The Oral History of Holy Defense as Narrated by Hossein Bagheri

The Telecommunications of West and Northwest

Mahya Hafezi
Translated by Ruhollah Golmoradi

2024-5-28

The book the oral history of the holy defense as narrated by Hossein Bagheri titled “The Telecommunications of West and Northwest,” compiled by Saeed Olfati, was published by the Holy Defense Research and Document Center in 2023. The book was released in 472 pages, 1000 copies, and with the cover price of 1700000 IRR (~3 $).

The old photo of the narrator is printed on the green and purple cover of the book and the same layout of the Holy Defense Research and Document Center. The book contains a preface, an introduction, 18 conversations, and photos, documents, and index as appendixes.

You read in the introduction, “the researchers have not much addressed the role of logistics units and armored services during the holy defense. The telecommunications unit, which was in charge of making military and operational contacts in that era, is one clear example. The telecommunications was in a special situation at the time of the imposed war due to shortages. Given remarkable development in this field during the last decades, the narration of the commanders about the telecommunications and Electronic condition in the holy defense may be interesting and useful for young generation and students of engineering including telecommunications and electronic.

During the 8 years of the imposed war of Iraq against Iran, Hossein Bagheri was in charge of the telecommunications unit of IRGC in the west and northwest, and for while in the south fronts. Since the war ended, he has worked in various posts for improving the structure of telecommunications and connections of the armored forces.

The current book is product of 26 interviews with Hossein Bageri which was adjusted within 18 chapters after compilation. The youth period of the narrator and his membership in IRGC till his retirement, focusing on the professional topic of telecommunications, have been narrated according to documents chronologically. Operational, social, political, and economic topics are also included in the text to make it more charming. Moreover, the environmental and geographical situation of the west, northwest, south, and difficulties of telecommunication work in these areas are discussed to make the audience familiar with such activities. The influential figures in the holy defense, particularly in the field of the telecommunications, have been also considered. To make the narrations more precise and improve them in details, other narrators such as generals Jebbehdari, Soltani, etc. have been invited in 4 sessions to talk.

At the compilation stage, at first, the audio of sessions has been typeset to solidifying in content and literarily. In addition to that, the narrator and colleagues in the department of oral history tried to make conversations fluent and legible.

The structure of the 18 chapters has been set chronologically; the eighteenth interview is allocated to the narrator’s memories about Hajj Qasim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The first chapter includes the childhood and membership in Qom’s IRGC. The narrator was born in Tehran, however, he moved to Qom because of his father’s job. He became familiar with revolutionary activities through his teacher. He participated along with other people in the demonstrations in Qom city. He joined Qom’s IRGC since the end of August 1979. He was among guards of Imam Khomeini and at the same time worked in the telecommunications. He got married with his uncle’s daughter at 18 and two months after his daughter’s birth, he dispatched to Kurdistan. The narrator was injured first in Sanandaj at the time of liberating Piranshahr-Sardasht Road in Aban 1361 SH (November-December 1982).

Then, Bagheri talks about Kurdistan’s Telecommunications during cleansing the transportation roads. The crisis of Kurdistan and situation of the rebellious areas in early days of the revolution are also discussed. After that, he had been dispatched to Kurdistan as the operator of telecommunications on the part of central headquarters in Tehran. The first operations that telecommunications of the west IRGC was active in them were operations Matla al-Fajr and Mohammad Rasulullah (PBUH).

In the next chapters, the narrator states the situation of telecommunications and communications of the west on the eve of the imposed war. The narrator started to work in the field of telecommunications through HF-band portable transceivers in 1979. In the year 1981, a good classification was conducted in the telecommunications. He says IRGC acquired gradually the most perfect lines of communications.

Communications in the operations of 1982 and process of developing services in the telecommunications, state of communications in fixed bases in Kurdistan, especially in the operation of 1982 (1361 SH), ranks of servicing and the process of developing services in the telecommunications, using frequency, explaining changing frequency for wireless operators, applying emergency frequencies in the case of eavesdropping, and training wireless operators were chief measures of this period.

The narrator then talks about the role of the telecommunications and communications unit in operations Valfajr 2 and 4 in the northwest of Iran. The telecommunications unit was active in Valfajr-2 in the field of equipping and establishing wired tactical communications, based division of FX, and installing long-distance calling. The narrator continues, “the telecommunications used Radio Max for the first time in Operation Valfajr-2. This was a vital measure. They 1985 (1364 SH) was the prosperous year of West Telecommunications. Najaf Camp was in charge of both commanding the operation of west and supporting the south as the subsidiary of Khatam Camp. Therefore, the Shahed Telecommunications Center was founded on Kermanshah.

Mr. Bagheri also speaks about activity of the telecommunications in Operation Karbala-1 in the general area of Mehran. After that, he explains technical problems in eavesdropping in Operation Karbala-1, and how Basij members, students, and the telecommunications company of Ilam helped with field wire.

In the final section of the book, you see the documents, pictures, and personnel department order of the narrator as well as images of telecommunications and electronic equipment for students of majors of telecommunications and electronic, and those who are interested in this field. After colored photos with annotations, index of people, operations, places, and terms are presented alphabetically which are useful for researchers.