Air Raid to Al-Waleed (36)‎

The Story of Demolishing Fighters and the Equipment in Al-Waleed Triple Military Bases ‎Known as H-3‎

2016-9-10

Air Raid to Al-Waleed (H-3‎)‎

The Story of Demolishing Fighters and the Equipment in Al-Waleed Triple Military Bases ‎Known as H-3‎

By: Brigadier General Ahmad Mehrnia

Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company

‎2010 (Persian Version)‎

Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

On the sidelines

First of all, note the poem which has been composed by Colonel Abdolsaleh Afshar, instructor of rescuing the crew during this flight:

 Col. Abdolsaleh Afshar Toyserkani, fighter and poet of Sacred Defense

Air raiding to H-3

Proud brave bombers,

Began flying with love plumage

Toward target, one by one in the sky,

Crossing the red and endless line

Like an eagle that saw a prey,
Prepared for raiding to Al-Waleed
Risk from air and ground ahead,
like a falcon they came down on enemy

No place for any flying,
Against the shoot and the bomb and the black lead
Reminding those thunders raid,
Remained from them the mystery of God
The Simurgh took off from the hearts’ runway,
And not decreased its speed toward ‘H-3’
All reaching over the target,
Not a base, all three were decimated

Courageous proud warriors,
Returned homeland safe and sound
Met the Leader early,
Heard salutations from Iran’s elder
Became swifter in flight than the faith,
More sworn, became the falcon of battlefield

About the events after the mission Ahmad Soleimani says:

"Azarfar and I served at Mehrabad base, and due to the shortage of pilots on the Nojeh base, we were in Hamedan about a month. I remember that they sent us to Hameadan with a modern jet Falcon aircraft after kissing the Holy Quran along with colleagues: Toosi, Reevandi, Ashkan, Ravadgar, Javanmardi and another person. Azarfar and I decided to go back home very soon, when the mission was completed successfully with the grace of God and we landed safety on the ground. But given the enthusiasm due to the successful completion of the mission in the base, and the involvement of authorities in related issues, including meetings, interviews, sacrificing the sheep, and ... whatever we tried to make an air vehicle or at least a car available for ourselves, we failed! Even we accepted to drive us to Tehran road, I mean 14-kilometers away from the base, but it didn’t work too. Finally we rented a car, went to reach to the Tehran road, and there we got into a bus and joined our family at night."

Head of Division Shahid Mohammad Reza Azarfar when he was first lieutenant

Shahid Azarfar’s wife says about his moral characteristic:

"Reza was very kind and tried as much as possible to help all his friends. He was really a devoted friend for wives whose husband martyred or being taken prisoner and one of his regular works was visiting them and solved their problems. He didn’t speak about his combat missions at home lest we were worried. I only remember that he said it is not possible to let the foreigners reach to one inch of the most futile soil of my homeland until I’m alive. He was also our companion and commiserated with us at home and helped in any way he could to make us more comfortable. In fact he had two opposing personalities; on the battlefield he was brave, fearless, and rough, but among friends and family he was very kind, caring, and pacifier. My husband… still I don’t believe that he has gone… has left me a son and a daughter. Today, my biggest concern is that the sacrifices of these great men be forgotten!"

It should be noted that Reza's other fellow warriors also described him as a ready-to-fight pilot who always willing to participate voluntarily in the most difficult operations and even fight instead of others when it was their turn.

***

One of important pillars in the management of the war was the country’s responsibility. This was more evident at the beginning of the war. A major part of provisions for fronts was supplied by private contributions. For this reason, a large number of contacts with military factors in operational areas closely coordinated things and supplied requirements of each sector as much as possible. Businessmen were one of the most effective groups in supplying the requirements of fronts.

