Regiment 345 (Airborne). Airborne Regiment in Afghanistan

Probably, every adult man and most of the women of the country are well aware that the 345 (VDV) regiment is legendary. Fame became widespread after the release on the screens of the cult film of F. Bondarchuk "9th company", piercingly told about the fight near Host, where the Ninth Parachute Company of this regiment heroically died.

Start

The regiment was finally formed on the New Year's Eve, on December 30, when the Great Victory still remained almost half a year. Forty-fourth, the place Lapichi near Mogilev in the liberated, torn By Byelorussian fascists. It was from here that the regiment 345 (VDV) went the roads of war. The regiment was first a rifle - on the basis of the Fourteenth Guards Airborne Brigade.

The final renaming took place in June 1946. From July of the same year until 1960, 345 (VDV), the regiment was stationed in Kostroma, then, until December 1979, in Ferghana, joining the 105th Airborne Division of the Airborne Division.

Continuation

Already in 1946 the regimental banner with honor carried the Order of Suvorov. Until the end of the victorious year, the regiment guarded the peace of Hungary. For high level of military training , the USSR Minister of Defense awarded the regiment "For Courage and Military Valor" with Regiment 345 (Airborne Forces). The regiment of this world practically did not see, constantly being in the hottest points of the country and the planet.

In total, from 1979 to 1998, the regiment, without interruption for a single day, participated in various armed conflicts and wars, and so eighteen years and five months passed. Then, on December 14, 1979, nobody knew about it yet. With the receipt of the "separate" status, the new assignment of the 345 Airborne Regiment Bagram is also being received.

Afghanistan

Soviet troops had not yet been brought into this contiguous country, and the second battalion was already helping the Hundred and Eleventh Guards Parachute Regiment to guard Bagram airfield. Our military helicopters and airplanes were based there. The ninth company in the number of eighty people in late December 1979 already stormed the palace of Amin (in the Fortieth Army). In 1980, an unprecedented heroism and courage deserved another award - the Order of the Red Banner.

Retrofitting

In the spring of 1982, new equipment was delivered to the 3rd 45th Airborne Regiment. Bagram Afghanistan never recovered until our troops left the country. In 2002, the Americans began using the powerful Soviet efforts built by the airfield and our largest military base.

The new assault equipment of the early eighties was more adapted to guerrilla operations in the mountains. BMD (amphibious assault vehicle) did not interfere with the fragments of mines, and the regular BTR-70 and BMP-2 well protected the airborne troops sitting inside. The 345 landing regiment in Afghanistan was happy with the new equipment, despite the fact that he was very fond of the former car - powerful, maneuverable and fast.

No longer parachuting

The regular structure of the unit also changed for the better: regimental weapons received an effective means for firepower - the howitzer division (D-30) and the tank company (T-62). Paratroopers were almost impossible to parachute here-too complex mountainous terrain, so the landing support in the form of airborne units was removed unnecessarily.

Aviation and armored vehicles were not with the enemy, so both antiaircraft missile and anti-tank batteries went to where they were needed: to cover the columns on the marches from Bagram and to Bagram. The 345th Airborne Regiment, thus, became more like a motorized rifle.

Revising the album

Tasks during the fighting in Afghanistan were of a very different nature: the soldiers guarded the roads and the road columns themselves, cleared the mountain areas, ambushed, went to raids, both separately and in support of Komandos and Khad, assisted units Government militia ... What can you see in the photo albums of those years? Here is a photo of the 345 Airborne Regiment. Kunduz. The soldiers smile, seemingly, serene, but they have weapons if not in their hands, then close-close ...

Considering the photos, you understand how many dangerous, demanding all-round professionalism was carried out by the soldiers. Here's another page. Again, the 345th Airborne Regiment. Bagram (Afghanistan). The photo does not convey the smallest part of the dangers that every day every minute the warriors lurked for long and bloody nine years. Nine years of daily losses. It's good that the 345th regiment of the Airborne Forces managed to make a photo and saved them. Amazing inner composure in poses, at first glance calm, even relaxed. Years later, many want to understand why the victory did not come. Such strong people in the photos. Confident and very, very beautiful. And the high, dizzying mountains around.

