The fighting was often at point-blank range. The fighting began in the morning and continued until the late afternoon (Map 2 - Mamur 2). Soviet casualties are unknown but we think that they were heavy. The Mujahideen captured four AK-74s. Mujahideen casualties were seven KIA including Sameh Jan. Most of the dead Mujahideen had run out of ammunition. The Soviets captured the weapons of the dead Mujahideen including some AK-47s, a Goryunov machine gun, an RPG-7 and a few AK-74s captured from the Soviets in the past. As the Soviets got involved in fighting, they stopped searching. As daylight waned, the Soviets disengaged, took their dead and withdrew back to Kabul. They did find and evacuate the body of their officer who Doctor Khayat killed the day before. It was still lying where he was killed.

VIGNETTE 2: YET ANOTHER AMBUSH AT THE MAMUR HOTEL

 * by Toryalai Hemet

(Toryalai Hemat was a regimental commander of a Mujahideen Mobile Regiment belonging to the Etehad-e Islami (IUA) faction of Sayyaf. He fought in many provinces in Afghanistan during the war. [Map sheet 2885, vic grid 1086].)

My mobile regiment fought in many provinces in Afghanistan during the war. One of our battles was in Mohammad Agha District of Logar Province. The Jihad began here attacking columns between Gardez and Kabul. This action occured on 8 July 1986. It was a joint action with the HIH Mujahideen commanded by Doctor Wali Khayat and was reported in the media. It was a small ambush involving 13 Mujahideen armed with two RPG-7s, one PK machinegun and 10 AK-47s. Seven of the Mujahideen were my men and six were HIH. We set the ambush in Kotubkhel near the Mamur Hotel which sits beside the main highway. I split the force into two groups. I put a six-man group on the east side of the road along the Logar River bank. At this point the river is some 40 meters from the road and some two meters lower than the surrounding ground. This site is by the hotel. I put my seven-man group on the west side of the road on high ground. This site is a little further to the south, about 150 meters by the hotel. The high ground is known as Gumbazo Mazogani by the locals. There was an RPG-7 at both sites. We had instructed the group that if the column came from Kabul the furthest group (the western group on the high ground) would fire first to get the column into the kill zone. That would be the river site's signal to fire. We prepared our high ground positions in a ditch which was not visible from the road. It is some 200 meters from the road. We camouflaged our positions well (Map 3 - Mamur 3).

Our base was three kilometers southeast of Mohamad Agha southof the village of Qala-e Shahi near Ahmadzi Kala. We moved fromAhmadzi Kala at midnight. It took us one hour to reach the ambushsite. I was with the western group. We took our positions in the ditch.At that time, there was fighting in Paktia Province, Jajai District andthe enemy was moving reinforcements to the area. In the morning, areinforcing column came. We opened fire when it reached us and the eastern ambush site opened up as well. We destroyed or damaged two armored vehicles, three jeeps and eight trucks. Some trucks turned back to Kabul and others were abandoned. There were some intact abandoned trucks outside the kill zone. Dead and wounded lay on the ground. Only damaged vehicles were left in the kill zone. We had no casualties. In one of the jeeps we found some movie projectors. We also captured 11 AKs, two pistols and one heavy machine gun (which was mounted on an armored vehicle). We took what we could and split the spoils. HIH got all the projectors. We left and went to Wazir Kala some four kilometers away. Helicopter gunships came and fired at our old positions. Four Soviet helicopters came and took away their dead and wounded. We stayed in Wazir Kala for two or three hours. The helicopters were bombing and strafing the positions all of this time. In the late afternoon, when everything settled down, we returned to the area to search and see what was left. We removed the heavy machinegun and projectors at this time. We stopped a passing bus and asked the passengers for matches. At first they refused, not wanting to be accomplices, so we searched their pockets and got some matches and set fire to the damaged vehicles. Two days later, the Soviets sent a force to search our old positions. Of the 13 men in the ambush, only Baryali, Asef of HIH and I survived the war.

COMMENTARY
Both the Soviets and Mujahideen set patterns. The Mujahideen use the Mamur Hotel ambush site over and over again, yet apparently the Soviets or DRA seldom dismounted troops to search the area to spoil the ambush or to try to set a counterambush. This last example is from 1986, yet there seems to be no learning curve on the part of the Soviets. Air support is tardy, artillery fire is unavailable and there is no reserve to move against the ambush. Aggressive patrolling, specially-trained counter-ambush forces and priority counter-ambush intelligence are lacking. The standard Soviet/DRA counter-ambush techniques include an aerial patrol in front of the column, an engineer sweep in front of the column looking for mines, armored vehicles in the front of the column, occasional armored vehicles throughout the column and a robust rear guard. Once hit, the armored vehicles in the column would return fire while the soft-skin vehicles tried to drive out of the kill zone. Seldom would the ambushed force dismount forces to clear the ambush site and pursue the ambush party.

The Mujahideen did vary ambush positions in the same ambush site. Their primary concern was to hit the column where it was weakest — usually in the middle or rear — unless the purpose was to bottle up the column. In most ambushes, a small number of highly-mobile mujahideen were able to move and attack with little logistic support, but were unable to conduct a sustained fight. The RPG-7 was probably the most effective weapon of the Mujahideen. When used at close quarters with the element of surprise, it was devastating.

In this region, Mujahideen ambushes occupied a very wide front. This was a function of the open terrain and the spacing between con-voy vehicles. Convoy SOP was to maintain 100 meters or more between vehicles. In order to have enough vehicles in the kill zone to make the ambush worthwhile, the Mujahideen had to constitute a killzone much bigger than that employed by most Western armies.

VIGNETTE 3: AMBUSH SOUTH OF THE TANGI WAGHJAN GORGE

 * 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, 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.

COMMENTARY
The Mujahideen were quick to key on Soviet and DRA tactical patterns and procedures and came to rely on them. As a result, Mujahideen reactions to these patterns were often stereotyped, but the Soviets and DRA evidently did not always pick up on Mujahideen pat-terns or insure that the relevant tactical commanders got the word. In this case, the Tangi Waghjan Gorge is an obvious choke point and ambush area. The convoy commander needed to send reconnaissance/security elements ahead of the convoy to secure the gorge's entry, high ground and exit prior to moving the convoy into the gorge, but did not. His lead armored vehicle spotted the road block and removed it. This should have served as a warning, but the convoy commander already had the leading part of the convoy driving through the gorge.

Depending on initial vehicle interval and the commander's ability to stop the convoy from bunching up, some 70 to 150 vehicles may have been caught in the three-kilometer gorge. The drivers were dependent on firepower to rescue them, but the convoy was unable to bring firepower to bear to save their column.

Helicopters have an important role in convoy security, not only as scouts, but as a rapid reaction force and as a lift force to move security elements from one piece of dominant high ground to the next. The lack of helicopters deprived the convoy of needed warning and fire-power. The Mujahideen needed radios and early warning pickets to alert ambush forces about the approach of convoys and aircraft. At this point of the war, few Mujahideen had tactical radio communications.

VIGNETTE 4: AMBUSH AT KANDAY

 * by Doctor Mohammad Sadeq

(Doctor Mohammad Sadeq was a commander with the HIH in Kunar Province.)

We fought the DRA and Soviets for control of the Kunar Valley. The area borders Pakistan and is very mountainous and forested. Many of the mountains are over 5,000 meters high and are permanently snowcapped. We operated in Shewa District along the Kunar River. There, the mountains are not as high and the key terrain feature is the Kunar River and the highway which parallels it. In September 1982, we ambushed a supply column which was traveling from Jalalabad to Kunar (Map 5 - Kanday). The column was about eight kilometers in length. I had 22 Mujahideen armed with two RPGs, four AK-47 Kalashnikovs and 16 bolt-action Enfield rifles.

I set up the ambush on the high ground north of the Kunar River at Kanday. I divided my force into a support group and an ambush and attack group. The support group was on the high ground, while the ambush and attack group was below them next to the road. When the column came, we let it pass. I wanted to attack near the end of the column. As the head of the column reached Ziraybaba, which is six kilometers northeast of Kanday, a contact signaled us. We then opened fire on the column with our RPGs. An armored vehicle turned off and left the road to fire at us. It hit an antitank mine that we had planted there. We also hit it with RPG-7 fire. We also hit a ZIL truck. Our actions split the convoy. Half of the convoy went on to Kunar and the rest returned to Jalalabad. We didn't have enough firepower to continue the fight, so we withdrew. Besides taking out the armored vehicle and truck, we killed six enemy. I had one Mujahideen wounded.

