Feeding the Bear: soviet military logistics in Afghanistan

Scene from the motion picture "9th Company" (9 Рота)

Though Afghanistan has been invaded many times, it has yet never been totally conquered since a foreign invasion force can hardly maintain itself in the country. This is mainly due to harsh climate, terrain and poor communication infrastructure, resulting in a logistical nightmare such as the one experienced by the Soviet Union between 1979 and 1989. In order to face unexpected challenges, Soviet logistics adapted itself to Afghanistan, as did the whole 40th army.

Soviet logistic organizational structure: limits and evolutions

It became clear since the very beginning of the conflict that soviet supply structures, designed for a large-scale conflict against NATO or China was not adapted to a low-intensity conflict involving a smaller number of forces that would-be World War III. In particular, the pyramidal organization intended to give good theatre-level reactivity proved inadequate because it failed to provide good tactical flexibility. Order and supply invariably had to travel the whole command and hierarchical chain, which demanded a lot of time.

Other elements plagued soviet logistics. Among other things, many units deployed initially did not carry with them enough supply and spare parts for this type of conflict, and transport priorities did not match real supply needs (missiles and ammunitions rather than food, medical and fuel supplies, were shipped as soon as possible).

Alleviating and protecting the roads

In the beginning, the Soviets did not plan to stay long, and they organized most supply operations from facilities in the USSR without building any significant one in Afghanistan. However, when the Red Army realized that it was here to stay, it build several important supply depots (in Herat and Pol-e-Kormi) and maintenance facilities (in Herat and Jalalabad) to relieve those in Kabul. Other less important facilities and pipelines were built along the main roads to ease traffic, routine maintenance and driver support.

Map of Afghanistan's road network and main soviet bases.

Credits: Army magazine, January 1988.

Finally, in order to protect this network, the Red Army built numerous bases protected by fortifications, minefields, and garrisoned with troops and artillery. This was however not enough to provide full security, hence the need for convoy escort and road patrols.

Mobile convoy protection elements

Defence of logistical fluxes was indispensable (ambushes often resulted into loss of hardware, sometimes do the mujahiddins, and roads closing for several hours) and required many troops that could not be employed in offensive operations. It must be noted that soviet logistics had to supply the expeditionary force (110.000 men), the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan's (DRA) armed forces and part of the civilian population, which dramatically increased stress on transportation capabilities.

Units patrolled the roads night and day, searching for mujahideens, mines and roadblocks, or simply road sections suitable for ambushes. Furthermore, ahead of every convoy was a "movement support detachment" tasked to repair the roads and clear it from obstacle and mines (mostly with sniffer-dogs and hand-held detectors, since the terrain did not allow the deployment of mine-removing vehicles). Despite these precautions, the convoys were still frequently attacked, hence the necessity for them to have good self-defence capabilities (especially given that rescue units rushing to the ambush sites were themselves frequently ambushed on the way).

Because of the risks, convoys only moved by day, advancing not faster than the movement support detachment ahead (which explains the length of the trips). Survival chances of a convoy being proportional to its size, the Soviets organized columns of several hundreds of vehicles stretching on large distances, protected by escorts in the head, middle and end. However, Afghan roads being narrow, these escorts could hardly move from one  part of the convoy to another, making protection difficult. Furthermore, the great number of bottlenecks made it easy for mujahideens to block vital roads by blowing vehicles that would become wreckages not removed before hours. This vulnerability was particularly illustrated by the 1982 Salang tunnel disaster, when a collision triggered a fire in the tunnel which resulted in numerous casualties and the closure of the vital road from Termez to Kabul.

Soviet logistics in combat

As supply convoys became a priority target for insurgents, the Soviet military had to strengthen this component of its military apparatus. Traditionally, Red Army supply units were made of conscripts and reservists, whose two-year term did not permit adequate training. As a result, these units at first poorly performed in combat or in driving heavy Kamaz trucks (less manoeuvrable that regular ones but better adapted to the poor quality of Afghanistan's roads). As the supply units became more professional, it became clear that they had to master more combat-oriented skills, like shooting from a moving vehicle with assault rifles or vehicle mounted guns (especially the ZU-23 AA gun, which proved adequate to target insurgents shooting from high grounds).

Ongoing attacks made the task of drivers, engineers and pipeline troops (aka trubashis) very difficult and in many occasions they had to perform their duties under fire. It is then no surprise that these units acquired real prestige during the war in Afghanistan, and that medals awarded achievements earned in this "Highway war".

The role of air support

Saturation of ground supply roads led the Red Army to rely more intensively on aircraft to transport hardware to Afghanistan, supply isolated or besieged garrisons and evacuate the wounded. Despite its capabilities reduced by 25% due to the climate and the altitude, the helicopter became a symbol of the Soviet-Afghan war. Transport helicopters like the Mi-8, Mi-17 and Mi-26 became the workhorses of airborne logistics, while the Mi-24 attack gunship was extensively used for close air support and convoy escort tasks (though in this last case, its rotors were vulnerable to enemy fire coming from the high grounds).