The battle for Hill 3234 is one of many small but high-intensity conflicts that took place in Afghanistan between Soviet forces and the Mujahideen insurgents. This war, the "Soviet Vietnam", according to many, was not decided by one or more major line battles, but by the totality of small conflicts, such as the one on the hill in question.
The battle for Hill 3234 was just one of many fought during Operation Magistral, the Soviet effort to lift the siege of the city of Kost and open the main road link between it, the city of Gardez, and capital Kabul.
If the Mujahideen occupied Kost they could make it the seat of their own government which would probably win the recognition of the West. The Soviets should have clarified the situation and opened the disputed road. Moscow tasked the commander of the 40th Army with the mission, Lt. Gen. Boris Gromov.
The army also included the 345th Independent Airborne Regiment which was thrown into the battle for the occupation of the Sarani area where hill 3234 is also located. The Soviets occupied the hill and fortified themselves as best they could on it.
The Battle of Hill 3234
However, the capture of Sarani was a heavy blow for the Mujahideen. So they decided to reconquer it. For this purpose they began to gather forces. The Soviets had information that an elite commando unit of the Pakistani Army called "Black Storks" entered the area. This unit had the mission of recapturing hill 3234.
Lt. Col. Valery Vostrotin, commander of the 345th Independent Airborne Regiment deployed his forces to strongpoints capable of perimeter defense at key locations in the region. One of these support points was Hill 3234. The 3rd Battalion took over the southwestern sector of the perimeter, deploying its 8th and 9th Companies, as well as its scout platoon, in the first line of defense.
Each sub-unit was assigned an air and artillery liaison. Vostrotin himself had set up his command station in the center of the site, behind the advanced support points. The artillery squadron allocated to him for direct support was also deployed there, as well as a number of tanks.
The downside was that the Soviet strongholds could not support each other due to terrain and distances. This gap in his defensive arrangement, the Soviet lieutenant colonel, aspired to cover it by using fire from his artillery and by the disposition of his reserve, at the critical moment.
The 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion had established itself defensively in the area, also creating a strong point on hill 3234. The positions of the 9th Company were about 500 m from hill 3234 so that it could support the scouts with its fire.
The 9th Company was commanded by Lieutenant Sergei Tkachyov . The company's fire plan was based on a 12.7mm NSV heavy machine gun, several 7.62mm PK machine guns and an AGS-17 multiple grenade launcher. The men were armed with their Kalashnikov assault rifles, while some carried SVD sniper rifles and portable anti-tank launchers.
On New Year's Eve the 3rd Platoon of the 9th Company deployed to the top of Hill 3234. The platoon was provided with the company's heavy machine gun and two light machine guns. Along with the platoon to the top went the PPP officer Lieutenant Babenko along with a radio operator. Babenko was also in charge of liaison with the air force.
The 3rd Platoon was commanded by Second Lieutenant Vasily Kozlov. The platoon deployed about 300 m southwest and about 200 m higher than the rest of the company. 2nd Platoon deployed north, flanked by 1st Platoon and Scout Platoon . With this order, the men of the 9th Company welcomed the new year, which, however, began with heavy snowfall that continued until January 4.
But the morning of January 7th would change forever, after all, the lives of many men of the 9th Company.
Suddenly the morning silence was interrupted by sporadic gunfire. Soon, however, the fire intensified and the hill quickly began to "burn" from the mortar fire and the rockets of the Mujahideen. Within 20 minutes approximately 300 rockets and mortar shells were launched against the Soviet positions.
Soon the Mujahideen opened fire with recoilless rifles. Corporal Andrey Fedotov, the PPP officer's radio operator, was the first casualty of the opening battle. An enemy shell tore him and his radio to pieces on top of the hill.
The 9th Company immediately requested fire support, and the 345th Artillery Regiment undertook to provide it. But with the radio neutralized at the top of the hill, communication with the artillery was not easy. Communication was now being made on the company radio, but his commander had no clear picture as he was not on top of the ridge.
Around 15.30 the positions of the 1st Platoon of Lieutenant Gagarin (simply synonymous with the well-known astronaut, because of which his men called him "cosmonaut"), were hit by more than 20 rockets. Soon they started receiving fire from PAO.
Gagarin immediately called for artillery support, and the multiple rocket launchers of the 345th Artillery Regiment swung into action. The massive Soviet artillery fire did indeed force the Mujahideen to stop firing. However soon a strong Mujahideen force was seen approaching the company's positions.
The defenders' fire forced the Mujahideen to stop just 200 m from the Soviet positions. There, under whatever cover the terrain afforded, the fanatical Mujahideen remained preparing for the final assault. Suddenly a new barrage of fire hit the Soviet positions and the cry "Allah is great" echoed across the snowy mountain.