Job

Any military operation in the highlands has a chance of success fifty to fifty. A frontal offensive is possible only in separate directions. Artillery, no matter how ironing the nearby mountains, efforts justifies rarely. We must radically change both tactics and maneuver forms. The main thing is to capture all the dominant heights. For this, there is a helicopter landing where little "by-passing" detachments help a little, which most often do not reach their goal, because on their way there are steep cliffs, then insuperable gorges are gaping.

Bypasses and trails look for a long and dangerous. The alpinist units would help, but there were no them in the 345th Airborne Regiment. The Afghan mountains tested Soviet paratroopers in all respects: endurance, psychological stability, strength, endurance, mutual assistance - everything was in their place. At altitudes of 3-4 thousand meters, reconnaissance was conducted for 2-3 weeks, on foot, with a cargo of 40 kilograms each behind, with complete ambiguity. When you do not know at what time and where to wait for an attack. For a week in the mountains, the paratroopers lost up to 10 kilograms of their own weight.

Whose war is this?

In April 1978, Afghanistan was shocked by a revolution that brought the PDPA party to power, which immediately proclaimed socialism in the Soviet version. The US naturally did not like this. Mohammad Taraki was elected as the head of the country, and his ally, even the nearest one, Hafizullah Amin, who graduated from the university in the United States, became his prime minister. Taraki asked L. Brezhnev to enter the troops. But the General Secretary of the CPSU was a good man, but cautious. He refused.

Probably, it was necessary to be bolder in defending their interests in adjacent territories. The experience was acquired - grave and terrible. By order of Amin was first arrested, then strangled by Taraki, who was a great friend of Brezhnev. By the way, right after he was arrested, the General Secretary of the USSR personally asked Amin to save Taraki's life. But Amin already secured the support of the United States by that time and did not intend to go on about the next neighbor.

Affliction

Brezhnev was saddened to the depths of his soul. Therefore, December 12, 1979 at a meeting of the Politburo was raised the question of the situation in Afghanistan. The decision to use the Soviet armed forces in this war was supported by Gromyko, Ustinov and Andropov. Against Agarkov and Kosygin. The majority of voices began the war.

Here it is as if in brackets, that is, in a whisper, we must admit that already since July 1979, troops to Afghanistan have been quietly transferred: special forces of the KGB and the Airborne Forces, for example, the detachments of Alfa, Zenit, Thunder .. And even the "Muslim Battalion" had already begun to explore Afghanistan by autumn.

The 345th Airborne Regiment was sent there by one of the first landing units. And on December 25, 1979, the USSR troops had already openly crossed the state border into Afghanistan. Literally two days later Amin's residence was taken by storm, and he himself was killed. In these battles, the regiment sustained its first losses. Eight guards of the 345th regiment of the Airborne Forces will never hug their relatives. These losses were not the last ...

Sanctions

As the Olympics in our country, so the war in the neighborhood is traditional. Already on January 2, 1980, the United States began sanctions on the war in Afghanistan. One of them was the refusal to participate in the Olympics-80. One hundred and four member states of the UN supported sanctions. Only eighteen - no.

And in Afghanistan appeared a leader loyal to the USSR - Babrak Karmal. Of course, the US did not leave it that way. Already in February, one after another, uprisings against the PDPA broke out over Afghanistan. Money (and often promises), plus a herd of insanity - that's ready to rebel. And then the slaughter began. Bloody nine years and two months. Only on February 11, 1989 the 345 (Airborne) regiment left Afghanistan.

Phoenix, resurrected from the ashes

On April 13, 1998, on the orders of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, 345 (Airborne Forces), the regiment was disbanded. The battle flag and awards are kept in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces. Copies were handed over to the Ryazan Museum of the Airborne Forces. Nowhere and never dropped the honor of the Soviet Army, respecting all military traditions and faithfully, disregarding life and death, performing all combat missions fanned by glory, the 345th Airborne Regiment was disbanded, even without allowing it to set foot on its native land. Sixty-four kilometers remained to Russia.

Memory will never fade. In many cities veterans of the Airborne Forces have set up organizations to prevent this from happening. Reads the 345th Regiment of the Airborne Forces of Novosibirsk, Ryazan, Moscow, many cities of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, all territories of the former Soviet Union.

More recently, the airborne commander V. Shamanov confirmed that the airborne troops will receive a newly formed separate assault brigade, which received the number 345 - in honor of the legendary parachute regiment, which has more than seventy years of history. Formation will end in 2016 in Voronezh.