Why Afghanistan is called Soviet Vietnam. Afghanistan @ InoTV: Many would like to forget about the war, which is called 'Soviet Vietnam'

In the Western, and later in the domestic press, with the light hand of journalists, this war was often called "Soviet Vietnam." No one doubted that the "Russians" on their combat helicopters could reach even the most remote regions of this country isolated from the whole world. But even the most objective forecasts boiled down to one thing: if the Soviet troops want to get beneficial long-term consequences for themselves, they need to "go down to earth." Otherwise, they will never cope with the armed rebels in their rear. The Mujahideen were not united in their struggle. But, paradoxical as it may seem, the experience of not only the Soviet-Afghan war shows that strength is not always in unity. One tribe or aul could, seeing a benefit for itself, or under the pressure of force, conclude an alliance with the conquerors, but others continued the struggle, since in this country for many centuries everyone ensured their own survival.

In backward Afghanistan there were few industrial centers, in the cities industrial production was poorly developed, there was no strong working class and, consequently, no workers' organization, on which, according to tradition, the Marxist party could rely. While pursuing a sometimes rather well-thought-out colonial policy, the Soviet occupiers and their Afghan allies endowed many local princelings with additional power, which further intensified the pulverization of society begun by Amin and Taraki, and created a dangerous basis for maintaining fragmentation and internecine war in Afghanistan for many years to come. From the first days of the war, even optimists believed that the reintegration of the country would require a change of at least one generation and much more, provided that the Russians, despite the opposition of the world community, would not abandon their experiment in the near future - and this the prophecy is coming true.

For these reasons, outside the countries of the socialist community, almost no one doubted that the communist regime in Afghanistan was not capable of independent existence, and after the withdrawal of Soviet army units from there, nothing would remain of it but hatred for the Russians, while the country would fall into a long period of chaos and civil war. Even the top Soviet leadership and top generals largely shared this opinion prevailing in the West, and that is why they continued to insist on further military intervention. The Soviet leaders simply had no other choice - after all, they could not allow the fall of the Marxist government.

However, the Afghan rebels, having only a limited arsenal of weapons, which they got mainly from the disintegrating Afghan army (by the end of 1980, it accounted for 30% of its already reduced strength), as well as not very significant military assistance from outside (mainly missiles from the ground -air), offered desperate resistance to the aggressor. Despite the fact that the Soviet military presence in Afghanistan was provided with huge technical and human reserves, even according to the most optimistic estimates, pacification would have to take many years. Many remembered very well how Russia in late XIX century had to spend as much as 25 years to conquer a much smaller country in the Caucasus - Dagestan.

The Vietnam War or the Vietnam War is the largest military conflict of the second half of the twentieth century, between North and South Vietnam, in which the USSR, the USA, the PRC and a number of other states also participated. The Vietnam War began in 1957 and ended only in 1975.

Causes and background of the Vietnam War

After World War II, in 1954, Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel. North Vietnam was under the control of the Viet Minh South Vietnam controlled by the French administration.
After the communists won in China, the US began to interfere in the affairs of Vietnam, helping the southern part. The United States regarded the PRC as a threat and, in their opinion, it will soon cast its eyes on Vietnam, and this cannot be allowed.
In 1956, Vietnam was supposed to unite into one state. But South Vietnam refused to fall under the control of the communists and abandoned the treaty, declaring itself a republic.

The beginning of the war

North Vietnam saw no other way to unify the state other than the conquest of South Vietnam. The Vietnam War began with systematic terror against South Vietnamese officials. In 1960, the Viet Cong or NLF organization was created, which included all the factions fighting against South Vietnam.
The success of the Viet Cong worried the United States, and they transferred the first regular units of their army in 1961. But while the US Army is not yet involved in combat clashes. The American military and officers only train the South Vietnamese army and help plan attacks.
The first major collision occurred in 1963. Then the partisans of North Vietnam defeated the South Vietnamese army at the Battle of Apbak. This defeat undermined the position of Diem - the ruler of South Vietnam, which soon led to a coup, and Diem was killed. And North Vietnam, meanwhile, strengthened its positions, and also transferred its partisan detachments to the territory of South Vietnam, by 1964 their number was at least 8 thousand fighters.
The number of American soldiers grew rapidly, if in 1959 their number was no more than 800 fighters, then in 1964 their number increased to 25 thousand.

