Afgantsy

43 Gai and Snegirev, Vtorzhenie, pp. 317–18.

44 A. Smolina, ‘Nevezukha, ona i v Afgane—nevezukha’ (http://artofwar.ru/s/smolina_a/).

45 Gai and Snegirev, Vtorzhenie, pp. 351–5.

46 Ibid., pp. 335–61.

47 Ibid., p. 320.

48 Belofastov and Rebrik (eds.), Mushavery, p. 59.

49 Alexander Yuriev, diary entry for 15–16 June 1985, ibid., p. 198.

50 Alexander Yuriev, diary entry for 10–12 August 1985, ibid., p. 203.

51 Ibid., p. 47.

52 Ibid., p. 19.

53 Ibid., p. 16.

54 Ibid., pp. 17 and 111 et seq.

55 Nikolai Komissarov, interview, Moscow, 26 July 2007.

56 Belofastov and Rebrik (eds.), Mushavery, p. 48.

57 Vyacheslav Nekrasov, interviews, Moscow, 2007–10.

58 Belofastov and Rebrik (eds.), Mushavery, pp. 130–34.

8: Soldiering

1 The best literary description of ‘soldiering’ comes in Frederic Manning’s The Middle Parts of Fortune (London, 2000), about the fighting on the Somme in 1916.

2 M. Galeotti, Afghanistan: The Soviet Union’s Last War (London, 1995), pp. 32– 7.

3 Alexander Gergel, email to author, 28 July 2008.

4 A point made to me by Artemy Kalinovsky.

5 M. Reshetnikov, ‘Psikhofiziologicheskie osnovy prognozirovania effektivnosti boevoi deatelnosti i boevoi adaptatsii voennosluzhashchikh’: article kindly provided by Dr Reshetnikov.

6 Galeotti, Afghanistan, p. 30.

7 S. Aleksievich, Zinky Boys (New York, 1992), p. 27. There were similar stories at the beginning of the war in Chechnya.

8 V. Tamarov, Afghanistan: A Russian Soldier’s Story (Berkeley, CA, 2001), p. 138.

9 Andrei Ponomarev, interview, Moscow, 1 March 2010.

10 Vitali Krivenko gives a semi-fictionalised account of his time in Afghanistan in the first part of Ekipazh mashiny boevoi (‘The Crew of a Fighting Vehicle’) (St Petersburg, 2004), pp. 36–336. The second part of the book (Kak pozhivaesh, shuravi?, pp. 336–80) is a memoir, from which these details of Krivenko’s career are drawn. On bullying, see p. 346.

11 A. Chernyaev, Sovmestny iskhod: Dnevnik dvukh epokh 1972–1991 gody (Moscow, 2008), diary entry for 27 August 1985, p. 643.

12 Sergei Morozov, interview, Moscow, 31 May 2007.

13 Krivenko, Ekipazh mashiny boevoi, p. 45; S. Nikiforov, Bez vsyakikh pravil (St Petersburg, 2008), p. 113.

14 A. Lyakhovski, Tragedia i doblest Afgana (Moscow, 1995) (http://www.rsva.ru/biblio/pros e_af/afgan_tragedy_and_glory/index.shtml).

15 The problem of dedovshchina and the need for professional NCOs are widely discussed. See, for example, S. Belanovski and S. Marzeeva, Dedovshchina v sovietskoi armii (Moscow, 1991) (www.sbelan.ru/content/   -  -   -   ); M. Radov, ‘Dedovshchina—istoki i prichiny’ (http://slovo.odessa.ua/366/5_4.html); I. Rodionov i, ‘Perestroiku armii nuzhno nachinat s serzhantov’ (http://tr.rkrp- rpk.ru/get.php?42); Alexander Gergel, email to author, 24 June 2009.

16 Andrei Ponomarev, interview, Moscow, 1 March 2010.

17 The inadequacies are graphically spelled out by D. Gai and V. Snegirev, Vtorzhenie (Moscow, 1991), pp. 258–92.

18 S. Nikiforov, Bez vsyakikh pravil, p. 100.

19 G. Krivosheev, Rossia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil (Moscow, 2001), p. 538.

20 A. Dyshev, PPZh: Pokhodno-Polevaya Zhena (Moscow, 2007), pp. 38–9.

21 B. Gromov, Ogranichenny kontingent (Moscow, 1994) (http://www.rsva.ru/biblio/prose_af/li mited_contingent/index.shtml).

22 Gai and Snegirev, Vtorzhenie, p. 273.

23 A. Smolina, ‘Kholera v Dzelalabade’ (http://artofwar.ru/s/smolina_a/text_0070.shtml).

24 A. Smolina, ‘Larisa-parikmakhersha’ (http://artofwar.ru/s/smolina_a/text_0160.shtml).

25 Galeotti, Afghanistan, pp. 67–8.

26 Major Vyacheslav Izmailov, interview, Moscow, 29 July 2009.

27 Gromov, Ogranichenny kontingent, Part III: ‘Pervaya Komandirovka, Tashkent–Kabul’.

28 ‘Istoria 3-ego bataliona’ (serg2331.narod.ru).

29 A. Pochtarev, ‘An Afghan Diary’, Novaya gazeta (Moscow), 4 March 2005; Alexander Gergel, interview, Moscow, 16 February 2009.

30 The establishment of a motor-rifle regiment in Afghanistan was 181 officers, 124 praporshchiki, 363 sergeants, 1,530 riflemen, 132 BMPs, forty tanks, eighteen 2SIs, and 264 vehicles: A. Vasiliev, ‘O 149 Polku’ (about the 149th Regiment) (http://artofwar.ru/w/wasilxew_a_i/text_0010.shtml< /a>); G. Bobrov, Soldatskaya saga (Moscow, 2007), p. 11; Alexander Gergel, interview, Moscow, 1 March 2010. See also Annex 2, ‘Order of Battle of the 40th Army’, p. 342.

31 Bobrov, Soldatskaya saga, pp. 51–2 and 81.

32 Alexander Gergel, interview, Moscow, 1 March 2010; S. Demyashov, interview (http:// www.peresvet-lavra.ru/index.php? typereview&area2&particles&id104&PHPSESSIDcea44aa4bcbb077087dec923e7ece70); Bobrov, Soldatskaya saga, p. 170.

33 Andrei Ponomarev, interview, Moscow, 1 March 2010.

34 Alexander Gergel, interview, Moscow, 28 July 2009.

35 This description of the base at Bakharak is taken from interviews with Alexander Gergel and from his story Pismo schastlivomu soldatu (‘Letter to a Lucky Soldier’) (http://artofwar.ru/g/gergelx_a_n/text_0030.shtml).

36 Colonel Ruslan Kyryliuk, conversation, London, 15 July 2010.