Galeotti, Mark/Stacey, mark (Illustr.)/Shumate, Johnny (Illustr.) Storm-333. KGB and Spetsnaz seize Kabul, Soviet-Afghan War 1980

"Storm-333", the operation to seize Kabul and assassinate Afghan leader Hafizullah Amin, was at once a textbook success and the start of a terrible blunder. It heralded the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, an operation intended to be a short, largely symbolic show of force, yet which quickly devolved into a gritty ten-year counter-insurgency that Moscow was never able to win. Nonetheless, "Storm-333" was a striking success, and despite initial concerns that it would be an impossible achievement, it saw a relative handful of Soviet special forces drawn from the KGB and the military seize the heavily defended presidential palace, neutralise the city's communications and defences, and open Kabul to occupation. The lessons learned then are still valid today, and have been incorporated into modern Russian military practice, visible most recently in the seizure of Crimea in 2014. Written by a recognised expert on the Soviet security forces, drawing extensively on Russian sources, and fully illustrated with commissioned artwork, this is the most detailed and compelling study of this fascinating operation available in English

A handful of Soviet special forces, selected from the KGB and the military, eventually succeeded in capturing the heavily defended presidential palace in Kabul and cutting communications, which opened the door to the Soviet invasion at the time. The lessons learnt at the time are still valid today and have been incorporated into modern Russian military practice, most recently seen in the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014. Written by a recognised expert on Soviet security forces who relies extensively on Russian sources, this is a detailed and compelling study of this fascinating operation at the beginning of the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan.