I was just a private (1)
Somayeh Eslami
Translated by Abbass Hajihashemi
2015-12-21
Note: Mehr Ali Ebrahim Nejad is a veteran of the Iraq-imposed war on Iran. He went to the battle forefronts while he was still a teenager and fought for the country 90 months of the 94-month (nearly 8-year) war. The following is an excerpt of his Oral History Weekly's interview with about on the occasion of the anniversary of Operation Muharram (Monday, November 1, 1982).
-Tell us about yourself.
I am Mehrali from the northern city of Qaem Shahr. I was born in 1964.
-How long did you state in the front?
90 months
-In which operations did you fight?
Almost all the operations designed by the Karbala 25 Division.
-And what was your post?
I was just a private. Now, I am a retired IRGC employee.
-Were you injured during the war?
I am now officially a 50% injured veteran.
-How did you get involved in the operation?
When I was at the first grade of high school I went to the war front. I had always yearned to fight in the war. I had already been recruited to the fronts but had to return home as I was injured. When I went to the fronts for operations Ramezan and Muharram, I stayed there for the rest of the war. How the operations began? They were designed to follow each other like a chain. For example, Operation Beitolmaqdes took place only after 40 days after Operation Fatholmobin. The Iranian forces wanted to use the enemy's weaknesses caused by the former operations. On those days, the only thing we were seeking was Saddam Hussein's topple.
After Operation Ramezan, they sent us home for a while to rest and recover from our injuries. They once sent us by place to make sure that we went home and not returned.
-You were not properly fed during the war, why was that?
Well, one reason was that the logistics divisions in war regions were really mean. They were only told that they must have prepared themselves for an operation. So what did they do? They simply held the supplies and wouldn't distribute them among the comrades. It happened many times that they kept the supplies for such a long period that they would be expired and no longer eatable.
-You mean they saved too much to consume in the rainy days of operations?
Yes, that is what they thought they did. There was another reason, though. The distribution was not done in a fair manner. They would distribute different amounts to the same number of soldiers in different divisions. On the other hand, our supervisors were all thumbs and couldn't get what was ours. We were always in trouble during the war. After Operation Valfajr 6, we constructed a number of buildings in an area 5 kilometers off the southwestern city of Ahwaz. The buildings were later seen as a military site. However, we could reside in that place for only a month because others came on and overtook the place. We made the whole place by our own resources but others came on and took over it.
-Let's consider Operation Moharram. Who led the operation?
There was this guy whose name was Mr. Morteza Ghorbani. He led the division during the operation.
-Tell me more about the time when they told you would step on mines when needed?
No one said we "would step on the mines if needed"; we were told to do so!
-Did they prepare you for this?
Yes. There was some preparation for us: "Step on the mines and we will tread forward after that!" At that time I was also sent in reconnaissance missions.
-In what reconnaissance missions did you take part?
Along the city of Mousian along the first front.
-Did you cross the border?
Yes, that was where we covered. Not the heights, though.
-Did you move along the city's suburbs?
No, we crossed the city directly and then entered the desert that followed. We trekked forward on the hills ahead of us to reach the front. As a matter of fact, Iran has no front in that region. Iranian forces mainly operated as single divisions to inflict the gravest damage to the enemy forces. I was later on sent with Martyr Mohammad Morshedi on a reconnaissance mission to check the area. I spent two nights for completing my mission. There were rocks as tall as two or three meters in the area. We stayed beneath a rock for a while where we could see the barriers that prevented us from moving forward. We were completely ready to step on mines to open up the path for the division to move forward.
-Tell me more about how you were prepared for the operations?
Let me tell you this. There was no preparation nor briefing for the comrades during the war. The soldiers hardly got to know what would come next. This is one of the biggest shortcomings of our forces during the war. The forces never knew who would were being sent to fight. The information was only shared by commanders. We were only soldiers and the only thing we knew was that we must have been ready for anything. Only in one instance, they walked us from Mormori valley to an Iraqi city which took us nearly two days. This could have easily been done by transporting the forces by truck from an asphalt road that was already there. But honestly the comrades were really supportive and would really do what they were told to do.
-Did you undergo any local hardships in that region?
Yes. The comrades would be repeatedly stung by scorpions or spiders. It was very common. Apart from that the food was awful and sickened the fellas. We had numerous cases of diarrhea in which the comrades had to see the doctor to could not operate at all.
To be continued…
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