COMMENTARY
Deciding where to ambush a long convoy is usually driven by geography, intent and escape routes. The Soviet/DFU convoy commander was primarily concerned with not being on the road at night and delivering the bulk of his cargo on time. He did not want to fight a long, involved battle with guerrillas. If the terrain at the ambush site is very constricted, the guerrilla may want to attack the head of the convoy and block the route with a combination of a roadblock and burning vehicles. If the convoy has armored vehicles and engineer vehicles concentrated to the front of the convoy, the guerrilla may want to attack the middle or tail of the convoy with the hope that the convoy commander will not divert a great deal of combat power back to deal with his attack. If the guerrilla is after supplies, the middle of the convoy is best if he can isolate a piece of the middle, since most convoys have a rear guard. In this case, the purpose of the ambush was to harass, not to capture supplies. The ambush site was fairly constricted due to the proximity of the river and road to the high ground, but it still allowed armored vehicles to turn around in the area. The ambush commander decided to attack toward the rear of the convoy, but far enough forward to avoid the rear guard.

VIGNETTE 5: AMBUSH ON THE JALALABAD-ASADABAD ROAD

 * by LTC Haji Mohammad Rahim

(LTC Haji Mohammad Rahim was an officer in the Afghan Army who became a Mujahideen and led a group in Kunar Province.)

The Jalalabad-Asadabad road runs right by the mouth of the Babur Valley (which we nicknamed Islamdara-the Valley of Islam). I had my base in the valley with 150 Mujahideen, one 82mm recoilless rifle, three DShK heavy machine guns, a Goryunov medium machine gun, five RPGs, some Kalashnikovs and some Enfields. I decided to set the ambush at the mouth of the valley. It was December 1984. The area is perfect for an ambush (Map 6 - Babur).

The mouth of the valley allows a U-shaped ambush with a 1000 meter kill zone. The forested valley allows a quick escape into the forested mountains. I positioned the DShK machine guns on the high ground and put the five RPGs and the recoilless rifle close to the road. I had three positions for my force - the bottom of Spereh Ghar facing southwest, the valley floor and the ridge of Shunkolay Ghar facing south and southeast. I put myself in the center in the valley floor position where I could best control the ambush. I had good fields of fire to both sides of the ambush site. The terrain is close and prevented the enemy from massing fires against the ambush. The river prevented the enemy from maneuvering effectively against the site. The withdrawal routes are covered.

A supply convoy came from Jalalabad. We let part of it pass to attack the middle of the convoy. When we opened fire, the enemy was hit from three directions. We destroyed three armored vehicles and one truck fully loaded with melons and other fruit and one truck full of boxes of cash. Some enemy tried to flee, but were trapped by the river which has many channels in this area. The money truck caught on fire and some of the money was burned, but we took what we could and later I made it a payday for everyone. I still have some of those burnt notes and someday I will cash them in for some good ones. The enemy tried to fight back and maneuver against us, but he could not find any favorable positions. Eventually, enemy helicopter gunships came and forced us out of position. Our concealed withdrawal routes through the trees protected us from the gunships. Sameh Jan Hejran from Chakdara was killed. He was a teacher. I also had one WIA. The enemy losses are unknown since they evacuated their dead. The following day, the DRA came and towed the damaged armored vehicles away.

COMMENTARY
The Mujahideen were unpaid volunteers, so the money truck was a real boon. Mujahideen still had to support their families, so normally all heavy weapons and 1/5th of the loot from an ambush or raid went to the commander. The other 4/5ths was divided among the Mujahideen combatants. Some Mujahideen would take their captured Kalashnikovs to Pakistan where they would sell them and give the money to their families to live on. Governments supporting the Mujahideen would buy the weapons in Pakistan’s bazaars and give them to Mujahideen faction leaders for distribution. LTC Rahim’s military professionalism shows throughout this vignette. His ambush lay down is by the book and very effective. He might have blown the bridge in the middle of the kill zone, but that would have meant that a guarded bridge repair crew would be near his base camp for an indefinite period of time impeding his freedom of movement.

VIGNETTE 6: NO-PULA AMBUSH

 * by Commander Sofi Lal Gul

(Commander Sofi Lal Gul is from Farza village of Mir Bacha Kot District, about 25 kilometers north of Kabul. He was affiliated with Mojadeddi's Afghanistan National Liberation Front of Afghanistan (ANLF) during the war with the Soviet forces. Commander Sofi La1 Gul concentrated his efforts on the Kabul-Charikar highway.)

In December 1980, I led a group of 12 Mujahideen in an ambush on the Kabul-Charikar highway at No-Pula, near Qara Bagh. We were armed with Kalashnikov rifles and two RPG-7s. I selected the ambush site at a point where orchards and other vegetation provide covered approaches to the road and offered concealed positions for the ambush team. We left our base at Farza, some ten kilometers to the west, long before daybreak to arrive at the ambush site before sunrise. I deployed my force into two ambush positions near the road and placed a three-man flank security team on the road which intersected with the main highway (Map 7 - No-Pula).

About 0900 hours, an enemy column of trucks, jeeps and armored vehicles arrived. As the head of the column passed our ambush position kill zone, we opened fire on the convoy and destroyed one of the leading tanks with a direct hit by RPG-7. As the convoy unsuccessfully scurried to take cover, our fire destroyed a jeep and an APC. Explosions in the disabled vehicles set some trucks on fire. The enemy returned fire but failed to use its infantry to attack us directly. The action continued for less than an hour. When enemy aircraft arrived over the ambush site, we broke contact and pulled out through the green zone. We had no casualties, while we destroyed or damaged one tank, one APC, one jeep and eight trucks.

COMMENTARY
The Mujahideen group achieved surprise by deploying in the dark and using the covered area close to the road for the ambush. The small number of the Mujahideen limited its action to one strike, after which they had to pull out. Failure to act decisively cost the convoy several vehicles and allowed the Mujahideen to slip away unscathed. The passive response of the Soviets caught in ambush often was due to the fact that they were carrying very few infantry in their escorting personnel carriers.

The cover provided by the orchards and vegetation that flanked both sides of the Kabul-Charikar highway helped the Mujahideen lay successful ambushes. Later in the war, the Soviets destroyed the roadside orchards and villages to prevent the Mujahideen from using them in their ambushes.

VIGNETTE 7: TWO CONVOYS IN THE KILL ZONE

 * by Toryalai Hemat

(Toryalai Hemat was a regiment commander of a mobile force allied with the IUA-Islamic Union of Afghanistan of Sayyaf. He fought in many provinces in Afghanistan.)

In the summer of 1986, the Soviets and DRA were moving lots of reinforcements and supplies to Paktia Province. We set an ambush on Highway 157 south of Mohammad Agha District headquarters on the 12th of July. This was four days after an ambush at the Mamur Hotel. I sited the ambush along a two-kilometer stretch between Qala-e Shekhak and Dehe Naw. Qala-e Shekhak is six kilometers south of Mohammad Agha and Dehe Naw is three kilometers further south from Qala-e Shekhak. There was a DRA outpost at Qala-e Shekhak, so we started our ambush a kilometer south of the outpost. The outpost was surrounded by mines and the DRA seldom left the outpost. I felt that the DRA might shoot at us, but would not attack from the outpost (Map 8 - Two Convoys).

I had 35 Mujahideen in my group. I divided them into four groups - a northern containment group, an ambush group, a southern security group and a support group. The northern containment group was to fire on the DFU outpost to prevent them from interfering with our ambush. The ambush group would attack the convoy from close up. The southern security group would occupy a position at Dehe Naw to protect our southern flank and prevent the arrival of reinforcements from the south. These three groups were armed with AK-47s, PK machine guns and RPGs. The support group had one 82mm mortar and a Goryunov machine gun. I positioned the support group on the east bank of the Logar River behind the ambush group. All the groups were on the east side of the road. We moved from Ahmadzi Qala before dawn and occupied our ambush positions.

