Download or read book The Panjshir Valley 1980 86 written by Mark Galeotti and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-28 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth look at the struggle between the charismatic rebel commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, 'The Lion of Panjshir', and the Soviet forces who fought to control the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan. When the Soviets rolled into Afghanistan in 1979, they believed if they took the cities, the country would follow. They were wrong. The Red Army found itself in a bloody stalemate in the Afghan mountains, in the strategically vital Panjshir Valley, where they faced the most able and charismatic of the rebel commanders: Ahmad Shah Massoud, the 'Lion of Panjshir'. Time and again the Soviets and their Afghan counterparts sought to take control of the Panjshir, and time and again the rebels either rebuffed their clumsy attempts or ambushed and evaded them, only to retake the valley as soon as Moscow's attention was elsewhere. Over time, the rebels acquired new weapons and developed their own tactics – as did the Soviets. The Panjshir was not just a pivotal battlefield, it also shaped the subsequent Afghan civil wars that followed Soviet withdrawal, and the military thinking that is still informing the new Russian military. Featuring striking colour artwork battlescenes and detailed maps of the fighting, this is a compelling study of one of the hardest fought struggles of the Soviet War in Afghanistan.

Download or read book The Panjshir Valley 1980 86 written by Mark Galeotti and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-28 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth look at the struggle between the charismatic rebel commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, 'The Lion of Panjshir', and the Soviet forces who fought to control the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan. When the Soviets rolled into Afghanistan in 1979, they believed if they took the cities, the country would follow. They were wrong. The Red Army found itself in a bloody stalemate in the Afghan mountains, in the strategically vital Panjshir Valley, where they faced the most able and charismatic of the rebel commanders: Ahmad Shah Massoud, the 'Lion of Panjshir'. Time and again the Soviets and their Afghan counterparts sought to take control of the Panjshir, and time and again the rebels either rebuffed their clumsy attempts or ambushed and evaded them, only to retake the valley as soon as Moscow's attention was elsewhere. Over time, the rebels acquired new weapons and developed their own tactics – as did the Soviets. The Panjshir was not just a pivotal battlefield, it also shaped the subsequent Afghan civil wars that followed Soviet withdrawal, and the military thinking that is still informing the new Russian military. Featuring striking colour artwork battlescenes and detailed maps of the fighting, this is a compelling study of one of the hardest fought struggles of the Soviet War in Afghanistan.

Download or read book Russia s War in Afghanistan written by David Isby and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-02-20 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Text by David Isby. Colour plates by Ron Volstad. This book examines Soviet forces in Afghanistan. The origins and conduct of the war and the operational organisation of Soviet forces are discussed. Afghan resistance and weaponry is also examined. A comprehensive study of both sides in the Afghan war. Due to popular demand, strictly limited quantities of Osprey's most wanted out of print Men-at-Arms, Vanguard and Elite titles are back in stock. Many of these books have been out of print for 5 years or more, so don't miss this one-off opportunity to buy them hot-off-the-press at regular series prices while stocks last. Orders will be processed on a strictly first come, first served basis so hurry! Order your books today.

Download or read book Afghan Napoleon written by Sandy Gall and published by Haus Publishing. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first biography in a decade of Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the forces of resistance were disparate. Many groups were caught up in fighting each other and competing for Western arms. The exception were those commanded by Ahmad Shah Massoud, the military strategist and political operator who solidified the resistance and undermined the Russian occupation, leading resistance members to a series of defensive victories. Sandy Gall followed Massoud during Soviet incursions and reported on the war in Afghanistan, and he draws on this first-hand experience in his biography of this charismatic guerrilla commander. Afghan Napoleon includes excerpts from the surviving volumes of Massoud’s prolific diaries—many translated into English for the first time—which detail crucial moments in his personal life and during his time in the resistance. Born into a liberalizing Afghanistan in the 1960s, Massoud ardently opposed communism, and he rose to prominence by coordinating the defense of the Panjsher Valley against Soviet offensives. Despite being under-equipped and outnumbered, he orchestrated a series of victories over the Russians. Massoud’s assassination in 2001, just two days before the attack on the Twin Towers, is believed to have been ordered by Osama bin Laden. Despite the ultimate frustration of Massoud’s attempts to build political consensus, he is recognized today as a national hero.