Full-scale intervention of the American army

In February 1965, Vietnamese guerrillas attacked military installations. american army. US President Lyndon Johnson announced that the US would soon be ready to strike back at North Vietnam. American aviation begins the bombing of the territory of Vietnam - Operation "Flaming Spear".
In March 1965, the bombardment began again - Operation Thunder. This bombing was the largest since World War II. The number of American soldiers from 1964 to 1965 increased from 24,000 to 180,000. In the next three years, the number of American soldiers increases to about 500,000.
For the first time the American army entered the battle in August 1965. The operation was called "Starlight", where the American army won, destroying about 600 Viet Cong fighters.
The US military began to resort to a "search and destroy" strategy. Its goal is to detect North Vietnamese partisan detachments and their subsequent destruction.
The North Vietnamese army and guerrillas began to penetrate the territory of South Vietnam, and the American army tried to stop them in the mountainous regions. In 1967, the guerrillas became especially active in the mountainous regions, the US Marine Corps was forced to join the battle. At the Battle of Dakto, the United States managed to hold the enemy, but the Marines also suffered heavy losses.

North Vietnamese Tet offensive

Until 1967, the US military had significant success in the war against North Vietnam. And then the government of North Vietnam begins to develop a plan for a full-scale invasion of South Vietnam in order to turn the tide of the war. The United States knew that North Vietnam was preparing for an offensive, but they were not even aware of its scale.
The offensive begins with an unexpected date - with the Vietnamese new year, Tet day. These days there should be no hostilities, but in 1968 this treaty was violated.
On January 30-31, the North Vietnamese army inflicts massive strikes on the entire territory of South Vietnam, including big cities. In most directions, the offensive was successfully repulsed, but the city of Hue was still lost.
The offensive of the North Vietnamese army was stopped only in March. Then the American and South Vietnamese army launches a counterattack where they want to take back the city of Hue. The Battle of Hue is considered the bloodiest battle in the history of the Vietnam War. US and South Vietnamese army lost a large number of fighters, but the losses of the Viet Cong were catastrophic, its military potential was seriously undermined.
After the Tet Offensive, a note of protest swept through the US population, as many began to believe that the Vietnam War could not be won, the forces of North Vietnam were still not exhausted and losing american soldiers no longer makes sense. Everyone was concerned about the fact that North Vietnam was able to pull off a military operation of this magnitude.

Final stages of the Vietnam War

After Richard Nixon became president of the United States in 1968, he announced that the number of American soldiers in Vietnam would decrease. But aid to South Vietnam will not stop. Instead of using its own army, the US will intensively train the army of South Vietnam, as well as supply it with supplies and equipment.
In 1971, the South Vietnamese army undertakes the military operation "Lam Son 719", the purpose of which was to stop the supply of weapons to North Vietnam. The operation ended in failure. The US military already in 1971 stopped military operations with the search for Viet Cong guerrillas in South Vietnam.
In 1972, the Vietnamese army makes another attempt at a full-scale offensive. It was called the "Easter Offensive". The North Vietnamese army was reinforced with several hundred tanks. The army of South Vietnam managed to stop the offensive only thanks to American aircraft. Despite the fact that the offensive was stopped, South Vietnam lost significant territories.
At the end of 1972, the United States begins large-scale bombing of North Vietnam - the most in the history of the Vietnam War. Huge losses forced the North Vietnamese government to start negotiations with the United States.
In January 1973, a peace agreement was signed between North Vietnam and the United States, and the American military began to rapidly leave Vietnam. In May of that year, the entire American army returned to the United States.
Despite the fact that the United States withdrew its army, the position of North Vietnam was disastrous. The forces of South Vietnam numbered about 1 million soldiers, while its opponents had no more than 200-300 thousand fighters. However combat effectiveness the South Vietnamese army fell due to the absence of the American military, in addition, a deep economic crisis, and South Vietnam began to lose its territories in favor of North Vietnam.
North Vietnamese forces launched several strikes into South Vietnamese territory to test the US response. Seeing that the Americans will no longer take part in the war, the government plots another full-scale offensive against
South Vietnam.
In May, an offensive began, which a few months later ended in a complete victory for North Vietnam. The South Vietnamese army was unable to adequately respond to the offensive, and was completely defeated.

Aftermath of the Vietnam War

Both sides suffered colossal casualties. The United States lost almost 60,000 soldiers killed and the number of wounded reached 300,000. South Vietnam lost about 300,000 killed and about 1 million were wounded, and this is not counting the civilian population. The number of North Vietnamese killed reached 1 million, in addition, about 2 million died. civilians.
The Vietnamese economy has suffered such catastrophic losses that it is impossible to give an exact figure. Many towns and villages were simply razed to the ground.
North Vietnam completely conquered the South and united the whole country under a single communist flag.
The US population negatively assessed the military intervention in fighting in Vietnam. This sparked a movement of hippies who chanted that they didn't want this to happen again.

