Captivity an overview

Every war entails death, injury, captivity, destruction, and numerous consequences, of which, undoubtedly, captivity is one of the most formidable ones. And certainly, one of the unavoidable aspects of all wars in the world is captivity.

Captivity can be called one of the most anxious events during wartime. "Does war involve a moment more harrowing than when soldiers are taken into captivity?". The psychological shock of the moment of captivity is so debilitating that it is enough to destroy the spirit and body of a prisoner of war for a lifetime; however, according to the liberated prisoners, all the deprivations, shortages, various forms of torture during captivity, and the resulted damages never equate to the moment of being captured.

World War I and II, the wars of France, Japan, Germany, Russia, and others, none were without the presence of prisoners of war. One of the most important aspects that distinguishes and glorifies the title of captivity is captivity in the Battle of Karbala. By looking at the event of Karbala, we see how the captives of Karbala were able to attain immortality in Mankind`s history by shouting for justice and demanding rights and creating a lasting wave. In the eight-year war between Iraq and Iran, according to statements by individuals from the International Red Cross, Iranian prisoners were the most unique ones in the world; prisoners who, with their faithful resistance, had subdued captivity itself.

In Iran, the abrupt war broke out when the revolutionary homeland was still immersed in the joy of the collapse of the 2,500-year-old monarchy. The sweetness of victory gave very quickly way to the bitterness of war.

War has an ugly face, but the unequal war of Iraq against Iran was a defensive war for us; a sacred and beautiful defense. In this defense, young and old, men and women, rose up and fought with all their resources to protect religion and homeland. Guarding religion and homeland and not losing an inch of soil was not easy, and heavy tolls had to be paid, because a united world had joined forces to overthrow the system and defeat the revolutionary forces, who were not yet prepared for this pre-planned invasion.

In this path, some died martyrs or became disabled; some were also taken captive and spent the best years of their lives in the dreaded camps of the Ba'athist regime.

There are many reasons behind how and why some 40000 Iranians were taken into captivity; however, the role of the fifth column^[1], the unfamiliarity of the fighters with military techniques, individual mistakes and surprise, staff and executive errors, insufficient equipment, lack of access to modern military facilities, etc., can never be ignored in specific failures.

The story of captivity has many hidden layers and untold details. Among the prisoners of war, various individuals were seen, from border residents and families to the Islamic militia members, army personnel, IRGC members, clerics, artists, and aid workers. However, what is certain is that a large number of prisoners of war was captured due to unequal circumstances, but they were set free after showing a great deal of courage and strong moral fiber during their captivity.

Iranian prisoners, like our saint Zeynab (Peace be upon her soul), who had the mission of conveying the message of the Husseini movement and the Shia school of thought, were able to play a significant role in conveying the message of the Islamic Revolution to the world, in addition to self-discovery and self-improvement, through patience and steadfastness, reflection on hadiths and narratives, and under correct and continuous management and leadership, which eventually led to their liberation.

Captivity historical periods since the establishment of the Islamic Republic system

Captivity after the victory of the Islamic Revolution and before the start of the imposed Iraq-Iran war

"After the signing of the 1975 Algiers Agreement, the Iraqi government, in order to increase its power against the then Iranian government and to realize its claim of sovereignty over the River Arvand Rud, put the strengthening of its combat capabilities and fortifications and the expansion of its army structure on its agenda. The imposed Iraq-Iran war officially began on September 22nd, 1980, but after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, i.e., from the winter of 1978 to the first half of 1980, there were also movements, and before the official start of the war, a number of people was taken captive. According to statistics from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq violated Iran's land, sea, and air borders 397 times from April 2nd, 1979, to the end of August 1980."

Number of prisoners before the official start of the war

‪Row	‪Year of Captivity	‪Number of prisoners
1	1979	86
2	First half of 1980 (March 21 - September 22)	2506
Total	2592 people

Captivity from the beginning of Iraq's imposed war on Iran until the acceptance of the resolution.

When the shadow of war spread across Iran, border residents and military forces spontaneously defended and resisted, and many of our compatriots, caught off guard, were taken captive. In the second half of 1980, the Islamic Republic of Iran conducted only 4  military operations, and a number of people was captured in these operations, which were usually unsuccessful. Based on the statistics of prisoners at this time, most of them were border residents. Seyyed Hossein Hashemi, one of the captives during the first week of the war, recounts:

"To prepare a report on the situation of Iran's western borders, I went to Kermanshah and from there to Ghasr-e Shirin. My main job was to produce cultural and artistic documented programs. When we arrived in Kermanshah, the situation was worse than we had imagined. Iraq had positioned a complete and well-equipped army behind our gates. They, with many soldiers and equipment, had coiled like a snake, ready to attack. Only a few people remained in the city; and that too, without organization or order. The situation in Ghasr-e Shirin was bitter. Artillery shells shook the city like an earthquake, turning people's belongings upside down. Some residents, one way or another had managed to run away from the city. Others had taken refuge in basements.

Hamid Aminifar, another prisoner from the early days of the 1980 war, recounts how he was captured:

"When Iraq attacked, we resisted for approximately 24 to 32 hours with a small number of people at the Khan-Einlu outpost. That was the only place they hadn't been able to enter, and if they had, they would have bypassed Gilan-Gharb as well. The outpost was located above the area. There was also a large river flowing there, over which a bridge had been built, and on the other side, there was a sloping surface leading upwards. A small number of our forces was there. The Iraqis came with infantry. Our commander ordered us to act independently; those 7 or 8 people were to decide for themselves what to do. The commander of that section beckoned us to wait until the Iraqis came onto the bridge. They came onto the bridge. From the top of the hill, as I looked, God is my witness, they were like armies of ants, with 3000 or 4000 forces, and perhaps 200 or 250 tanks; compared to us, who had 6 or 7 tanks and 40 or 50 people, our capture was inevitable."

