Photos Soviet-Afghan War 1979-1989

Russian troops

This is one of my favourite threads....

What strikes me is that if you've been there, you can see yourself in any number of those photos from the 70s-80s. One's gear may have gotten more modern, but some things never change.

BravoZulu said:

Mountains of Afghanistan, March 1981. Mujahideen with Russian gear.

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And the gas masks are Polish xd

The first photo shows the Afghan army (so as not to mislead anyone)

Skyline Drive said:

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The regular shoes of Soviet soldiers were high-toed boots. However, when walking in the mountains, their legs were very tired, and small stones were stuffed into the boots. Some fighters wore either dress shoes or sports sneakers. At first it was the preference of special forces and those who very often went to raids, but later it became a popular practice throughout the OKSVA. Moreover, the sneakers were used both Soviet and foreign, bought in Afghanistan. The most fashionable were Nike sneakers.

RL64RL said:

Maybe this aviator is just prepping for his flight, but it begs the question, "Will you be wearing sandals on this op?" I also noted in other photos that several Soviet soldiers were wearing athletic shoes -- I'm led to assume this was a personal preference of some sort, versus wearing Army-issued boots???

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Skyline Drive said:

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The last photo shows a clear example of the multinationality of the Soviet army. The USSR was the country where all peoples were really equal. In the photo there are cities and republics from Siberia to the Baltic States and from Ukraine to Chechnya.

For some, this is exactly what is beneficial. For example, foreign traders weapons who wanted to make money and complicate the life of the USSR. The joke is also that the Soviet contingent in Afghanistan in every possible way raised the infrastructure, built schools and hospitals, tried to pull this country out of the Middle Ages. But in 1989 the mujahideen came and said that all this was from the evil one, Allah did not say that, and in general it is easier for the uneducated to live. And a small fact .... After the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, only in Russia (not counting the entire former USSR) several times more people die from Afghan heroin in one year than in all ten years of that war.

Fluff said:

How much treasure did everyone spend on this one tiny country, and still its basically ungovernable.

Maybe we should have build a wall around it. and left them to it.

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Oh, well, and the left fighter has a gorgeous Komsomol sign in the first photo! This is clearly a photo before demobilization. The fighter apparently whiled away his service in the garrison or at a distant checkpoint in this way. In the Soviet army, military rituals and traditions before demobilization are the topic of separate studies. Shaping the shape, refining the badges, badges, square caps ... I can tell you more about this later, if necessary.

Skyline Drive said:

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Not necessary. Perhaps this staged photo for the "demobilization album" - soldier's romance is a very peculiar thing. But the photo is very strong.

ao_sepia said:

he died?

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Skyline Drive said:

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In Afghanistan, local craftsmen were also engaged in "Shilki". As you know, it was a purely anti-aircraft gun. Technicians threw out all the aerial shooting equipment, put in more shells and these vehicles began to accompany the columns. Just imagine how this atrocious thing can shoot, for example, a mountain slope.

I wanted to write a detailed comment after I finish reading the tape. But I will answer especially for you. I am personally acquainted with the head of the Orenburg Museum of Defenders of the Fatherland, a border guard, a veteran of Afghanistan and other hot spots. In Afghanistan, he served as part of a mobile brigade of border troops (an average between special forces, airborne forces and border guards). He was also involved in the rescue of Soviet prisoners of war. He can tell a lot on this topic, I can ask him personally.

RL64RL said:

I am going to assume these are Soviet POWs of the mujahedeen? I will have to do some research on the Soviet POW experience in AFG -- I would welcome any feedback from fellow readers who might be familiar with the topic. Thanks in advance.

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Interesting opinion ... As they say, everything is learned by comparison

BravoZulu said:

Koshiro Tanaka, a 40-something Japanese citizen and Karate instructor who volunteered to fight for the Mujaheddin during the Soviet-Afghan War, 1980s. He wasn't a Muslim, and he certainly wasn't an Afghan. He just hated communism. Tanaka spent four years fighting Soviets, and upon his return was met with universal scorn in pacifistic Japan. Upon his return, he gave a few words describing what he, a Japanese man, was doing in Islamic Afghanistan, fighting Russians: "They [the Soviets] don't want peace, they want land,"

He still teaches Karate to this day as a highly ranked black belt.

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Missiles are certainly not my topic, but, as far as I know, outdated R-12 missiles were used in Afghanistan, especially with vacuum ammunition. It was a very powerful thing in the mountains.

Fluff said:

We come in peace, to spread happiness and soviet civilisation.

Lovely, whats the Ballistic missile for?

It delivers peace.

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Wow, guys ... SkyLine Drive, BravoZulu and others (sorry) if you missed anyone. Thanks for this array of photos. I shared a lot with my fellow students of the topic, many for the first time I saw myself. I can share a part myself, but later. I left likes here and there, I hope this will cheer you up a little

And now, to be honest, I would like to present the point of view on the Afghan war as a cross-section of Soviet and Russian society. Maybe my text will be a little big, I don't know yet. Sorry in advance.

The Afghan war at its peak coincided with not the best times in the entire USSR. The very topic of Gorbachev, Perestroika and the collapse of the USSR is very controversial in Russia, but almost everyone hates Gorbachev. The situation when you do not know if the person is a nerd, or did it on purpose. However, I digress.

Soviet troops performed their international duty in Afghanistan. The USSR and Afghanistan have been cooperating since the 1920s. In 1979, Soviet troops arrived in the country at the request of the Afghan government. Afghanistan is a very poor country, most people live there often in small villages at the level of the 15th or 16th century, completely obeying the priest - the mullah. Illiterate, within the framework of stereotypes...

