Leichter Ladungstr?ger "Goliath" special-purpose vehicles. A torpedo teletank developed in 1941 based on a captured French sample from Kegresse. Serially produced by Borgward, Zuridapp and Zachertz from April 1942 to January 1945. Manufactured 7569 units. Serial

It took too long to find the cache of ammunition. The demonstrator knew only the place of residence of the warehouse guards (a shed), and the warehouse itself had to be searched for by indirect signs (ammunition was hidden in the ground). Twilight came on. The detachment commander decided to send valuable trophies and our heavy weapons by helicopters. The detachment was supposed to prepare the captured ammunition for detonation and, under cover of darkness, go to the evacuation site. Less than an hour remained before dark, and the Mujahideen could hardly have organized a serious countermeasure. However, we were not insured against shelling by rockets. As soon as our "Utes" left by helicopter, the group became more mobile, we changed the place, as it was unmasked by the landing of the helicopter. The company commander, who arrived from the Union only a couple of weeks ago, categorically objected, arguing that he was at the indicated height by the convenience of the position and ... by the point of the combat order.

I explain that the next rockets will explode here in 5-7 minutes. Does not believe. Taking advantage of the absence of a personal radio station from the company commander, I ask the detachment commander for permission to change positions. I get good. I inform the commander that the commander of the detachment ordered to advance towards him.

We secretly leave our positions, go down the opposite slope from the green. Behind a hundred meters, an explosion of a sighting station rumbles. The commander looks at me in surprise.
- This is a sighting, - I calmly comment on the gap. - In a minute, the remaining 11 eres will begin to level the hill.

Immediately, the top of the mountain was covered with sultans of explosions of 107-mm rockets, piercing the ground with a howl and roar.

One, two, three... ten, eleven. - I rise from the ground and give the command to the group to advance.
All 11 rockets remaining in the 12-barreled launcher, which had been sighted, were placed by the "spirits" on the top of the mountain where our group was located 2 minutes ago ...

You were right. Ruli, Shurik, - said the company commander who had caught up with me. Since then, the phrase "Ruli, Shurik" has become winged. My comrades and I often used it until 1993, when our work roads with Alexander Kukhtin diverged.

We climbed the ridge to the main forces of the detachment with the onset of twilight, and at night we went up the ridge to the evacuation site. The rest of the time until dawn, the group whiled away, making every effort not to freeze. We were lightly dressed, we did not count on spending the night in the mountains, and we planned to carry out the raid in 2 hours. Alas, in subsequent years of service, this rake had to be stepped on more than once ... We met helicopters with the first rays of the sun, no one knows what rejoiced more - solar heat or evacuation.

The result of the raid was the capture of two Chinese Hunyin-5 MANPADS (similar to Strela-2, USSR), a PKM machine gun, 4 RPGs, 2 machine guns and 2 carbines, about two tons of anti-tank mines, 107-mm rockets, RPG rounds and mortar mines. We destroyed the ammunition by explosion.

This was the last raid carried out by 154 ooSpN scouts using helicopters. Soon, a ban was imposed on this method of withdrawing spetsnaz reconnaissance units to the area of ​​the raid. The reason for this was the large number of MANPADS "Stinger" and other anti-aircraft weapons systems in the Afghan opposition.

It was the Stingers that forced our command to decide to carry out the described raid. According to available information, it was the American MANPADS that should have been in the warehouse, the capture of which was then task No. 1 for the entire Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan.

54 oSpN (Muslim battalion) was formed in May-June 1979 on the basis of 15obrSpN. When recruiting, only residents of Central Asia were selected. The first battalion commander is Major Khalbaev. In December of the same year, he was introduced to the DRA. In the operation to storm the Taj Beck Palace - Amin's residence - he performed the main tasks. In early January 1980, the personnel of the detachment was withdrawn to the Union. In the same year, the detachment was again understaffed and introduced into the DRA, but until 1984 it guarded the pipeline. In 1984, the detachment was transferred to the city of Jalalabad. From that moment, he began to perform special tasks in his area of ​​​​responsibility. However, at first, trying to use ambush tactics, the detachment was not successful. Subsequently, the detachment developed tactics that were most effective in local conditions. The squad's most commonly used tactic is the raid. The leadership of the battalion quite successfully cooperated with the counterintelligence agencies of the DRA (KHAD). The effectiveness of the raids carried out according to the KhAD information was quite high. In 1985, the detachment was awarded the pennant of the Minister of Defense of the USSR for success in combat activities. The last units of the detachment left the DRA in February 1989. The detachment remained as part of 15 obrSpN.
In 1993, the brigade was transferred to the armed forces of Uzbekistan, and later was transformed into an air assault brigade.

