The armed performance of Soviet prisoners of war in Badaber fortress, which occurred at the very end of April 1985, is one of the most mysterious events of the war in Afghanistan. No one knows the details of this battle. But the uprising itself, apparently, has already become the main legend of the entire Afghan company. The history of the uprising of Soviet soldiers in Badaber will be told further.
Background
Before talking about the uprising of Soviet prisoners in Badaber, it is worth knowing the background of these events. The Afghan war lasted exactly a decade. In fact, it was a classic confrontation between superpowers, and on the territory of a third state. The clashes took place between the units of the Afghan Mujahideen, which enjoyed the support of the Islamic world and NATO states, on the one hand, and the Afghan government and the Soviet contingent on the other.
By 1985, Pakistan became the main base of the Mujahideen. It was on its territory that militant training camps were located. In addition, here they recovered from injuries. Also here came the supply of the latest weapons systems. This weapon was equipped with US money. And it was the United States military advisers who taught him to use it.
Such a camp was also in the Pakistani village of Badaber, which is 24 km from the border of Afghanistan. Around - eight-meter walls. In the corners are towers. Inside the perimeter there are barracks and duval fences. Nearby was a mosque. This fortress was a real center for training militants. It belonged to a party called the Islamic Society of Afghanistan. The leader was the well-known theologian Burhanuddin Rabbani.
In the camp, the militants studied military affairs. They learned to shoot and competently handle MANPADS and a walkie-talkie. They gained sapper skills and prepared for a large-scale guerrilla war.
A large arsenal was based on the camp. A prison was located nearby. It contained prisoners - Soviet military personnel and soldiers of the Afghan government.
True, the Pakistani authorities categorically denied this fact. But military intelligence of the Soviet Union was already informed that the missing servicemen are located in this state.
Camp
The first prisoners of war appeared on the territory of this camp at the end of 1984. They were kept in zindans - underground prisons. In April 1985, the number of prisoners in Badaber was approximately 55 people. A third of them are Soviet soldiers. True, this information should not be considered final. The fact is that the names of more than 20 Soviet prisoners of war who passed through the camp are known. But there is no reliable data that they were all in this fortress in the spring of 1985.
Mujahideen constantly persuaded soldiers to convert to Islam. The militants promised them a relaxation in content if they accept this religion. Sometimes the American military also came. They conducted painstaking indoctrination and offered the prisoners an official exit to the West. To do this, it was necessary to expose the actions of the Soviet army in Afghanistan. Incidentally, it was this opportunity that several dozens of POWs were able to take.
In principle, this was quite understandable, since the Soviet soldiers were in terrible conditions. They were used as laborers. Repeatedly they lived in ordinary sheds, and livestock was kept nearby. The guards often beat the prisoners with whips. For misconduct, they could put them in pads and send them to repair the wall in unbearable heat. For weeks, they trimmed a portion of water and fed exclusively dried meat. At the same time they did not give the opportunity to sleep. Due to such inhuman conditions and torture, one of the prisoners of war went completely crazy.
Instigators
Thus, by 1985, most Soviet prisoners who were in the Badaber fortress were already well fed with "Pakistani hospitality." Of course, among the prisoners appeared those people who were able to unite the others around them.
The initiators of the uprising in Badaber (Pakistan) in April 1985 were two Soviet prisoners of war. One of them was an overdue. He served as a minder in a warehouse. He disappeared in 1985 in Parvan. Another was a civilian driver. His name was Nikolai Shevchenko. He went missing in the early fall of 1982 in Herat.
As for Shevchenko, there is a version that he only pretended to be a driver. Since his actions, decisiveness and clear organization of the uprising make him think that he really could be an intelligence officer.
The idea
What exactly was the plan of the uprising in Badaber Fortress is not entirely clear to the end. It is known that the rebels intended to seize an arms and ammunition depot. In addition, they planned to get on the air. If this had happened, they would have threatened to blow up the militants to let the Soviet consul, as well as representatives of the Red Cross, into the fortress.