“The two largest and most protracted local conflicts of the 20th century”, “Afghanistan turned into Vietnam for Soviet Union”, “The USSR and the USA switched roles” - such statements have become canonical for modern historiography. From my point of view, it is unacceptable to draw a direct analogy between the events in Afghanistan (1979-1989) and the US aggression in Vietnam (1965-1973). The hellish disco in the jungle has nothing to do with the feat of the Soviet soldiers-internationalists.

In theory, everything seems to be true, the two wars have some similarities:
For example, in printed publications there are often phrases: "The US-Vietnam War" or "Soviet-Afghan War". The Soviet Union and the United States of America were not at war, respectively, with either Afghanistan or Vietnam. Both superpowers were embroiled in an internal armed conflict between opposing sides, although, initially, the armed forces of the USSR and the USA were planned to be used only to protect vital facilities and intimidate the opposition. In reality, it turned out to be almost impossible to rely on the government military: units of the US Army and Soviet army were forced to take over the conduct of full-scale hostilities. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the Soviet and American units were extremely limited in operational-tactical and strategic freedom of action by political circumstances. The conflicts were widely covered by the world media, any miscalculation or mistake instantly became known around the world (in this case, Vietnam became the "first television war" in general). The Afghan war, despite its excessive closeness to Soviet society, was widely known abroad, and its events were often covered in the most negative light for the USSR.

Highly important point- in Vietnam and Afghanistan, the armed forces of the USSR and the USA did not suffer a single military defeat. The ratio of the losses of the parties, both in Afghanistan and in Vietnam, was within 1:10, which, from a military point of view, indicates the complete defeat of enemy units during each operation. And if we take into account the losses among civilians (although in both cases it was impossible to determine who "civilians" is a partisan), then this ratio will become equal to 1:100 in favor of the regular army. The Americans thwarted all the offensives of the Viet Cong, and the Afghan spooks could not capture a single major locality until the Soviet units began to leave the territory of Afghanistan. According to General Gromov, "we did everything we wanted, and the spirits did only what they could."

"Iroquois" is thrown off the deck landing ship

What, then, was the reason for the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam and Afghanistan? Why did the USSR and the USA cease to support the allied regimes and announced a cessation of hostilities? In both cases, the truth is simple: the further conduct of hostilities was pointless. The army quite successfully cracked down on the armed opposition, but during this time a new generation of Afghans (Vietnamese) grew up, picked up Kalashnikovs, died under a hail of unguided missiles and aircraft guns, the next generation grew up, picked up Kalashnikovs, perished ... etc. etc. The war dragged on ad infinitum. The conflict could only be resolved by political means, but this proved impossible - the leadership of the USSR and the USA, disappointed in the allies, stopped all attempts to tilt the situation to their side.
This is how these events sound in theory. Two identical wars: "The USSR repeated the mistake of the United States." Looks like the truth, right? But if we leave the demagogy and turn only to tough statistics, exact figures and facts, then the two wars will appear in completely unexpected colors. They are so different from each other that it is categorically impossible to make any comparison between them.

The scale of the fighting

American "airmobile division". Its 438 helicopters could quickly redeploy 13,000 people. personnel

Just a few facts that put everything in its place:
At the end of 1965, the US military contingent in Vietnam was 185,000. Subsequently, it increased significantly, reaching an incredible figure of 540 thousand people by 1968. Half a million American soldiers! This is the real WAR.

Let's compare this with the number of personnel of the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan. Even in the midst of hostilities, the number of the Limited Contingent did not exceed 100 thousand soldiers and officers. The difference is, of course, impressive. But this is also a relative figure, because. the area of ​​Afghanistan is twice the area of ​​Vietnam (647,500 sq. km versus 331,200 sq. km), which indicates a lower intensity of hostilities. Unlike the American bloody battle, the Soviet Army needed 5 times less forces to control a territory that was twice as large!

By the way, there is also such a tricky moment: long before the official start of hostilities, there were great amount American military. Not "military specialists" or "instructors", but US Army soldiers. So, 2 years before the invasion, there were 11 thousand American troops in this country. By 1964, there were already 23 thousand of them - a whole army.

Further, there are dry statistics: the aviation of the 40th army completed about 300 thousand sorties during the 9 years of the Afghan war ... At the same time, the Americans, in order to achieve (more precisely, fail to achieve) their heinous goals, it took 36 million helicopter sorties. As for fixed-wing aviation (aircraft of all types), only carrier-based aviation, which was assigned a supporting role, made more than half a million sorties. It looks like the Yankees are seriously bogged down in the war.

Su-17 fighter-bombers of various modifications formed the basis of the strike aviation of the 40th Army. Su-17 is a single-engine aircraft with a variable geometry wing. The combat load is two 30 mm cannons and up to four tons of suspended weapons (in reality, in the rarefied mountain air, the Su-17 usually did not lift more than one and a half to two tons of bombs and NURS blocks). Reliable and cheap for regional wars. Great choice.