*
V.V. Kolesnik spoke in some detail about how the operation to capture the Taj-Bek Palace took place (see the first book, “Special Forces of the GRU”). However, he was its leader and described the events from his point of view. In order to make the picture more convex, I wanted to find evidence of direct participants in the assault.
And suddenly good luck! Yevgeny Bogomolov sent me the text of an article from the Belarusian magazine "Army", where the commander of the company that directly stormed the palace tells about the operation "Storm-333". In addition, the editors of the magazine "Brother" allowed the book to use the memoirs of another participant in that famous assault. R. Tursunkulov also stormed the palace, but he walked from the other side, up the stairs.

The history of his family is like a mirror reflection of the turbulent and difficult history of our country in this century. Before the revolution, his grandfather was a well-known and respected mullah in Uzbekistan, who was later repressed by the Bolsheviks. My father went through the entire Great Patriotic War, received seven wounds, remained alive and until his advanced years served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a simple foreman. Children, who, like in an ordinary Uzbek family, were many - as many as eleven souls, were always severely punished: no matter how difficult it is in life, rely only on yourself. His fate is a reflection of the history of the country, which he faithfully served for almost a quarter of a century. Today, he proudly calls everyone his name, in which one can hear the echo of that respected religious past - Rustamkhodzha. His friends and comrades-in-arms, with whom he repeatedly got into tough troubles, but with the same, as if luck bestowed from above, got out of them, still call him briefly and habitually - Rustam.

Since 1979 and in the next 10 years, a special period in the history of special forces lasted. It was called Afghan in accordance with the events taking place. This was already the third stage in the development of special-purpose compounds. It started on May 2, 1979. It was on this day that General of the Army Ivashutin, who at that time held the position of head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, set the task for Colonel Kolesnik to form an ooSpN. They became the 154th separate special forces detachment, which included military equipment, as well as soldiers and officers, numbering 520 people.

The composition of the 154th separate detachment

The detachment consisted of 4 companies, the first of which received the BMP-1. The second and third companies were equipped with the BTR-60PB, the production of which began in 1966. The fourth company was special. It consisted of a platoon of AGS-17. It also included:

• platoon of jet infantry flamethrowers "Lynx",
• platoon of sappers.

Thus, this company was called the weapons company. In addition to them, the detachment included platoons:

• ZSU "Shilka",
• automotive,
• communications,
• software.

Selection of fighters for the "Muslim battalion"

A feature, if not an oddity, of this detachment was the principle by which officers, sergeants, and soldiers were selected into it. It included only Tajiks, Turkmens, Uzbeks. They called this detachment the “Muslim Battalion”, since in the structure of the special forces the detachment corresponds in rank to the battalion of the ground forces.

The selection of fighters of the Muslim battalion was carried out in a special way. Only conscripts who served a year or six months got into it. The special physical training of candidates for the detachment was taken into account. Tank and motorized rifle troops stationed in Asian districts fell into the sphere of interest for recruitment into the detachment, since special knowledge was required for the operation of military equipment.

The officers of the 22nd and 15th brigades were involved in the work. Despite the fact that the selection was based on the principle of voluntariness, sometimes specialists were enrolled in the detachment who did not have a special desire for such a service. The detachment was formed in just a month and a half. In order for each company to have an interpreter, cadets of the Military Institute of Foreign Languages ​​were seconded to them. Such service was equivalent to their professional training.

There were no problems with language training with the above-described national composition. Dari, Pashto or Farsi, i.e. the languages ​​spoken in Afghanistan were spoken by about half of the detachment's personnel. At that time, they could not connect only an anti-aircraft gunner officer, since there was no such officer among the Uzbeks, Tajiks and Turkmens.

For this position, Captain Pautov was chosen, who had the appropriate training and dark hair, which made him look like the rest. The detachment (Muslim battalion) was headed by Major Khalbaev. In the 15th brigade, he was listed as deputy commander of one of the special forces detachments, who was engaged in airborne training.

