The Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War-41

By Mujtaba Al-Husseini
Translated From Arabic by: Muhammad Hussein Zavar-Kaaba
Machine Translation edited by Mandana Karimi

2026-8-2

The Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War-41

By Mujtaba Al-Husseini
Translated From Arabic by: Muhammad Hussein Zavar-Kaaba
Machine Translation edited by Mandana Karimi

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12- Zain Al-Qaws Regiment:

The forces of the Fifth and Ninth Divisions were stationed a few kilometers apart. Several rivers passed near their headquarters. In late 1981, the water level began to decrease. Therefore, they brought the Zain Al-Qaws tank battalion to this area to be stationed on the front lines and compensate for the weakness of these lines due to the lowering of the level of this natural obstacle. A number of the tanks of this old unit were T-54s and out of order. Our battalion took possession of three of these tanks for its own support and handed them over to Lieutenant Khalil. They stationed these tanks in front of the regiment headquarters. The tanks looked like little mounds that were not used much due to their inoperability, but were constantly being repaired. One day, the regiment commander ordered them to test them by firing a few rounds. Their crews targeted houses in the village of Kuheh, but despite their size, none of the rounds hit the houses. This worried the battalion commander, who said to Lieutenant Khalil, “How can these tanks be used against Iranian attacks?”

Lieutenant Khalil replied, “These tanks are old and worn out, and they cannot be used in a fight against Iranian tanks.”

The battalion commander mockingly said, “It would be better to paint them green and fly green flags on them so that the Iranians would think that these are the Sayyids, so that we and you would be safe from their fire!”

Everyone laughed. The fact is that the Iraqi regime used everything it could to serve the war, even weapons and equipment that were out of date.13- Doctors’ Conference:

In the same year, the 11th Medical Unit invited all the doctors of the 20th Brigade to hold a meeting at the brigade headquarters located southwest of the Hamid Barracks. I went there. Colonel Qahtan, who was a doctor and deputy commander of the 5^th Division, gave a speech. Referring to the duties of the medical teams, the responsibilities of the doctors, and the method of evacuating the wounded and injured, he said that he had prepared a number of helicopters for this purpose. He also made a speech about chemical and microbial weapons. At the end of the speech, the attendees presented their shortcomings and suggestions. In the meantime, one of the doctors present at the meeting asked about the possibility of the use of chemical and microbial weapons by Iranian forces. Colonel Qahtan replied, “We have information indicating that Iranian forces are planning to use such weapons.”

However, the passage of time proved the opposite. It turned out that Iraq had been preparing itself to use this weapon since then; and for this reason, it was preparing the Iraqi army for this purpose, both psychologically and militarily. At the end of the meeting, I met one of my classmates, Dr. Nabil Maybaran Saeed. He said, “I have recently come to the front and am currently serving in the “Zain Al-Qaws ” tank battalion.”

After some introductions, questions, and answers, it turned out that he had been sent to the front because of a verbal dispute with a female doctor at “Al-Rashid” Hospital. He also told me that he had been imprisoned in the city security organization prison due to another dispute with a female nurse at “Al-Samawah” Hospital. The nurse had falsely accused him of speaking ill of Saddam Hussein. Since the nurse was an informant for the Intelligence and Security Organization, they had confirmed his story. I was in constant contact with him, because the positions of the "Zain al-Qaws" battalion were located near our regiment. However, after a month, I did not see him again, and whenever I tried to contact him, they said he was not there or had gone on leave. Until one day, I went to the headquarters of their medical team. There, one of the nurses told me: "Dr. Nabil has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison, because he was accused of disrupting hospital affairs."

14- Political Justification Board

In late August 1981 / early September 1981, all the duty officers were invited to the administrative headquarters of the 20th Brigade. I asked the deputy commander of the battalion why. He said, "A delegation from the Ministry of Defense has come and wants to meet with the duty officers."

I said, "What do they want?"

He said, "I don't know?"

The next morning, I went to the brigade headquarters with several other officers from the battalion. Along the way, Lieutenant Jassim, the English language secretary, asked me, “Why are you sad?”

I said, “I’m worried about this meeting.”

He asked, “Why are you worried?”

I said, “I’m worried that they’ll ask us to serve permanently in the army.”

He said, “They can’t.”

I said, “They’ve done this before with a group of engineers who were sent to the Soviet Union in 1976 to teach how to use missiles.”

The meeting was held at ten in the morning. The delegation was headed by Major Khezr Ali from the General Directorate of Political Justification of the Army.

The aforementioned brother of Hassan Ali was the Minister of Commerce. Major Khezr Ali, while discussing the war, the fronts, and the Iranian government, proposed that the officers on active duty serve voluntarily and permanently, because, according to him, they would enjoy many privileges. After him, the other members of the delegation gave speeches. In the end, Major "Khezr" repeated his suggestion, but did not hear a response. Everyone was silent. After he got frustrated, he started threatening and insulting. They had prepared a fatty lunch, which somewhat alleviated the discomfort of those present. In the afternoon, we returned to the battalion with concern.

15- The drying up of the waters:

The waters that the Iranians had left in the restricted area at the beginning of the war gradually dried up during the summer of 1981. A lot of plants and reeds grew in the flooded area. Many fish also gathered behind the earthen dam, which were delicious food for us. A large area of ​​the restricted area, especially near the second and third companies, had dried up, which made our forces worried about the launch of a new attack by the Iranians. Because drying up the waters meant preparing a suitable ground for an attack.

After some time in the summer, I allocated three small plots of land to plant edible vegetables such as radishes, basil, and watercress. The area of ​​each of them was over 12 meters. I felt happy when I saw them. The sparrows gathered, multiplying the beauty of the scenery.

During the day, I would place my chair near these small gardens and read the magazines and newspapers I had at my disposal. I imagined that I was sitting in a garden.

To be Continued …