Prisoners of the  war imposed by Iraq on Iran until the acceptance of Resolution

‪Row	‪Year of captivity	‪Number of prisoners
1	From September 22nd to the end of March 1981	2341
2	1981	780
3	1982	4232
4	1983	2764
5	1984	632
6	1985	834
7	1986	3495
8	1987	1051
9	1988 (From March 21st to July 17th)	12423
Total	‪28,552 captives

Captivity after the acceptance of the UN Security Council Resolution 598

After the acceptance of the UN Resolution 598, the Ba'athist regime of Iraq showed disregard for its commitment to its obligations and the provisions of the resolution, in order to take more prisoners and achieve balance in prisoner exchange, launching widespread attacks on Iranian soil, which led to the captivity of a significant number of Iranians. Five defensive operations and one offensive operation, named Operation Mersad, were carried out in the years following the acceptance of the Resolution 598, which resulted in the martyrdom and captivity of a number of our compatriots.

Operations after the acceptance of Resolution 598

‪Row	‪Operation Name		‪Notes
1	Tamarchin		In the final days of the war, exactly 48 hours after Iran announced its acceptance and agreement to the UN Security Council Resolution 598 on July 20th, 1988, four brigades of Iraqi units stationed in the general area of Tamarchin and the Se Kaniyan heights attacked Iranian positions in order to gain control of the sensitive heights of the region. After 5 days of intense fighting, they were forced to retreat without achieving success....
2	The Vanguard Kushk Defense		‪Iraq, feeling that Iran was in absolute military impotence and not even imagining the continuation of attacks from the other side by relying on the acceptance of the resolution, launched an unfair attack, perhaps to achieve the unfulfilled goals of the past eight years of widespread invasion....
3	Ghasr-e Shirin Defense		The Iraqis, who mostly intended to take a larger number of prisoners and create balance in prisoner exchanges, after inflicting their blows and taking a significant number of Iranian forces into captivity, prepared the region to send the Mojahedin-e Khalq into Iran's borders in order to create internal conflict and strike at the corpus of the Islamic Republic of Iran....
4	North Mehran Defense		‪In the continuation of the enemy's offensive operations, which were carried out with heavy artillery fire, air support, and relentless chemical bombing, Iraqi units in the Meimakh and Mehran regions also launched their attack seeking to capture Salehabad and cutting off the communication road to the western region.
5	Mersad Offensive Operation		The acceptance of the Resolution 598 "had strengthened the Iraqis' belief that the situation had changed in favor of forces opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and therefore, by undertaking military and political actions, a change in the regime in Iran could be pursued. Accordingly, extensive military actions were carried out in the southern, western, and Shatt ol-Arab [Arvandrud] regions... Therefore, Iran had previously evacuated the Ghasr-e Shirin region with preparations made in advance and, with air and artillery support, dispatched the deceived followers of the Monafeghin in a paramilitary column towards Iranian territory...
6	Sharhani Defense Operation		‪In this operation, with the ingenuity of the Iranian commander who had been captured by the enemy, by contacting friendly forces via radio and issuing the necessary message, approximately 1800 Iranian troops crossed the Dueirige River and took up defensive positions on the east bank, an that led to a reduction in the number of prisoners. Apart from the capture of Iranian forces, there were no casualties or damage in this operation.

Mohammad Soleimanzadeh, an unregistered liberated captive of the Takrit Camp 16, who was captured on August 23rd, 1988, recounts:

"The acceptance of the Resolution 598 had just occurred, but the Ba'athist enemy could not be trusted. The headquarters of the 77th Khorasan Division's Engineering Battalion was at Fakkah Junction. Before the official implementation, it was decided that ceasefire procedures would be applied at the borders. We were carrying out this mission, of course with UNIMOG forces around ^[2]. It was the morning of August 23rd, 1988... I strapped a radio to my back, and Mohammad Farnaghi ^[3] and I went up a hill. Mohammad was carefully monitoring everything with binoculars... It wasn't long before Mohammad frantically reported the presence of armored and tank forces. Enemy forces, disregarding the ceasefire, had poured into the area. I immediately transmitted the news via radio. The order was clear: even if the Iraqis come and run over you with tanks, stay put; because we are not supposed to violate the ceasefire... We had no choice but to wait there until high-ranking officers arrived. When the order to retreat came, we moved... We were supposed to go back and take some of the new recruits, who were unfamiliar with the area, to the rear with us. Major Golmakani ^[4] and I got into a dump truck and left... The Ba'athists had deployed forces up to eight kilometers. It was two in the afternoon, and the day of Ashura. They blocked our way with two tanks and four armored personnel carriers, and swarmed around us like ants and locusts from all sides... The Shurhani operational area was our end. We did not want to violate the ceasefire; that's all!"

Statistics of liberated prisoners after the acceptance of the Resolution 598 until August 13th, 1990

‪Row	‪Year of Captivity	‪Number of prisoners
1	From July 18th, 1988, until the end of the year	12790
2	1989	45
3	August 13th, 1990	63
Total	‪12,898 people

Statistics of liberated prisoners after the major release of POWs from the imposed war

‪Number of prisoners		‪Year of captivity	‪Row
33		1991	1
25		1992	2
14		1993	3
13		1994	4
6		1995	5
4		1996	6
16		1997	7
3		1998	8
2		1999	9
1		2000	10
3		2001	11
2		2002	12
1		2003	13
1		2004	14
	124 people		Total

Disaggregated and final statistics of the missing and liberated prisoners^[5]

‪Row	‪Camp	‪Final statistics of prisoners of war
1	Takrit 11	2667
2	Takrit 12	2914
3	Takrit 14	1695
4	Takrit 15	2334
5	Takrit 16	3225
6	Takrit 18 (Baqubah)	5155
7	Takrit 19	391
8	Takrit 20	1297
Total	‪19,678 people

Here are some examples of memories from the moment of captivity:

Example 1

Colonel Mohammad Ali Salajegheh

Unregistered veteran and liberated prisoner of war (missing in action)