We did not have any advance information on the movement of columns, but there were enough columns moving to Paktia. At this time, there was usually a daily column, so it was a free hunt. There were many petrol tankers in these convoys. They were easy to set on fire, and just firing at them would do the job. Once you set them on fire, it would demoralize the entire column as everyone could see the smoke. We always wanted to hit DRA columns since they wouldn't fight, whereas Soviet columns would. Usually when a column would come, the enemy would establish security forces at suspected ambush sites and occupy them until the column passed or until they were certain that nothing was going to happen. Many times we wouldn't risk taking on the entire column. We would attack the tail since the enemy would not turn back to help the petroleum tankers at the rear. The column would often reach Gardez, but they would have lost a piece of it along the way. Attacking the column in the rear was less risk to us, although sometimes there would be some APCs at the rear of the column.

The enemy reaction when caught in the kill zone was usually ineffective. They normally stopped, dismounted and took cover. They fought back only when assistance arrived. We learned to hit the column and leave. We did not want to fight reinforcements or helicopters because we did not have enough combat power and it was very hard to move our wounded from the area under fire. Later in the morning, a Soviet security force of armored vehicles moved close to us and occupied a position. Then the column came from the north. The security force rejoined the column before the entire column passed. This left the fuel tankers in the rear of the column for us! We hit them by surprise, and it was effective. We damaged or destroyed one jeep and nine tankers. Mohammad Hashem took mt an armored security vehicle with his RPG. We later learned that two Russians fled from the south-bound column when we ambushed it. They were captured by Mujahideen from HIH. As we were getting ready to leave the ambush site, a Soviet armored column came from the south. My southern security group had already pulled back, so we were caught totally by surprise. They began pouring fire into our ranks. Four helicopters also flew over firing at us.

Mohammad Hashem hit one helicopter with his RPG, but the fight was unequal. All of my group, except for Ehsan and myself were wounded - most of them were wounded while we were withdrawing. Most were lightly wounded, but two of them are still paralyzed. What happened is that as we ambushed the tail of the southbound column, a north-bound column was traveling on the same section of road. The heavily-armored head of the north-bound column arrived at the kill zone as we were withdrawing. Helicopters were flying air cover for the arriving column as well. Since my southern security group had withdrawn, we did not know of their arrival until they were firing at us.

COMMENTARY
The road runs through a deep gorge three kilometers south of Dehe Naw. The Soviets probably had anticipated problems at this area and leapfrogged the security force there and put the helicopters overhead to deal with this probable ambush site. Security elements should be the last elements to pull out of an ambush - not the first. The southern security element should have been south on the high ground where it could see. Simple hand-held walkie-talkie radios and a security element that performs its mission would have averted disaster for this Mujahideen commander. The RPG-7 could be an effective anti-helicopter weapon - particularly when several RPGs were fired simultaneously at a hovering helicopter or at a helicopter on the ground.

VIGNETTE 8: AMBUSH NEAR ABDULLAHIE BURJ

 * by Haji Abdul Qader and Haji Qasab

(Haji Abdul Qader was a HIK commander in the Bagram area. Haji Qasab was a JIA commander in the Deh Baba’Ali area.)

In October 1980, a Soviet column left its base in Bagram to conduct a four day operation against the Mujahideen in the Nejraw District of Kapisa Province. To get there, they crossed the Abdullah-e Burj bridge over the Panjshir River. The bridge is on the main highway connecting Bagram with the provincial capitals of Mahmoud-e Raqi and Deh Baba’Ali and other major towns including Gulbahar in the north and Sarobi in the south. Since this is the only bridge over the Panjshir River in this region, Mujahideen felt that the Soviet force would return to their base by the same route.

The Mujahideen based around the Abdullah-e Burj decided to ambush the column on its return trip when the troops were tired and more vulnerable. They decided to hit the column while it was crossing over the bridge from Kapisa to Parwan Province. The Soviets would be most vulnerable when half their column had crossed the river and their force was divided by the river (Map 9 - Burj). Haji Abdul Qader and Haji Qasab jointly planned and executed the ambush. They decided to let the Soviet force move unopposed until the head of the column reached Qala-e Naw, about 3.5 kilometers southwest of the bridge. The Mujahideen had watched the column depart and knew how long the column was. They calculated that when the column reached Qala-e Naw, half of the column would still be on the north of the river with the tail of the column just south of Deh Baba’Ali. Haji Abdul Qader’s group (about 150 men) would set up their ambush south of the river along the Bagram-Kapisa road. They would set up in the orchards and hills between Qala-e Naw and Abdullah-e Burj. Haji Qasab, reinforced with local Mujahideen from Commander Shahin’s group (about 200 altogether) would ambush north of the river between Abdullah-e Burj and Deh Baba’Ali. The two areas were part of the normal AOs of the two commanders. In both areas, the Mujahideen positioned their RPG-7s close to the road and their heavy machine guns hrther back on dominant terrain. The Mujahideen also supported the ambushes with a few recoilless rifles and 82mm mortars.

On 5 October, the Mujahideen secretly deployed into their designated positions and prepared covered positions for their anti-tank weapons. The Soviet column returned that afternoon. It moved unopposed across the bridge at Abdullah-e Burj, and the head of the column reached Qala-e Naw around 1600 hours. Then, at Haji Abdul Qader’s signal, the ambushes opened fire on the tanks, APCs, and trucks along the entire length of the column. The Soviets were caught by surprise. South of the river, the Soviet forces drove off the road to try to escape to the open plain. However, many vehicles were hit and destroyed by RPG-7 fire. Vehicles were burning and the Soviet infantry which dismounted from the APCs came under heavy machine gun fire.

On the north side of the river, there is little room for vehicles to maneuver in the surrounding green zone of orchards and vineyards. Many soldiers abandoned their vehicles and rushed to try and ford the river.4 Some soldiers were washed away, while others made it to the other side and headed for Bagram across the open plain. Many Soviet soldiers were in a state of panic, and overall command and control had broken down. Some troops established perimeter defenses around their vehicles to hold on until help came. Others abandoned their vehicles and escaped toward Bagram. Some 20 or 30 vehicles were burning. Night fell. Soviet artillery pounded Mujahideen positions around Qala-e Naw, but it was not very effective. The Mujahideen moved through the burning and abandoned vehicles removing supplies and scores of weapons. In the morning, the Soviets sent a relief column from Bagram to relieve the trapped column. The Mujahideen withdrew from the battlefield. At 0800 hours, the remnants of the Soviet column moved on to their Bagram base. Mujahideen losses were light. Haji Abdul Qader’s group had two KIA and seven WIA. Total enemy casualties are unknown.

COMMENTARY
There were several factors contributing to the Mujahideen success. First, proper selection of the ambush site was key. The Mujahideen caught the Soviet column straddling the river and forced it to fight two separate, unsupported battles. There was little room to maneuver except over the sourthern escape route. Second, the time of the ambush was optimum. The late afternoon arrival gave Mujahideen gunners just enough time to inflict maximum damage, but not enough time for Soviet air power to react. Soviet artillery could cover only a portion of the battlefield and apparently no forward Crossing the Panjshir River, or any of Afghanistan’s major rivers, is always very risky. The rivers often appear calm and shallow, but they are treacherous. The Soviet soldiers, who expected to cross the river on a vehicle over the bridge, were probably not briefed as to the danger.

Observers were forward to adjust artillery fire during the night. Third, the Mujahideen had surprise. The column had driven out on this road unmolested and expected to return unopposed. The soldiers were cold and tired, and their guard was down. The head of the column could see Bagram airbase when they were hit. Fourth, the simultaneous attack along the entire length of the column stripped the convoy commander of any uncommmited force which he could use as an emergency reserve. The Mujahideen occupied very wide ambush frontages relative to their manpower and this allowed them to attack the entire convoy simultaneously. In retrospect there is little more that the Mujahideen could have done except employ mines and mortar fire on the southern escape route. The Soviet commander contributed to his own defeat. He had poor intelligence on the area that he was travelling through and did not use reconnaissance forces effectively. He did not use forward detachments to seize dominant terrain and obvious chokepoints, such as the Abdullah-e Burj bridge, in advance of the column. He was highly predictable and used the same route to return that he had left on, yet failed to post security along that route to support his movement. He failed to leap-frog artillery groups along the column so that artillery fire support was immediately available. He apparently did not have helicopter gunships on stand-by to respond to ambush. He appears to have not trained his force in standard counter-ambush drills and procedures. He apparently lost control of the column within the first minute of the ambush. The Soviet force in Bagram was reluctant to go to the aid of the beleaguered column at night. Apparently they were afraid of also being ambushed. This reluctance to leave the relative safety of their base camp at night was to the Mujahideen advantage.

