SABAH (59)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

Interviewed and Compiled by Fatemeh Doustkami
Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

2021-5-11

SABAH (59)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

Interviewed and Compiled by Fatemeh Doustkami

Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

Published by Soore Mehr Publishing Co.

Persian Version 2019

We were in dire desert. There were no bushes and no greenery around. Only a palm grove was seen a bit forward the location of the Iraqis. The exchange of fire was massive. The Iraqis had really come to siege Abadan.

Most of the soldiers were injured from direct shot of Iraqi bullets. One of them had been hit in shoulder. He was very restless. The bullet had entered the body and I could not do anything specific for him. I just bandaged the wound quickly and prepared him to be transferred to the hospital. The other had been shot in the thigh but was calmer that the others. His wound was bleeding heavily. I took out the lace of his military boot and knotted it a few centimeters above his wound.

Around noon, the volume of fire from Iraqis decreased. Two Ahoo cars which were camouflaged with dirt, took the injured soldiers back. They were being transferred to Taleghani hospital. I installed angiocath for all of them so that the treating in the hospital could be quicker.

Around two in the afternoon, an order arrived to move forward. Apparently the Iraqis had withdrew. We had to go out of dirk and then pass the brick kilns and enter the palm grove which was opposite us. We were only a few meters away. We built zigzag fire line and move forward quickly. After using the weapon for a few times, it was easier for me to use it now. I had eaten nothing from last night until two in the afternoon and I was very hungry. My blood sugar had dropped.

Little by little we moved inside the palm groves of the Zolfaghari zone. As told by a few members of Abadan army forces, the Iraqis had built a floating bridge over Bahman Shir and had brought in tanks and forces inside Zolfaghari[1]. It was very interesting. It was as if we entered heaven from hell. Zolfaghari zone was very beautiful. On the contrary to the dryness of Khosro Abad which was out of water and bushes, this zone was completely green. Although there were many palm groves in Khorramshahr, but this palm grove was very different from the others. The soil of palm groves in Khorramshahr was dry but the palm grove in this zone was totally green due to the high humidity coming from Bahman Shir. The soil was covered in wild flowers and plants. The cooling breeze was mixed with the good smell of dates and changed our spirits completely.

The sweet scent of date trees and dates took me to my childhood for an instance; when I was ten twelve years old, and we ran in the palm groves of Khorramshahr with my sisters and friends. In spring, we went to look for date traps. Date traps were green and small sheaths in the palm trees where the seedling of palms existed, and the palm groves owners used them for fertilization of their palms.

When the fertilization was done, the empty sheaths were thrown on the ground. We collected them and filled them with water and drank them after one two hours. We always had quarrels over the sheaths. When we filled them with water, the taste of water became so good; we loved drinking the water.

The voice of bullets of Iraqis sniper rifles, which shot constantly, had turned into the chittering sound of a nightingale. In Zolfaghari, I felt crying for a second. I felt so moved when I saw that blood is bringing shed in such a beautiful heaven. I felt that besides the big oppression imposed on people of Khorramshahr and Abadan, a bigger oppression is imposed on the freshness and honesty of the nature of this land. I cursed Saddam and the crime he had created every time I looked at the cute stems of the flowers on the soil of the palm groves. I could not place this delicacy with bloodshed in one place.

The bullets of the mortar bombs which hit the ground of the palm groves and disturbed its tranquility burnt my heart. It was in the evening and I was very hungry. I had definitely lost ten kilograms during this time. I looked for dates on the ground. The date season had passed, and all dates were picked. If we could find anything on the trees or on the ground, there were dry dates which were left behind. I found a few dates and ate them.

While I was eating the dates, I noticed Ghasem Farrokhi. Ghasem was Mahmoud’s brother. He was a soldier in Kerman but had come to Khorramshahr when he had heard the news of martyrdom of his brother. He was a good looking young man who was quite different from Mahmoud. Although he was also religious and noble people like Mahmoud but he was more vivid and funny despite his nobility and religiousness. Mahmoud was a shy and modest young man.