Download or read book Storm 333 written by Mark Galeotti and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-18 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Storm-333, the operation to seize Kabul and assassinate Afghan leader Hafizullah Amin, was at once a textbook success and the start of a terrible blunder. It heralded the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, an operation intended to be a short, largely symbolic show of force, yet which quickly devolved into a gritty ten-year counter-insurgency that Moscow was never able to win. Nonetheless, Storm-333 was a striking success, and despite initial concerns that it would be an impossible achievement, it saw a relative handful of Soviet special forces drawn from the KGB and the military seize the heavily defended presidential palace, neutralise the city's communications and defences, and open Kabul to occupation. The lessons learned then are still valid today, and have been incorporated into modern Russian military practice, visible most recently in the seizure of Crimea in 2014. Written by a recognised expert on the Soviet security forces, drawing extensively on Russian sources, and fully illustrated with commissioned artwork, this is the most detailed and compelling study of this fascinating operation available in English.

Download or read book Russian Soviet Unconventional Wars in the Caucasus Central Asia and Afghanistan Illustrated Edition written by Dr. Robert F. Baumann and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: [Includes 12 maps and 4 tables] In recent years, the U.S. Army has paid increasing attention to the conduct of unconventional warfare. However, the base of historical experience available for study has been largely American and overwhelmingly Western. In Russian-Soviet Unconventional Wars in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Afghanistan, Dr. Robert F. Baumann makes a significant contribution to the expansion of that base with a well-researched analysis of four important episodes from the Russian-Soviet experience with unconventional wars. Primarily employing Russian sources, including important archival documents only recently declassified and made available to Western scholars, Dr. Baumann provides an insightful look at the Russian conquest of the Caucasian mountaineers (1801-59), the subjugation of Central Asia (1839-81), the reconquest of Central Asia by the Red Army (1918-33), and the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979-89). The history of these wars—especially as it relates to the battle tactics, force structure, and strategy employed in them—offers important new perspectives on elements of continuity and change in combat over two centuries. This is the first study to provide an in-depth examination of the evolution of the Russian and Soviet unconventional experience on the predominantly Muslim southern periphery of the former empire. There, the Russians encountered fierce resistance by peoples whose cultures and views of war differed sharply from their own. Consequently, this Leavenworth Paper addresses not only issues germane to combat but to a wide spectrum of civic and propaganda operations as well.

Download or read book Afghanistan Cave Complexes 1979 2004 written by Mir Bahmanyar and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-20 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the Soviet invasion in 1979, the Mujahideen defenders of Afghanistan developed and reinforced many natural cave systems to use as supply bases and defensive positions. The Taliban and Al Qaeda further strengthened these positions in the 1990s. Following the events of September 11, 2001, these cave systems have once more come to prominence and sites such as Tora Bora and Zhawar Kili have featured in news headlines around the world. This title provides an analysis of these caves and underground systems, and discusses the U.S.-led Coalition's tactical approach to dislodging the enemy from these fortified positions.

Download or read book Afghanistan 1979 88 written by Mark Galeotti and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-02-16 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first English-language book to examine the crucial part air power played in the Soviet-Afghan War. The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan was fought as much in the air as on the ground. From the high-level bombing raids that blasted rebel-held mountain valleys, to the Mi-24 helicopter gunships and Su-25 jets that accompanied every substantial army operation, Soviet control of the air was a crucial battlefield asset. Vital to every aspect of its operations, Mi-8 helicopters ferried supplies to remote mountain-top observation points and took the bodies of fallen soldiers on their last journey home in An12 'Black Tulips'. But this was not a wholly one-sided conflict. Even before the Afghan rebels began to acquire man-portable surface-to-air missiles such as the controversial US 'Stinger,' they aggressively and imaginatively adapted. They learnt new techniques of camouflage and deception, set up ambushes against low-level attacks, and even launched daring raids on airbases to destroy aircraft on the ground. Featuring information previously unknown in the West, such as the Soviets' combat-testing of Yak-38 'Forger' naval jump jets, Soviet-expert Mark Galeotti examines the rebel, Kabul government and the Soviet operation in Afghanistan, drawing deeply on Western and Russian sources, and including after-action analyses from the Soviet military. Using maps, battlescenes and detailed 'Bird's Eye Views', he paints a comprehensive picture of the air war and describes how, arguably, it was Soviet air power that made the difference between defeat for Moscow and the subsequent stalemate that they decided to disengage from.

