In 1979 the Soviet Union moved from military ‘help’ to active intervention in Afghanistan.

Four-fifths of the Afghan National Army deserted in the first year of the war, which, compounded with the spread and intensification of the rebellion led by the formidable guerrilla fighters of the Mujahideen, forced the Soviets to intensify their involvement.

The Soviet army was in generally poor condition when the war started, but the troops of the airborne and air assault units were better trained and equipped. As a result they developed aggressive, sometimes effective tactics against an enemy that refused to behave the way most Soviet commanders wished them to.

Featuring specially commissioned artwork, this absorbing study examines the origins, combat role and battlefield performance of the Soviet Union's paratroopers and their Mujahideen adversaries during the long and bloody Soviet involvement in Afghanistan during the 1980s.

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This fully illustrated study assesses the fighting men on both sides during the asymmetrical war between the Mujahideen and Soviet airborne troops during the Soviet-Afghan War of 1979–89.
IntroductionThe opposing sidesCombat 1Combat 2Combat 3Analysis and conclusionBibliographyIndex
This fully illustrated study assesses the fighting men on both sides during the asymmetrical war between the Mujahideen and Soviet airborne troops during the Soviet-Afghan War of 1979–89.
Compares and contracts the technology, tactics and combat performance of these two vastly differing troop types.

Product details

ISBN
9781472817648
Published
2017-11-30
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; Osprey Publishing
Weight
280 gr
Height
246 mm
Width
182 mm
Thickness
8 mm
Age
G, 01
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Number of pages
80

Illustrated by

Biographical note

David Campbell has worked as a freelance new media producer and content specialist for many years, including roles at IBM, the BBC, various internet consultancies and the civil service. He has a broad range of interests in literature and history, including the Middle Ages, the Napoleonic era, naval warfare, and the genesis of the ‘military revolution’.

Johnny Shumate works as a freelance illustrator living in Nashville, Tennessee. He began his career in 1987 after graduating from Austin Peay State University. Most of his work is rendered in Adobe Photoshop using a Cintiq monitor. His greatest influences are Angus McBride, Don Troiani and Édouard Detaille.