The Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War - 49

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

2026-9-27

The Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War - 49

By Mujtaba Al-Husseini

Translated From Arabic by: Muhammad Hussein Zavar-Kaaba

Machine Translation edited by Mandana Karimi

***

I asked the soldiers who were with me to take him into the armored vehicle. They refused. They said: “Doctor, leave him alone, we don’t have the strength to carry him.”
I repeated my request again, but to no avail. I took out my sidearm and said in a threatening tone: “I swear to God, if you don’t take him with you, I will shoot you.”
Apparently this measure was effective, and two of the soldiers quickly took him out of the trench and into the armored vehicle. A few minutes later, we were assured that there was no siege and that our forces were still fighting on the opposite side. We returned to the trench. I waited to receive the results of the battle.

Around 7:00 PM, while I was writhing in hunger, cold, fear, and anxiety, Lieutenant Mohammad Javad ordered the radio operator to call the front lines to find out about the situation. When the call was made, we heard the cries of our troops, asking for help, ammunition, and artillery support. We realized that they were in a very bad situation. I still remember Captain Rahman’s cry, “A lot of them are getting off the trucks. They are Basij forces. Send us help and ammunition!”
Amidst all that noise, no message could be heard from the commander. This worried Lieutenant Mohammad Javad and our soldiers. A few minutes after 7:00 AM, we suddenly heard the deafening roar of tanks. They were retreating in a terrifying manner.

I said to Lieutenant Mohammad Javad: “Let us leave the trench. We are in danger. The tanks will level the trench and we will be buried under a mound of earth.”
He did not agree and said: “Wait, doctor! I have not received an order to retreat.”
A few minutes later, one of the tanks destroyed the trench hatch and removed the door. When the air cleared of dust, I saw that the trench door had become a cave-like crack. I was the first to leave the trench. The others followed me. It was a sensitive and anxious moment. The intensity of the shelling had reached its peak. Due to this heavy fire and the fleeing vehicles, a thick layer of dust covered the sky in the area.

I rushed to the large trench opposite the previous one. I went inside. Immediately, 12 of my fellow trenchers entered. The wounded soldier was still inside the armored vehicle. When he heard our movement and noise, he thought we had run away and left him alone. The poor man opened the side door of the armored vehicle and screamed. At that moment, he was suddenly hit by several more shrapnel from a mortar that landed near us. We went towards him. We saw that blood was flowing from his head and face. I stopped the bleeding with the help of the ointments I had with me. After making sure that we had not abandoned him, I returned to the same large trench.

At 7:47, the deputy and first lieutenant "Kanaan" came to us with his assistant. His face showed signs of fear and fatigue. Lieutenant "Mohammad Javad" asked him about the regiment commander. He replied: "The commander felt at midnight that the soldiers were hesitant to cross the river and advance. Therefore, he told me that I would cross the river. You wait here. He left his guards and assistant with me and went alone and has not returned to this moment."
We asked him: "What is the situation now?"
He replied: "The attacking forces failed to cross the river and advance towards the Iranian positions, and most of the men fled to the rear."

Around 8:00 AM, we were surrounded inside that large trench. After a discussion, the deputy and lieutenant "Mohammad Javad" decided to leave the area with the intention of retreating to the rear of the front. The deputy garrison commander ordered Private "Ali Resan" to get to the armored vehicle and bring it close to us. It was planned that we would escape the area using it. Private "Ali Resan" left. At that moment, I was standing next to the trench door. He had not yet gone a few meters when a mortar landed and its shrapnel hit his stomach. The soldier's sighs and groans went up in the air and he shouted: "Doctor! Help me. I’m dying."
I shouted: "Get yourself to the armored vehicle very quickly. I’m not able to carry you."

Out of fear, he rushed to the armored vehicle and got on it. I followed him. Near the armored vehicle's hangar, another mortar exploded a few steps away from me. If I hadn't quickly fallen to the ground when I heard its whistle, I would have done it. I got on the armored vehicle. I saw Private Ali Resan, whose shrapnel had hit his stomach. I bandaged the wound. A few moments later, our number was complete and we quickly left the place, the shelling had reached its peak. Along the way, many fleeing soldiers joined us, to the point that the armored vehicle turned into a cluster of grapes from the number of people hanging from it. After a quarter of an hour, we reached the embankment located to the west of the rear positions. I was surprised. The distance we had covered in more than three hours at night, we covered in 15 minutes while fleeing.

From a distance, I saw the mobile unit members raising their heads and searching for me. The armored personnel carrier reached our previous positions. The deputy told me: “Put your head out of the tower so that your men can see you!”
I stood up and put my head out of the tower. When they saw me, they were surprised. We all got out. The men surrounded me and, while kissing my face, said: “We were hopeless of you. We thought you had been killed or taken prisoner!”
Inside the trench, I told them all the events that had happened. They also told us that they had spent a disastrous night here last night under heavy shelling. The traces of the bullets, which had turned the ground upside down and stained it with black powder, could be seen.
At 10 a.m., the scattered members of the regiment gathered in one place. Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Karim also came to us from the division headquarters again as the temporary commander of the regiment. We moved back a few kilometers and stopped by the shore of Hur.

After a short rest during which we were not very intense artillery attack, we left the place. During this shelling, one of the ambulances exploded. A few kilometers ahead; we stopped again next to the Hur. The commander had chosen this place as a temporary rest stop to organize the regiment. During the assessment of the losses and casualties, it was determined that Lieutenant Colonel "Miqdad Juma Ahmad", the commander of our regiment, and Lieutenant "Mohsen Darineh" were killed. Captain "Salam", the intelligence officer, First Lieutenant "Jubeir", First Lieutenant "Ali", the commander of the first company, were also injured and we were unaware of about 45 soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the regiment. All the vehicles of the unit, mortars and the A.B.G.9 anti-tank artillery were also destroyed.
It is good to mention here the miscellaneous incidents that occurred during the counterattack.

1- Rapid Formation Corps:
The forces of "Abdullah" that attacked were incoherent individuals who had been called up from several regiments and brigades of other operational areas. In an ill-considered battle and without accurate reconnaissance, this group entered the battlefield by mobilizing countless military forces. This caused confusion and chaos in their ranks. For this reason, it can be said that the action of "Abdullah" forces was more like a military reaction than a counterattack. Of course, many other factors were also involved in this failure. Among them, the attack took place at night and the Iraqi army had not received the necessary training in night attacks, while the Iranians were fully familiar with night combat operations and relied mainly on infantry units that fought our armored forces at night. Furthermore, the necessary coordination between the artillery unit and other support units was not achieved, and our forces were unable to do anything against the bravery and courage of the Iranian forces.

To be continued…

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