Operation: Mersad

Location of residence: Takrit Camp 19

Operation Mersad had begun. I was the deputy brigade commander. Iraqi forces had started shelling us from land and air [inside Iranian territory in Salehabad, Ilam], but we resisted. They had made no penetration into the positions of my brigade, which was the 1st Brigade of the 58th Zolfaghar Division. One or two of our battalion commanders had been martyred, and we had appointed replacements for them. We resisted until five or five-thirty in the afternoon. Then I  contacted the division commander. The division commander had previously told me to defend our positions until they gave us new orders. Our communication with the commander was then cut off, but at the same time, the forces to our left had retreated and changed their positions, but they gave us no orders. We remained until seven-thirty or nine at night. By then, the enemy's fire had also ceased, and our positions were calm. Our communication with the division was still cut off. No matter how hard we tried to contact the division, we failed [7]. [Since the 106 radios had long range], I managed to contact the Ground Forces Headquarters in Tehran. The Ground Forces Headquarters initially told me that the units on the left and right and the Western Headquarters had all retreated seventy kilometers. I said I had provisions, water, and some ammunition, and I could resist for a while. They said we could do nothing for you. You should use the cover of night, abandon your positions, and entrust yourselves to God. So, that night, we gave the order to our unit to abandon positions. We were surrounded on all  sides. The enemy was seventy kilometers behind us. During the night, until morning, we destroyed our vehicles and weapons as much as we could. Some managed to escape, and some were captured. Approximately one of the brigades of the Iraqi 17th Armored Division had attacked us. When I reached our engineering battalion's headquarters, I saw that the Iraqis had arrived and established themselves. And I was captured by the enemy at 10 a.m.

Sample 2

Seyyed Hassan Mirsayyed

Registered veteran and liberated POW

Operation: Second phase of Beit ol-Moghaddas

Location of imprisonment: Romadi 8 camps (Alanbar, also known as Anbar) and Takrit 5

At 9 pm on May 6th, 1982, coinciding with the 13th of Rajab, the eve of the birth of Imam Ali (peace be upon him), the second phase of the operation began with the code "Ya Ali ibn Abi Talib." The military column, in a single file, passed under the Holy Quran as a light rain was falling. We were stationed in the Martyr Beheshti Battalion, part of the Mohammad Rasoulollah Brigade. At that time, the division had not yet been formed. Due to the cloudy and rainy weather that night, a terrifying darkness enveloped the entire axis. As we approached the enemy, the roar of artillery, the continuous barrage of bullets tearing through the air, and the flares that illuminated the night's darkness like day, intensified. The sound of tanks and armored personnel carriers moving shattered the tranquility of the night. A shadow of terror hung everywhere. Under the horrific sound of mortars constantly exploding around us, my comrades, calm and confident, softly whispered ‘God’ and uttered names of saints and Holy Men as they headed towards the frontline where we were bound to be slaughtered. Upon reaching the enemy's first embankment and firing RPGs at their tanks, simultaneously with the "Allahu Akbar" shouts of the fighters, the Iraqis chose to flee rather than stand their ground, leaving behind burning tanks. But this was not the end. According to the commanders' orders, the advance towards Shalamcheh continued. Along the way, we encountered two Iraqis who had raised their hands in fear, shouting "Dakhil Khomeini" (We seek refuge in Khomeini). By virtue of our religious duty, we refrained from killing them. We tied their hands and took them prisoner. Now we had to share the water and food we had with them. They were very large and burly, and no matter how much they ate, they were not satisfied. In any case, the prisoners were with us throughout the night as we moved. The further we went, the less we saw of Iraqi forces. They had retreated for miles. We crossed a vast plain where half-burned tanks and some concrete and strong bunkers, indicative of command posts, were seen, and among them, obscene pictures and bottles of alcohol could be seen. We were on the move all night. As it got lighter, we performed tayammum and prayed on our way. As the sun rose and the sky brightened, the Iraqi trench line gradually became visible. There was approximately a 100-meter distance between the Iraqi trench and us. Looking left and right across the plain, we could see high trenches and tank barrels, all aimed at us. The area we were in was Shalamcheh, the point of encounter with the Iraqis. After fleeing from the Ahvaz-Khorramshahr road, they had fortified their positions here. It was as if they were waiting for us to arrive so that they could surround and cut us off. Having taken up positions behind the trenches, we awaited orders from the sector commander. It was around 8 am when the troops were informed that we were surrounded and anyone who could save themselves from the encirclement and return to the rear should do so. This was while the Iraqis were heavily attacking us from three sides with tanks, mortars, and direct fire. Our situation was growing more intense by the moment. The shelling continued. The number of martyrs and wounded was increasing. Only a few fighters were able to escape the encirclement and return to the rear. The timed mortars exploding above our heads were unbearable. As shrapnel hit my left hand, I failed to hold on to the Kalashnikov I had taken as spoils of war from the Iraqis themselves, and it fell to the ground. After being hit by shrapnel in three parts of my body, I fell into the furrows in that desert. One of the Islamic militia members quickly came towards me and bandaged my wounds in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. I don't know how many hours had passed since I took shelter in a den when suddenly I heard the sound of "Allahu Akbar." Hearing this sound gave me new life. I thought our own forces had come to our aid to rescue us from the encirclement. With difficulty, I half-stood on my knees to see what was going on. But instead of our own forces, I found the Iraqis, shouting "Allahu Akbar" like , clearing the area in a horseshoe formation and advancing thick and fast. They were trying to trick our boys into coming out of the dens they had fallen into, to see who was alive.. They came over us, and we had no choice but to surrender. There were almost 20 of us.

Sample 3

Seyyed Fazel Mousavi

Unregistered (Missing in Action) Veteran and Liberated POW

Operation: - (Captured after the acceptance of the Resolution.)