The hero of the "hot sky of Afghanistan" was the invulnerable Su-25 attack aircraft. "Grach" was originally created as an anti-tank aircraft, but in the absence of armored vehicles from the enemy, it turned into a real "vigilante" of dushmans and their meager property. The low flight speed contributed to greater accuracy of bombing strikes, and the Su-25 airborne weapons system made it possible to mix enemy bloody lumps with stone chips in any conditions.

I see you through the reticle
Through the haze from a volley of rockets
I see you still whole
Rifle, turban and beshmet

Due to the absence of an air enemy, the MiG-21 fighters, and later the MiG-23MLD, were involved in the bombing. Sometimes Su-24 tactical bombers appeared, and at the end of the war, new Su-27 attack aircraft lit up in Afghanistan. Frankly speaking, only front-line aviation, strikes were made on point targets. The occasional use of Tu-16 and Tu-22 heavy bombers was more of an embarrassment.

Compare that to the tens of thousands of B-52 Stratofortress sorties and carpet bombing of Vietnam. During the 7 years of the war, American aircraft dropped 6.7 million tons of bombs on Vietnam. (By the way, the well-known comparison with Germany is incorrect. According to statistics, during World War II, American pilots dropped 2.7 million tons of bombs on it. But! These are data for the period: summer 1943 - spring 1945. Unlike III Reich, Vietnam was bombed for 7 years.) And yet, 6.7 million tons of death is an excuse for the Hague Tribunal.

In addition to strategic bombers, the US Air Force actively used an exotic machine of total destruction - the AC-130 "Spectre" fire support aircraft. According to the concept of "flying artillery battery”, A 105 mm gun, a 40 mm automatic cannon and several six-barreled “Volcanoes” were installed across the side of the heavy transporter S-130 “Hercules”, the trajectories of their shells converged at a certain distance at one point. A huge, pot-bellied plane, resembling a cannon ship of the 18th century, flew in a circle over the target, and from its sides an avalanche of red-hot metal fell on the heads of the enemies. It seems that the creators of the Spektr revised Hollywood action movies, but the concept turned out to be successful, despite serious losses from ground fire, AC-130 fire support aircraft did a lot of bad things around the world.

The next sin of the American army: the open use of chemicals in the course of hostilities. US Air Force pilots generously sprayed Vietnam with Agent Orange, destroying the jungle with the reagent to deprive the Viet Cong guerrillas of the opportunity to hide in dense vegetation. Changing the terrain is, of course, an ancient tactic; in Russia, the phrase “change the terrain overnight” is generally an army joke. But not in the same barbaric way! "Agent Orange" is not a chemical warfare agent, but it is still a toxic muck that accumulates in the soil and can harm human health.
It is impossible to imagine anything like this during the Afghan war. Rumors about spraying smallpox and cholera bacteria over the positions of dushmans are just urban legends that do not have any evidence.

main criterion. Losses.

"Whites send blacks to kill yellows" - Stokely Carmichael's funny phrase became one of the slogans of pacifism. Although, this is not entirely true: official statistics say that 86% of those killed in Vietnam were whites, 12.5% ​​were blacks, and the remaining 1.5% were representatives of other races.
58 thousand dead Americans. Losses of personnel of the Limited contingent Soviet troops were 4 times less - 15 thousand soldiers and officers. This single fact casts doubt on the thesis “the USSR repeated the mistake of the USA”.

Next, dry statistics again:
The Air Force of the 40th Army lost in Afghan war 118 aircraft and 333 helicopters. Can you imagine three hundred helicopters lined up in one row? Incredible spectacle. And here is another anomalous figure: the US Air Force, US Navy and Corps marines lost in Southeast Asia 8612 aircraft and helicopters, of which 4125 - directly over the territory of Vietnam. Well, what else is there to talk about? Everything is so clear.

The high losses of US aviation are explained, first of all, by the large number involved in the war. aircraft and high flight intensity. In the late 1960s, US troops in Vietnam had more helicopters than the rest of the world combined. 36 million sorties. A case is known when a battery of 105 mm guns changed position with the help of helicopters 30 times in one day. It remains only to add that the Americans, in the conditions of a powerful enemy air defense system, managed to achieve a phenomenal result: one lost helicopter for 18,000 sorties. Let me remind you that most often we are talking about the UH-1 "Iroquois" - a multi-purpose "turntable" with one engine and without any constructive protection (pans under the ass of American pilots do not count).