Download or read book The Red Warrior U S Perceptions of Stalin s Strategic Role in the Allied Journey to Victory in The Second World War written by Reagan Fancher and published by Vernon Press. This book was released on 2024-09-24 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease program, American leaders sought to keep Joseph Stalin’s Red Army in the field and fighting Adolf Hitler’s forces in the Second World War from 1941 forward. Delivered by the Anglo-American Arctic naval convoys, overland through the Iranian deserts and mountains, and through the skies from Alaska to Siberia, this much-needed material aid helped Stalin’s Red Army to continue fighting and thereby prevented a separate peace with Hitler’s Germany and a mechanized repeat of the First World War’s Brest-Litovsk fiasco. Yet Roosevelt and other U.S. officials, due to their severe underestimation of Stalin’s character and his rigid and fanatical devotion to exporting Communism at gunpoint, gambled incorrectly that they could win the Soviet premier’s heart and mind through several excessive wartime aid gestures, including the furnishing of atomic bomb materials to the Soviet regime. By 1945, American leaders had succeeded in their strategic goal of keeping Stalin and his Red Army in the war and hastening victory but failed in their efforts to purchase the Soviet premier’s goodwill and commitment to postwar peace, heralding the global Cold War, and setting the stage for later U.S. martial aid programs to those resisting aggression abroad. In addition to its primary focus on the American leadership’s perceptions of Stalin’s strategic importance to the Allied war effort in the Second World War, this work also includes a detailed assessment of Roosevelt’s Soviet Lend-Lease program alongside U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s later support for the Afghan Islamic guerrillas resisting Soviet occupation during the Soviet-Afghan War of the 1980s and a comparison of both martial aid programs with Washington’s recent revival of Lend-Lease aid for the Ukrainian war effort. It offers today’s American leaders and policymakers a chance to consult the lessons of history and apply them in the present.

Download or read book The Holy Warrior Osama Bin Laden and His Jihadi Journey in the Soviet Afghan War written by Reagan Fancher and published by Vernon Press. This book was released on 2023-10-10 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fought between 1979 and 1989, the Soviet-Afghan War provided vital combat experience for Osama bin Laden and his senior lieutenants in al-Qaeda, allowing them to hone their newly acquired skills in guerrilla warfare to later support Islamist insurgencies worldwide. Yet the ruthless al-Qaeda chief’s success depended on the Soviet leadership’s reluctant prolonging of its military occupation out of fear of leaving Afghanistan in hostile hands. As relative latecomers to the ferocious Afghan frontlines, the inexperienced Arab fighters benefitted militarily from the combat training unwittingly provided by their Soviet foes. After skillfully obtaining this command and battle experience by working within the wartime atmosphere, bin Laden channeled al-Qaeda’s efforts in a global jihadi campaign targeting a second superpower and its allies. While allegations of U.S. support for the Arab jihadis have contributed to a popular image of bin Laden and al-Qaeda as C.I.A. creations, the historical facts appear to demonstrate that the combat opportunities provided by the Soviet occupation forces played a far larger role in transforming them into seasoned guerrilla fighters. In this second edition, Reagan Fancher updates and expands his monograph in an Afterword elaborating on the contemporary U.S.-U.K. perceptions of bin Laden's wartime actions and their results as he applied his battle-honed guerrilla tactics, judo skills, and recruitment capabilities in tactically helping Yemen's anti-communist Salafi guerrillas to emerge victoriously in their country's 1994 Civil War before concluding with an assessment of the founding al-Qaeda leader's impact on history. It offers an opportunity for today's decision-makers to learn from history and avoid creating new generations of Osama bin Ladens.

Download or read book Armies in Southern Russia 1918 19 written by Phoebus Athanassiou and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-06-24 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An important aspect of the Russian Civil War were the several Allied expeditions immediately following World War I in support of the disunited Russian 'White' armies resisting the Bolshevik Revolution. Although they ended in failure, these ventures were long resented, and were the origin of the 70-year-long Soviet suspicion of the Western Allies. British and US expeditionary forces operated in North Russia and Siberia in support of General Yudenich and Admiral Kolchak respectively, and a French and Greek expeditionary force (plus Romanian and Polish elements) operated in Crimea and south-western Ukraine, in support of General Denikin. The situation was further complicated by the presence of strong Imperial German elements still under arms, and by war between various factions in the Ukraine. This Southern theatre of the Allied interventions is far less well known than that of the British and Americans in the North and East. Featuring rare photos and new colour plates, this fascinating new book describes this major Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. Dr Phoebus Athanassiou writes a compelling account of how the French and Greeks alongside White Russians were greatly outnumbered by pro-Bolshevik forces and were relentlessly pushed back by the Ukrainian forces. In just over 4 months, on 28 April 1919, the last of their forces were evacuated by Allied navies from Sevastopol in Crimea.