There is another version of why there was an uprising of Soviet prisoners of war (Badaber camp). Mujahideen were aware that captured soldiers were preparing an uprising. Therefore, the rebels did not fully use the effect of surprise. For not all Soviet prisoners who were in the camp participated in the search for truth in the uprising in Badaber. Among those who did not take part in the armed uprising, there was also a provocateur.
According to some sources, the rape of one of the soldiers by militants was a direct cause of the uprising of prisoners of war in Badaber. After this glaring fact, the prisoners of war finally decided that it was now worth acting.
Unequal battle
On April 26, 1985, prisoner of war prisoners snapped. The uprising began in Badaber camp. In the evening, when the time of prayer came, Soviet soldiers killed one of the guards who was distributing food. In addition, several more people remained at the post. The rebels stabbed them with sharpened rebar. Thus, the Soviet fighters turned out to be the most important thing - the keys to the warehouse and, accordingly, the weapons. They now had an anti-aircraft gun, a DShK machine gun, an RPG grenade launcher and a mortar. The rebels began to occupy key points of the Badaber fortress. We are talking about the corner towers of the outpost and the building of the ammunition depot.
Just note: in the uprising in Badaber in 1985, about fifteen Soviet prisoners took part. Moreover, all the prisoners were kept under nicknames, so subsequently it was extremely difficult to identify them.
Unfortunately, when Soviet soldiers seized the arsenal, one of the Tajik captives informed the Mujahideen about the plan of the rebels. This happened just a few minutes before the attack on the radio communications site. That is why the warders were already ready for the breakthrough of Soviet soldiers.
Alas, not only all the militants were raised by alarm. At 23 hours Rabbani ordered to block all exits from the territory of the fortress. The camp was surrounded by a triple ring. Several hundred Dushmans and Pakistani troops arrived. They brought not only armored vehicles, but also artillery. In addition, combat helicopters set out for the besieged fortress.
The party leader Rabbani himself arrived at Badaber. He had no choice but to start negotiating with the rebels. At the same time, he personally knew some of the prisoners. Therefore, taking a megaphone, he began to address them by name.
Rabbani demanded surrender. The rebels went into negotiations. Their main condition is a meeting with employees of the embassy of the Soviet Union in Pakistan and the immediate arrival of representatives of the Red Cross in the camp. Otherwise, the rebels intended to explode the arsenal.
Rabbani considered these conditions absolutely unacceptable. He ordered the storming of the fortress. And a fierce battle began, which lasted almost all night. During the battle, Rabbani nearly died. A rocket launcher exploded near him.
At six in the morning, artillery began to work in the direct fire camp. By and large, the final uprising of Soviet prisoners of war in Badaber was already clear. Aviation continued to barrage over the fortress, and witnesses spoke of negotiations about new attacks.
The outcome of the Badaber uprising
On April 27, at about eight in the morning, the denouement of events came. A warehouse with weapons and ammunition flew into the air. They say the explosion was just a tremendous power. A huge funnel appeared at the epicenter. In fact, this explosion destroyed the entire training center of the Mujahideen.
Military experts are still arguing about what really happened. Many believe that the arsenal exploded because a shell hit it. Others are convinced that the warehouse was shot by cannons of the army of Pakistan. Accordingly, these volleys caused the detonation of ammunition. Still others believe that the rebels themselves realized that their battle was ending. Therefore, they decided to blow up the arsenal. Of course, the rebels did not intend to surrender.
After the explosion, the Pakistanis were able to enter the fortress. They saw three charred and shell-shocked rebels. They were immediately thrown with grenades. After that, the militants had to collect fragments of human bodies within a radius of hundreds of meters from the epicenter itself.
As a result of the assault, according to some sources, more than a hundred Afghan mujahideen and several dozen soldiers of the regular troops of Pakistan were destroyed by militants. Among the dead were foreign experts. According to sources, six United States advisers were killed in the battle. But, according to Rabbani, only twenty militants died. By the way, the office of the prison was destroyed, and with it, accordingly, all the lists of prisoners of war.
