Battle for Hill 3234

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Date	January 7, 1988 - January 8, 1988
Location	Khost Province, Afghanistan
Result	Soviet victory

Combatants

9th Company, 345th Guards Airborne Regiment (VDV)

Black Storks

Commanders

Senior Lieutenant
Sergey Borisovich Tkachev

Jalaluddin Haqqani

Strength

250-500

Casualties

9 killed, 28 wounded

90 killed

Soviet war in Afghanistan
Storm-333 – Khost – Panjsher I-IX – Maravar – Zhawar – Magistral – Hill 3234 –

1 Background
2 The Battle
3 Casualties
4 Movies

[edit] Background

In November 1987 the Soviet 40th Army under General Boris Gromov began Operation Magistral to open the road from Gardez to Khost near the Pakistani border. Khost had been cut off for months by Mujahideen led by Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani and had to be resupplied by air.

[edit] The Battle

To cover the Soviet armored columns reopening the road, Soviet paratroop units leapfrogged ahead seizing strategic heights and ridges. In one of these operations on January 7th, 1988, the 9th Company of the 345th Regiment landed on a hill known only as “3234” due to its height in meters. Shortly after landing on Hill 3234, the 39-man unit came under attack by a coordinated and well-armed force of 250-500 mujahideen.

The first attack came at 1530 on January 7th and was followed by 11 more attacks until just before dawn on January 8th when the mujahideen withdrew leaving Hill 3234 in the hands of the Soviet paratroopers. The battle was brutal and included hand to hand combat. Ironically, the exhausted soviets were nearly out of ammunition after the final attack and may not have been able to withstand a 13th assault.

[edit] Casualties

The Soviet forces sustained 37 casualties (out of a force of 39 men), including 9 men killed and 28 injured. Two of the killed soldiers were posthumously awarded the golden star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. All of the paratroopers after this battle were given the Order of the Red Banners and Red Star. The 345th Regiment left Afghanistan with the rest of the Soviet Army in 1989.

The mujahideen lost approximately 90 men. It was claimed by several Soviet sources that the Mujahideen were actually members of the Black Storks, professional Pakistani army Special Forces but this has not been proven.