The 347th Session of Memory Night-3

Like Chamran

Adjusted by Leyla Rostami
Translated by Ruhollah Golmoradi

2024-2-21

The 347^th session of memory night titled “Like Chamran” was held in the hall of the educational vice-chancellor of the art field (Hozeh Honari) organization of Islamic Revolution on Thursday, June 22, 2022. As well as, Martyr Chamran Educational Hall was also opened after the session. 5 narrators of martyr Chamran's comrades were in this program: Fereydoun Ganjour, Mohammad Nokhostin, two brothers Hassan and Ismail Shahhosseini, and Sayyid Abbas Heidar Rabouki. Davoud Salehi hosted this memory night.

The third narrator of the session was Mohammad Nokhostin who was in charge of instruments of irregular wars during the period of Shahid Chamran. He said, I was in Kanjan Cham[1] committee at the same night when Iraq bombed Tehran. Imam said, “The troops go to the front.” At the middle of October, I received a newspaper in which it was written, “Khorramshahr is under siege.” I said I would go there to help. The forces that were with me went to Tehran, but I went to Khorramshahr. When I arrived in Ahvaz, Iraq had arrived Nord, Ahvaz[2]. It was far from us just as far as the distance from Azadi Square to Enghelab Square. I stayed on Ahvaz front, and Khorramshahr fell two or three days later, that is, in the late October. Of course, I was assigned to service in NOHED Brigade[3], about 12 of whom had come from Kurdistan with Mostafa Chamran. At night, we used to go to Nord, where Gambueh forest was on the right side and it goes to Dobb-e Hardan. We used to hit the enemy from those areas. It was on November 14 or 15 when they said, “Iraq attacked Susangerd and you should go there to help.” We were put on a dump truck with Captain Masoumi's group, which was about 200 soldiers, and taken to Susangerd. The vanguard forces who were in Hamidiyeh and the middle of the road to Susangerd said, “Iraq has blocked the road, that is, it has formed a line on this side of Susangerd.” We went to the edge of the Karkheh River, which is on the right side of Hamidiyeh. From there, we walked 25 kilometers until we arrived Susangerd. The Iraqis stopped us in the river bank and we got into a fight. We no longer had enough power, so we retreated to Hamidiyeh. We stayed there with AJA forces of the 2^nd Brigade of Dezful until tomorrow night. At night, Dr. Chamran and his troops came and talked with our commander, Mr. Masoumi, that we should go to Susangerd tomorrow morning, and that was the case. I remember AJA tanks were moving from the right and left side of the road. We also ran in front of the tanks. We ran 25 kilometers to Susangerd and 5 kilometers to Abu Homeyzeh[4]. We arrived earlier than the tanks. We had attacked there two nights before and failed. Iraqi tanks and personnel carriers were stationed from near Karkheh to the end of Susangerd. I counted them and there were more than 200! I turned and eyeballed our tanks, there were 20 of them, that is, 12 of them were coming from the right and 8 of them were coming from the left side of the road. We had a Tau missile that was for irregular wars, its commander's name was Abolfazl Mortazavi, who came after a quarter of an hour and started firing. There was also a cannon 106. After that, the infantry forces of irregular wars arrived, which were commanded by Hossein Moghadam and Reza Bakhtiari; They went from inside the irrigation canals in Abu Homeyzeh towards the Iraqis. Our tanks also wanted to bypass Abu Homeyzeh, but the Iraqis were 2 kilometers away and even hit one of our tanks. Therefore, our tanks had to bypass the village of Abu Homeyzeh from the left side, which was Jalaliyeh[5]. Before the tanks arrived there, they had hit nearly eight Iraqi tanks with Tau missiles. 106 balls were also used up. The late Haj Reza Abdollahzadeh and I went and brought ammunition. When the pedestrians were leaving, I wanted to go with them too, when I heard Captain Masoumi said, “Chamran has ordered me to stay here and take care of Jalaliyeh.” Because the commander of our tank force had said before going forward, “If I pass this village, Iraq will come and close the road behind us from Jalaliyah.” That's why we stayed there. By the time I was there, our Tau missile and [cannon] 106 hit a total of 19 Iraqi tanks until our forces got close to the Iraqis. I said, “Why doesn't Iraq fire? With all these tanks and personnel carriers!” They said, “They are waiting for our tanks to pass through Abu Homeyzeh so that in a flat plain which is on the way they bring our tanks to their knees.” But before our tanks passed through Abu Homeyzeh, our infantry forces reached the Iraqis and “clobbered them.” About half an hour before this incident, Dr. Chamran ordered Reza Bakhtiari and Hossein Moghadam to quickly send the troops near the Iraqis and then they went towards the Iraqis with about ten people from the right side of the road. I said to Captain Masoumi, “Nobody has gone to this side, is Dr. Chamran going to this side with just ten people?!” He said, “He is aware.” When they hit their tanks, it suddenly reverberated. They came and said, “Dr. Chamran is wounded and captured.” Hajj Reza or Hajj Sadegh Abdollahzadeh, who was one of the logistic assistants of the doctor, told Captain Masoumi, “You must seek Dr. Chamran with your forces and rescue him.” He also replied, "Mr. [Chamran] assigned me to take care of Jalaliyeh. If I leave and Iraq comes here and bypasses the army, our tanks will stay on the opposite side.” He said, “You have to go anyway.” He repeated as many as that I am the deputy of the doctor and I give orders that enmeshed the fellow. He said you should leave half of your forces here, take the other half and go; From this half of his forces, of which I was one of them, and we were about eight of us, we sought Dr. Chamran, who had been wounded. We were running, we ran five kilometers towards Susangerd. Ali Seifi, one of the guys of NOHED Brigade and I, were ahead when we saw a personnel carrier. “Go and capture it,” Mr. Masoumi said. We caught the Iraqi personnel carrier, but there was no one in it; they had fled when we arrived. When I went inside, I saw a bag with a map in it. I showed it to Masoumi from a distance, he said take it and bring it. I went to the back of the carrier—the door of the carrier is in the back— suddenly there was a “fizzy” sound and front of the carrier received a blow, as if it was a missile, and fire of this blow threw me out. Another person from NOHED Brigade who was in the personnel carrier with me was hit in the face by fire and fell on his back. My back was on fire and the guys put it out, but that fellow was lying there, saying, “Help me.” Masoumi went and brought him; later we heard he had gone blind. When we were there, we saw some come and said, “Dr. Chamran had been wounded, and then he took an Iraqi truck and went back with its driver.” There, Captain Masoumi said, “We must return to our mission area.” While we were talking, a bullet hit him and exited from the other side of his body, and the fellow died a martyr on the same spot. His body was buried in Chizer (Shemiran region). God bless him.