VIGNETTE 9: DEH-KHWAJA AMBUSH

 * by Commander Mulla Malang

(Mulla Malang was one of the most famous commanders of the Kandahar area. He was an adherent of Mawlawi Mohammed Yunis Khalis-Islamic Party (Hezb-e-lslami-Khalis-HIK).)

In 1982, the Soviet 70th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade,5 supported by DRA forces, launched a block and sweep operation against the Mujahideen forces in the center of Panjwayee District. Panjwayee District is located some 25 kilometers southwest of Kandahar city. Mujahideen sources estimate that hundreds of enemy tanks, APCs, BMPs and other vehicles were involved in the 25-day operation. The Soviet purpose was to punish the Mujahideen groups who constantly harassed Soviet and DRA troop columns and supply convoys on the main Kandahar-Herat highway. The operation was also designed to destroy the resistance bases in the area and widen the security zone around the government-controlled district center. The Soviet operation in Panjwayee required constant resupnly from the main Soviet base located in the Kandahar air base. The supply columns had to travel along the main Chaman-Kandahar road to its junction with the Kabul-Herat highway and then proceed through Deh-Khwaja and Kandahar city to Sarpuza where the Panjwayee access road joins the main highway.

The Mujahideen groups around Kandahar decided to launch a diversionary action against the enemy in order to relieve the pressure on the resistance in Panjwayee. The Mujahideen realized that the Soviets were weakest and most vulnerable along their supply route and, therefore, decided to strike them there. Although the Mujahideen could conduct small-scale ambushes along the entire stretch of the road, there were only two places suitable for large-scale ambushes. One is a two-kilometer length of road between Manzel Bagh Chawk and Deh-Khwaja. The other is a one-and-a-half kilometer stretch between Shahr-e Naw and Sarpuza.

The 70th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade was created using a regiment of the 5th Motorized Rifle Division shortly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The 70th was designed especially for counterinsurgency and had 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 MRL battalion might have belonged to this organization.

The local Mujahideen groups in the Malajat 6 held a council of war and decided to block the road and conduct a large-scale ambush at each site. In addition to the ambush forces, the Mujahideen also designated support groups for both ambushes to protect the flanks and rear of the blocking/ambush detachments. About 150 Mujahideen, split up into small groups, moved from the Malajat area during the night and took up positions in the orchards, buildings and ditches along the main road between the Manzel Bagh Chawk and Deh-Khwaja gas station. The back-up group for the detachment deployed south of the city. A similar detachment blocked the road between Shahr-e Naw and Sarpuza.

Early in the morning, a convoy of trucks carrying ammunition, rockets and gasoline moved from the Kandahar air base toward Panjwayee. As the column reached the first roadblock, the Mujahideen opened fire simultaneously with RPGs, machine guns, rifles and a recoilless rifle. Taken by surprise, the column stopped while the Soviet security vehicles returned fire. Their fire hit the Deh-Khwaja residential areas and caused much destruction. However, Mujahideen fire finally struck the ammunition trucks. They caught fire and hundreds of rockets and boxes of other ammunition began to explode. The explosions were so powerfuZ that burning tires from APCS were thrown as far away as Bala Karz, some two kilometers from the ambush site. The ambush destroyed about 30 enemy supply trucks and damaged many others. The rest of the Soviet convoy turned back. The Mujahideen roadblock at Shahr-e Naw and Sarpuza had no enemy to attack.

This Mujahideen ambush had a decisive impact on the enemy operation in that it forced the Soviet forces to end their siege of Mujahideen forces in Panjwayee and return to Kandahar. However, in order to prevent future ambushes in the area, the Soviet forces bulldozed Deh-Khwaja homes along the main road out to a distance of 300 meters from the highway.

COMMENTARY
Security of the lines of communication was a constant challenge facing the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Security of the lines of communication determined the amount of forces which the Soviet could deploy in Afghanistan and also determined the scale and frequency of offensive combat directed against the Afghan resistance forces. In this example the Soviets had to move supplies to a large group of forces about 50 lulometers away. The road, although an all-season major highway, was vulnerable to Mujahideen ambushes at almost The large green zone to the south of Kandahar. Page 38 The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War every point. Further, the Soviets and Mujahideen fought for control of Kandahar for the entire war. The Soviets knew that the road was not secure. And yet, the convoy commander did little to ensure the security of the movement along the supply route. A preliminary road-clearing patrol could have preempted the Mujahideen's successful ambush. Instead, their entire operation was disrupted due to their failure to move the supplies to Panjwayee.

Normally, the Soviets spaced APCs throughout the convoy as security vehicles. In case of ambush, the APCs would stop in the kill zone and return fire while the rest of the convoy caught in the kill zone would drive out of it. The portion of the convoy not under attack would stop and wait for the APCs to drive off the ambushers. Then, when the ambushers had been driven off, the convoy would reform and continue. This is why the Mujahideen established two ambush zones. They did not think that they would stop the convoy at the first ambush and so the second ambush was ready to hit the Soviet convoy again. On the other hand, it took the Mujahideen about three weeks to decide to help the resistance forces in Panjwayee by hitting the Soviets elsewhere. Had they launched their attack earlier, it could have forced their enemy to terminate his operation against Mujahideen groups in Panj wayee earlier.

VIGNETTE 10: DURANAY AMBUSH

 * by Commander Haji Mohammad Seddiq

(Haji Mohammad Seddiq is from No-Burja village in Logar Province. The village is in theTangi-Wardak area which connects the Saydabad District of Wardak Province to the BarakiBarak District in the Logar Province. Commander Seddiq's village is located on the borderbetween the two provinces. Therefore, his command fought in both provinces in coordi-nation with other Mujahideen. Commander Haji Mohammad Seddiq was affiliated withHekmatyar's HIH. )

In September 1983, my group and I were visiting the area of Maidan. The Maidan Mujahideen had heard about a future convoygoing from Kabul to Ghazni and were planning to ambush it. I joined HIH commanders Ghulam Sakhi, Captain Amanullah, Mawlawi Halim and Zabet Wali in setting up an ambush some 30 kilometerssouthwest of Kabul. Together, we had some 60 Mujahideen armed withAK-47s, 60mm mortars, RPG-7s and an 82mm recoilless rifle. Weplanned two ambush sites. One group would deploy east of the roadbetween Duranay Bazar and Sur Pul. The other group would deploy west of the road on the forward slope of Duranay mountain close to the road (Map 11 - Duranay). The Mujahideen already had well-prepared positions at both these sites.

We occupied our positions at dawn and waited for the column. At about 0900 hours, the convoy came from Kabul. It was a column of trucks and armored vehicles. A forward security element preceded the convoy. It drove through the ambush area, but failed to detect our forces. Then the convoy entered the ambush area. We let it pass through until the head of the column reached the second ambush site at Duranay mountain. Now, the column was in about a five-kilometer stretch of kill zone. We opened up from all positions along the entire length of the exposed column.

A heavy battle ensued as we fired at all the vehicles in the open. The enemy had a security outpost at Sur Pul which joined in the battle and fired on our positions. Despite this security post fire, and the fire from the armored vehicles, the Soviet response was fairly passive. Our prepared positions protected us, and the Soviets apparently did not have any infantry accompanying the convoy, so they could not dismount and maneuver against us. Our positions were vulnerable to a flank attack through Kashmirian or Ghlo Ghar, but the apparent lack of Soviet infantry support kept their vehicles pinned down on the lower ground where we continued to shoot them without anti-tank weapons.

Later in the day, the enemy brought reinforcements to the battle-field and began to pound Mujahideen positions with artillery and airstrikes. We began to gradually withdraw our ambush force and by 1500, there were no Mujahideen left in the area. A major Mujahideen commander, Ghulam Sakhi, and several other Mujahideen were killed and many were wounded. We damaged or destroyed 33 armored vehicles and 27 trucks. We captured some 40 weapons of different types.

COMMENTARY
The Mujahideen showed good planning and discipline in this ambush, but used prepared positions that they had used before. They also knew that these positions had exposed flanks, but took no precautions. They felt that the Soviets would not dismount to check the known ambush sites and did not expect immediate Soviet counter-actions to turn their flanks. They were right. The Mujahideen were setting a pattern, but the Soviets failed to react to it. The Mujahideen stocked their positions with sufficient ammunition for a fight of several hours duration. They apparently took many of their casualties from artillery and air strikes while moving to the burning vehicles to loot or when pulling back.