First reaction
The riot of prisoners in the Badaber camp made a shocking impression. The president of Pakistan was angry. The head of state was seriously afraid that the leadership of the Soviet Union would convict the Pakistani authorities that it was here that Soviet prisoners of war were located. Although official Islamabad has long pursued a policy of total denial. Nevertheless, the top of Pakistan was ready for the fact that after the events in Badaber, the Soviet authorities will use force. That is why for a long time the country's leadership tried to hide it. Thus, the entire issue of the Peshawar publication, entitled “Sapphire”, which told readers about the rebellion in the fortress, was confiscated at first, and then completely destroyed. However, Pakistan's other left-wing newspaper, Muslim, managed to post a message about the riot of prisoners of war. This information was picked up by all agencies of the West. Naturally, Voice of America also informed its listeners about this.
Well, on May 9 of the same year, one of the representatives of the Red Cross arrived at the Soviet embassy in the capital of Pakistan, who confirmed the fact of the uprising in the fortress.
A few days later, the Soviet ambassador in Islamabad declared a decisive protest to the Pakistani leader, which was associated with the reprisal of soldiers of the Soviet Union in Pakistan. Alas, besides these classified statements by diplomats, information generally did not spread to the USSR. True, in the middle of May a message was passed unnoticed about a certain death of the military personnel of the Soviet Union on Pakistani territory. This message absolutely did not contain details of the tragic events.
Thus, for several years in the Soviet Union no one knew anything about the Badaber uprising. Although the rumor about some kind of armed action by prisoners of war in army circles has been going on since May 1985. But over time, and she subsided.
After years
Thus, the fact of the revolt of Soviet prisoners of war was hiding in Pakistan and in the Soviet Union. This situation lasted several years. But when the Soviet empire collapsed, information about the uprising began to leak out. Although in the late 80s, the publication "Red Star" for the first time told about these events. True, there were no names in the article.
Then official Islamabad touched on this topic. So, in December 1991, Pakistan recognized the fact of the death of Soviet soldiers in the Badaber camp. However, before that, the story of the uprising at the end of April 1985 was confirmed by Rabbani himself.
And in early 1992, the leadership of Pakistan passed the names of six participants in the Badaber riot.
After that, a number of organizations repeatedly turned to the Russian leadership with the goal of perpetuating the memory of the military. In addition, it was assumed that they would be presented for state awards. But, unfortunately, these initiatives did not find the proper response.
In 2002, Russian diplomats found a list of names of Soviet prisoners of war. After some time, he ended up in the Committee on the Affairs of Warriors-Internationalists. Representatives of the organization twice applied for awarding soldiers - participants in the uprising in the Badaber fortress. But official Moscow refused, since there was no documentary evidence of the armed uprising of soldiers in Pakistan.
Nevertheless, in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, several participants in the uprising were awarded the corresponding orders.
Memory of the rebellion
The heroic episode of the war in Afghanistan - a riot in Badaber - formed the basis of an art film called "Peshawar Waltz". The film was released in 1993. Veterans - "Afghans" believe that this tape is one of the most piercing and truthful.
In addition, the well-known musical group Blue Berets dedicated the composition to these tragic events. Also, Alexander Rosenbaum also touched on this topic in his song “We Will Return”.
In the spring of 2013, Petersburg authors A. Konstantinov and B. Podoprigora published a novel called “If anyone hears me. The legend of the Badaber fortress. " The book describes the uprising in the Badaber camp. They say this work will be filmed.
Instead of a conclusion
To date, the list of participants in the armed uprising in Badaber (photos you can see in the article) is still incomplete and inaccurate. The fact is that the names of those who were in the Badaber fortress at different time periods are already known. But it is not known whether they participated in this uprising. Unfortunately, there are no living participants in those events. And to identify the remains is not possible. And you won’t even ask Rabbani himself. He was killed in an explosion. He was blown up by a suicide bomber. This happened in Kabul in the fall of 2011. Rabbani was then in his own house ...