The Soviet-Afghan War
4/5
()
About this ebook
Anthony Tucker-Jones
ANTHONY TUCKER-JONES spent nearly twenty years in the British Intelligence Community before establishing himself as a defence writer and military historian. He has written extensively on aspects of Second World War warfare, including Hitler’s Great Panzer Heist and Stalin’s Revenge: Operation Bagration.
Read more from Anthony Tucker Jones
Falaise: The Flawed Victory–The Destruction of Panzergruppe West, August 1944 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dien Bien Phu: The First Indo-China War, 1946–1954 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War: Illustrated Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRadio Operator on the Eastern Front: An Illustrated Memoir, 1940–1949 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tiger I & Tiger II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Panther Tank: Hitlers T-34 Killer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Iran–Iraq War: The Lion of Babylon, 1980–1988 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stalin's Revenge: Operation Bagration & the Annihilation of Army Group Centre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Panzer IV: Hitler's Rock Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rommel's Afrika Korps in Colour: Rare German Photographs from the Second World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle for Budapest 1944 - 1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life and Death on the Eastern Front: Rare Colour Photographs From World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOperation Dragoon: The Liberation of Southern France, 1944 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Allied Armour, 1939–1945: British and American Tanks at War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoviet Cold War Weaponry: Aircraft, Warships, Missiles and Artillery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm 1990–1991 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iraq War: Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003–2011 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stalin's Armour, 1941–1945: Soviet Tanks at War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive, 1968 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rise of Militant Islam: An Insider's View of the Failure to Curb Global Jihad Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoviet Cold War Weaponry: Tanks and Armoured Vehicles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Afghan War: Operation Enduring Freedom 1001–2014 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Daesh: Islamic State's Holy War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle For Warsaw, 1939–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle for the Mediterranean: Allied and Axis Campaigns from North Africa to the Italian Peninsula, 1940-45 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSlaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War 1941-1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler’s Winter: The German Battle of the Bulge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Soviet-Afghan War
Titles in the series (100)
Armoured Warfare on the Eastern Front Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare in the Korean War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5B-17 Memphis Belle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Allied POWs in German Hands 1914–1918 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great War Fighter Aces, 1916–1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChiang Kai-shek Versus Mao Tse-tung: The Battle for China, 1946–1949 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Crushing of Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare in Northwest Europe, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare in the Italian Campaign, 1943–1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Adolf Hitler Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hitler's Mountain Troops, 1939–1945: The Gebirgsjager Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Soviet-Afghan War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Afrika-Korps Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Armoured Warfare and the Waffen-SS, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare in the Battle of the Bulge, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare in the North African Campaign Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Defeat on the Eastern Front Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare and Hitler's Allies, 1941–1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5D-Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Panzers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5German Guns of the Third Reich Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Blitzkrieg in the West Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Germans at Arras Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare in the Battle for Normandy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Germans on the Somme Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joseph Stalin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hitler's Boy Soldiers: The Hitlerjugend Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Headquarters, 1939–1945 Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Tirpitz: The First Voyage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAuschwitz Death Camp Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related ebooks