The Soviet convoy movement was no secret. The Mujahideen had contacts within the DIVA and agents near the assembly areas. The Soviets usually left after first light and therefore arrived in the area between 0830 and 0930. This made it convenient for the Mujahideen who did not have to stay in position all day. The Soviets knew that this was an ambush site, but did not destroy the ambush positions, put security elements on the high ground with helicopters or put a dismounted force through the area to check for ambushes. Further, they did not have helicopter gunships flying overhead or on strip alert. They did not carry an immediate reaction force which could get up into the mountains and turn the flanks of the ambush sites. Instead, they relied on the combat power of their armored vehicles and slow-reacting artillery and air support.

The Mujahideen commander had 60 combatants spread over a five kilometers stretch of ambush on both sides of the road. He did not have radio communications with all his people. Instead, the signal to initiate fire was the commander firing the first shot. Other commands were given by messenger or visual signals—mirrors, flares, smokegrenades and waving. Command and control depended greatly on thecommander's pre-ambush briefing and SOP actions.

VIGNETTE 11: KANDAHAR AMBUSHES

 * by Commander Mulla Malang

Despite their best efforts, the Soviets were never able to gain full control of the major Pashtun city of Kandahar. The battle for Kandahar was unusual in that all guerrilla factions cooperated andregularly rotated forces in and out of the battle to maintain pressureon the Soviet and DRA garrisons. The suburbs of Kandahar were oneof the major scenes of Mujahideen road blocks and ambushes duringthe war. Hardly a day would pass without a Mujahideen attack on enemy columns along the main highway connecting the city with Ghazni in the northeast and Girishk in the west.

The enemy columns were most vulnerable on a stretch of the road between the western suburbs of the city and Hauz-e Madad, located about 40 kilometers west of Kandahar. In this area, the Mujahideen were able to hide in the orchards and villages to ambush enemy columns. As the road leaves Sanjari on the Arghandab River, the green zone runs parallel to the highway in the south and an arid plain, thatgradually rises toward the mountains, flanks the road to the north. (See Map 10a - Deh-Khwaja 1 in Vignette 9.)

The Herat Column

In one of their early large-scale ambushes, the Mujahideen groups affiliated with different parties planned a series of ambushes alongthe main highway from Girishk to Kandahar (Map 12 - Kandahar).In September 1984, a Soviet/DRA supply column moved from Torghundi on the Soviet Turkmenistan border through the Shindand air base in western Afghanistan to the Soviet garrison in Kandahar. The column consisted of several hundred trucks escorted by tanks and APCs. Most of the trucks were loaded with gasoline which they

Mulla Malang, now 38, is a Pashtun from the northwestern province of Badghisat. He wasa student (taleb) at a religious school (madrassa) in Kandahar when the communists cameto power in a bloody coup in Kabul in 1978. Mulla Malang joined a resistance cell in thesouthern suburbs of Kandahar (Malajat) and started fighting the communist regime. Hewas arrested in the fall of 1979 for spreading anti-government leaflets and later releasedin general amnesty after the Soviet invasion in January 1980. Mulla Malang immediately fled to Pakistan and joined Mawlawi Mohammad Nabi Muhammadi's Harakat faction. He returned to Kandahar for combat. Mulla Malang later joined HIK and became a major commander of the faction in the province with bases in Arghestan, Malajat, Pashmol and Khakrez. [Map sheet 2180].

brought from Shindand. Shindand was supplied with gasoline froma Soviet-built field pipeline. Saranwal Abdul Wali of NIFA and I coordinated the Mujahideen plan. We planned to position several interconnected ambushes, manned by small groups of Mujahideen, to surprise and take theentire length of the column under simultaneous fire. This required selection of a favorable stretch of the road that could accommodate all the ambushes required to attack the entire column. We selected astretch of nearly seven kilometers between a point at the end of Sanjari (the beginning of Ashoqa villages) and a point immediately to the east of Pashmol as the killing zone for the enemy column. We estimated that this stretch of the highway corresponded to the length of the enemy column. We decided to divide the 250 available Mujahideen into several groups. The groups were armed with RPG-7 antitank grenade launchers and four-to-five 82mm recoilless rifles. All ambushes were sited inthe green zone to the south of the road. Each ambush group had an assigned sector of the kill zone. All groups were instructed to open fire simultaneously as the head of the column reaches the Ashoqa villages. It was expected that at that time the tail of the column would have just cleared the Pashmol villages.

At that time, most of the local population still lived in their homes along the road. Few had migrated to Pakistan since no major Soviet military actions had taken place there. The Mujahideen groups coming from Malajat (the southern and southwestern suburbs of Kandahar)and other neighboring bases moved during the night to their designated ambush sites. The ambush plan was kept secret from the local population and local Mujahideen units since resistance groups basedin the ambush area were reluctant to participate, fearing retaliation directed at their homes and families still living there.

The ambush groups moved into position during the night anddeployed patrols to secure the area. As the day began and localsstarted moving around, Mujahideen patrols temporarily detainedthe villagers to ensure secrecy. The Soviet convoy reached the kill zone at 0900 hours. As instructed, the Mujahideen groups openedfire simultaneously, surprising the enemy. The column stopped andmany vehicles began moving north onto the open plain. The escort-ing tanks and APCs fired randomly in panic from on the roadwithout trying to maneuver or close with the ambush sites. Enemyvehicles moving north off the highway soon were out of range ofmany of the Mujahideen weapons.

In the meantime, several gasoline trucks caught fire and the firequickly spread to other vehicles. The chain reaction set off severalexplosions which threw burning debris on both sides of the road. Wescored direct hits on about 50 vehicles while many others were dam-aged in explosions caused by the blown up trucks and gas tankers. Theaction lasted 30 minutes. We withdrew before enemy aircraft could bescrambled. The enemy did not pursue us.

This ambush marked the beginning of a continuous battle forcontrol of the western road to Kandahar. Until the Soviet withdrawalin 1989, this road was under constant threat by the Mujahideen whowould set up road blocks, conduct ambushes, mine long stretches of the road and demolish bridges, underpasses and viaducts using unexploded aerial bombs. Faced with continuous Mujahideen ambushesand attacks on convoys along the highway, the Soviet forces estab-lished several security posts and fire bases in the area. They built amajor fire base at Kandahar Silo and another at Karez Slim in thenorthern plain overlooking the Kandahar western highway.

The Soviets set three security outposts at the points where orchards and the green zone stretched to the road providing conceal-ment for Mujahideen in ambush. They were established on bothsides of Pasab and at Hauz-e Madad (Map 10a Deh-Khawaja 1 inVignette 9). The posts were protected by earth berms. The road-side security posts were connected to the main fire base at Karez Slim bycommunications trenches which allowed safe, rapid reinforcement.The twin Pasab posts were each manned by 10-15 men and each hada tank, a howitzer and a mortar. The security post at Hauz-e Madad was two times as large as the two Pasab posts combined.

The new security arrangement impeded Mujahideen movement inthe area. Repeated attempts by the Mujahideen failed to knock out the Soviet outposts. Lala Malang sent for me and asked me to join in a coordinated attack on the Soviet security posts in November 1985. Mujahideen forces lacked the ability to knock out security posts sincethey had to fight from exposed positions with little cover and theylacked engineering equipment to neutralize mine fields around theenemy positions. Therefore, the Mujahideen could not sustain pressure on the outpost garrison. We Kandahar Mujahideen decided to first enhance our tactical survivability and then renew attempts to destroy the enemy security

7 Lala Malang was a well-known Mujahideen commander who was based in Pashmol (hewas killed during a major Soviet sweep of the Arghandab Valley in 1987).

posts. We began to steadily improve field fortifications areas around Kandahar. We dug trenches with overhead cover overlooking theenemy security posts. We constructed bunkers, underground night shelters and covered access trenches, and stocked ammunition andsupplies in these prepared positions. Wherever possible, we built over-head cover using timbers covered with a thick layer of dirt as protec-tion against artillery and aviation. We prepared firing positions forour multi-barrelled rocket launchers. Each of these positions had apool of water so that the firing crew could splash water on the sitebefore firing to absorb the flames and fumes from the rocket launch. These positions significantly enhanced Mujahideen field sustain-ability and enabled them to fire on the enemy outposts aroundthe clock. Enemy attempts to dislodge the Mujahideen with airstrikes and artillery fire repeatedly failed. Enemy tanks and motor-ized rifle forces were also unable to penetrate the green zones toeliminate the positions.