Download or read book The SVD Dragunov Rifle written by Chris McNab and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-06-22 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featuring specially commissioned artwork and carefully chosen photographs, this study charts the SVD Dragunov rifle's development, combat use and lasting legacy, from Vietnam to Syria. Developed as a medium-range sniping rifle in the Soviet Union during the 1960s, the Dragunov stood out against most Western sniping rifle types by being semi-automatic, a configuration that marginally lowers accuracy compared to bolt-action sniping rifles, but which allows for faster follow-up shots. Even so, the SVD is still capable of taking precision killing shots out to 800m and beyond, making it a thoroughly practical combat weapon for marksmen and snipers. In this fully illustrated study, Chris McNab explores the Dragunov's development and performance in detail. But the story of this weapon really comes to life with its combat history. It is the world's most widespread sniping rifle, still in use in the former Soviet armies and sold to more than 40 countries worldwide. Its rugged design, dependable capabilities and relatively low cost mean that it has been used in every conceivable type of conflict, from Vietnam and Afghanistan to Iraq and Syria. Illustrated with cutaway artwork and battlescenes, plus technical and historical photographs, this study tells the story of this remarkable weapon, from design and development to tactical use in action.

Download or read book The Soviet Afghan War written by Gregory Fremont-Barnes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-02-15 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fully illustrated overview of the USSR's bloody conflict in Afghanistan and its long legacy. The Soviet invasion of its neighbour Afghanistan in December 1979 sparked a nine-year conflict until Soviet forces withdrew in 1988–89, dooming the communist Afghanistan government to defeat at the hands of the mujahideen, the Afghan popular resistance backed by the USA and other powers. Gregory Fremont-Barnes reveals how the Soviet invasion had enormous implications on the global stage; it prompted the US Senate to refuse to ratify the hard-won SALT II arms-limitation treaty, and the USA and 64 other countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. For Afghanistan, the invasion served to prolong the interminable civil war that pitted central government against the regions and faction against faction. Updated and revised for the new edition, with full-colour maps and new images throughout, this succinct account explains the origins, events and consequences of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, shedding new light on the more recent history – and prospects – of that troubled country.

Download or read book Spetsnaz written by Mark Galeotti and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-06-20 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Authoritative illustrated analysis of the history of the military Special Forces units of the Soviet Union and Russian Federation. When the shadowy, notorious Spetsnaz were first formed, they drew on a long Soviet tradition of elite, behind-the-lines commando forces from World War II and even earlier. Throughout the 1960s–70s they were instrumental both in projecting Soviet power in the Third World and in suppressing resistance within the Warsaw pact. As a powerful, but mysterious tool of a world superpower, the Spetsnaz have inevitably become the focus of many 'tall tales' in the West. In this book, a peerless authority on Russia's military Special Forces debunks several of these myths, uncovering truths that are often even more remarkable. Since the chaotic dissolution of the USSR and the two Chechen Wars, Russian forces have seen increasing modernization, involving them ever more in power-projection, counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism and the Spetsnaz have been deployed as a spearhead in virtually all of these operations. This fully illustrated book packed with details such as orders-of-battle, equipment and operational doctrine offers a unique, absorbing guide to the secrets of the Spetsnaz, their most noteworthy missions and personalities.

Download or read book Ghost Wars written by Steve Coll and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2005-03-03 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The news-breaking book that has sent schockwaves through the White House, Ghost Wars is the most accurate and revealing account yet of the CIA's secret involvement in al-Qaeada's evolution. Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll has spent years reporting from the Middle East, accessed previously classified government files and interviewed senior US officials and foreign spymasters. Here he gives the full inside story of the CIA's covert funding of an Islamic jihad against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, explores how this sowed the seeds of bn Laden's rise, traces how he built his global network and brings to life the dramatic battles within the US government over national security. Above all, he lays bare American intelligence's continual failure to grasp the rising threat of terrrorism in the years leading to 9/11 - and its devastating consequences.

Download or read book Humanitarian Invasion written by Timothy Nunan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-01-26 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Humanitarian Invasion provides a history of international development and humanitarianism in Cold War Afghanistan.

Download or read book The Soviet Afghan War written by Russia (Federation). Generalʹnyĭ shtab and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers a candid view of a war that played a significant role in the ultimate demise of the Soviet Union. Presents analysis absolutely vital to Western policymakers, as well as to political, diplomatic, and military historians and anyone interested in Russian and Soviet history. Provides insights regarding current and future Russian struggles in ethnic conflicts both at and within their borders, struggles that could potentially destroy the Russian Federation.