“The Battle of Jawar Base” is a large-scale planned combined-arms operation in the 1979-1989 Afghan war. Held in the inaccessible mountainous region of Jawara ( Khost district , Paktiya province ), in the zone of the Afghan-Pakistani border, from April 4 to 20, 1986 .
| Battle of Jawar Base | |||
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| Main Conflict: Afghan War 1979-1989 | |||
| date | September — October 1985 , April 4 - 20, 1986 | ||
| A place | Host County , Paktia Province , DRA | ||
| Total | The defeat of the Sun DRA (1985) , Temporary fall of the fortified area of Jawar (1986) | ||
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| Forces of the parties | |||
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Joint military operation of units and formations of the DRA and OKSVA army on a wide front, with the involvement of significant forces and means.
- The command of the DRA army was carried out by Lieutenant General Azimi, and then - Lieutenant General Garfur.
- The command of the OKSVA units was carried out by the chief of staff and first deputy commander of the 40th Army, Major General Yu. P. Grekov
- General leadership of the Soviet and Afghan troops was carried out by the head of the Task Force of the USSR Ministry of Defense , Army General V.I. Varennikov
The Soviet side was attended by the 45th Specialized Separate Detachment , the 56th Military Regiment (2 battalions), the 345th Special Operations Regiment (2 battalions), and aviation.
During my stay in Afghanistan, a number of interesting and complex operations were carried out.
Of course, the operation of the operation is discord. Some left no memories. Others will never fade. The operations in the Kunar Gorge , during the storming of the Javar base, on the Parachinar ledge , the Kunduz region, west of Herat to the Kokari-Sharshari base on the Iranian border in the Lurkokh mountains, in the Lashkargakh region, in the province of Kandahar and immediately beyond Kandahar are especially memorable.
- from the memoirs of Army General V.I. Varennikov
Content
Javar Base
The Jawar base is the largest transshipment point for Afghan mujahideen, through which about 20% of the total supply from Pakistan passed.
- A large object of propaganda significance - was used as a platform for international political propaganda. Journalists and politicians sympathetic to the mujahideen were constantly brought to Javara.
- The base of Javar was a fortified area and consisted of 41 caves. The base housed storage and living quarters: a command bunker, a hospital, a library, a hotel, a garage, and a repair base.
- Own energy supply - gasoline and diesel generators provided lighting for tunnels and shelters.
- The base was guarded by a detachment of field commander Jalaluddin Haqqani ,
- As an auxiliary, labor and other force, Pashtun tribes living in this region were used.
Army General V.I. Varennikov described the Javar base as follows:
It seems that everyone knows about the assault on Ishmael . Something was heard about the Maginot Line . These fortifications were considered impregnable. Is it permissible to compare them with the Javar base? But the fact that the base itself and the defense around it were built according to the latest science and technology and were considered Western, and eastern specialists impregnable, is an indisputable fact.
Government Operations
The military operations in April 1986 were the second attempt to seize the base, the preceding autumn the government army under the direct leadership of Shahnavaz Tanai besieged it for 42 days, but did not succeed. This time, the total number of participants in the operation was 6,000.
The first landing force of the special forces " commando " of the DRA army was mistakenly landed on the territory of Pakistan , on Mount Darigar. As a result, he suffered significant losses (according to the results of this dramatic battle, only 17 out of 80 fighters made their way to their own). As a result, the Mujahideen continued to block the advance of troops from Mount Darigar.
The second landing also suffered heavy losses. On April 5, 1986, groups of Afghan commandos were deployed to the dominant heights. As a result of information leakage, dushmans were aware of the landing in advance and were able to prepare well. As a result, three Mi-17 helicopters of the first wave and two more helicopters from the second group were shot down by air defense. Of the 32 Afghan sides of the 312 soldiers of the 38th brigade participating in the landing, commandos received no damage. Only 8. The squadron actually lost all combat readiness. Of the five lost Mi-17s, two were shot down by Strela-2 MANPADS, and the rest by fire from the DShK and small arms. On the same day, an Afghan Su-22m fighter-bomber was lost over the operation area, trying to provide air support to the landed troops. Only a small detachment of 25 commandos managed to break through the environment and break out to their own. The commander of this group, senior lt Jumahan, was later awarded the title "Hero of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan." [one]
The final success was brought by a sudden maneuver: the Afghan army went on the offensive without artillery preparation and achieved the result without much effort. Javara fell, but the army could not take measures to eliminate it, so soon the base began to function again.
Interesting Facts
During the battle of Jawara, a Su-25 was shot down, piloted by Alexander Rutsky (for which this was the first of two shots).
See also
- Operation Highway
- Fortified areas of the Afghan Mujahideen (1979-1989)