Finally the enemy was forced to abandon his posts at Pasab and Hauz-e Madad and shift his forces to Karez Slim. A local Mujahi-deen commander, Mulla Nek Mohammad, and some others intensi-fied their daily harassment of enemy movements in the area close to the green zone. Every morning, the Soviets would deploy securitypatrols from their base at Kandahar Silo to secure the highwayfrom the city to Sanjari area. The Karez Slim fire base covered thearea west of Sanjari.

As Mujahideen attacks further threatened the security of theenemy convoys on the highway, the Soviets decided to avoid the stretchof road they could not control. They constructed a detour road to thenorth of the highway. The bypass road was built in 1985 and connect-ed Sanjari and Karez Slim (See Map10a - Deh-Khwaja 1 in Vignette 9).

COMMENTARY
Soviet lack of adequate reconnaissance cost them dearly. Moving a convoy of supply vehicles in close terrain, without effective security arrangements, often resulted in major tactical setbacks. They further failed to cover the convoy movement with helicopter reconnaissance and helicopter gunships. The Mujahideen had calculated the reaction time for helicopter gunships from Kandahar air base. Timely action by helicopter gunships could have saved the day for the Soviet convoy, but they were apparently not planned for and not on call.

Normally, the Soviets spaced APCs throughout the convoy as security vehicles. In case of ambush, the APCs would stop in the kill zone and return fire while the rest of the convoy caught in the kill zonewould drive out of it. The security detail followed this SOP. Instead of aggressive efforts to use their armored strength and fire power to outflank the ambush groups and cut off their withdrawal, the Sovietsecurity vehicles passively remained with the embattled column and fired on suspected Mujahideen positions. They had little effect.

Later on, as the Soviet forces established stationary security posts in the key areas along the highway, they failed to support and sustain them in the face of constant Mujahideen attacks. This later led them to construct a bypass road further to the north away from the dangerous green zone. The Soviet surrendered the initiative in movement control to the Mujahideen and never regained it. Consequently most of the Soviet actions in the area were reactive. In a guerilla war, the loss of initiative becomes decisive in the outcome of tactical combat.

What mostly contributed to Mujahideen success in inflicting heavy losses on the enemy was their elaborate planning, secrecy in movement and coordinated action. This became possible through detailed information about the enemy including the size, direction of movement and estimated time of arrival of the enemy convoy to the ambush site. Simultaneous attack on the enemy column along its entire depth was perhaps the most decisive element in this ambush. In this case, the Mujahideen had approximately 40 combatants to a kilometer of ambush. This was much denser than usual Mujahideen ambushes andreflected that they were fighting from a green zone which could accomodate more combatants.

However, the Mujahideen failed to exploit the initiative they achieved through surprise by moving to the road to complete the destruction of a demoralized and panicked enemy. Instead, they pulled out immediately after their success. This failure to fully exploit an ambush became a hallmark of Mujahideen hit and run tactics throughout the war.

Later fighting confirms the importance of field fortifications and terrain to increase battlefield survivability and sustain combat despit eenemy air and artillery superiority. This was a lesson once learned bythe Mujahideen that was effectively implemented throughout the war. The Soviets and DRA, on the other hand, did not make a concerted effort to find and destroy these positions. The parochial nature of the resistance always affected selection of the place and time of tactical actions against the enemy. In areas where the local population remained in their homes and had not emigrated, local resistance units preferred to reserve for themselves the choice of time, place and method of action against the enemy and not let outside Mujahideen groups risk their security and plans by conducting combat in their area without their consent. The decentralized nature of the resistance, factionalism and lack of unified command were both a Mujahideen strength and weakness.

VIGNETTE 12: AMBUSH AT QALA-E HAIDAR

 * by Asil Khan

(Asil Khan is a famous urban guerrilla who operated in and around Kabul. He belonged to the NIFA faction. Other notes and the DRA security plan consulted for this vignette. )

As early as 1980, Mujahideen began attacking Soviet columns along the major southwest highway connecting the Afghan capital ofKabul to Ghazni and Kandahar. This 480-kilometer stretch was vulnerable in many areas. The road between Cheltan and Maidan, just outside of Kabul, was continuously attacked by Mujahideen operating out of bases in the suburbs of Kabul, Paghman, Kurugh, Arghandehand Maidan. Initially, Soviet/ DRA forces would establish security out-posts at key points along the road every time they moved a column on the highway. According to the DRA security plan, different military units were responsible for sections of road and for manning the security outposts while Soviet or DRA convoys were moving through theirarea. Later on, as military traffic along the highway increased, units would routinely post security details at the outposts in the morning and pull them out at dusk. One of the outposts was located at the old fort of Qala-e Haidar, some 15 kilometers west of Kabul. This outpost was vulnerable to attacks by Mujahideen who would sneak up on the outpost from neighboring villages which were not under government control (Map 13 - Haidar).

In the beginning of October 1984, the DRA tired of the repeated Mujahideen attacks and did not man the outpost for many days. Asil Khan decided to conduct an ambush at Qala-e Haidar, although he knew that he could not hold the site for more than a few minutes after the ambush, since the DRA could quickly reach the outpost from adjacent outposts. On the night of 18 October 1984, Asil Khan led a 15-man team to Qala-e Haidar. There had been some road repair by the outpost and the road had been scraped down and graded. Asil Khan had his men bury three powerful remote-controlled mines in the road immediately in front of the outpost. They also buried or disguised the wires leading away from the mines to the ambush site. They spent two nights mining the highway and preparing fighting positions in the orchards and in a ditch in front of Qala-e Haider. Lookouts watched the road for approaching columns.

On the morning of 20 October, there were an unusual number of helicopters flying in the area. Asil Khan felt that this indicated that a convoy was leaving Kabul and so he moved his men into the ambush site and waited for the column to arrive. Around 1000 hours, a large supply column, escorted by tanks and APCs, approached the Mujahideen position. Helicopters were flying overhead. As the leading tanks and APCs reached the kill zone, the Mujahideen detonated the mines One tank blew up and the column came to a sudden halt. The Mujahideen opened fire on the column. But the Mujahideen were so concerned about making a fast getaway, that their fire was not too effective against the vulnerable column. They destroyed just one truck with their RPGs before they broke contact and fled unscathed to friendly territory in the west.

COMMENTARY
The Mujahideen achieved surprise but failed to exploitit fully once the column stopped. The commander's desire to safeguard his force prevented their further damaging the column. Still, a tank and a truck is a good days work for a 15-man ambush. Proper selection of the ambush site is key and this area was very open and offered little protection to the force. Some 12 kilometers further south is the Kotal-e Takht (the Takht pass) which is far more suitable for an ambush. The terrain there also allows surprise and provides better protection and concealed exit routes for the ambushing force. An ambushing force could fight much longer in this area and inflict more damage on a column. However, there are certain limitations in selecting an ambush site in the area. First of all, Mujahideen groups generally operated on their home turf. Acting outside their home turf could have unfavorable political, and support ramifications. Secondly, the Mujahideen wanted to harass their enemy as close to the capital as possible for political and propaganda reasons. Attacks at the gates of Kabul were more significant than attacks further out. Finally, since the area is very open, an ambush here had a good chance at surprise since it is not an obvious ambush site.

VIGNETTE 13: AMBUSH AT THE SADRE AZAM HILL

 * by Doctor Mohammad Wakil

(Doctor Mohammad Wakil is from Shakardara District north of Kabul. He graduated from high school before the war. He joined the resistance and received medical training in Pakistan.)

It was August 1984. We had information that a Soviet supply column would come to Kabul from the north. There is a small hill on the highway south of Qala-e Morad Beg. (Map 14 - Morad) It isthe Sadre Azam hill. It is an excellent site for an ambush and we set up our ambush on the hill to the east of the highway. I had 30 Mujahideen and four RPG-7s. This area was closely watched by the enemy and so we could not spread our force out. Therefore, I concentrated the force on the hill with the rifles forward and the RPGs higher up on the hill. We thought that the convoy would arrive at 1600 hours and were in place before that time. At 1600 hours, the convoy came. It was led by a BMP. Soviet soldiers were sitting on top of the BMP. Usually we would not attack the head of the column, but since the lead vehicle was such a good target, we opened fire on it and destroyed it. We took thecolumn by surprise. The column stopped and the enemy dismounted some soldiers who took up positions and fired back at us. We fired at each other for about an hour until a relief column, arrived from nearby Kabul to help the ambushed column. We pulled out. The enemy lost one BMP, four gasoline tankers and probably about ten killed and wounded. We lost Malek Mohammad from Karez-eMir who was killed.

