Tweet
Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan
Edit: F-AGOT should be one word. I am typing it this way because our forum system will not accept that word. This is how it is coming up: xxxot.
F-agot (one word) is a musical instrument.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Russian made 9M111M F-AGOT anti-tank guided missile
08:45 - Nagorno-Karbagh - Somewhere on the front line.
Ashod Melkonyan was stunned, his body was shivering and his hands were trembeling. All his fellow soldiers had just been killed or badly wounded as a result of the heavy shelling by Azeri artillery and rockets on his forward observation post. There was blood on his hands, face and clothes...the blood of his fellow soldiers.
He took the radio microphone away from his dead commander's hands and struggled to speak.
"This is number 4, we are under attack...shelling...do you hear me?..."
The 19 year old conscript from Stepanagerd was getting impatient.
"Number 1, do you hear me this is number 4, we are being attacked, do you hear me?..."
An agonizing 5 seconds later, came the reply from his battalion headquarters.
"This is number 1, report the situation..."
Ashod held the microphone with both hands and spoke quickly.
" We are under attack, everybody is dead or dying send help..."
He heard the firm voice of his battalion commander.
"Dgha jan, what do you see on the front, report..."
The authoritarian voice of the officier made Ashod regain his senses, he took a deep breath and raised his head above the trench he was sheltering in.
With all the smoke and dust in the air created by the shelling he did not see them first, but he heard the roar of tank engines and the squeeking noise of their threads. Then, he saw them. One, two, three...dozens of Azeri T-72 tanks followed by armoured troops carriers coming....they were only a few hundred meters from his position.
"Number 4, WHAT-DO-YOU-SEE? ..."
Ashod took a deep breath, he was fully realizing the situation now. The Azeris had launched a full scale attack on Artsakh. Strangely, he was not afraid anymore, his brain and emotions had reconciled with the worst he could imagine. Slowly he approached the microphone and spoke his last words:
"Bolor yergire dooshman e..."
..........
09:12
The 24 year old commanding officer of the 2nd anti-tank platoon, Mher Arakelian, was a native of Mardagerd. He had just receive orders from his company commander to open fire on any enemy vehicle that came within range (2 km) of his Russian made 9M111M F-AGOT (AT-4) wire guided anti-tank missiles. The young officer had his eyes glued on his binoculars. He was observing a column of camouflage-painted tanks approaching the wooded hill he was positioned on. They were within range. He had 2 F-AGOT missile launchers, each with a 2 men crew he had trained himself. The first crew needed another minute to load a missile container on their launcher. He could not wait longer. He gave his order to the second crew members who were ready:
"Open fire when ready"
"Ayo, Kommandir" replied 20 year old farmer's son Makar while aiming his missile at the lead Azeri T-72 tank.
Kommandir Mher, as he was more popularly known, suddenly realized that the 3rd tank in the Azeri battlegroup had extra antennas. That must be the Azeri battalion commander's tank. He resisted the urge to ask Makar to shoot on that one... He did not want to put too much pressure on the youngster, he wanted to make sure he did not miss his first shot.
19 year old Gagig from Martuni area was softly speaking to Makar who was carefully talking aim with his optical sight.
"Gamats-gamats, hanatrd-hantard Makar Jan"
"Ha Gago jan, ha...tsavt danem"...and he pressed the trigger.
With a cracking sound, the 12 kg missile with an anti-tank warhead came out of the container like a genie out of Alladin's lamp and sped toward the Azeri armour, spinning behind it the 2 km long wire through which Makar was going to give commands to guide the projectile.
While the Kommandir and Gago where staring at the slow flying subsonic missile flying over the beautifull landscape, Makar was maintening the crosshairs in his sight on the moving Azeri lead tank. By doing so, the F-agot was automatically getting course guidance upto point of impact.
The few seconds that took to reach the target seemed like hours. Then, came the hit on the right side of the tank's turret. The shaped charge of the missile spit an extremely hot flamejet that went right through the thick armour and killed the tank commander and gunner. it also set on fire the ammunition that was in the tank... a huge exlposion follwed leaving no chance to the tank driver who was trying to get out.