Location: Nahravan and Takrit Camp 20

The story began the moment Martyr Mehrabian( who had not died a martyr till then) and I left our respective units and went in his car towards Karbala Headquarters (an area in Ahwaz called Golf). We went to the city and I was concerned about the forces there. After traveling a distance that normally took twenty-five minutes, which we covered in two hours, I saw things there that are simply beyond description. I got out of the car twice. That day I happened to be carrying my rifle  cocked and  ready to shoot. Mehrabian pleaded with me, "Seyyed, for God's sake, stop." The situation that day was like the day of Ashura some 1400 years ago. When a shell hit our car, one side of  poor Mehrabyian`s face was destroyed and he said to me, "Seyyed, I am in a lot of pain." I kicked out the car's front windshield, got out of the car, and pulled him out. I was still holding my rifle in one hand, and parts of my clothes were drenched in blood. The dust floating in the air had also settled on my clothes. In this state, I was moving towards the Iraqis, but they were retreating. So I stopped and moved backward, and now they advanced. They were afraid that the forces on the front line might be hiding to ambush them. At last, I shouted that I had to get this injured person to a doctor. They said, "Throw down your weapon so we can save him." I had no time to decide. It only took me ten seconds  to figure what to do. If I didn't do this, Mehrabian would die, and I would escape with my weapon, not knowing if I would survive or not, but if I surrendered to the Iraqis, at least I would have done my best to save Mehrabian's life. Finally, I dropped the weapon. Before the weapon even hit the ground, they had surrounded me. One of them was a Turk and spoke Arabic. He asked, "What's the news about your forces?" I said, "The forces are ready, and the tanks are moving this way!" Then they helped us and took us behind the embankment. Our car was destroyed, so they  took us away in another car.

Sample 4

Mehdi Toutounchian

Registered veteran and liberated prisoner of war

Operation:No particular operation

Place of residence: Romadi Camp 10 and Takrit  Camp 17

When the Fav operation began, there was an unusual enthusiasm in the IRGC for the young men to go to the front. Since our own region, Kurdistan, was an operational zone, the officials wouldn't let us go because it was a dangerous area, even though it had been cleared. We made great efforts to go. Finally, the official in charge of cultural affairs told me to take charge of the propaganda for the entire brigade before deployment and go there as the propaganda officer. I accepted. When the deployment began, we went with the deployed brigade to the operational area and gathered a number of people as a battalion. We formed a cohesive battalion, which the division officials in the southern operational area had prepared, and became part of that battalion. Within the battalion, tasks were divided, and I was appointed as the deputy company commander. We had prepared ourselves for the operation. One or two days before our operation, we, a group of 9 people, were taken to the salt factory area in the operational zone to familiarize ourselves with the area. The next night, we set out to execute the regional operation. During the operation, my comrades and I crossed the water. They had previously announced that the water level was low and shallow, but it was not. During the operation, the water was right up to our heads because there were many blast holes. We were stuck in a terrible quagmire. Despite everything, our forces stood their ground and moved in a column. The column was reaching the other side when the Iraqis noticed us, and shooting began. Our forces, most of whom were in the water, reached the coastline under enemy fire with great difficulty. It was such a terrible situation! We could neither retreat nor defend ourselves. Yet, we formed a defensive line in the water and reached the shore with heavy casualties. I was the last one because I was bringing up the rear to ensure they were not stuck and left behind in the water. We had to gather everyone together. We reached the shore. On the shore, the martyrs were identified, and we determined the path for the uninjured forces to achieve our main objective. Our main objective was to link up a 90-degree line with our 90-degree left flank to connect these two battalions and take the control of the operational line from the Iraqis. We started it with a group of thirty to forty people. We entered the Iraqi bunkers with the initial group. As I was the keeper of the operation's code, I had to reach the left-flank battalion to announce the operation code and the link-up code so that the battalions and lines could be connected, and the entire axis would fall into our hands. I went from bunker to bunker alone until I reached the line we needed to reach. I entered an open bunker. There was a  Iraqi there appearing to be dead; I sat on his body. This Iraqi on whose stomach I was sitting, was only shamming dead as it transpired a bit later. I was looking at my map with the flares the Iraqis had thrown into the air to see how much was left until I reached the target area. At that moment, one of the Islamic militia members, Sergeant Esmaeili, who was from Miandoab, arrived. . We sat back to back, and now I felt more at ease that no one would surprise us from behind. A few moments passed, and Sergeant Esmaeili said, "The Iraqi is alive," because he was sitting closer to the Iraqi's head, and I was on his belly. When he saw the Iraqi's eye and eyelid movement, he said, "Haji, he's alive." I said, "Don't be afraid, I've been here a long time. If he were alive, he could have at least dealt   me with a knife." A few moments passed, and apparently, this Iraqi had understood our conversation and tried to get up. We saved ourselves with great difficulty and finished him off with a bullet. Then we both moved to that 90-degree angle. Later, one of the radio operator's assistants also arrived. Now there were three of us and we reached the desired angle, but there was no code at that point. It turned out the battalion hadn't connected there, and we didn't know. And it hadn't been announced to us by radio that that battalion hadn't occupied that spot. Now, as it was dark and we could not see and identify the shooters we got the impression that our own guys were shooting, we wanted to tell them the code, but they turned around and saw us, and we waited for a reply that wasn't announced. We sat smelling a rat  we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by the Iraqis, and a flare blasted above our heads, illuminated us. We were about 2 to 3 meters away from the Iraqi soldiers, and there was no bunker; we were sitting next to the embankment. In this situation, up to that moment, we had succeeded in taking the line and linking up, but there and then we were captured by Ba'athist forces. At that moment, one of my comrades said, "Haji, should we surrender or keep fighting?" The decision was very difficult. The responsibility was mine. If I had ordered them to shoot, they would have done so, and their martyrdom would have been a sure thing. We had to preserve our forces for ourselves, our society, our religion, and our future generations. Reluctantly, I ordered, "Don't shoot." It was a very difficult decision; I made the decision with great difficulty in a few seconds, and the Iraqis were shouting, "Get up, get up..." Finally, the three of us were captured and taken to their rear bunker. It was 3:30 – 4 am when we were captured, and in the morning, they put us in a jeep with 2 or 3 other prisoners who had been stationed at that corner of the axis. From there, some of our own battalion members were also put in the jeep, and they took us to their rear base.

