Bear Went over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan

The editor does a good job at translating Soviet-specific terms into the US/NATO vernacular.

The reader should pay paticular attention to the Soviet style map graphics - they are superior to US style graphics especially dealing the fluidity of a paticular action.


Horrid!!!   August 24, 2002
18 out of 29 found this review helpful

This is not a slight on Mr Grau who I believe was only the translator of this Soviet era text; however, do not expect to learn much from this book.

The translation is excellent, this book reads as if it was written in English. Unfortunately this is the only good thing I can say about this work.

The idea that the original collection of these vignettes was done at the Frunze academy, the equivalent of one of the US Military's war colleges, goes far in helping to explain the pathetic performance of the Soviet military in Afganistan, Chechnya, and their other post WWII encounters. The vignettes are poorly written, only include one point of view, and lack almost every aspect of detail that would normally be required in this sort of work. Yet, based on a vague outline consisting of at most 150 words that describe a three day offensive action the original authors at the Frunze academy would make sweeping "lessons learned" comments on the importance of intelligence, or the coorindation of fire and maneuver. Of course, beyond making these couple of statements, nothing of practical value in the area of tactics, techniques or procedures are provided to the reader.

The quality of these after action reviews are poor and they offer very little to learn from. For a comparison I would urge any reader to contact the US Army's Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth. The history department at the CGSC has produced numerous texts of the same type, but the quality is incomparably better.

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Death of a Thousand Cuts   December 3, 2001
Marco Antonio Abarca (Colorado)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

The Soviets experienced in Afghanistan the slow death of a thousand cuts. In his book, "The Bear Went Over the Mountain", Lester Grau carefully examines some of those small cuts. The book consists of a number of short vignettes written principally by Soviet Platoon and Company Leaders. In these short narratives, these leaders describe their combat experiences in such realms as ambush, convoy escort and urban fighting. At the end of the story, there is the Frunze Military Academy analysis of the narrative in which the strengths and weaknesses of the action are analyized. The vignettes end with Lt. Col. Grau's analysis of the action.

This book is not for someone looking for a general military history of the Soviet experience in Afghanistan. It is a book about small unit tactics and about what works and what fails. I only hope that this valuable book and his other book, "The Other Side of the Mountain" is being ready by young American Platoon and Company leaders currently fighting in Afghanistan.

I obtained both books through Amazon.com UK.


An Excellent Russian View of the War in Afghanistan   February 2, 2001
R. A Forczyk (Laurel, MD USA)
13 out of 16 found this review helpful

This book is a series of vignettes by Russian officers at the Frunze Military Academy on their experiences in Afghanistan, ranging from attack, defense, raids and reconnaissance. Oddly, the Russians typically misused their reconnaissance units in a combat role. Most Soviet units were seriously undermanned - usually only about 30% strength. Lack of a real counterinsurgency doctrine was a serious handicap. The sketch maps are very good, despite use of Soviet symbology.


Easy Read   August 2, 2001
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

An easy read that points out both Soviet flaws and outstanding performances in their battle to overcome the guerillas of Afghanistan in the 1908s. Superbly translated from an official Russian document. One of the few Soviet documents accurately showing their fame and faults that ever made it out of the country. A MUST read if you care at all about what the Soviet military was involved in during the 1980s.