Support

“On the day the Soviet Union officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter: “Now we have a chance to give the Soviet Union our Vietnam War” (famous communist Zbigniew Brzezinski).
With the support of the US leadership, the CIA launched a large-scale Operation Cyclone. In 1980, $ 20 million was allocated to support the Afghan Mujahideen. The amounts constantly grew, reaching $ 630 million by 1987. Weapons, equipment, instructors, financial support for recruiting new gang members. Afghanistan was surrounded by a ring of training camps for future "warriors of Allah", and a ship with weapons, ammunition and food for Afghan dushmans was unloaded weekly in the port of Karachi (the capital of Pakistan). Deserves a separate paragraph with the famous "Stinger".

So, about portable anti-aircraft missile systems. FIM-92 "Stinger" began to be supplied to spooks since 1985. There is an opinion that it was these "things" that forced the USSR to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Well, what can I argue here, here are the numbers:
1. With the help of MANPADS of all types, 72 aircraft and helicopters were shot down, i.e. only 16% of the losses of the Air Force of the 40th Army.
2. Paradoxically, with the advent of the Stinger MANPADS among the dushmans, the losses of aviation of the 40th Army steadily decreased. So, in 1986, 33 Mi-8 helicopters were lost; 1987 lost 24 Mi-8s; in 1988 - only 7 cars. The same for the IBA: in 1986, ten Su-17s were shot down; in 1987 - four "drying".
The paradox is explained simply: death is the best teacher. Measures were taken and they gave results. Missile disorientation system "Lipa", heat traps and special piloting techniques. Fighter-bomber pilots were forbidden to descend below 5000 meters - there they were completely safe. Helicopters, on the contrary, clung to the ground, because. the minimum target flight height for the Stinger is 180 meters.

In general, dushmans used many portable anti-aircraft systems: Javelin, Bluepipe, Redai, Strela-2 manufactured by China and Egypt ... Most of these MANPADS had limited opportunities, for example, the British Blowpipe could not shoot in pursuit, had a defeat height of only 1800 meters and a 2.2 kg cumulative warhead. In addition, he had complex manual guidance, and most dushmans could only control the donkey. The Stinger, of course, looked attractive against the backdrop of this mess: easy to use, shelling any air targets within a radius of 4.5 km, warhead- 5 kilograms. About 2 thousand of them got into Afghanistan, some of them were spent on training future "rocketmen", the Americans bought another 500 unused "Stingers" back after the war. And yet, this idea was of little use - dushmans shot down more aircraft from rusty DShK caliber 12.7 mm. By the way, the "Stinger" was very dangerous in operation - for a rocket fired into "milk" they could cut off their hands.

In short, Operation Cyclone is just a cheap joke compared to how the Soviet Union supported its allies. According to A. Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, we spent 1.5 million rubles a day to support North Vietnam (rate for 1968: 90 kopecks for 1 dollar). Plus, significant military aid China provided the air defense system for North Vietnam. The Americans just got in. I have no other words.

Tanks, fighters, trucks, tech. support, artillery systems of all calibers, air defense systems, radars, weapon, ammunition, fuel ... During the years of the war, 95 S-75 Dvina anti-aircraft missile systems and 7658 missiles for them were delivered to North Vietnam. At medium and high altitudes, there was no escape from the fire of the air defense system - the S-75 hit 20-30 kilometers in height and the same in range, the mass of a high-explosive fragmentation warhead was 200 kilograms. For comparison: the length of the Stinger rocket is 1.5 meters. The length of the two-stage missiles of the S-75 complex is 10.6 meters!

American pilots tried to go to low altitudes, but came under deadly fire from the ground: the air defense of North Vietnam was extremely saturated with anti-aircraft artillery systems of all calibers - from 23 mm quick-firing ZU-23-2, to 57 mm self-propelled units ZSU-57-2 and 100 mm anti-aircraft guns KS-19. At the very end of the war, Soviet-made Strela-2 MANPADS began to be used.

Vietnam's presence fighter aviation made things worse for the Americans. In total, the USSR provided the Vietnamese army with 316 MiG-21 combat aircraft, 687 tanks, more than 70 combat and transport ships, as well as a large number of other military-technical products. full course training in Soviet military academies (compare this with the three-week training of an Afghan shahid), 16 Vietnamese were awarded the title of ace pilot.
China, in turn, provided North Vietnam with 44 MiG-19 fighters, as well as tanks, armored personnel carriers and other military equipment.