"Ayyyyoooo" shouted Makar. Gago was speechless he patted on Makar's back. Kommandir Mher contained his emotions and firmly said "reload".
Little did Makar know that he had destroyed the first tank in this new flare-up of the fighting in Nagorno-Karabagh.
Kommandir Mher's 2nd platoon was not the only one firing at the tanks. They were just part of a large anti-tank company positioned on the second line of defenses....
...........
09:17
Colonel Sultan Yusifov was part Azeri, part Turkman and part Hungarian. Born in Baku, he was the Turkish trained commanding officer of the tank Battalion that was spearheding this attack on the Armenian lines. He had clear orders: Breach through the defenses and secure the whole area to form a "bridgehead" through which other Azeri formations were going to go all the way to Stepanagerd.
He was swearing and cursing through the microphone and all his tank crews could hear him through their headspeakers. He had just lost 4 tanks with their crews killed or badly wounded. 2 other tanks were damaged and had to be abandonned. Everything was going fine until this sneak attack by the Armenian Anti-Tank-Guided-Missiles (ATGM).
He knew his 2 options:
Keep advancing through the Armenian defense lines and try to neutralize the ATGMs and loose further tanks or stop the attack momentarily and ask for artillery support. Having taken enough losses, he opted for the second.
He positioned his tanks behind a small hill to mask them from further missile attacks and provided his regiment commander the coordinates of the Armenian ATGM positions.
He was unaware that his regiment's D-30 122mm howitzers were involved in an artillery duel with Armenian 2S1 Gvozdika self-propeeled guns of the same calibers. His regimental commander was helpless and was begging the divisional headquarters to supply artillery fire or air support. All he could get was a pair of Mi-24 gunships that swooped low over Yusifovs column and aimed at the Karabagh defenders.
All up to now, the leader of the helicopter gunships was hoping to target some Armenian tanks with his own anti-tank missiles. He had seen none of the well hidden battlewagons all day. He had to use his unguided rockets against the invisible ATGM crews positioned in the thick forrest. He took aim and opened fire. At the same time he realized that an Armenian anti-aircraft IGLA Man Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) missile was coming his way. He banked his machine severly to the right and avoided the missile. His own rockets had also missed Kommandir Mher's platoon and caused only a couple of small fires in the forest. Realizing that they were running low on fuel, the Azeri Mi-24s headed back to base.
Yousefov was contemplating his next move when, like black ghosts, a full batallion of tanks (2 companies from the west side and one from the south)carrying the Karabagh flag came out of the forrest and opened fire on his beleagered vehicles. Yousefov ordered to engage those knowing fully that his attack is now completely stalled.
When one Azeri tanks was hit by tankfire, the driver of another tank that was beside it panicked. He abandonned his vehicle and ran towards the rear. The other 2 crew members, realizing that they were no longer mobile, came out of their hatches and followed the driver.
Almost simultaneously, another tank went into a ditch with its crew quickly leaving it to its fate and running away. Another tank driver who was positioning himself to fire on the Armenian tanks collided with Yousifov's tank...
The crew of the last tank in the Azeri battle group took matters upon their own hands and decided it was not worth risking their lives. They reversed their steel chariot and headed back to Azerbaijan...Out of the 31 tanks of Yusifov's battalion, it was the only one that made it back safely. All the others were either destroyed or captured by the jubiliant Artsakh defenders. Yusifov's charred body was later on repatriated to his country.
..............
14:48
The anti-tank company (that Kommandir Mher's platoon was attached to) was regrouping east of their original positions - right on the original frontal observation post of the late Ashod Melkonyan. Armenian tanks were now advancing deep inside Azerbaijan with the enemy fully in retreat and abandonning vasts amount of military equipment.
"Abrek" said the anti-tank company commander with a big smile on his wind battered face.
Kommandir Mher and the other platoon chiefs realized that they had no Armenian Brandy to celebrate with...
ZORAVAR
Edit: F-AGOT should be one word. I am typing it this way because our forum system will not accept that word. This is how it is coming up: xxxot.
F-agot (one word) is a musical instrument.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solo of the F-AGOT: Anti-Tank Defenses
The Russian made 9M111M F-AGOT anti-tank guided missile
08:45 - Nagorno-Karbagh - Somewhere on the front line.
Ashod Melkonyan was stunned, his body was shivering and his hands were trembeling. All his fellow soldiers had just been killed or badly wounded as a result of the heavy shelling by Azeri artillery and rockets on his forward observation post. There was blood on his hands, face and clothes...the blood of his fellow soldiers.
He took the radio microphone away from his dead commander's hands and struggled to speak.
"This is number 4, we are under attack...shelling...do you hear me?..."
The 19 year old conscript from Stepanagerd was getting impatient.
"Number 1, do you hear me this is number 4, we are being attacked, do you hear me?..."
An agonizing 5 seconds later, came the reply from his battalion headquarters.
"This is number 1, report the situation..."
Ashod held the microphone with both hands and spoke quickly.
" We are under attack, everybody is dead or dying send help..."
He heard the firm voice of his battalion commander.
"Dgha jan, what do you see on the front, report..."
The authoritarian voice of the officier made Ashod regain his senses, he took a deep breath and raised his head above the trench he was sheltering in.
With all the smoke and dust in the air created by the shelling he did not see them first, but he heard the roar of tank engines and the squeeking noise of their threads. Then, he saw them. One, two, three...dozens of Azeri T-72 tanks followed by armoured troops carriers coming....they were only a few hundred meters from his position.
"Number 4, WHAT-DO-YOU-SEE? ..."
Ashod took a deep breath, he was fully realizing the situation now. The Azeris had launched a full scale attack on Artsakh. Strangely, he was not afraid anymore, his brain and emotions had reconciled with the worst he could imagine. Slowly he approached the microphone and spoke his last words:
"Bolor yergire dooshman e..."
..........
09:12
The 24 year old commanding officer of the 2nd anti-tank platoon, Mher Arakelian, was a native of Mardagerd. He had just receive orders from his company commander to open fire on any enemy vehicle that came within range (2 km) of his Russian made 9M111M F-AGOT (AT-4) wire guided anti-tank missiles. The young officer had his eyes glued on his binoculars. He was observing a column of camouflage-painted tanks approaching the wooded hill he was positioned on. They were within range. He had 2 F-AGOT missile launchers, each with a 2 men crew he had trained himself. The first crew needed another minute to load a missile container on their launcher. He could not wait longer. He gave his order to the second crew members who were ready:
"Open fire when ready"
"Ayo, Kommandir" replied 20 year old farmer's son Makar while aiming his missile at the lead Azeri T-72 tank.
Kommandir Mher, as he was more popularly known, suddenly realized that the 3rd tank in the Azeri battlegroup had extra antennas. That must be the Azeri battalion commander's tank. He resisted the urge to ask Makar to shoot on that one... He did not want to put too much pressure on the youngster, he wanted to make sure he did not miss his first shot.
19 year old Gagig from Martuni area was softly speaking to Makar who was carefully talking aim with his optical sight.
"Gamats-gamats, hanatrd-hantard Makar Jan"
"Ha Gago jan, ha...tsavt danem"...and he pressed the trigger.
With a cracking sound, the 12 kg missile with an anti-tank warhead came out of the container like a genie out of Alladin's lamp and sped toward the Azeri armour, spinning behind it the 2 km long wire through which Makar was going to give commands to guide the projectile.
While the Kommandir and Gago where staring at the slow flying subsonic missile flying over the beautifull landscape, Makar was maintening the crosshairs in his sight on the moving Azeri lead tank. By doing so, the F-agot was automatically getting course guidance upto point of impact.
The few seconds that took to reach the target seemed like hours. Then, came the hit on the right side of the tank's turret. The shaped charge of the missile spit an extremely hot flamejet that went right through the thick armour and killed the tank commander and gunner. it also set on fire the ammunition that was in the tank... a huge exlposion follwed leaving no chance to the tank driver who was trying to get out.
