The Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War - 44

By Mujtaba Al-Husseini
Translated From Arabic by: Muhammad Hussein Zavar-Kaaba
Machine Translation edited by Mandana Karimi

2026-8-23

The Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War - 44

By Mujtaba Al-Husseini

Translated From Arabic by: Muhammad Hussein Zavar-Kaaba

Machine Translation edited by Mandana Karimi

***

A Breeze of Liberation Blows from Khuzestan

After the explosion of the presidential office, the Islamic Revolution went through another difficult test with the martyrdom of President Rajai and his Prime Minister Dr. Bahonar. With the formation of a government and the election of Mr. Khamenei as president, the situation stabilized, and the dreams and fantasies of the hypocrites and enemies of the revolution were all dashed to pieces.

Whenever I heard the domestic news of Iran, I was surprised. I used to say, “What troubles, difficult and fateful calamities has this revolution faced! But since God is the best protector, this revolution remained immune from the scourge of events.”

It is clear that the political situation affects the military situation of the front. This principle of political stability, which emerged after the presidential assassination crisis, had a positive effect on the Iranian armed forces. In the autumn, in the Khuzestan region, we were exposed to two falls: the falling of leaves from the trees and the fall of our defensive positions to Iranian forces.

In September 1981, a liberating gale suddenly blew from the Khuzestan region. We were living in security and peace in an area opposite the village of "Kuheh". Except for the Susangerd area, which was the scene of the clash of forces between the two sides, the other areas were relatively calm. The sky of the Susangerd front was illuminated at night due to the firing of illuminated bullets and the continuous firing of artillery, and there was no sign of the darkness of the night. On the banks of the Karkheh Koor River, the first Mechanized Brigade was resting instead of the 43rd Armored Brigade, which had become known as "Abul-Hazaem (filled by defeats)" due to its repeated defeats in this area. This brigade, which had been defeated many times on the Susa front, was once again testing its bad luck on the most sensitive southern front. On September 2, 1981, the 1st Brigade was subjected to a massive and surprise attack by the Revolutionary Guards and was completely destroyed. The military situation was so dire and difficult that the commander of the fifth Corps was forced to bring forces from the ninth and fifth Divisions into the field to repel the Iranian attack. This attack resulted in the destruction of the first Brigade and the retreat of the Iraqi forces to the west of the Karkheh River. The main goal of the Islamic Forces in carrying out the operation was, first, to destroy the Iraqi forces completely that were besieging the city of Susangerd. Second, to make it seem to the Iraqi army that a strategic attack would begin from this area. Although the Iranian attack was limited, our forces suffered heavy losses, so much so that the 1st Regiment of the 20th Brigade was busy collecting the losses of the brigade for a whole week. In this retreat, a senior officer named Lieutenant Colonel Ali Al-Shammari was executed for not resisting and fleeing the front.

In parallel with the Susangerd operation, the Iranian army attacked the "Kolina" hill located in the Sar-e-Pol-e-Zahab region, and fierce battles took place between Iraqi and Iranian forces, which led to the defeat of the Iranian forces and the Iraqi regaining control of the "Kolina" hill. The reason for this defeat was related to the ruggedness of the area and the Iraqi army's complete familiarity with mountain warfare.

While exploiting the Sar-e-Pol-e-Zahab battles for propaganda purposes, Iraq covered up its defeat in the Susangerd region, and Saddam awarded the commander of the Special Forces Brigade, Staff Colonel "Abdul-Hadi Saleh", and a medal of courage in recognition of his efforts. In continuation of the Iranian forces' attrition operations against our forces and defensive positions, on September 17, 1981, Iranian forces launched a lightning offensive operation against the positions of the 33rd Special Forces Brigade located on the Nisan River. This attack resulted in the disruption of the brigade's military formation and the capture of about 300 of its members.

With limited attacks in and around the city of Susangerd, the army commanders felt that the Iranians were planning to launch a large-scale attack in the region, which is why our forces, while consolidating their positions, prepared to repel this attack. In addition, the 10th Armored Brigade was called from the Al-Amara operational area to the Jufir area to be present as a reserve force in our operational area.

Our regiment's positions were far from the Khorramshahr operational area. However, on the night of September 27, 1981, I was able to see artillery fire that covered the sky of the Khorramshahr region. I ignored this issue and laid my head on the bed at 12 o'clock at night. It was 4 o'clock in the morning when the driver came and said, "Doctor! Have you heard the news?"

I asked, "What news?"

He said, "Radio Tehran is broadcasting a military march and news about the defeat of the siege of Abadan."

An hour later, I found the opportunity to listen to Radio Tehran, which was broadcasting the news of the defeat of the siege of Abadan. The sound of the Takbir broadcast on Radio Tehran, like a heavenly voice, delighted my heart. I confess that I found it difficult to believe this news. After all, this was the first major operation that was taking place in a very important region and the Iranians were achieving victory!

The truth is that my joy was mixed with anxiety until 10 am. Until the regiment commander brought the news of the defeat of our forces in the Abadan region and the success of the Iranian forces in breaking the siege of the city. This attack was unexpected for the commander of the Third Corps, Major General of Staff Ismail Tabeh al-Na’imi. He had deployed his reserves in the Jufir region, fearing that our forces in the Susangerd and Hoveyza regions would be subjected to a massive attack. However, he dispatched the 10th Armored Brigade to the Abadan region with unprecedented speed, but it was too late, because the 10th Brigade arrived in the region when the forces of the third Armored Division had suffered a major defeat.

This lightning operation dealt an effective blow to our forces. The third Division, which was one of the best and most experienced divisions of the Iraqi army, lost many of its men and was pushed back to the west of the Karun River. That day, many Iraqi forces stationed in Khorramshahr fled to Shalamcheh in fear, but the 10th Brigade and the Presidential Guard forcibly returned them. The operation also led to the dismissal of the commander of the Third Corps and the commander of the Third Division - two high-ranking commanders in the Iraqi army - and the killing and capture of thousands of people.

On the morning of September 29, 1981, I was sitting next to my bunker when the phone rang. I picked up the phone. I said, "Commander!"

It was the deputy regiment commander. He said, "Doctor! Inform your friends and men of this promising news!"

I said, "What's the news?"

He said, "We have received information that the Iranian Minister of Defense, along with the Chief of Staff, the Commander of the Air Force, and two commanders of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, have been killed."

I was shocked to hear this news. I asked, "How were these people killed?"

He said: "During the incident, a military transport plane crashed and was blown up by the opposition."»

After the phone call ended, I entered the trench with a depressed mood and heavy steps. I quickly turned on the Tehran radio. It was confirming this unfortunate news. Out of extreme sadness, I kicked the Iranians and accused them of being careless. Why should high-ranking commanders and officials be killed at random? The occurrence of this incident healed the wounds in the hearts of the defeated Baathists in Abadan and resounded their propaganda horns, which had been silenced for a few days before. The greatness of this victory and victory was enough to make it easier to bear the tragedy of losing these commanders and determined the Iranian forces to carry out another liberation operation. In fact, the initiator of the liberation movements in the Khuzestan region and the starting point of the collapse of Iraqi defensive positions along the front was this operation - Samen al-Aimmah. Following the defeat of the siege of Abadan, our forces went on alert and strengthened their defenses for further attacks by Iranian forces.

To be continued …