The Mujahideen launched the main attack from the North. The attackers wore black uniforms decorated with black, gold and red stripes on the sleeves. Both the appearance and, above all, the tactics they used during the attack were nothing like a guerrilla unit. The Soviets were certain that the attackers were not Mujahideen, but an elite, regular unit of the Pakistani Army.
Supported by heavy weapons fire the Mujahideen or Pakistanis attacked with vigor and fanaticism regardless of casualties. But the paratroopers also fought heroically. The machine guns were firing and the Kalashnikovs were firing. The defenders furiously threw grenades, making the field the ideal setting for a performance of Dante's inferno.
Several paratroopers were wounded, some fatally, but they continued to fire with every available weapon, littering the rocky terrain with enemy corpses , who, despite this, fanatical as they were, continued to attack. The Soviets were convinced that they had a tactical unit up against them when they noted the composure under fire of their opponents and the fact that some of them, equipped with portable radios, were coordinating the attack waves.
Exploiting the terrain, the attackers closed in on the Soviet positions, but were eventually forced back out of assault range. The attack was repulsed but at 17.35 it was repeated from three sides even stronger against the 2nd Platoon of Lieutenant Sergei Rozhkov. At the same time, Lieutenant Smirnov's Scout Platoon, which was kept in reserve, received a fierce attack.
This time the situation became really critical for the paratroopers who were suffocated, existing casualties. Nevertheless, despite the hostile barrage of fire, they continued to fire, hitting the dense enemy masses and again forcing the opponents to retreat about 200 m from their positions.
This attack was also repulsed, but ammunition stocks had run low. At 19.10 the Mujahideen launched a new, stormy attack, this time against the entire front of the 9th Company. Supported by fire from heavy machine guns and portable anti-tank launchers, they advanced against the Soviet positions and came within striking distance of them.
One more jump and it would be all over for the paratroopers. The situation became more than critical with the men having reached the limits of their endurance and ammunition starting to run out. Then PP Lt. Babenko took the initiative and called for artillery fire, despite the risk that the men of the 9th Company would also be hurt, due to their proximity to the enemy.
Soon the gates of hell opened as Soviet artillery opened fire in front of the 9th Company positions. The Mujahideen who did not expect such a thing received a crushing blow, while the paratroopers "lurched" behind their makeshift fortifications, as best they could to avoid friendly fire. The overwhelming fire of the Soviet artillery stopped the attack literally in the nick of time as the Mujahideen had reached a distance of about 10 m from the paratroopers' fortifications.
In some parts of the perimeter the opponents were engaged in hand-to-hand combat when the artillery fire began. Those Mujahideen who found themselves inside the Soviet fortifications were exterminated one by one with knives, bayonets, stones and gun stocks. But the paratroopers each had one or two magazines for their assault rifles.
The grenades had run out. However, soon the morale of the defenders skyrocketed when a Pakistani Army signal was intercepted congratulating the head of the attacking section on the capture of Hill 3234! The congratulations were rather untimely...and the Soviet soldiers really enjoyed it.
Unexpected rescue
When darkness fell the battle ceased. For the hard pressed Soviets the night was truly a blessing allowing them to regroup and rest , but also to prepare for the sure repetition, the next day, of enemy attacks. The commander of the 9th Company, Lieutenant Tkachev, had requested a supply of ammunition.
A short distance from the company command post, the commander of the 345th Regiment, Colonel Vostrotin was preparing a force to lift the siege of the defenders on Hill 3234. Vostrotin ordered the political commissar (commissar) of the regiment Nikolai Samusev to put himself in charge of a force which would attempt to join the 9th Company.
At 01:00 on the morning of 8 January Samusev's improvised force set out and managed to resupply the defenders. Thus the 9th Company survived the attacks of the Mujahideen on the first critical day of the start of the attacks and could, now with ammunition in relative abundance and reinforced in men, look to the future more optimistically. Having suffered overwhelming losses, mainly from Soviet artillery, in their last attack, the Mujahideen, and possibly their Pakistani allies, did not venture another attack.
They were limited to harassing fire with heavy weapons from safe distances. The men of the Company repaired like-like to their fighting positions and awaited the new enemy attack. But she never came. Instead other enemies appeared, the snow and the lice.
But the Mujahideen did not reappear and the rest of January passed quietly for the paratroopers of the 9th Company who had withstood, 39 men, the fierce attacks of 200-400 Mujahideen. The Company had lost six of its men dead. Another 28 were injured. The attackers lost at least 200-250 of their men.