Timur and his team

At least 136 large objects are known to exist National economy built by Soviet specialists during the War in Afghanistan. Here's the awesome list, folks:

1. HPP Puli-Khumri-II with a capacity of 9 thousand kW on the river. Kungduz 1962
2. Thermal power plant at a nitrogen fertilizer plant with a capacity of 48 thousand kW (4x12) 1 stage - 1972 II stage - 1974 (36 MW) Expansion - 1982 (up to 48 MW)
3. Dam and HPP "Naglu" on the river. Kabul with a capacity of 100 thousand kW 1966 expansion - 1974
4. Power transmission line with substations from the HPP Puli-Khumri-II to the city of Baghlan and Kunduz (110 km) 1967
5. Power transmission line with a 35/6 kV substation from a thermal power plant at a nitrogen fertilizer plant to the city of Mazar-i-Sherif (17.6 km), 1972
6-8. Electrical substation in the northwestern part of Kabul and power lines - 110 kV from the electrical substation "Vostochnaya" (25 km) 1974
9-16. 8 tank farms with a total capacity of 8300 cubic meters. m 1952 - 1958
17. Gas pipeline from the gas production site to the nitrogen fertilizer plant in the city of Mazar-i-Sherif with a length of 88 km and throughput 0.5 billion cubic meters m of gas per year 1968 1968
18-19. Gas pipeline from the gas field to the border of the USSR, 98 km long, 820 mm in diameter, with a capacity of 4 billion cubic meters. m of gas per year, including an air crossing over the Amudarya River 660 m long in 1967, an air crossing of the gas pipeline -1974.
20. Looping on the main gas pipeline 53 km long 1980
21. Power transmission line - 220 kV from the Soviet border in the area of ​​the city of Shirkhan to the city of Kunduz (first stage) 1986
22. Expansion of the oil depot in the port of Hairatan by 5 thousand cubic meters. m 1981
23. Oil depot in the city of Mazar-i-Sherif with a capacity of 12 thousand cubic meters. m 1982
24. Oil depot in Logar with a capacity of 27 thousand cubic meters. m 1983
25. Oil depot in the city of Puli - Khumri with a capacity of 6 thousand cubic meters. m
26-28. Three trucking enterprises in Kabul for 300 Kamaz trucks each 1985
29. Motor transport company for the maintenance of fuel trucks in Kabul
30. Service station for Kamaz vehicles in Hairatan, 1984
31. Arrangement of a gas field near the city of Shibergan with a capacity of 2.6 billion cubic meters. m of gas per year 1968
32. Arrangement of a gas field at the Dzharkuduk field with a complex of facilities for desulfurization and preparation of gas for transportation in the amount of up to 1.5 billion cubic meters. m of gas per year 1980
33. Booster compressor station at the gas field "Khoja-Gugerdag" 1981
34-36. Nitrogen fertilizer plant in the city of Mazar-i-Sherif with a capacity of 105 thousand tons of carbamide per year with a residential village and a construction base 1974
37. Car repair plant in Kabul with a capacity of 1373 overhauls of cars and 750 tons of metal products per year 1960
38. Airport "Bagram" with a runway of 3000 m 1961
39. International airfield in Kabul with a runway 2800h47 m 1962
40. Airfield "Shindand" with a runway of 2800 m 1977
41. Multi-channel communication line from the city of Mazar-i-Sherif to the point of Hairatan 1982
42. Stationary satellite communication station "Intersputnik" type "Lotos".
43. House-building plant in Kabul with a capacity of 35 thousand square meters of living space per year 1965
44. Expansion of a house-building plant in Kabul to 37 thousand square meters. m of living space per year 1982.
45. Asphalt-concrete plant in Kabul, asphalting of streets and supply of road machines (supply of equipment and technical assistance were carried out through the MBT) 1955
46. ​​Shirkhan river port, designed to handle 155 thousand tons of cargo per year, including 20 thousand tons of oil products 1959 expansion 1961
47. Road bridge across the river. Khanabad near the village of Alchin, 120 m long, 1959
48. Highway "Salang" through the Hindu Kush mountain range (107.3 km with a tunnel of 2.7 km at an altitude of 3300 m) 1964
49. Reconstruction of the technical systems of the tunnel "Salang" 1986
50. Highway Kushka - Herat - Kandahar (679 km) with a cement-concrete surface in 1965
51. Highway Doshi - Shirkhan (216 km) with a black surface in 1966
52-54. Three road bridges in the Nangarhar province across the river. Kunar in the areas of Bisuda, Kame, Asmar, 360 m, 230 m and 35 m long, respectively, 1964
55. Highway Kabul - Jabel - us-Seraj (68.2 km) 1965
56-57. Two road bridges across the Salang and Gurband rivers, 30 m each, 1961
58. Central repair shops for the repair of road construction equipment in the city of Herat 1966
59. Highway Puli-Khumri-Mazar-i-Sheriff-Shibergan 329 km long with black coating in 1972
