Photos Soviet-Afghan War 1979-1989

[Connaught Ranger]

345 Separated Guards Airborne Regiment

Your picture is inverted medal ribbons should be seen on the left breast!

 

[Stormovik]

TsSN Alpha, KGB Spetsnaz

 

[Stormovik]

Quite well known picture. Stinger captured by Soviet Spetsnaz.

 

[Fluff]

Quite well known picture. Stinger captured by Soviet Spetsnaz.

and the best place to stand, while your mates try to figure out an unknown weapon, is...……..

 

[Stormovik]

Mazar-i-Sharif, 1980

 

[HisRoyalHighness]

Quite well known picture. Stinger captured by Soviet Spetsnaz.

That is one high quality photo, I wouldn’t be surprised if some thought this photo was taken in the early 2000s instead of the 80s.

 

[BravoZulu]

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

 

[berkut76]

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

Chicom chest rigs or copy of thereof. Soviets didn't have any. First thing that the Soviet soldiers grabbed from the bodies of fallen mujahideen

 

[Stormovik]

Chinese Type 56 & Type 63 rifles Chest rigs. Soviet troops started the war with M69/73 regulation gear, and soon started to take Chicoms and its copies from Mujahideen, make their own chest rigs using parts of their kit (rifle´s slings, ammo pouches, rucksack pouches)....

 

[Stormovik]

Spetsnaz

 

[berkut76]

Iranian Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II attacking Soviet Mi-8 helicopters on April 5th, 1982. If anyone is interested in the background story, I could write a short paragraph.

 

[Fish&Chips]

@berkut76 Was that some sort of border incident?

 

[BravoZulu]

View attachment 223014

Iranian Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II attacking Soviet Mi-8 helicopters on April 5th, 1982. If anyone is interested in the background story, I could write a short paragraph.

Go for it mate

 

[Stormovik]

Spoils of wars. Soviet trooper with a captured Type 50 submachine gun

 

[BravoZulu]

A Soviet Major snaps a picture of 3 other Soviets with an Afghan Army officer in front of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Hazarajat, Afghanistan

 

[BravoZulu]

Soviet soldier drags ammunition belts across a base to an Mi-24 Hind
30mm (possibly 23mm for later model variants of the mi-24) and 7.62mm ammunition belts.

 

[downsizer]

Soviet soldier drags ammunition belts across a base to an Mi-24 Hind
30mm (possibly 23mm for later model variants of the mi-24) and 7.62mm ammunition belts.

Shocking handling of munitions! Clearly not fans of explosive safety.

 

[Flagg]

A Soviet Major snaps a picture of 3 other Soviets with an Afghan Army officer in front of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Hazarajat, Afghanistan

It’s kinda creepy seeing a photo taken from a spot within a few metres of where I was standing 30 years later.

Russian Afghan photos ooze melancholy, even when they’re smiling.

 

[berkut76]

View attachment 223014

Iranian Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II attacking Soviet Mi-8 helicopters on April 5th, 1982. If anyone is interested in the background story, I could write a short paragraph.

Sorry guys. No time. So I hope Google translate would do an adequate job, but in a nut shell, meticulously planned operation, with almost hundred choppers involved went to hell due to intransigence and stubbornest of the senior officer on the scene who not only disregarded his subordinates, but also superiors very high up in the chain of command and proceeded to assault cement factory in Iranian proper mistaken it for mujaheddin's stronghold. The aim of operation was to interdict MANPAD supply (yes, years before Stingers). Not mentioned in the article, but the MANPADs in question were of Soviet origin previously supplied to Egypt and other Arab states.

Soviet Incursion into Iran in April of 1982

 

[Fluff]

Shocking handling of munitions! Clearly not fans of explosive safety.

Probably cleans the burrs off, improves functioning...…...

......probably in a hurry to get the prize job of filling up the antifreeze on the MIG 25......pure ethanol, and it was officially advised through the RAF that they were drinking it...…..