Sample 5

Mohammad Reza Sedighi

Registered Veteran and Liberated Prisoner of War

Operation: Badr

Location of captivity: Romadi Camp 3 (Camp 9), Camp 8 (Al Anbar, known as Anbar), and Takrit 17 The twenty-third  of Esfand arrived. On a road that stretched along the edge of the marsh, hundreds of tanks, like herds of elephants, each approximately ten meters apart, were rapidly advancing to quickly reach the battlefield or in a manner of speaking the slaughterhouse. From six to eight in the morning, we were continuously trapped under heavy fire. A hell had broken loose. Mortars, artillery, caliber rounds, and machine gun fire hit the ground inch by inch, and constantly the shouts of "Ya Mahdi, Ya Fatemeh, and Ya Hussein" from my comrades could be heard and then faded. Dust and smoke had covered everything. In every corner, someone had fallen and was groaning. There was no way out. One meter from us there was water, and inside it was full of barbed wire and all sorts of obstacles. Nothing could be done. The fire was so heavy that we could do nothing but take cover in foxholes. The sound of tank treads grew louder every moment. There was still no sign of fresh forces. We neither had  ammunition nor supplies. All the water-bottles were empty, and the enemy had adopted a specific array since  last  night until morning, as if they had made up their mind to finish the job before noon. The Iraqis had attacked with full force. Bullets rained down on us from land and air. At eight in the morning, the war horn blew again, and the banks of Hur-ol-azim Marsh were filled with the torn bodies of Islamic militia members. Small and large pools of blood punctuated the edges of the marsh waters. It was 8:30 am, and I was constantly requesting reinforcements from  Ahramian. Shabanali Sadeghian [8] picked up his machine gun and poised to provide suppressive fire on the left flank. Just as he was about to jump over the embankment to easily fire, a tank caliber round from the tanks opposite hit him, throwing him in front of my bunker. He was saying his prayers when several direct shots also hit his body. His mumbling ceased. I watched him like that and thought to myself that Shabanali, too, had been martyred. Amin came right after him and was also martyred. I don't know how it was, everyone came and got martyred except for unfortunate me, who was at the very front. Mohammad Ali Dashti was also martyred. I was ashamed to give orders to anyone anymore. I had to do something. I couldn't just stand by and watch my comrade`s martyrdom. I took Habibollah Hasanabadi, Hossein Rezapour, Bagher Heydari, and a few other guys, and somehow we managed to jumped over the embankment. We started firing our RPGs, Kalashnikovs, and 60mm mortars at the Iraqis who were positioned on this side of the embankment. Sadegh Pishdad, one of the younger guys, found one of the commando 60mm mortars and a box of ammunition and ran towards us. I volunteered to fire the mortar. After this, I was surprised to notice that the Iraqis seemed to be scared by our sudden fire and retreated a bit, but then they came forward again. I stood up and aimed the RPG at the tank. The rocket hit the body of the tank and shattered, but the tank did not explode! It was a T-72 tank, and the RPG-7 was no match for it! A tank caliber round passed right under my hand and hit Bagher Heydari's [9] face and jaw, turning his jaw upside down. It was a heartbreaking scene. The flesh of his face was protruding, and nothing of his face was recognizable. From his lip to his ear, it was torn. Two of the Imam Ali battalion's men stood up and gathered the flesh, put it back on his face, and secured it with Ergals. Bagher Heydari was lying on the ground, writhing in pain, but he couldn't scream. Bagher Heydari had helped me in every way he could, both firing and loading rockets, and giving them to me to shoot or shooting them himself.I resumed shooting and fired an RPG. My ears were hurting  for having  fired so many RPGs. Helicopters and planes were firing from above, and T-72 tanks were firing from the front. The al-Ghadir fighters, who had made a pact with their Imam and refused to retreat over the bodies of their comrades, continued to resist. The voice of Martyr Jafarzadeh echoed in my ears,  "Resist, the culture-loving forces are on the way!" But after a day had passed, there was still no news of any forces! I dragged Bagher Heydari and Hossein Akhoondzadeh [10], who had been shot below the heart, to a corner where they wouldn't be in the Iraqis' line of fire. Hossein Rezapour, one of the fighters from Naimabad, changed his magazine and stood up to open fire on the Iraqis when a caliber bullet hit him directly in the eye. His eyeball was hanging out. It was a truly ghastly scene that cannot be described! Agha Mashallah Heydari showed great courage and stood up to fire several RPGs. He was a Seyyed. I don't know what prayers he said while firing the RPGs that they all hit the targets. The Iraqis retreated about 300 meters again. Our radio communication was cut off. We were still engaged when Ali Arabi came next to me and said: - Brother Sedighi, fire is coming from this side too! I looked in that direction and said: - You're mistaken, man! Where? I don`t see a thing. They would fire a volley and then fall silent again. They wanted to take a triangular corner and establish themselves so that they could then easily open fire and capture us. On one side, we were pursuing the enemy, and on the other, they were pursuing us. The Iraqis started firing another volley. Many of our fighters were martyred right there.From a distance, my eyes fell upon the pilgrims; suddenly a bullet hit the leg of a pilgrim   and he fell to the ground. I thought to myself that the pilgrim that is a civilian had also been martyred. I was the only survivor of the battalion. The firing temporarily ceased. The Iraqis we were chasing returned. Bullets were being fired at us from all sides. Tanks slowly advanced. The T-72 tank's caliber never stopped firing for a moment. We were completely surrounded. Meanwhile, a caliber bullet hit my right arm. Suddenly I was on fire. It felt as if my arm had been severed. A paramedic arrived and tightly bandaged it with a roll of gauze. Although I was in pain, I had no choice but to fight and find a way to escape the encirclement. The least I could do was to try saving the lives of my remaining comrades. We had Iraqis on three sides and a swamp on one side. Nothing could be done. We were badly stranded on all sides. Some of my comrades got mixed up with the Iraqis. What a situation it became. Everyone was shooting in every direction. Imam Hussein's division had completely retreated, and some of our men had managed to retreat with them. Imam Hussein's division left only one battalion there to resist so that the others could withdraw. But retreating was impossible now. There was no way out. We had no hope of salvation either. I put my trust in God. Our comrades almost started hand-to-hand combat, although most were wounded and nothing could be done, and they were being captured one by one. I didn't want to be captured. I had two armed forces orders from the IRGC and an operations calque with me.The compass was still attached to my waist. I couldn't bring myself to part with these things. Agha Mashallah Heidari came beside me and reached out to detach the compass from me. He pulled the compass off and threw it into the swamp on the right, but the compass pouch was entangled in the tongue of my belt and wouldn't get detached. I took out my wallet, which contained pictures of my children and my  IRGC ID, and threw them into the swamps. There was no time to see the pictures of my daughter and son one last time.The Iraqis gathered around us. They motioned for us to drop our weapons. A personnel carrier quickly pulled up beside us. One of the Iraqis, who had probably seen me firing an RPG, came over and said something to the Iraqi officer, pointing at me. Suddenly, one of them drew his weapon to kill me. The Iraqi officer stopped him but then came forward himself and slapped me hard across the face. They wanted us to get into the personnel carrier. We were still standing there. The pain in my arm was getting worse by the moment. Agha Mashallah Heidari still had his rifle without ammunition in his hand. The Iraqi soldier forcibly took his weapon. Aqamasallah, who had anticipated that they might  execute me at any moment, quickly pushed me towards the open door of the Iraqi personnel carrier. He then hopped  in behind me. They came into the personnel carrier and tied our hands. My arm was pulled, and pain shot through me.