60. Automobile road from the Puli-Khumri-Shibergan highway to the Hairaton point on the bank of the river. Amu Darya with a length of 56 km
61. Automobile and railway bridge over the river. Amu Darya 1982
62. The complex of structures of the transshipment base on the left bank of the river. Amu Darya near Hairatan
63. Kindergarten for 220 places and a nursery for 50 places in Kabul in 1970.
64. Urban Electricity of the net in Jalalabad 1969
65-66. City electrical networks in the years. Mazar-i-Sherif and Balkhe 1979
67-68. Two neighborhoods in Kabul with total area 90 thousand sq. m 1978
69-74. 6 weather stations and 25 posts 1974
75-78. 4 weather stations.
79. Center for mother and child for 110 visits per day in Kabul 1971
80. Geological, geophysical, seismic and drilling operations for oil and gas in Northern Afghanistan 1968 - 1977.
81. Integrated prospecting and survey work for solid minerals
82. Polytechnic Institute in Kabul for 1200 students 1968
83. Technical school for 500 students for the training of oil and gas specialists and miners-geologists in the city of Mazar-i-Sherif, 1973
84. Automotive technical school for 700 students in Kabul
85-92. 8 vocational educational institutions for the training of skilled workers 1982 - 1986
93. Boarding school on the basis of an orphanage in Kabul 1984
94. A bakery in Kabul (an elevator with a capacity of 50 thousand tons of grain, two mills - 375 tons of grinding per day, a bakery with 70 tons of bakery products per day) 1957
95. An elevator in the city of Puli-Khumri with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of grain.
96. A bakery in Kabul with a capacity of 65 tons of bakery products per day in 1981
97. Mill in the city of Puli-Khumri with a capacity of 60 tons per day, 1982
98. A bakery in the city of Mazar-i-Sherif with a capacity of 20 tons of bakery products per day.
99. Mill in the city of Mazar-i-Sherif with a capacity of 60 tons of flour per day
100. Jalalabad irrigation canal with a node of head water intake facilities on the river. Kabul 70 km long with a hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 11.5 thousand kW 1965
101-102. Dam "Sarde" with a reservoir with a capacity of 164 million cubic meters. m and irrigation networks at the dam for irrigation of 17.7 thousand hectares of land 1968 - 1977.
103-105. Two agricultural diversified farms "Gazibad" with an area of ​​2.9 thousand hectares, "Khalda" with an area of ​​2.8 thousand hectares and irrigation and reclamation land preparation in the zone of the Jalalabad Canal on an area of ​​24 thousand hectares 1969 - 1970
106-108. Three veterinary laboratories for combating infectious animal diseases in the years. Jalalabad, Mazar-i-Sherif and Herat 1972 109. Citrus and olive processing plant in Jalalabad 1984
110. Seed control laboratory for grain crops in Kabul
111-113. 3 soil-agrochemical laboratories in the cities. Kabul, Mazar-i-Sherif and Jalalabad
114-115. 2 cable cranes in the area of ​​Khorog and Qalayi-Khumb 1985 - 1986
116. Power transmission line-220 kV "State border of the USSR-Mazar-i-Sheriff" 1986
117. Integrated laboratory for the analysis of solid minerals in Kabul 1985
118. An elevator with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of grain in the city of Mazar-i-Sherif
119. Service station for trucks for 4 posts in the city of Puli-Khumrm
120-121. 2 cotton seed laboratories in Kabul and Balkh 122. Polyclinic of the insurance company of civil servants for 600 visits per day in Kabul
123-125. Stations of artificial insemination in the cities. Kabul (Binigisar), Mazar-i-Sherif (Balkh), Jalalabad.
126. Institute social sciences under the Central Committee of the PDPA in 1986
127. Development of a feasibility study on the feasibility of establishing two state farms on the basis of the Sarde irrigation system.
128. Power transmission line-10 kV from the state border in the Kushki area to the station. Turgundi with a substation.
129. Gas filling station in Kabul with a capacity of 2 thousand tons per year 130. Base of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Hairatan for unloading and storing special cargo (on contract terms).
131. Reconstruction of the railway station Turgundi 1987
132. Restoration of the bridge across the river. Samangan
133. Gas filling station in Hairaton with a capacity of 2 thousand tons of liquefied gas.
134. Luping 50 km of the gas pipeline of the USSR - Afghanistan.
135. Secondary general education school for 1300 students in the city of Kabul with the teaching of a number of subjects in Russian.
135. Installation for the processing of gas condensate in diesel fuel processing capacity of 4 thousand tons per year at the Dzharkuduk gas field.
136. Enterprise for the progressive assembly of bicycles with a capacity of 15 thousand pieces per year in the city of Kabul 1988