Legalization of the personnel of the Muslim Battalion

The personnel of the Muslim battalion was legalized by issuing the relevant documents of the established form in the Afghan language. In Moscow, a special uniform was sewn for the personnel, corresponding to the uniform of the Afghan army. They did not even change the names of the special forces, since they fully corresponded to the Afghan ones. In Afghanistan, to this day, many Uzbeks, Tajiks and even Turkmens live in the border areas.

Start of hostilities in Afghanistan

At the end of November, the detachment was airlifted to Bagram. Both the personnel and the property of the detachment, including all components of the software, including firewood, were sent to the An-12. Heavy equipment was transferred to the An-22 Antey. In total, the operation took no more than a day.

Already at the beginning of the second decade of December, the detachment was given the task of arriving in Kabul under its own power. The cover was the desire to strengthen the protection of the Taj Beck Palace, but in fact the palace was simply captured. The capture took place at the very end of December 79th. The operation was carried out jointly with the KGB special forces.

The formation of separate detachments of special forces to enter the territory of Afghanistan

Immediately after the New Year, the personnel of the special forces detachment were airlifted to Tashkent. There he was understaffed with officers and personnel, as well as military equipment, in order to be reintroduced into Afghanistan. In February 1980, the 459th separate special forces company, which was formed in December 1979 in Chirchik, was also introduced into the country. The company was stationed in Kabul until mid-August 88th.

One can speak of this company as an exemplary one. It was she who, until the spring of 1984, fought with the use of special tactics of special forces. In the same 1984, 173 detachments were introduced into Afghanistan. It was formed in the city of Lagodekhi, located on the territory of the Transcaucasian Military District, in 1980 on the basis of the 12th brigade. The detachment had a staff structure similar to the 154th.

Another ooSpN number 177 was formed from January 80 to October 81 on the basis of the 22nd brigade, which was located in the city of Kapchagay of the North Asian military district. The detachment was introduced into Afghanistan immediately after the end of its formation. Despite special training, the 154th and 177th, up to the 84th, were mainly engaged in the protection of the mountain pass and the pipeline.

Expansion and active use of special forces units in Afghanistan

The command of the Armed Forces decided to start actively using special forces in Afghanistan in 1984. The catalyst for this decision was the active assistance received by the Mujahideen from neighboring Iran and Pakistan. In addition, the Kabul company proved to be effective.

The 154th ooSpN was transferred to Jalalabad. His task was to fight against the caravans of the rebels. The 177th detachment was transferred to Ghazni. By mid-February 84, the 173rd detachment was able to cross the border with Afghanistan near the city of Kushka, after which it arrived at Kandahar on its own.

The results of the combat activities of the special forces units vividly confirmed that the bet on the special forces was made correctly. In this regard, the fourth special forces detachment was formed in the Kirovograd brigade and arrived in Bagram in the fall of 1984. He was transferred to the city of Baraki after a short training that lasted only a few months.

The fifth detachment of special forces was formed in the city of Maryina Gorka, in Belarus. In the spring of 1985 he was introduced to Afghanistan. Following him, the sixth detachment was formed in the Chuchkovskaya brigade. The seventh ooSpN, formed in the city of Izyaslavl of the Carpathian military district, was not long in coming. In addition, the headquarters of the 15th and 22nd brigades were introduced into Afghanistan.

In total, the following operated in Afghanistan:

• 15 oSpN with headquarters in Jalalabad,
• 154 detachment, located in the same place,
• 173rd detachment stationed in Kandahar,
• 177th - in Ghazni,
• 4th - in Baraki,
• 5-1 in Asadobad,
• 7th - in Shahjoy,
• The 22nd brigade, its headquarters and the 6th detachment are in Lashkargah.

On the territory of Afghanistan itself, in the 85th, the 8th detachment was formed, which was located in Farahrud and was part of the 22nd brigade. Since the actions of the special forces and all the historical facts associated with them were kept secret, at that time all special forces units were called separate motorized rifle battalions, which were assigned a special numbering:

• First Jalalabad,
• Second Ghazni,
• Third Kandahar and so on in accordance with the location.

The historic withdrawal of 22 Special Forces from Afghanistan took place in August 1988, and the last units from the 15th Brigade were withdrawn from the country on February 15, 1989, a memorable year for everyone. They covered the columns of the 40th Army in the rearguard. On this, the Afghan period, which lasted 10 difficult and very long years, ended.