"Ayyyyoooo" shouted Makar. Gago was speechless he patted on Makar's back. Kommandir Mher contained his emotions and firmly said "reload".
Little did Makar know that he had destroyed the first tank in this new flare-up of the fighting in Nagorno-Karabagh.
Kommandir Mher's 2nd platoon was not the only one firing at the tanks. They were just part of a large anti-tank company positioned on the second line of defenses....
...........
09:17
Colonel Sultan Yusifov was part Azeri, part Turkman and part Hungarian. Born in Baku, he was the Turkish trained commanding officer of the tank Battalion that was spearheding this attack on the Armenian lines. He had clear orders: Breach through the defenses and secure the whole area to form a "bridgehead" through which other Azeri formations were going to go all the way to Stepanagerd.
He was swearing and cursing through the microphone and all his tank crews could hear him through their headspeakers. He had just lost 4 tanks with their crews killed or badly wounded. 2 other tanks were damaged and had to be abandonned. Everything was going fine until this sneak attack by the Armenian Anti-Tank-Guided-Missiles (ATGM).
He knew his 2 options:
Keep advancing through the Armenian defense lines and try to neutralize the ATGMs and loose further tanks or stop the attack momentarily and ask for artillery support. Having taken enough losses, he opted for the second.
He positioned his tanks behind a small hill to mask them from further missile attacks and provided his regiment commander the coordinates of the Armenian ATGM positions.
He was unaware that his regiment's D-30 122mm howitzers were involved in an artillery duel with Armenian 2S1 Gvozdika self-propeeled guns of the same calibers. His regimental commander was helpless and was begging the divisional headquarters to supply artillery fire or air support. All he could get was a pair of Mi-24 gunships that swooped low over Yusifovs column and aimed at the Karabagh defenders.
All up to now, the leader of the helicopter gunships was hoping to target some Armenian tanks with his own anti-tank missiles. He had seen none of the well hidden battlewagons all day. He had to use his unguided rockets against the invisible ATGM crews positioned in the thick forrest. He took aim and opened fire. At the same time he realized that an Armenian anti-aircraft IGLA Man Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) missile was coming his way. He banked his machine severly to the right and avoided the missile. His own rockets had also missed Kommandir Mher's platoon and caused only a couple of small fires in the forest. Realizing that they were running low on fuel, the Azeri Mi-24s headed back to base.
Yousefov was contemplating his next move when, like black ghosts, a full batallion of tanks (2 companies from the west side and one from the south)carrying the Karabagh flag came out of the forrest and opened fire on his beleagered vehicles. Yousefov ordered to engage those knowing fully that his attack is now completely stalled.
When one Azeri tanks was hit by tankfire, the driver of another tank that was beside it panicked. He abandonned his vehicle and ran towards the rear. The other 2 crew members, realizing that they were no longer mobile, came out of their hatches and followed the driver.
Almost simultaneously, another tank went into a ditch with its crew quickly leaving it to its fate and running away. Another tank driver who was positioning himself to fire on the Armenian tanks collided with Yousifov's tank...
The crew of the last tank in the Azeri battle group took matters upon their own hands and decided it was not worth risking their lives. They reversed their steel chariot and headed back to Azerbaijan...Out of the 31 tanks of Yusifov's battalion, it was the only one that made it back safely. All the others were either destroyed or captured by the jubiliant Artsakh defenders. Yusifov's charred body was later on repatriated to his country.
..............
14:48
The anti-tank company (that Kommandir Mher's platoon was attached to) was regrouping east of their original positions - right on the original frontal observation post of the late Ashod Melkonyan. Armenian tanks were now advancing deep inside Azerbaijan with the enemy fully in retreat and abandonning vasts amount of military equipment.
"Abrek" said the anti-tank company commander with a big smile on his wind battered face.
Kommandir Mher and the other platoon chiefs realized that they had no Armenian Brandy to celebrate with...
ZORAVAR
Comment