Ghasem Farrokhi was a new member who had not endured the tortures of resistance days in Khorramshahr. He had not collected half burnt bodies, scattered brains and corpses divided into two. He had not delivered any torn bodies to the morgue. He had not been sitting and waiting to hear the news of the fall of the city now or one hour later. For this reason, he had a special kind of freshness in his behavior. He took the rifle in his hands and started shooting as if he would never get tired. Besides all these, due to their religious morale, he and his father and his brother participated in anti-regime activities during Pahlavi dynasty. Therefore, he had not lost himself after his brother’s martyr.

Despite the noise of the war in Zolfaghari, we could find comfort there. We felt a bit more secured being among the palms and somehow camouflaged instead of being in the desert. People had houses in palm groves and were busy with agriculture. For this reason, we were afraid to shoot a lot. We were afraid that people might be home and might be shot. We looked forward slowly.

After walking for a few minutes, we reached a vaster area which had more space compared to the other parts of the palm groves. In this zone, there was a rural mud house. This was the first house we saw in  Zolfaghari. We took trench behind the palms quickly when we saw the house. We did not know whether anybody is in the house or not and whether that person is Iranian or Iraqi. We waited for a few minutes to see if there is any movement inside the house or not. When we did not notice any move two or three soldiers started shooting in the air. We just wanted to see if anybody is inside or not. Dr. Mostafavi shot a few bullets with automatic rifle but no movement was seen,

We walked towards the house. One of the soldiers kicked the door open and we went inside. Two men, one middle age and one young man with their spouses were standing in the yard terrified and covered in dust. They thought we were Iraqis. Ghasem Farrokhi asked: “What are you doing here?” One man said terrified: “This is our living, where should we go?”

They spoke Farsi with heavy accent of Arabic. Ghasem Farrokhi said: “The Iraqis were here, weren’t they? Didn’t you see them?” The same man replied: “We saw them. They were here last night. They beat us to death.” Ghasem Farrokhi said: “Why did they beat you. You were Arabs like them!” the man said: “They told us that we are traitors. If you were not, you had not stayed here. Then they started hitting and kicking us with their rifle butts and military boots. They also said what kind of Arabs you are that you do not have weapons to fight with Iranians.”

Ghasem Farrokhi said: “They did not touch your spouses?” The man said: “Thanks God they did not touch them and just hit us.” Farrokhi said: “How come they did not kill you?” The Arab man said: “We started begging on our knees and told them that they are our brothers. You told us that you are here to save us. You told us that Khuzestan is the same as Arabia, so why are you killing us now …They had mercy on us after hearing these words and were only satisfied with beating us.”

For an instance I remembered the talks among team members in Caravansary hotel. One of them said that a number of our fighters who have been in Fayazieh front said that the Farsi program of radio of Iraq makes an announcement since a few days ago. This announcement is targeted to Abadan people saying: “People of Abadan and strong Arabs of this country, you are one of us. Place a white flag at the entrance of your houses and we will not bother you. We will come and free you from the Iranian captivity.”

Even if a few of them had seen that some Arabs, residing on this side of Bahman Shir and towards Fayazieh, had placed white flags on the entrance of their houses!

Ghasem Farrokhi told them to leave the area quickly. He said that this place is not safe, and the Iraqis might return and have no mercy this time and kill them. We bid them farewell and continued our way.

It was around one hour that we had divided into groups and each group was progressing in one part of the palm groves. Our group was about twenty people. We were almost the same people that had exited the hotel together, only Abbas Alivand got separated from us and went with another group. We were feeling exhausted. We were also hungry, and our ammunition supply had also decreased. Thinking that we had to go back all the way we had come on foot, made us decide to stay there and not to go further.

One of the Abadan army forces who was somehow the leader and commander of the group, said: “I will go back with three four members to bring food and ammunition and helping forces. Just be informed that nobody should withdraw and leave this location because Iraqis might progress and see that the place is empty. We go and return quickly.”

Dr. Sa’adat went to him and said: “Let me go with you. Our aid supplies have also finished, and we do not have much left. If a conflict rises, we will be left bare hands. I have to go to Abadan Red Crescent and get the supplies. If I am not there, they will not hand over the supplies to any other person.”

To be continued …