Hassan Bagheri | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | حسن باقری |
| Birth name | Qolamhossein Afshordi |
| Born | (1956-03-16)March 16, 1956 |
| Died | January 29, 1983(1983-01-29) (aged 26) |
| Allegiance |  Imperial State of Iran(1978–1979)  Iran(1979–1983) |
| Branch | Imperial Iranian Army IRGC |
| Service years | 1978–1983 |
| Unit |  IRGC Ground Forces |
| Commands | 5th Nasr Division Karbala base Darkhoveyn axis |
| Conflicts | |
| Awards | Order of Fath 2[1] |
| Alma mater | Urmia University University of Tehran |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 girl:Narges |
Hassan Bagheri (bornQolamhossein Afshordi; March 16, 1956 – January 29, 1983)[2] was an Iranian military officer and journalist,[3] and prominent military figure in theIran-Iraq War. He served as the deputy commander of theIRGC Ground Forces during the war,[4] and was one of the senior IRGC commanders that played a key role in theSecond Battle of Khorramshahr.[5]
Bagheri waskilled in action by a mortar shell in January 1983, shortly before the start of theOperation Before the Dawn during reconnaissance operations inFakkeh.[6] He was the brother ofMohammad Bagheri, former chief of theIranian Armed Forces.
Qolamhossein Afshordi was born on March 16, 1956 nearKhorasan Square inTehran,Iran. His family was fromAfshord, a village inHeris,East Azerbaijan province.[7] He attended Motarjem al-Dowleh School and Marvi High School.[8]
In 1975, after obtaining a mathematicsdiploma, he began to studyAnimal husbandry at the Faculty of Agriculture ofUrmia University. After theIranian revolution, he enrolled in theIranian University Entrance Exam after receiving a literary diploma in June 1979. He was ranked 104th in entrance exam, so he was admitted atTehran University in the field of judicial law.[9]
In March 1978, Afshordi was conscripted into theImperial Iranian Army. Upon completing training, he was transferred toIlam in theJaldian Garrison. During his military service, he became friends with the scholars ofIlam and especially Sadri (formerImam of Friday Prayer ofIlam.[citation needed] When it became known that he divulged military information he was no longer trusted and sent to work as a driver.[citation needed] In 1979, he deserted from the army and took part in theIranian Revolution as apartisan.[4][10] During the outbreak of therevolution, he, along with other relatives and friends, was present in the capture of14 Police Station andEshratabad Barracks inTehran.[9]
Afshordi was active in theIslamic Revolution Committees and some other institutions until May 1979.[10] In 1979, he started his activity by entering the cultural and political service section of theIslamic Republican newspaper.[4] During this period, at theinvitation of the United Nations, he made a 15-day trip toLebanon andJordan on behalf of this newspaper as a reporter, and during this trip, he prepared a comprehensive analytical report on the troubled situation of Muslims in that regions.[10][11] After returning in June 1979, he got a diploma in literature and then took part in the university entrance exam again and was accepted with the 104th rank in the judicial law department ofTehran University.[10]
At the beginning of 1980, he joined theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).[4] This was where Afshordi changed his name to Hassan Bagheri as anom de guerre.[4][10] His job in the Intelligence Section was to identify anti-government rebel groups.[11]
With the start of the Iran-Iraq war, on September 22, 1980, Hassan Bagheri along with some IRGC members, went to the south of the country, when the position of the Iraqi forces was established inKhuzestan.[10][12]Yahya Rahim Safavi considers Hassan Bagheri one of the genius commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.[13] During the time Hassan Bagheri was in the war, using the experiences he gained during his time as a journalist in Iran and Lebanon, he collected information, maps and operational calculations and record audios on the fronts of Iran and turned these documents into organized reports.[12]
Bagheri left for the southern front on September 23, 1980 and set up a combat intelligence unit from the moment he arrived. He personally penetrated the positions of the units of theIraqi Army's3rd Corps in order to obtain information about the enemy's situation.[14]
Bagheri is the founder of IRGC Intelligence and Operations Unit.[15][16] From the beginning of his arrival inAhvaz atMontazerane Shahadat Base, in order to obtain appropriate information about the enemy's position, along with intelligence elements, he collected maps and implemented the situation of operational areas on them. His activities in this field by organizing intelligence elements and conducting a brief training for them, led to the establishment of the Intelligence and Operations Unit in the Southern Operations Headquarters. After about 3 months from the start of the war, these units were deployed in all southern axes (fromAbadan toDezful).[9][10]
Hassan Bagheri had a great talent in analyzing the enemy's information and predicting possible movements of the Iraqi army in the future.[citation needed] One of his predictions in December 1980 was regarding the movement of Iraqi army forces to join the north-south axis ofSusangerd region to connectJafir andBostan, which Iraq did less than a week after Bagheri's prediction with the installation of numerous military bridges and extensive efforts.[9][10]
He was elected as one of the deputies of the southern operation headquarters in December 1980 and played an important role in the defeat of the siege ofSusangerd, the operation ofImam Mahdi, theOperation Fath ol-Mobin, liberation of the heights ofAllah Akbar andDehlaviyeh. These battles were carried out in a situation where the regular operations of the internal forces had encountered problems and often remained without results. After the removal ofAbolhassan Banisadr and according to the political conditions of that time in Iran, Bagheri participated in theOperation Farmandeh Kole Ghowa and after the injury ofYahya Rahim Safavi, he took over the leadership of the operation.[10]
Hassan Bagheri, who was in charge of theDarkhoveyn axis andMahshahr road in theOperation Samen-ol-A'emeh, played a role in planning, organizing, and obtaining news and information from the enemy in the operation to break thesiege of Abadan[10]
In theOperation Tariq al-Quds, when a joint headquarters was established between theIRGC and theIranian Army for the first time, Bagheri was present at the headquarters of the joint operations command as the deputy commander of the IRGC.[10]
Hassan Bagheri was injured in an accident at night during the preparation stage of the operation and was taken to the hospital. His brother says about this:[10]
"In the hospital, at moments when it was not known whether he would survive or not, and even though he could hardly speak, he asked: What aboutSabeleh Bridge in the operation?"