Of course, it was crazy to build anything in a country torn apart by civil war, most of these wonderful undertakings turned into dust, but that was the essence of the Soviet Union - we really brought good to the people of the whole world. At least in dreams.
And all the cheap talk about how "the USSR repeated the mistake of the United States" is simply incorrect. America got involved in real war, the USSR limited itself to a counter-terrorist operation and the restoration of the national economy of Afghanistan. Q.E.D.

Officially, the Vietnam War began in August 1964 and continued until 1975 (although direct American intervention ceased two years before the end of the armed clashes). This clash is the best illustration of the instability of relations between the USSR and the United States in the years cold war. Let us analyze the prerequisites, highlight the main events and outcomes of the military conflict that lasted eleven years.

Background of the conflict

The actual root cause of the conflict is the logical desire of the United States to surround the Soviet Union with those states that will be under its control; if not formally, then actually. At the time the clash began, South Korea and Pakistan were already “subdued” in this regard; then the leaders of the United States made an attempt to add North Vietnam to them.

The situation was conducive to active action: at that time, Vietnam was divided into North and South, and the country was raging Civil War. The South side requested help from the United States. At the same time, the north side, which was ruled by communist party led by Ho Chi Minh, received the support of the USSR. It is worth noting that openly - officially - the Soviet Union did not enter the war. The Soviet document specialists who arrived in the country in 1965 were civilians; however, more on that later.

Course of events: the beginning of hostilities

On August 2, 1964, an attack was carried out on the US destroyer, which was patrolling the territory of the Gulf of Tonkin: torpedo boats northern Vietnam; a similar situation recurred on August 4, leading to Lyndon Johnson, then President of the United States, ordering air strikes on naval installations. Whether the boat attacks were real or imaginary is a separate discussion topic that we will leave to professional historians. One way or another, on August 5, an air attack and shelling of the territory of northern Vietnam by ships of the 7th fleet began.

On August 6-7, the "Tonkin Resolution" was adopted, which made hostilities sanctioned. The United States of America, which openly entered into conflict, planned to isolate the North Vietnamese army from the DRV, Laos and Cambodia, creating conditions for its destruction. On February 7, 1965, Operation Flaming Spear was carried out, former first global action to destroy important objects of North Vietnam. The attack continued on March 2 - already as part of Operation Rolling Thunder.

Events developed rapidly: soon (in March) about three thousand American marines appeared in Da Nang. Three years later, the number of United States soldiers fighting in Vietnam had risen to 540,000; thousands of units of military equipment (for example, about 40% of the country's tactical aviation military aircraft were sent there). In the 166th, a conference of states that are part of SEATO (US allies) was held, as a result of which about 50 thousand Korean soldiers were introduced, about 14 thousand Australian soldiers, about 8 thousand from Australia and more than two thousand from the Philippines.

The Soviet Union also did not sit idly by: in addition to those sent as civilian specialists in military affairs, the DRV (northern Vietnam) received about 340 million rubles. Weapons, ammunition and other means necessary for the war were supplied.

Development of events

In 1965-1966, a large-scale military operation from South Vietnam: more than half a million soldiers tried to capture the cities of Pleiku and Kon Tum, using chemical and biological weapons. However, the attack attempt was unsuccessful: the offensive was thwarted. In the period from 1966 to 1967, a second attempt was made on a large-scale offensive, but the active actions of the SA SE (attacks from the flanks and rear, night attacks, underground tunnels, the participation of partisan detachments) stopped this attack as well.

It is worth noting that at the moment more than a million people fought on the US-Saigon side. In 1968, the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam moved from defense to offensive, as a result of which about 150 thousand enemy soldiers and more than 7 thousand units were destroyed. military equipment(cars, helicopters, planes, ships).

Throughout the conflict, there were active air attacks from the United States; according to available statistics, more than seven million bombs were dropped during the war. However, such a policy did not lead to success, since the FER government carried out mass evacuations: soldiers and the population hid in the jungle and mountains. Also, thanks to the support of the Soviet Union, the northern side began to use supersonic fighters, modern missile systems and radio equipment, creating a serious air defense system; more than four thousand United States aircraft were destroyed as a result.

Final stage

In 1969, the RSE (Republic of South Vietnam) was created, and in 1969, due to the failure of the bulk of operations, US leaders gradually began to lose ground. By the end of 1970, over 200,000 American soldiers had been withdrawn from Vietnam. In 1973, the United States government decided to sign an agreement on the cessation of hostilities, after which it finally withdrew its troops from the country. Of course, we are talking only about the formal side: under the guise of civilians thousands of military specialists remained in South Vietnam. According to available statistics, during the years of the war the United States lost about sixty thousand people killed, more than three hundred thousand wounded, as well as a colossal amount of military equipment (for example, more than 9 thousand aircraft and helicopters).

The hostilities continued for several more years. In 1973-1974, South Vietnam went on the offensive again: bombing and other military operations were carried out. The result was set only in 1975, when the Republic of South Vietnam carried out Operation Ho Chi Minh, during which the Saigon army was finally defeated. As a result, the DRV and the RSE were merged into one state - the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.