Review of First Lieutenant; Diver

Malihe Kamaledin
Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

2021-4-27

First Lieutenant;Diver is the memoirs of Mohsen Ja’mbozorg, compiled by Mohsen Seifikar and published by Surah Mehr Publications in collaboration with the Hamedan Hozeh Honari at 2019.

Mohsen Ja’mbozorg was one of the divers of the operations information unit in Hamedan 32nd Ansar al-Hussein Division, who was sent to the front by the Hamedan Education Office and was present in Operations Valfajr 2, Valfajr 5, Valfajr 8, and Ansar on Majnoon Island. He was finally captured by the enemy in Operation Karbala 4, with very severe injuries.

The book begins with a brief preface and then is divided into twenty-six chapters which ends with indexes. In the preface of the book, it can be read: ‘His story [Mohsen Ja’mbozorg] is a special one in which he experiences two prisons at the height of the war during two years and survives both. This self-awareness begins from the heights of "Haj Imran" in 1983 and ends in Karbala IV in the Arvand and begins again by the providence of God and this cycle is repeated several times. He is accurate, fair and selfless in narrating. Ja’mbozorg even narrates things people usually avoid of telling them. His narration is full of honesty and trustworthiness.

The first three chapters are about the narrator's childhood, adolescence, and military service. Born on the May 31, 1953, he spoke of his family, education, interest in volleyball, and his military service in these three chapters. The fourth chapter deals with the victory of the Islamic Revolution and the holding of the Islamic Republic referendum; and then, the story of narrator’s dispatch to the war. In the following chapters, how the narrator's participate in the operations can be read.

The chapter nine includes the overturning of a jeep and the narrator’s imprisonment. The eighteenth chapter is a complete narration of Mohsen Ja’mbozorg’s hajj in 1985, before Operation Valfajr 8.

The twenty-third chapter describes how the narrator was captured during Operation Karbala IV. This chapter, which is a small evidence of oppressed diver-warriors, reads: After the explosion, the Iraqis came up to me and then I just realized that I've been captured and what the hell happened for me! At that moment, I remembered the narration of Imam Hussein (as), Karbala, and the caravan of prisoners. I consoled myself that the continuation of my mission and jihad should be in captivity; of course, if I survive! Even it is a good opportunity to learn Arabic, and what other promises did I gave myself at beginning of captivity! In addition to those two, other Iraqis approached one by one; it was just like a crow that croaks and calls all other crows. So, many crows stood around me to see a diver officer up close. The Arabic term "ملازم غواص، ملازم اول" was their croak, and I realized that they said “First Lieutenant”; Oh, what a misfortune!

In the next chapters, the narrations of Mohsen Ja’mbozorg from the days of captivity are given. His memoirs of treatment in the hospital and his transfer to Al-Rasheed barracks and the problems of the camp can be read in these three chapters. Finally, in the twenty-sixth, the final chapter, the story of his liberation and that of his friends is narrated.

This book has been published and released in 708 pages, trim size, 1250 copies, and a price of one hundred thousand Tomans.