COMMENTARY
This is typical of the small-scale ambushes that the Mujahideen regularly conducted. The losses on both sides were minor, yet over time they added up. The Soviet soldiers customarily rode on top of their APCs since it is safer if the APC hit a mine. A powerful antitank mine blast might merely hurl the the soldiers off the APC whereas it would almost certainly kill everyone inside. Furthermore,the inside of an APC is crowded, is hard to see out of and, in August, is unbearably warm.

The convoy was hemmed in by the village of Morad Beg, so the Soviets had difficulty maneuvering armored vehicles forward tofire into the ambush site. Since the object of the ambush was to destroy vehicles, it made sense to hit the head of the convoy. If the object had been to capture weapons, then an attack on the middle or end of the convoy would have been better. Available terrain kept the Mujahideen ambush compact — which is not what they prefer. This is closer to a Western-style ambush. After the initial firing,the ambush turned into a desultory, protracted sniping exercisewhich was more like an afternoon's recreation for the ambushers than decisive combat.

VIGNETTE 14: AMBUSH AT MAZAR CREEK

 * by Commander Qazi Guljan Tayeb

(Commander Qazi Guljan Tayeb was a third year student in Kabul Theological College during the communist takeover in 1978. He joined Hikmatyar and later switched to the Sayeffaction in the mid-1980s. He was the Commander of Baraki Barak District of LogarProvince.)

East of my base in Baraki Barak is the town of Padkhab-eShana. It is located one and a half kilometers from the Kabul-Gardez highway. The Soviets had put security posts on the high ground around this town to protect the highway from Mujahideen attacks coming out of Baraki Barak District. I decided to attackthese posts in July 1985. By that time I had switched from the Hikmatyar faction to the Sayaf faction.

We moved out from Baraki Barak at dusk. I had some 100 Mujahideen with me. We crossed the highway and entered Padkhab-eShana town. It is a large town occupying a square kilometer and containing some 1,000 houses. My Mujahideen moved into houses and stayed with the people throughout the next day. That night, using local guides, we set up ambushes on the roads leading into the village. The area around the town is also a green zone with orchards and woods(Map 15 - Mazar). Mazar Creek passes through the town near thebazaar. Mazar Creek begins at a spring and has good water. Soviet soldiers would go to the creek to get water, wash, fish and take a dip. We put an ambush at the creek near the spring. We put another ambush along their supply route which ran to the Soviet security posts from the main road. There was a path that ran from the security posts to the town dwellings. Soviets would often come down this path to the town to steal or extort things. We set our third ambush along this path in an area covered by buildings and orchards where the enemy maneuver would be restricted and constrained. We set our fourth ambush along the path from the creek to Mir Ghyas hill.

In the morning, a few Soviets came to the creek. The Mujahideen at this ambush site opened fire and then left quickly after they saw that they had killed some Soviets. About the same time, a Soviet jeep drove along the supply route. That ambush opened fire and hit the jeep. Soviet tanks came from Pule-e Alam and surrounded the town. We hid our weapons and mixed with populace. Gradually we left the area disguised as civilians and went to the north and west. We had twowounded Mujahideen. We killed 12 Soviets, destroyed one jeep andcaptured four weapons.

COMMENTARY
The Soviets had set a pattern of behavior which enabled the Mujahideen ambushes. They used the same roads and paths regularly. Their behavior toward the villagers made the villagers willing accomplices in setting the ambushes and hiding the Mujahideen and their weapons. The DRA had traveling propaganda/civil affairs teams which provided entertainment, medical treatment and pro-regime propaganda throughout Afghanistan. Their actions, however, did not offset the effects of poor behaviour by Soviet combat forces.

VIGNETTE 15: AMBUSH AT QAFUS TANGAY

 * by Major Sher Aqa Kochay

(Major Sher Aqa Kochay is a graduate of Afghan Military Academy, Kabul, and received training in commando tactics in the Soviet Union. He served in the 37th Commando Brigade and participated in DRA actions against the Mujahideen in Panjsher Valley. He defected, with a large amount of weapons, to the Mujahideen in 1982 and became a NIFA commander in Kabul. He organized a new Mujahideen base in the Khord Kabul area some 20 kilometers south of the Afghan capital.)

On August 13, 1985, my 40-man Mujahideen force moved from its base at Sewak (20 kilometers southeast of Kabul) to establish an ambush at the Qafus Tangay (some 25 kilometers east of Kabul). The area was protected by a Sarandoy (Internal Ministry Forces) regiment. This area was previously protected by tribal militia, but exactly one year prior, the local tribal militia of Hasan Khan Karokhel defected to the Mujahideen. Hence, the regiment deployed east of Kabul between Gazak and Sarobi to protect the power lines supplying electricity from Naghlu and Sarobi hydroelectric dams to Kabul. The regiment's head-quarters was at Sur Kandow and its forces were deployed along the Butkhak-Sarobi road10 in security posts. (Map 16a - Qafus 1).

Each day, the regiment sent truck convoys with supplies from head-quarters to the battalions. In turn, battalions sent trucks to make deliveries to all their highway outposts. About two kilometers from the DRA Mulla Omar base, the road cuts across the mouth of a narrow valley called Qafus Tangay. Qafus Tangay begins at the Khak-e Jabar pass in the south and stretches north to the Gazak-Sarobi road. The valley offered a concealed approach from the Mujahideen bases in KhordKabul in the south. The road at the mouth of the valley passes through difficult terrain forcing the traffic to move very slowly. This was a favorable point for an ambush.

I moved my detachment at night reaching the ambush site early in the morning of August 13. My, group was armed with four RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launchers, several light machine guns and Kalashnikov automatic rifles. I grouped my men into three teams. I positioned a 10-man party with the four RPG-7s at the bottom of the valley near the road. I positioned two 15-man teams on each of the ridges on the two sides of the valley that dominated the road to the north. Both of the flank groups had PK machine guns. (Map 16b - Qafus 2)

10 The southern east-west road on the map.

The plan was to wait until the enemy's supply vehicles arrived atthe difficult stretch of road directly facing the Qafus Tangay Valley. I planned to assign targets to the RPGs as the trucks moved into the killzone (for example number one, fire at the lead truck). I hoped to engage four trucks simultaneously, maximizing surprise and fire power. The teams on the ridges were to cover the valley with interlocking fields of fire and to support the withdrawal of the RPG teams while repelling any enemy infantry. They would also seize prisoners and carry off captured weapons and supplies once they had destroyed the enemy convoy.

Finally, the group heard a vehicle approaching from the east. Soon an enemy jeep appeared around a bend in the road. As the jeep slowly moved over the rocky road to the ambush site, a machine gunner on the ridge suddenly opened fire at the vehicle.

I was extremely upset because the ambush had been compromised and ordered one RPG-7 gunner to kill the jeep before it escaped. A few seconds later, the vehicle was in flames and the wounded driver was out of the jeep. He was the sole occupant of the vehicle. He was returning from the battalion headquarters at Lataband where he had driven the regimental political officer. We gave him first aid and released him. He was a conscript soldier from the Panjsher Valley who had recently been press-ganged into the military.

The Sarandoy sent out patrols from the nearby Spina Tana andNu'manak outposts. Because it was too risky to remain at the ambush site we withdrew through the Qafus Tangay Valley to our base.

COMMENTARY
The Mujahideen ambush failed for lack of fire discipline. The unauthorized initiation of fire compromised a carefully planned and deftly prepared ambush. It was always a challenge for Mujahideen commanders to train and control a volunteer force fighting an organized military power. Further, some Mujahideen commanders ignored certain basic control measures. It is not clear what arrangements Major Aqa made to control the fire of the Mujahideen deployed on the ridges. Had the commander assigned sub-group leaders on each ridge with clear instructions to control the fire of the teams the outcome of the ambush could have been different.

The ambush also lacked sufficient early warning which could communicate the size, composition and activity of approaching convoys. If the commander had early warning and a chain of command, he could have anticipated the arrival of vehicles using something other than sound, determined whether or not to attack the vehicles and gotten his new orders to his men in a timely manner.