Releasing the news of Al-Waleed air raid, a group of businessmen gifted each participated pilot a 1/5 square meters carpet in a ceremony, when they were informed of this strategic mission to encourage and thank them. This people’s encouragement was also incredibly pleasant. Shahid Mohammad Ali Akbarpour Sarabi’s wife says:

"Mohammed was very quiet and never told me the events which happened in his office. We got married early in 1360. I do remember that one day Mohammad and Mr. Azarfar went to a ceremony together and each of them returned home with a carpet. We still have that carpet. I asked, "What is it?" He said, "It is a gift from a number of pilots’ fans." Believe me, still seeing that carpet remind my three children and me that important operation. I had been told the story of the operations by wife of other participants. They said that the pilots had been given some Iraqi currency and a side arm to defend and rescue themselves in the case of incident occurrence in the enemy country. I heard from him that our pilots have surprised and stroke a major blow the enemy by bypassing the Iraq and attacking important bases from behind. I was thrilled when heard the story and was worried lest some difficulty occurred for my husband in the war. But little by little I used to it and when he crashed in Tehran sky, I realized that death is in God’s hand and if He wishes it happens. However, the presence of Mohammed and his martyrdom was - and is - a great honor for me and all the family. Because he and his fellow warriors paid their debt to the people and our beloved country by their most important capital they had, namely their lives."

***

In addition to flawless design and pilots’ high spirit, an important aspect of H-3 mission was coordination and accurate teamwork and well protective moves which surprised the enemy despite two unsuccessful implementations. In this operation, observing good radio silence during four hours flight and especially refueling at low altitudes without any radio contact is considered as a masterpiece that only specialists are able to understand its importance. Another very important factor had been then-authorities’ risk-taking for carrying out such a high-risk flight, which had rarely happened in the military management until then. Also, most of war principles has considered and observed in the operations[1].

About protecting the information of the operations, Amir Baratpour says:

"All the time we managed the situation so that no one was informed of central mission. Even Second Colonel Mohammad Momeni, deputy of base commander, was unaware of mission. But when we returned from the mission, he said, "I realized that you had a specific and an important mission deep inside the Iraq." I asked: "how?" he said, "one of our fellow warriors had left a blank envelope of Iraqi currency on the table of one of rooms in command post on which it had been written ‘dinars and dollars’!" Fortunately, this occurred when and where had no danger for mission. But think that how a small protective mistake can create a huge jeopardy!"

Mohammad Javanmardi was named above. It is better to know that he was one of brave, witty, and good-humored pilots of Air Force and his presence in anyplace caused friends and audience’s feeling of joy. If it can be possible to get the memories of Mohammad's close friends about his stunts, without doubt a tome can be written about him who has three times emergency ejecting by ejection seats in his resume.

Second Head of Brigade Pilot Mohammad Nemati, one of Javanmardi’s colleagues, says about him:

"Mohammed was very skilled at imitating other's gestures and occasionally imitated others, especially authorities, and caused their colleagues feeling joy. Once in the presence of Colonel Mahmoud Khazraei, who sometimes walked with untied lace boot and half of his trouser leg was inside the boot and another half was over it, imitated him. Although he knew about Mohammad’s stunts, but did not expect him to imitate in front of him and was a little upset; but he was generous and didn’t say anything and went. However other friends laughed a few minutes. Also, one day Mr. Fakhroddin Hejazi, who was Tehran's representative in parliament and was one of competent and professional speakers, came to the Hamadan base. After a hot speech, he had a private meeting with pilots. A friend had informed him of Mohammad’s skill in imitating others. Mr. Hejazi asked Mohammad: "Is it right what they say?" He replied: "Yes." He asked: "can you imitate me too?" he said: "Yes, but provided that you don’t say later you met pilots and they mocked you." he said: "I promise." And Mohammed got up and within a few minutes made all of us to go into convulsions of laughter. Mr. Hejazi, who laughed himself into convulsions, said well-done to him and went."

Another friend of Mohammed said:

"Javanmardi and Eskandari had gone to Syria to return the Khazraei’s F-4 aircraft which had landed there in H-3 operations due to defect in hydraulic system and damaging. Mahmoud, who had heard he can find good natural honey in Syria, decided to buy some. Thus they went to a shop and because they didn’t know what is the equivalence of ‘asal[2]’ in Arabic language, Mohammed began performing a beautiful pantomime of a flying bee and at the same time he imitated the sound of this useful insect. Finally, seller understood and while had gone into convulsions of laughers, asked: "asal?" then they found out that the equivalence of ‘asla’ in Arabic language is the same ‘asal’."

To be continued…