Although he was ordered to take complete medical rest for a month, he left the hospital after a week and returned to the southern operation headquarters.[10]
Hassan Bagheri was in charge of theNasr camp during theFath ol-Mobin,Beit ol-Moqaddas andRamadan operations.[4][5]
According to the size of the operational area, before the start of theOperation Fath ol-Mobin, four camps were identified to control and guide the operation. Due to the greater sensitivity of the northern axis of the region, Hassan Bagheri was chosen as the commander ofNasr camp (joint army and IRGC camp) in this faction. In the first stage of theFath ol-Mobin operation,Nasr camp successfully achieved all the set goals. Also, in the second phase of the operation, the Iranian forces captured theRadar Heights (calledAbusalbikhat).[10][17]
Bagheri presented the plan of theBeit ol-Moqaddas operation for the liberation ofKhorramshahr in theKarbala camp and in the presence of other commanders.[18] In this plan, 40,000 to 50,000 troops were transferred from theKarun River to the enemy's positions at night to capture the enemy's main points.[19] The plan of this operation was reviewed and approved for 20 days and nights in theKarbala camp with the active presence of Hasan Bagheri,Ali Sayad Shirazi,Gholam Ali Rashid,Mohsen Rezaee,Yahya Rahim Safavi and other commanders of units and divisions of the IRGC and the army.[18]
During theSecond Battle of Khorramshahr, Bagheri's forces in theNasr camp, by encircling the enemy and preventing their advance in theShalamcheh area, provided the ground for the break the siege and liberation of Khorramshahr by theFath camp.[10][20]
During theOperation Ramadan, which began on July 14, 1982, in theShalamcheh operational area, which is east of the southern Iraqi city ofBasra, the forces under Bagheri's command passed through explosive traps and mines, and reached a depth of 27 kilometers into the Iraqi territory and near the city of Basra.[4][5]
After the end of the disastrous Ramadan operation, in which theNasr camp participated as a precautionary force,[10] Bagheri was appointed byMohsen Rezaee, the commander in chief of the IRGC at the time, to the command of theKarbala camp[4] and the deputy commander in the southern camps.[10][21] In thecamp of Karbala, while laying the foundation for theoperation of Muslim ibn Aqil, Bagheri also planned theoperation of Muharram.[10] After the successful completion of the Muharram operation, Bagheri was appointed as the deputy commander of theIRGC ground unit.[10]
Bagheri was hit by a mortar shell and killed on January 29, 1983[2] shortly before the start of theOperation Before the Dawn, along with a group of members of the IRGC, while conducting reconnaissance operations inFakkeh area, in theKhuzestan Province.[22] Also after the impact of the mortar shell, Tawakkul Qalavand (Deputy Intelligence Officer of Najaf Base) and Majid Baqaei were also killed andMorteza Saffari was seriously injured. Hassan Bagheri was 26 years old when he died.[10] His burial place isSection 24 Martyr Tomb ofBehesht-e Zahra. A highway in Tehran is named in his memory.[23]
Afshordi was very interested in staffing and training forces for command.Mehdi Zeinoddin is one of his most famous trainee, who later became the commander of the17th Ali ibn Abi Taleb Division. Also, Hossein Ali Turki, the first commander of the17th Ali ibn Abi Taleb Division was one of the trainee of Afshordi. Hossein Ali Turki was killed inShush on January 26, 1982 due to a mortar hit.[13] According toMohsen Rezaee, the commander of theIRGC during the war, the success of Iran's armed forces was achieved through the method of experimental development,[24] of which Hassan Bagheri was one of its experts and creators. This method led to the development of a defense system including defense thought, principles and rules of operation, military doctrine and principles and rules of war for Iran.[24] This method was based on logical principles and basic experiences in the first year of the battle between Iran and Iraq forces, which was built with the help of logical principles from the basic experiences of revolutionary defense knowledge. Documentation of experiences and experimental conceptualization and development of knowledge is the basic axis of this method.[25][26][27][28]
Hassan Bagheri married Parvin Daeepoor in August 1981, whom he had a daughter with and named her Narges.[29]
The most important works that have been published so far about Hassan Bagheri (Qolamhossein Afshordi) are(All inPersian):[30]
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