The Afghan War: Operation Enduring Freedom 1001–2014 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Soviet–Afghan War 1979–89 Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Armoured Warfare in the Arab-Israeli Conflicts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stalingrad to Kursk: Triumph of the Red Army Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Bear at War: The Russian and Soviet Army, 1917–Present Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion in Perspective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoviet Cold War Weaponry: Tanks and Armoured Vehicles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStalin's Revenge: Operation Bagration & the Annihilation of Army Group Centre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5China and Japan at War, 1937–1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Partisan Warfare on the Eastern Front, 1941–1944 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPanzer Destroyer: Memoirs of a Red Army Tank Commander Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War 1941-1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarshal of Victory: The Autobiography of General Georgy Zhukov Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stalingrad: Victory on the Volga Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Russian Army in the First World War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Operational And Strategic Lessons Of The War In Afghanistan, 1979-1990 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare in the Korean War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Armoured Warfare on the Eastern Front Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Soviet-Afghan War: Another Look Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944–45 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzkrieg Russia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Central Powers on the Russian Front 1914–1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRace for the Reichstag: The 1945 Battle for Berlin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Iran–Iraq War: The Lion of Babylon, 1980–1988 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm 1990–1991 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle for Afghanistan: The Soviets Versus the Majahideen During the 1980s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Iraq War: Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003–2011 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5T-54/55: The Soviet Army's Cold War Main Battle Tank Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Operation Enduring Freedom: The Seeds of War in Afghanistan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bear Went Over The Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics In Afghanistan [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Modern History For You
Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Night to Remember: The Sinking of the Titanic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/518 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Voices from Chernobyl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shakespeare: The World as Stage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Devil's Notebook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Titanic Chronicles: A Night to Remember and The Night Lives On Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of the American People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of Christianity: Volume 2: The Reformation to the Present Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Red Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 2]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Soviet-Afghan War
2 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Soviet-Afghan War - Anthony Tucker-Jones
Chapter One
Cold War Stand Off
Now a decade old, Operation Enduring Freedom, designed to oust the Taliban from power, is an echo of a much bloodier war that was fought in Afghanistan over thirty years ago.Those who recall how grim Kabul was in the late 1970s will know that it became even grimmer after the arrival of Soviet tanks, jets and helicopters. Once more, geography, as in the earlier Korean and Vietnam wars, was to preclude the effective use of armour in Afghanistan. It was as if the Russians never bothered to heed any of the lessons of these previous conflicts and proceeded to learn the hard way – from scratch.
The Soviet Union was at the height of its military power by the late 1970s. It was a vast monolith whose military resources were only rivalled by the world’s other Superpower – the United States of America. Every year during Moscow’s Red Square military parades the Soviet armed forces put on displays of equipment bristling with firepower, designed to impress the population and cow its enemies. These parades also served to tip off Western intelligence of the existence of new equipment.The Soviets could not resist showing off.
For the previous two decades the Warsaw Pact and NATO had been at military loggerheads, facing off against each other in armed confrontation across central Europe in what was known as the Cold War. It was largely the threat of mutually assured destruction, should conflict break out and escalate to a nuclear war, that kept the two sides from coming to blows.
In fact the Cold War was anything but cold, with both the Soviet Union and US fighting a series of long and bloody proxy wars around the world. Ever since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 they had been constantly testing each other’s resolve on foreign battlefields.The Soviet Union also had a track record of intervening with its neighbours – it stamped out pro-democracy movements in Hungary and Czechoslovakia in 1956 and 1968 respectively, and on both occasions NATO had done nothing.
The Soviet intervention in Hungary was dubbed Operation Whirlwind. In response to calls for Soviet troops to leave the country, elements of two Soviet motor rifle divisions supported by tanks had rolled into Budapest and a further 75,000 troops streamed into the country. The Hungarian Army melted away and the revolutionaries were overwhelmed. In the fighting that followed, 3,000 Hungarians were killed. In total this invasion involved up to twelve divisions with 3,000 tanks.This was a conventional operation in which the Soviets employed the same tactics they had used during the Second World War.
In the case of Czechoslovakia, as part of Operation Danube, the 103rd Guards Air Assault Division (GAAD) arrived to seize Prague, followed by two motor rifle divisions. At the time the number of Warsaw Pact forces – including Bulgarian, East German, Hungarian and Polish units – committed to the invasion of Czechoslovakia was believed to be 250,000 troops and 2,000 tanks. This operation ran smoothly, mainly because of the minimal resistance offered by the surprised Czechs. The Soviets lost about 150 men, most as a result of accidents.
In the winter of 1979 Moscow was confident that a swift intervention in neighbouring Afghanistan to prop up the Marxist government would be a short-lived mission and probably go largely unnoticed. After all, Afghanistan was in the Soviets’ backyard and they were keen to aviod Islamic militancy spilling over into the neighbouring Soviet central Asian