Sample 6

Mohammad Khatibi

Unregistered Veteran and Liberated POW (Missing in Action)

Operation: Karbala-7

Detention Camp: Takrit camps 11 and 18

Our last deployment was on February 10th, 1987, with the Mahdi (Peace Be Upon His Soul) Corps. After being divided, we entered Khuzestan on February 11^th or 12th. We went to the Malek Ashtar Battalion in the 25th Karbala Division. Of course, this was Malek Ashtar Battalion 2, because the previous battalion had been destroyed in Operation Karbala 4. I was both the prayer leader and an RPG bearer. Two days before the operation, several people were selected from the company to go to Kashan to take part in the memorial service of one of the commanders. I was one of those chosen. We got in the car, and I asked, "Well, since we're going to Kashan, will we make it back for the operation or not?" They said the operation might happen sooner. I changed my mind about going to Kashan and got out of the car. That night, March 3rd, 1987, we carried out the operation. During the operation, before reaching the target area, we got stuck in a minefield. Our personnel carriers were destroyed there. There were many anti-personnel mines. Unfortunately, we had lost our way to our operation site, and from 10 PM when we started the operation, until nearly dawn, instead of heading towards Iran, we were going towards Iraq. In the morning, we saw that we were between the first and second Iraqi lines. The interesting point is that on that very night, after a heavy rain, we had entered the Iraqi trenches. After the rain had subsided and we had moved further, we saw a few tanks there. Our comrades had gone and taken cover under the tanks. When it became light in the morning, we realized that they were inside the Iraqi tanks. They had held their tongues lest we should get frightened, and of course, our comrades hadn't gone inside the tanks; they had just taken cover outside, under the tanks. We thought the tanks were empty and just lying there, and we suspected it might belong to our own side. It was almost dark. The guys had lost their way and didn't know where they were going. Near dawn, when the sky brightened, we realized we were surrounded by Iraqis on all sides. our comrades started to defend themselves, and some who knew the escape routes fled. Apparently, only Ali Mahdian, a seminary student from Mazandaran, managed to escape from our group.

We wandered there until morning. In the morning, once the Iraqis succeeded in identifying us as enemy soldiers, they started shooting at us most precisely with sniper rifles as we moved in a column. A bullet hit the company commander's neck, and he was martyred. Another bullet hit me directly, but I was wearing a helmet. Another bullet hit the right side of my head, and my ear began to bleed heavily. I fell into a corner and started reciting "La ilaha illallah(there is no God but Allah)," thinking I was going to be martyred, but martyrdom didn`t come. We had moved forward again. I sat on top of a hill. The second bullet came towards my right side and hit my right ear. It had missed my neck by an inch. I had fallen to the ground. While I was in this state, one of my friends from Amol, who had joined us in Haft Tappeh, said, "Haj Agha, it seems our friends have found a way, let's go." I said, "I am wounded, and bleeding like hell; I cannot go. You go, and I'll see what happens; I'll try to follow you little by little." I limped after them, but there was no way out, and instead, Iraqi soldiers surrounded us. The Iraqis were searching my comrades with many weapons. As soon as their eyes fell on me, they came and searched my pockets. In my right pocket was a Quran, which was a little blood-stained. He took out the Quran and kissed it. He wanted to take it. I said, "I need this Quran." The soldier kissed the Quran and said, "Blood is impure and should not be here." Then he took the Quran and put it in my left pocket. They had gathered our friends there; those who were less heavily injured  had their hands and eyes tied. They brought an armored personnel carrier and put us inside.

When we got on the armored personnel carrier, I looked into my pocket and around me. I saw a book of Ziyarat Ashura and a letter I had received from Feyziyeh, along with a picture of myself in clerical attire. I thought, "If these fall into the hands of the Iraqis, it will cause trouble." Right there, I crumpled them up and put them under the seat. Out of an 80-person company, about 30-40 of us were captured, and the rest had been martyred in the same clashes. It was March 3rd, 1987.

Sample 7

Abbas Shahriari

Registered veteran and liberated prisoner of war

Operation: Kheybar

Place of residence: Musel Camp 2 (The inhabitants of Kheybar)