VIGNETTE 16: SISAY AMBUSH

 * by Commander Haji Mohammad Seddiq

(Haji Mohammad Seddiq is from No-Burja village in Logar Province. The village is in theTangi-Wardak area which connects the Saydabad District of Wardak Province to the Baraki Barak District in the Logar Province. Commander Seddiq's village is located on the borderbetween the two provinces. Therefore, his command fought in both provinces in coordination with other Mujahideen. Commander Haji Mohammad Seddiq was affiliated withHekmatyar's HIH.)

In October 1985, several Mujahideen groups cooperated to establish an ambush at Sisay, some five kilometers north of the SaydabadDistrict Headquarters in Wardak Province. The ambush site is located along the main highway between Kabul and Ghazni. It is located atthe mouth of the valley which extends to Logar and offers concealed approach and withdrawal routes for an ambush force. The terrain facilitates the use of all types of weapons by an ambushing force, while restricting maneuver to a force caught in the kill zone.

Mawlawi Faizan, the Wardak provincial leader of HIH, was over-all commander of the Sisay combined ambush. He had information from his sources that a large Soviet/DRA column would move from Kabul to Ghazni. Mawlawi Faizan planned the ambush at Sisay and called on several local Mujahideen groups to participate (Map17 -Sisay). He assembled a combined force of 80 Mujahideen armed with four 82mm mortars, six 82mm recoilless rifles, four 60mm mortars, ten RPG-7s and an assortment of Goryunov machine-guns, AK-47 assault rifles and bolt-action Enfield rifles.

I brought my group from Logar Province. It took us three hours to reach the ambush site. Normally, we organized our force into six-man teams, but due to the expected strength of the enemy column, we organized our force into 10-man teams. The ambush had three groups — an assault group, a support group and a heavy weapons group. The assault group had four teams (40 men) armed with the anti-tank weapons. It deployed on Guley hill close to the road. The support group was located behind the assault group. It had three teams (30 men) armed with the machine-guns. Its mission was to support the assault group with machine gun fire, evacuate the wounded and resupply ammunition. The heavy weapons group had one 10-man team armed with the mortars. It established firing positions across theWardak River. The firing sites were screened from observation by Khadibooch hill.

We occupied our prepared positions in the dark. At about 0900 hours, the forward security element of the Soviet convoy drove into the kill zone from the north. There were two BMPs and another APC in the forward security element. We let them pass. The forward security element just cleared the kill zone and then stopped. They must have assumed that the way was safe, since they then signaled the main body of the convoy to proceed. The forward security element waited while the main body, consisting of GAZ-66 trucks and armored vehicles, moved out of the green zone south of Shekhabad village and into the kill zone. As the column moved into the kill zone, we opened up on the forward security element with our anti-tank weapons. We destroyed both BMPs and the other APC. Then we shifted our fire to the main convoy. The fighting lasted for two hours. The enemy returned fire from his APCs and other armored vehicles, but their fire had limited effect against our well-prepared positions. We punished the enemy severely with our anti-tank fire and mortar fire. The enemy did little to change the situation or to try to gain the initiative. They merely returned fire and those caught in the kill zone died there. I commanded the first team of the assault group. By 1100 hours, we had destroyed all the vehicles in the kill zone and we swarmed into the area to capture whatever weapons and equipment we could carry. Then we withdrew. We left 17 armored vehicles and 45 GAZ-66 trucks and gas tankers burning in the kill zone. We captured four AK-74 assault rifles — the exclusive weapon of the Soviet forces. Mujahideen casualties were 10 KIA and two WIA.

COMMENTARY
Thorough planning, good intelligence, detailed instructions to the combat elements and a simple task organization all contributed to the success of the ambush. The heavily-armed Mujahideen were well-disciplined and controlled. They inflicted maximum losses on the Soviet column before moving forward to loot. This was very effective since it maximized their advantage of fighting from well-protected positions against an enemy caught by surprise and trapped in the open. Perhaps the ambush should have had four elements. The support group had a combat mission (machine gun support to the assault group and a logistics mission of ammunition resupply and medical evacuation). Perhaps these missions should have assigned to different groups. Further, the heavy weapons group needed more men. Ten men cannot adequately handle four mortars, let alone eight.

The Soviets contributed to their own disaster. The forward security element "cleared" the area by simply driving through it and since they were not fired on, they assumed that it was safe. This was a favorite Mujahideen ambush site complete with well-prepared positions. The Mujahideen had conducted several ambushes from this very site in the past. As a minimum, the Soviets should have sent a force to destroy the positions prior to the convoy departure. Then, the forward security element should have dismounted some troops to search the area for possible ambush and held it until the convoy passed. The forward security element further contributed to the disaster by stopping within anti-tank weapons range (300-800 meters) in an area where the terrain restricted vehicular movement and waiting for the convoy to catch up to it. When the Mujahideen fired on these stationary targets, the forward security element became a burning blockade which trapped the convoy. Had the forward security element moved well ahead of the convoy, it would have allowed part of the convoy to escape south and enabled the forward security element to return to provide fire power to help extricate the trapped vehicles. Had the forward security element moved off the road to the west and taken up covered positions out of anti-tank weapons range, it could have provided considerable immediate firepower to the convoy.

CHAPTER COMMENTARY
The Mujahideen conducted ambushes for harassment or for spoils. Often, harassing ambushes were small-scale ambushes which would only fire a few rounds into the convoy to destroy or damage some vehicles. Then the ambushers would withdraw without attempting to loot the column before the convoy commander could react Ambushes conducted for spoils (weapons, ammunition, food, clothing and other military supplies) were normally conducted by larger forces who could maintain their positions for up to an hour. Still, the ambush was a short-term action designed to capitalize on surprise and terrain. Roadblocks, discussed in a later chapter, were designed to fight the enemy to a standstill and prevent his passage for an extended period of time.

Ambushes for spoils were essential to maintaining the Mujahideen in the field. Mujahideen were unpaid volunteers. Most of them had family responsibilities. Normally all captured heavy weapons and 1/5th of the spoils went to the commander. The other 4/5ths was divided among the Mujahideen combatants. Many Mujahideen would take their captured Kalashnikovs and other trophies to Pakistan where they would sell them and then give the money to their families to live on.

Although the popular concept of the Mujahideen combatant is a hardened warrior clutching a Kalashnikov assault rifle, the most important Mujahideen weapon in the conflict was the RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launcher. This Soviet-manufactured, short-range weapon allowed the Mujahideen to knock out tanks, trucks and, occasionally, helicopters. The RPG was a great equalizer and a great weapon in an ambush. Although the Mujahideen were light infantry, heavier crew-served weapons gave them more range and staying power in a fight. Mortars, rockets, recoilless rifles and heavy machine guns were essential to the force that intended to hold its ground for a time against mechanized Soviet and DRA forces.

The standard Soviet/DRA convoy had a group of armored vehicles at the front of the convoy, more armored vehicles spaced evenly through-out the convoy and another group of armored vehicles constituting a rear guard. The convoy might have a helicopter or ground advance guard or patrol sweep the route prior to movement. Sometimes a mine-detection/clearing force would precede the convoy, although mine-clearing was usually the responsibility of the unit guarding the road and the convoy would not start until the unit had given the "all clear." Sometimes a convoy would have artillery groups move within the column and leap-frog to provide rapid, on-call fire support.

When hit, the convoy's standard reaction was to leave armored vehicles inside the kill zone to return fire while the trucks drove out of the kill zone. If the armored vehicles chased the ambushers away, the convoy would continue. If the armored vehicles could not deal with the ambush, helicopter gunships could usually drive the ambushers from their positions. The convoy commander tried to maintain the movement of his convoy and would not usually turn forces around to deal with ambushes. Sometimes this meant that an ambush would split a convoy. The Soviets and DRA seldom dismounted infantry to pursue their ambushers since convoy movement had priority, and they seldom had enough infantry accompanying the convoy to pursue the Mujahideen into their neighborhood and overpower them.

The Mujahideen seldom hit the head of a column unless terrain allowed them to bottle-up the column by doing so. The Mujahideen preferred to hit the middle of the convoy where there were fewer armored vehicles. If possible, they tried to seal off the section of convoy they were attacking if they meant to loot it. Mujahideen usually prepared fighting positions at the ambush site which enabled them to withstand fire from enemy armored vehicles and, sometimes, helicopter gunships. The most successful Mujahideen ambushes organized the ambush into a heavy weapons support group, flank security groups, an assault group, and a logistics support/spoils removal group. The best ambushes had a well-understood chain of command and radio communications between the groups. Following the ambush, the flank security groups (with an air defense element), covered the withdrawal of the other groups over a secured withdrawal route.