Defapress - Jahanara had Warned Banisadr of the Possibility of Iraq's Attack before the Onset of the War / The Presence of Aghajari Forces in Khorramshahr

Jahanara constantly reported the movements of the enemy on the border to Banisadr even months before 22nd of September 1980 and even brought several officials to investigate the situation in Khorramshahr and the border. But none of these were effective and unfortunately, the Iraqis reached the gates of the city in the early days of their invasion.

DefaPress - September 22nd of 1980, Iraq was bombing Khorramshahr with mortars heavily. The Ba'ath Party of Iraq had revealed its old enmity. Jahanara's men and a small group of troops from Aghajari had reached Khoramshahr and were the only groups standing in front of the fully equipped army of Iraq.

In such days, a 19 year old, Faramarz Norouzi, grabbed his rifle and joined the battalion in Khormashahr to defend the city. Wounded in the war, he talks to Defapress about his experience in Khorramshahr under fire:

In fact, Khorramshahr was fighting several months before the start of war in September 22nd of 1980 and the Iraqi army had committed atrocities in this region. Soldiers like "Abbas Farhan Asadi" and "Moosa Bakhtoor" who were volunteer forces against Iraq were martyred in unofficial battles (the time when Iraq hadn't started the Mehrabad Airport bombing in September 22n.)

I entered Khorramshahr battalion several months before the war as a reserve unit or in other words, a volunteer force. At that time, Khorramshahr - as one of the closest cities to the Iraqi border with only Arvand river between the two countries - was constantly under Iraqi fire.

For instance, if someone wanted to shoot Iran from other side of the river, he could easily do so  with a rifle, let alone the 60 mm mortar or artillery attacks on every part of the city.

We had a different set of incidents in Khorramshahr with the onset of the war on 22nd of September 1980. This time Iraq expanded its invasion and the Iraqi army started firing rural areas and Khorramshahr went up in flames. We could hear the sound of the ambulance siren in every part of the city. They were transferring the injured to Mosaddeq Hospital.

In the early days of the war, more than 300 injured were in Mosaddeq Hospital. It was so crowded that there was not empty space even in the surrounding area.

After the clashes between Iraq and Iran after the onset of the war, Aghajari forces were first to reach Khorramshahr for help, since Aghajari was one the closest cities. These forces were informed of the events of Khorramshahr since the beginning of the sporadic border clashes and they came to the battle zone as soon as the situation escalated with the official attack of Iraq to Iran.

In addition to these forces who were fighting in Khayyen military post between Khorramshahr and Shalamcheh and were standing against the advancement of Iraqi forces, other forces from Bushehr Naval Base and the Military University arrived at Khorramshahr.

"Morteza Qorbani" came from Isfahan with some Basiji and volunteerforces . Colonel "Namjoo" came from Tehran with a group from the Military University.

In hope of getting armed in Khorramshahr, these forces were mostly empty handed upon their arrival. But in Khorramshahr we only had M1s and other common rifles.

With his oppositions, Bani Sadr as the commander in chief barred the transfer of weapons to the fronts and our forces had almost nothing in their hands to defend against the Iraqi army who were armed to the teeth. He thought that we can take land from the enemy with losing land. But even to the most novice military commander this logic was funny. Because common sense says no country is willing to give away even one bit of its land.

Before the all-out attack of Iraq to Khorramshahr, the intelligence forces of the city constantly reported the Iraqi deployment to Bani Sadr. But he as the commander in chief believed that war has rules and measures and a war has not erupted if the scale of invasions is less than that of a war! This led to the capturing of a vast area on our borders while our armed forces were preparing for a response attack.

The commander of Sepah forces in Khorramshahr, martyr "Muhammad Jahanara" was truly one of the forces who defended this city until his last breath. His courage is one of the most unique examples of self-sacrifice of a commander in the battle zone. This qualified commander of Khorramshahr constantly reported Iraqi deployment and their movements on the border to the commander in chief in Tehran even months before 22nd of September 1980 and even invited several then-officials and commanders to investigate the situation in Khorramshahr and the border. But none of these were effective and unfortunately, the Iraqis reached the gates of the city in the early days of their invasion.

Translated By: M.Rezaei - Defapress