Ali and I were in the same bunker. Ali read out Surah Al-Rahman and Ziyarat Ashura and told me: "If I am martyred and you return, deliver my personal belongings to my family, and when my daughter grows up (she was six months old at the time), tell her that her dad loved her very much." It was almost nine in the morning when the battalion commander issued an order to confront the enemy. Ali and I were responsible for hunting tanks and firing mortars. Our ammunition was limited due to the insecurity of the island road, and we were very careful in using it, but there was no choice; we had to use it should the need arise. The mortar shells ran out. We started hitting tanks with RPG-7s. We hit one or two enemy tanks. They began to retreat. We tried harder to inflict casualties on them. The "Allahu Akbar(God is great)" chants of the boys mingled with the results of these efforts. Not an hour had passed before the enemy advanced again. We realized that in that way, they wanted us to waste our ammunition. The enemy's advance had reached within two hundred meters of us. The boys defended their positions tooth and nail. Ali and I continued hunting tanks . After hitting a tank, as soon as we wanted to change our position so that the enemy wouldn't shoot at us, Ali sighed and slowly fell backward onto the ground. I looked; a caliber bullet had hit Ali's head from behind and exited through his forehead. I quickly called the battalion paramedics and pressed my hand firmly on his forehead. My hand was drenched with blood up to my wrist. The paramedic arrived and bandaged his head. I was on the verge of blacking out. All the memories of that night we were in his bunker flashed through my mind. I didn't want to believe it, but God, it seemed to be happening! The reminder of that promise and vow from that night crushed me. This time, with more zeal and earnestness, I aimed at the Iraqi tanks. It wasn't long before a sound drew my attention to Ali. I turned back; his belt had torn from the pressure of his death throes. I quickly pulled him facing the Qibla(towards Mecca). So that the island's soil wouldn't coat his body, I covered his pure body with the thick plastics we used to spread in the bunker, to return him to the rear in due course. Ali and his timely jokes were still with me. My heart was bleeding, but war was no laughing matter. There was no time for mourning; I had to continue. All-out war with the enemy continued. It was noon. Under enemy fire, , we took turns praying in a sitting position and rapidly. That day, there was no news of lunch. No one thought about hunger. There was no time for delay; we had to move. The only thought and concern of the boys was to push back the enemy; but unfortunately, with the enemy's capabilities, the siege tightened moment by moment to the point where they began using tank shells to destroy the bunkers. After our complete encirclement (ground and air), the Iraqi commander ordered his forces to dismount from the armored personnel carriers. Like ants and locusts, they dismounted from the APCs with their equipment, and with a hand signal from the commander, they threw grenades into the bunkers to eradicate them. I told the person next to me: "These are the final moments; they are wiping out the bunkers. If they throw a grenade into our bunker, we have 30 seconds to throw it out." Davoud Ghasemi came towards our embankment through the dust raised by enemy artillery fire. He was defending another part of the line under the commander's orders and came to our aid due to a shortage of RPG operators. I told Davoud: Ali was martyred. Moments later, while firing an RPG, a direct enemy artillery shell tore him too into four pieces. Each piece was thrown several meters into the air. The memory of last night kept haunting me. Of the three allies, two were martyred! I remained with the smell of the bunker, the remaining scent of those fallen stars, and shimmering of light in the middle of the night! The enemy continued to press on and inflict casualties on us. Gradually, the Iraqi air force also entered the fray. From the sky, they rained bullets on the boys. The battalion commander tried his best to contact the rear and request reinforcements, but the connection was not established. I heard on the radio myself that Imam Khomeini (Peace Be Upon His Soul ) had insisted on the preservation of the Majnoon islands by any means necessary. No one even thought of retreating. The boys' slogan was victory or martyrdom.

As the number of wounded increased, the hope of help from the rear became less and less, and finally ceased. The battalion commander said that any wounded who could return should do so while there was still a little time. Those who were able to move crawled back. It wasn't long before the enemy fired on them. It seemed that each one was shot at least ten to twenty times. The wounded died innocently in the middle of the road. No one else, not even the unscathed ones, were able to retreat. On the other hand, our ammunition was running out. The battalion commander announced face to face that everyone should do whatever they could; from now on, everyone was their own commander and should not wait for his orders. The enemy realized that we no longer had the means to defend ourselves. The tanks moved forward, and reached within a hundred meters of us, and saw no reaction from our side. Gradually, they closed the distance to fifty meters. The three of us were in a trench. We took turns firing the few bullets we had in our magazines at the enemy. It was the turn of an old man, a worker from the Chit-Ray factory. As soon as he stood up to shoot at the enemy, he was hit in the head and martyred. Our encirclement grew ever tighter.

A few minutes later, a grenade was thrown into our trench and landed under the feet of the person next to me. It took more than 30 seconds for him to find the grenade, and it exploded. It was as if two three-phase electrical wires had short-circuited, creating such a flash and an explosive wave that I didn't realize anything. I was unconscious for some time. When I slowly regained consciousness and opened my eyes, I saw that the person next to me had been martyred, and all his organs were scattered. I was also wounded in my left hand, side, and left cheek and was shell-shocked. I lifted my head slightly to assess the situation and saw a tank standing a few meters from me. As soon as they saw I was alive, they started shooting at me. One of the bullets hit my helmet and pierced it. The tank's firing stopped; a few minutes later, Iraqi soldiers from behind put the muzzle of their weapons on my chest, and one of them pulled the keffiyeh from around my neck and dragged me towards the tank that was standing a few meters away. At first, I thought they intended to run the tank over my body, but they didn't do that. Instead, they grabbed my hands and feet and threw me onto the tank. The tank was very hot, and enduring it was very difficult and exhausting. The tank returned towards the enemy front and, after traveling a few hundred meters, got stuck in the mud and stopped moving.

The Iraqis transferred me from the tank to the back of a Toyota pickup truck. I looked around and saw some of my battalion mates inside the vehicle. Only two of them were unharmed.

