'In recognition of his heroism and leadership during the capture of the airfield at Kerman, Junior Lieutenant Nikolai Ilvanich is being awarded the Order of the Red Star. Through his efforts and example, his men were able to seize the initiative, overcome numerically superior enemy forces and allow the regiment time to reinforce and capitalize on the success achieved by 3rd Company. Lieutenant Ilvanich's leadership and courage are of the highest order and deserving of the appreciation of the Soviet people and the Soviet Union.'
Ilvanich was dumbfounded as the division commander pinned the medal on his tunic and congratulated him. Even more surprising was the division commander's announcement that it was high time Ilvanich was given the rank he deserved. On cue, the regimental adjutant handed two lieutenant's epaulets to the division commander, who in turn handed one to the regimental commander. The two commanders removed Ilvanich's junior lieutenant's epaulets and replaced them with the others. In the excitement of the moment, Ilvanich did not notice that there were bloodstains from the former owner on the 'new' lieutenant epaulets. He was overwhelmed. Someone shoved a glass of vodka into his hand while the staff officers congratulated him and patted him on the back. The division commander, raising his glass high, offered a toast to the young hero.
For the moment, all was smiles. The 285th Airborne Regiment had again succeeded, by the narrowest of margins. It was time for a brief break from the stress of battle, the arduous task of burying its dead and preparing for the next battle. It was time for the victor to decorate its heroes and count its losses. A new battle streamer would be added to the regimental colors. New names would be inscribed in the regiment's roll of honor. The ofcers in the room were all smiles and good cheer. All except one man. As they drank up, Ilvanich saw his company commander across the room. He did not drink the toast. Lvov merely stood there, glaring at him. Waiting.
The day had been long and difficult for the men of the 1st Platoon.
They had been on alert all day, waiting for an attack that never came.
Reports of Soviet activity just to the north of them and attacks at other points of the division's perimeter put the men on edge. Rumors that the airfield at Kerman had been overrun added to their nervousness.
Sergeant First Class Duncan's platoon leader had moved up and down the platoon line almost constantly all morning, checking the men, their positions and their equipment. It wasn't until noon that Duncan was finally able to convince him that all was in order and that the best thing he could do for the platoon was to settle down and wait, like everyone else.
Duncan was almost sorry that he had succeeded in settling the lieutenant down, because the lieutenant decided to stay with him in his foxhole. Every few minutes the lieutenant would ask a question about a noise or movement to their front, make a line check on the telephone that ran to the squad leaders, or check the action on his M-16 to ensure that it was functioning.
That had gone on all afternoon. Duncan could understand the lieutenant's nervousness. He was nervous himself. Still, Duncan wished his platoon leader would go away and bug someone else for a while.
In little clusters the men of the 381st Motorized Rifle Regiment waited for the attack to commence. All day they had waited, sitting in the open without cover or relief from the sun that beat upon them and their armored vehicles. Their first orders had been to attack immediately once they had made contact with the Americans. That had been changed, however, when a patrol accidentally alerted the Americans to their presence. With the element of surprise gone, the decision was made to conduct a deliberate attack rather than hit the Americans from the march.
Preparation for battle began shortly after dawn. Information concerning the location of American positions gained by the regimental recon unit as well as air recon was received at the regiment's headquarters. There it was carefully reviewed by the first officer, responsible for operations, the second officer, responsible for intelligence, and the artillery officer.
Based on that information, the three officers developed a plan of attack, a schedule of artillery fires and orders. The plan of attack incorporated the concepts of maneuver and shock. The motorized rifle battalions, reinforced by companies from the regimental tank battalion, provided the maneuver, while massed artillery would provide the shock.
Orders were issued to the attacking battalions and the follow-on units.
Details outlining the routes they would take from their assembly areas to the line of departure, their axis of advance, lines of deployment, intermediate and final objectives for the first attack echelon and follow-on echelons of the regiment were all addressed. They could have attacked sooner in the day, but it had been decided to hit just before dark. In that way, the first echelon battalions would be able to make the breakthrough during the daylight, while the exploitation force would be able to move forward and drive deep under the cover of darkness.
The artillery battalions supporting the regiment received their orders in the form of a schedule of fires, a detailed listing telling each battery of guns what targets it would fire on and when. Based on this schedule, the regimental and division artillery were brought forward and em placed along with ammunition required to fire the preparatory bombardment and other missions listed in the schedule of fires.
Carefully worked-out formulas specified how many rounds were required by each caliber of weapon to achieve the target effect desired. For this attack, besides the regiment's own 122mm. self-propelled artillery battalion and the heavy mortars of the battalions, two additional 122mm. artillery battalions, a 152mm. artillery battalion and a battalion of BM-21 multiple-rocket launchers were allocated for support. These units would be grouped together under the command of the regimental artillery officer into a regimental artillery group.
A twenty-minute preparatory bombardment would commence at 1940 hours.
American command posts, artillery units and key positions would be hit.
The preparatory bombardment would also cover the noise of the maneuver battalions as they deployed. In accordance with the schedule of fires, the artillery would shift their fires to selected targets at 2000 hours. Some of the batteries would concentrate on the Americans' forward positions to pin or destroy the defend drs Some batteries would fire smoke rounds to cover the attacking force. Other batteries would hit targets deep in the Americans' rear. The multiple-rocket launchers were to be held back for the purposes of counter battery fire and attacking command posts identified through radio direction-finding. As soon as the American artillery began to return fires, Soviet counter battery radar units would be able to locate where the American rounds originated and feed that data to the multiple-rocket-launcher batteries.
In the shadows of the setting sun, the 2nd Company, 1st Battalion, 381st Motorized Rifle Regiment, waited to move forward. Captain Neboatov had received his orders early in the afternoon. Along with the battalion commander and the other company commanders, they had gone as far forward as was prudent.
For Neboatov, the plan of attack was simple. It was, in fact, nothing more than the battle drill that they had been trained in and had used so effectively to date in Iran. The battalion would leave the assembly area in a column of companies. At a predesignated point, the battalion would split up and move, with each company on its own route. At a second point, the companies in turn would split off into platoon columns. Finally, at the line of deployment, the two lead companies would deploy into a line with the tanks in the lead, followed by BMPs of the rifle companies. Neboatov's company was the second echelon for the battalion, which meant he would follow the battalion command group and be prepared to replace one of the two lead companies or punch through, if one of them succeeded, to the battalion's final objective of the day.
While the battalion was moving forward and the artillery bombardment was going in, Neboatov's company would unfold from the march column into the line of attack. Neboatov had no doubt that his men would be able to execute their maneuvers without a hitch. This would be the third breakthrough attack that the battalion had conducted since the war with Iran had begun.
What concerned Neboatov was the unknown quality of the American fighting man.
Since his days as a cadet he had studied American tactics, society, culture, politics and history. While the books provided clear, concise answers as to American tactics and equipment, some of the more informed instructors always cautioned that the Americans were a strange race of people who did not follow norms. Nor were they a predictable breed.
Their history and politics were filled with contradictions and strange actions and reactions to world events. In one instance, they allowed the Iranians to hold their embassy for 444 days without doing anything.
Within a few years, they turned around and launched an invasion of a tiny island country simply because the government had changed. One passage that Neboatov had read summed up the problem by stating: 'One of the serious problems in planning against American doctrine is that the Americans do not read their manuals nor do they
