Bear Went over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan [Paperback]

Lester W. Grau (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0788146653 | ISBN-13: 978-0788146657 | Edition: 2nd printing

To capture the lessons their tactical leaders learned in Afghanistan & to explain the change in tactics that followed, the Frunze Military Academy in Russia compiled this book for their command & general staff combat arms officers. The lessons are valuable not just for Russian officers, but for the tactical training of platoon, company & battalion leaders of any nation likely to engage in conflicts involving civil war, guerrilla forces & rough terrain. This is a book dealing with the starkest features of the unforgiving landscape of tactical combat: casualties & death, adaptation, & survival. Provides an intimate look at the boring but brutal business of counterinsurgency. Maps.

Product Details

• Paperback: 223 pages
• Publisher: Diane Pub Co; 2nd printing edition (March 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0788146653
• ISBN-13: 978-0788146657
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #499,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The foremost discussion of Soviet tactics in Afghanistan September 25, 2008

By E. M. Van Court TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

"The Bear Went Over the Mountain" is a compilation of after action reports on tactical operations in Afghanistan in the 1980s, from the Soviet perspective. The descriptions of the action and Soviet after action observations are translated from Frunze Academy (Soviet War College) documents, and accompanied by commentary from the single most knowledgable American on the Soviet army, a man who spoke with leaders from both Russian and Afghan forces from some of these engagements.

No research of the Soviet-Afghan war is complete without careful consideration of the material here. As important as the documentation of the events of the war are the insights into the Soviet perceptions of the operations and the war, and the lessons that they drew from their experience.

This isn't really a book to sit down and read cover to cover, but rather to take a battle at a time and reflect on it before moving on to the next.

Brilliant work from a great man!

E. M. Van Court

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Soviet tactics in Afghanistan December 5, 2012

By Rick Cook

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is an expanded and redacted series of articles on small unit actions in Afghanistan which originally appeared in a Soviet military publication. Each chapter describes an action from the Soviet point of view, followed by the author's critique at the end. The result is invaluable to anyone who is interested in war in Afghanistan or how the Soviet Army fought.

The basic answer is that the Soviet Army didn't fight very well. The vignettes graphically reveal the weaknesses in their army, all the way from systematic flaws, to over concentration on mass armor battles on the plains of Europe, to a general ineptness at all levels, especially company and below.

As the book makes clear in the Soviets' own words, they just weren't very good at the sort of mountain guerrilla war they faced in Afghanistan. By contrast, the Coalition forces there now, for all their problems and failures, come off looking like military geniuses.

Again, and again, the Soviets repeated the same tactics and made the same mistakes. If they went in large enough force and were willing to take the casualties they could go anywhere in the country, but their day to day performance was generally sub-optimal.

There are a lot of lessons here as well as a view of a mostly vanished military system being tried beyond its abilities.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Russian Tactics in Afghanistan February 6, 2010

By Richard M. Cavagnol

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The book provides a series of first-person accounts of the tactics used by Russian forces from 1980 to 1988. I found the school solution interesting as well as the accounts of how the Russian troops responded to the Afghan insurgents. Having served with the first Combined Action Companies (CAP) in Vietnam and as an advisor with the Vietnamese Marines as well as more recently in Iraq, South Sudan and Afghanistan, I found the accounts provided interesting lessons learned that focused on the tactical training of junior leaders and the preparation of troops to fight counterinsurgency warfare. It seems that we quickly forget COIN lessons and have to relearn them again and again. As with our current situation in Afghanistan, although we have been here for almost 9 years, we do not have 9 years of experience - we have one year of experience 9 times. I suggest "The Other Side of the Mountain", a collection of Afghan tactics employed against the Russians.