Sample 8

Seyed Ahmad Gheshmi

Registered veteran and freed prisoner of war

Captivity region: Tilehkuh

Place of residence: Mosul camps 3 and 4, and Ramadi 6

Small and large news was heard from the western borders. Iraq had attacked parts of Khosravi and Sarpol-e Zahab border areas. It was planned that some of the IRGC members would go towards the western borders. Our main mission was to visit and evaluate the border areas. We wanted to monitor the situation in Qasr-e Shirin and also the intermediate outposts, such as Pataq and Tilehkuh. The mission of the Hamadan IRGC members was to be stationed in the Tilehkuh and Gerdnou outposts in Sarpol-e Zahab. Out of twenty of us, thirteen moved towards Qasr-e Shirin. When we arrived, we went to the Tilehkuh outpost and settled there. Tilehkuh, in the Sarpol-e Zahab region, was an old, dilapidated, and abandoned outpost. This area was only about two to three hundred meters away from the Iraqi border barbed wire. After us, a company from the Sarpol-e Zahab 3rd Armored Brigade, with four tanks, came there. The company and their tanks were stationed behind the earthworks that had been prepared beforehand. We wanted to return after evaluating the area; Iraq's full-scale attack did not allow it. Iraq had attacked by land and air with several regular divisions and the best military equipment and advanced weapons... . The Tilehkuh outpost was very worn out and dilapidated. Hajj Hamid Norouzi ^[10] had ordered us to build a collective foxhole ^[11]. We had been there for three days. No one knew what Iraq had in store for us. It was the last night of Shahrivar. The sound of Iraqi military vehicles coming and going could be heard until morning. We thought they were night patrol forces; we did not know that during the night, four armored divisions with all their equipment and military formation had been stationed in the valley between us. The dilapidated Tila-Kuh outpost was already in a sorry state. There was no need for mortars; the outpost itself was on the verge of collapse. With successive mortar shellings, the last vestiges of the outpost's strength were lost. The best course of action was to evacuate the outpost and save the meager military equipment we had! We moved the equipment to the foxhole bunker. A few of the guys were guarding behind the outpost's earthworks. Until the morning of the first of Mehr (September 23rd), the sound of mortar fire didn't cease for a single moment. The four pillars of the outpost trembled from the sound of the mortar barrage. War was an uninvited guest. How could we have known it would turn out like this? In that vicinity, no safe shelter could be found for the guys. Our only shelter was that foxhole bunker. Sleeplessness and the continuous sound of mortars had drained the guys' strength and energy.

The September sun still had its summer warmth and was hesitant to leave. In contrast to the Iraqi vehicles that stood fully equipped in the Tila-Kuh plain, our outpost was devoid of military equipment and our own forces. It was eleven in the morning when the Iraqi attack began. Bullets raced each other. The sky of Tila-Kuh was no longer blue. The roar of Iraqi tanks filled everywhere. The chest of the plain had no safe spot from the intensity of the enemy's shelling. Tila-Kuh was filled with hundreds of tanks, armored personnel carriers, direct-fire artillery, and dozens of other types of armored vehicles. Four Iraqi divisions were arrayed from end to end, facing thirteen IRGC members and one army company.

We only had a few useless Ghasseh weapons and three or four working rifles. Hajj Hamid Norouzi also had a Kalashnikov. Other than that, the most important weapon we had was an RPG, in the hands of Martyr Morteza Olaj ^[12]; because he was the only one who knew how to use it well. After the Iraqi attack, even our few bullets and ammunition ran out; only Martyr Olaj still had a few RPG rounds. While we fired sparingly and calculatedly, the Iraqis' extravagance was boundless. If we were in their shoes, perhaps we would have done the same. We were pinned down. The enemy's cavalry and infantry had taken our breath away. Tileh Kooh outpost, with its small number of personnel, was surrounded. All night, until the outpost was completely surrounded, we had fired our last bullet. There were no more bullets left. Each of us only had one weapon and an empty magazine. We reluctantly took cover in the foxhole. Along the region, infantry forces stood step by step. This small number, against four armed divisions, had no opportunity or possibility for any resistance. The enemy's forces and ammunition outweighed ours.

Footnote

[1]. A fifth column refers to a group of people within the main society who secretly collaborate with enemies or undermine the larger group to which they are ostensibly loyal. This term has been common in military and political discourse since the Spanish Civil War. The term "fifth column" is virtually synonymous with espionage in meaning and concept; however, the difference is that a spy works to the detriment and harm of a foreigner, and does not disregard the benefit and interest of their own nation and country, even at the cost of their life; whereas a fifth column does not convey this meaning, but rather its members, knowingly or unknowingly, work to the detriment and harm of their own people and to the benefit of foreigners. During the imposed war, the enemy's fifth column referred to mercenary traitors and internal eclectic and deviant leftist and rightist parties and groups who acted as infiltrating forces for the enemy and... The prime examples of the enemy's fifth column were political groups hostile to the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, Komalah, and monarchists. These groups, in addition to gathering information for the enemy, also carried out military actions in Kurdistan and Kermanshah.

[2]. United Nations Peacekeeping Forces

[3]. The unknown martyr of captivity, Mohammad Farnaghi, was from a village in Khomein. We were together in the engineering battalion of the 77th Victorious Khorasan Division and were captured together. In 1989, when infectious diseases spread among the children of Camp Tikrit 16, he became severely ill. Due to the negligence of the Iraqis and the delay in sending him to the hospital, Mohammad's body became so weak that he eventually passed away.

[4]. The late freed prisoner, Davood Golmakani, was the commander of the engineering battalion and a senior force from Khorasan who passed away in 2011.

[5]. In a hidden part of Tikrit 5 camp, as well as the short-term Nahrawan camp, there were missing prisoners of war who were transferred to other camps before their release and the presence of Red Cross representatives.

[6]. Later, we realized that the division headquarters had been completely surrounded by the Iraqis, and there was no possibility of contact with them; in fact, the commanders of the brigades and battalions were acting independently.

[7]. Sha'banali Sadeghian was captured while suffering from a severed spinal cord.

[8]. Baqer Heidari, a veteran and freed prisoner of war, was captured in the same operation while wounded.

[9]. Martyr Hossein Akhundzadeh was martyred after his release due to the same injury.

[10]. The then-commander of the IRGC in Hamadan

[11]. This type of trench has an entrance and exit from both sides.

[12]. Martyr Morteza Olanj, the first trench guard, the first scout, and the first martyr of the Hamadan IRGC, fought with only an RPG until the last moment and until the last bullet he had in his quiver. After firing all his bullets, he threw himself into the heart of the enemy and continued fighting until he finally achieved the exalted status of martyrdom. No trace of this esteemed martyr has been found. During ten years of captivity, we repeatedly wrote to his family about his martyrdom through various methods, but they did not believe it and continued to wait with anticipation.

See also

• Captivity and captives
• Prisoners of war
• Camp

External links

Moment of capture recoverable from https://www.aparat.com/v/i758o30

Moment of capture of Operation Valfajr 6 fighters recoverable from https://www.aparat.com/v/jlr7567

Article Author

Farzaneh Ghaleh Ghavand