Rahim Afshar's Memories
Translated By Mandana Karimi
2026-6-19
Rahim Afshar, a fighter in the Holy Defense and narrator of the book Sayeh-ye Tak (Shadow of the Vine), was a guest on the 284th Night of Remembrance program (October 2017). He spoke about the enemy's attack on the anniversary of the founding of the Iraqi Baath Party. Nabavi said: "O humble servant, I am the memory of eleven people from the group of personnel who entered the 120 mm mortar unit in 1983 and when the war ended in 1988, two of us remained out of the eleven. Another person was the late Mohammad Pourali Rafiei who passed away in 1999 due to complications from a chemical injury and was not considered a martyr. The bravery of the 450,000 army and ground forces personnel who were present at the front 18 months before the war and are still present today in Syria and the border areas of the country. On July 16, 1987, the enemy attacked Hill 402 in the Somar area. At that time, we had been on the front line for about 9 months, and in order to rest a little, our battalion was brought back for a while and a fresh battalion was sent to Hill 402. Those days coincided with the 19th anniversary of the founding of the Iraqi Baath Party, and Saddam had made a declaration to his commanders that if a force could take Hill 402 from the Iranians, he would give them the same number of Benz cars. The commander of the Fourth Iraqi Corps accepted this responsibility. On July 16, 1987, that operation took place with five divisions against the 191st Battalion of the Zahedan Division, which had swapped places with us. They poured so much fire that if it weren’t for those trenches, not even an ant would have survived.
At 11:30 p.m., the 146th Battalion was ordered to return to its previous position. By the time the forces moved, it was 5:00 AM on the 17th of July. Iraq had taken control of the hill and had come down. That hill was a hill that if you stood on top of, you could see the entire Iraqi territory. By 5:00 PM that same day, with 70 to 80 casualties, the 146th Battalion had taken the hill from the Iraqis. On the 19th of July, two airborne battalions, the 126th and 135th, made a single infiltration into the Iraqi forces. This single raid confused them and Saddam said, "You promised to take that hill, so you must take it or else you will be executed." There was a sensitive point at the far left of the hill. There was a groove like a gutter there, where when the Iraqi forces were under pressure, they would come into that ravine to take refuge. We had a scout named Shukrallah Alipour, who was from the north. I told him not to ask for bullets from me until a force worth firing entered the area. The operation took place again at 10:30 PM. At the same time as the first Iraqi bullets, our first bullets were fired and we did not allow them to repeat the same thing.”
Let’s see this story below.
So far, 378 Holy Defense Remembrance Night programs have been held by Resistance Literature and Culture Researches and Studies Center and the Bureau for Literature and Art of Resistance of the Hozeh Honari and the next program held on Thursday, June 27, 2026.
Number of Visits: 13
The latest
- Rahim Afshar's Memories
- The Story of the First Sacred Defense Book Award
- Oral History and Social Resilience in Hard Times
- 100 Questions/ 34
- Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War Doctor – 34
- A Review of Scientific and Operational Strategies for Overcoming the Erosion of Narrators’ Memory
- 100 Questions/ 33
- Expert Panel Session on Oral History of the Country – (Part 2)
Most visited
- Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War Doctor – 33
- Expert Panel Session on Oral History of the Country – (Part 2)
- 100 Questions/ 33
- Memoirs of Ahmad Nabavi
- A Review of Scientific and Operational Strategies for Overcoming the Erosion of Narrators’ Memory
- Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War Doctor – 34
- 100 Questions/ 34
- Oral History and Social Resilience in Hard Times
Validation: Challenges and Necessities
Where does truth stand in oral history? How can the correctness of a narrative be recognized? Does fact-checking matter? If there is exaggeration in the reporting of some accounts, how can it be detected? Is it possible to record an event accurately through the recording of a narrative? Readers and users of oral history works are often faced with these questions, and sometimes encounter doubts about some oral history works.From Revolutionary Circles to the Military Arm of the Islamic Government
In those days, it became clear that certain institutions had to be established very quickly—institutions suited to the temperament, expectations, and lingering aspirations of the younger generation; young people who had been politically active before the Revolution and, in some cases, had been directly entangled in arrests, imprisonment, ...Authenticating Oral History: From Possibility to Necessity
The use of oral history as one of the historical sources has long been one of the principal challenges facing oral historians and those who employ it in contemporary historiography. The development of international standards for oral history, as well as IRIB standards, was intended to address the criticisms raised in this regard. The relationship between Diplomatics in written records and oral history is reciprocal.100 Questions/27
What is the place of research ethics in compiling oral history?We asked several researchers and activists in the field of oral history to express their views on oral history questions. The names of each participant are listed at the beginning of their answers, and the text of all answers will be published on this portal by the end of the week.