This is what the veterans of Afghanistan say - everyone I met. And the USSR began to fulfill this very international duty. Destroy bandits, destroy poppy fields, heroin stocks, and in their place build Afghan industry, schools, hospitals, new settlements.

The locals, as I said, were completely dependent on the mullahs. And the position of the Soviet troops in the region depended on their location. That is why the Soviet army paid special attention to Islam ... Andrey Prikazchikov, the director of our museum, whom I have already mentioned in passing, had the nickname "Red Mullah" because he could read the Koran and taught him to read Afghans.

Soviet troops fought in Afghanistan. They had successes. They suffered losses. The Americans and Chinese began to actively supply the Mujahideen. The world press began a large-scale propaganda campaign against the OKSVA. I think that "Rambo 3" and the speeches about "Warriors of Light" from American President Reagan are remembered by everyone. Meanwhile, Perestroika began in the USSR. Perestroika, with all the ensuing problems ... Including the so-called "glasnost". What was the result of "glasnost"? But it turned out that journalists who wanted to get rich began to feed gullible Soviet citizens with fairy tales, myths, and so-called. "chernukhoy" (violence, blood, sex, etc.) All this in the most vile forms spilled out on the pages of magazines, books, on the screens of improvised cinemas. The entire Soviet past was sluggish and muddied. Lies and naked girls turned out to be the biggest move - they could get the most money ... They touched everything. From Lenin and the Civil War to World War II and Stalin. They also touched upon the Soviet army and, of course, Afghanistan. And the authorities ... But the authorities were silent and supported.

With Gorbachev's connivance, a negative image of an Afghan warrior began to form, whom the perestroika press portrayed as a drug addict, sadist, murderer of children and old people (even if you serve as a truck driver or a clerk at headquarters). Thoughts from the category "I didn't send you there!" Began to spread massively.

The war was on. Young guys returned from the war, having learned what military brotherhood and war are. And these young guys saw the f***ing happening in the perestroika USSR (sorry for the obscenity, it is difficult to describe in another way the ongoing chaos and agony, and purposefully controlled). We saw a boorish attitude towards them on the part of employees and the state (after that it even got to the point that the CPSU and Gorbachev personally condemned (!) Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan). And the young guys had a lot of questions about justice. This is called the Afghan Syndrome.

Someone came back, someone tried to adapt to a new life. Many are unsuccessful ...

And, in fact, strategically, the USSR never lost that war. But he lost it politically, and from within. And the country received a lot of young guys, ruined by the society that does not understand them. The war ended in 1989, and the USSR ended in 1991. And all of them were scattered by a new life - some to the bottom and some to the top. But that's a completely different story.

I do not know. Perhaps my thoughts are somewhat confused - I should reread my message a few more times and edit it. But in general, this is the whole stream of emotions that required me to go outside. Sorry. In 1989, the USSR left Afghanistan and a bloody civil war began again. The Mujahideen ruined all the undertakings of the USSR, again plunged the country into war and the Middle Ages. And after that they chose the United States as their victim, which fed these very mujahideen ... It was not fun. And, most importantly, American soldiers now have to pay for what their fathers and grandfathers did.


At the end I will leave the final shot from the Soviet film Courier. This film was the first where an Afghan warrior was shown to the Soviet public.

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Now directly on this topic. I do not know how much the topic of the Afghan war is covered abroad. In Russia and the CIS, the topic of the Afghan war in historical societies is quite acute - a lot of veterans are still alive. That is why we have a very deeply studied and reconstructed (talking about military-historical reconstruction) topic. Personally, I am familiar with many Afghan veterans, with a number of thematic communities. And I also ... I know Russian!) So, if anything, I am ready to provide all possible assistance in resolving certain issues, finding photographs and so on.

Prikazchikov Andrey Anatolyevich, director of our Museum of the Defenders of the Fatherland in Orenburg. Photo from the time of service in Afghanistan. The service helped this officer everywhere - from Afghanistan to Tajikistan and from the Baltic states to Chechnya. A very cool guy.

Okay. In order not to induce melancholy, I will insert my last three kopecks and go to bed. I can say that the war in Afghanistan, meanwhile, became a most valuable experience for the Soviet army as a whole. Ten years have made it possible to significantly modernize the army. Very comfortable and practical "Afghanka" and "Pesochka" began to replace the old closed jackets, boots began to be replaced by ankle boots, and they began to experiment with camouflage uniforms in large quantities. There were bulletproof vests and unloading, moreover, the industry began to produce them in large quantities and soon met the needs of the entire OKSVA. Means for water disinfection appeared, which we use to this day.

The army stepped forward. The staffs have developed new regulations and methods of warfare. Industry provided the army with everything it needed. And the war threw many professionals with rich military experience into society. Right on the eve of the collapse of the USSR and numerous military conflicts on its territory ...

Иван Феоктистов said:

The regular shoes of Soviet soldiers were high-toed boots. However, when walking in the mountains, their legs were very tired, and small stones were stuffed into the boots. Some fighters wore either dress shoes or sports sneakers. At first it was the preference of special forces and those who very often went to raids, but later it became a popular practice throughout the OKSVA. Moreover, the sneakers were used both Soviet and foreign, bought in Afghanistan. The most fashionable were Nike sneakers.

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Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

RL

Иван Феоктистов said:

I wanted to write a detailed comment after I finish reading the tape. But I will answer especially for you. I am personally acquainted with the head of the Orenburg Museum of Defenders of the Fatherland, a border guard, a veteran of Afghanistan and other hot spots. In Afghanistan, he served as part of a mobile brigade of border troops (an average between special forces, airborne forces and border guards). He was also involved in the rescue of Soviet prisoners of war. He can tell a lot on this topic, I can ask him personally.

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Any information on the rescue of Soviet troops would be most welcome. Spasebo!

RL