Hassan Bagheri
Hassan Bagheri was an Iranian military officer and journalist, and prominent military figure in the Iran-Iraq War. He served as the deputy commander of the IRGC Ground Forces during the war, and was one of the senior IRGC commanders that played a key role in the Second Battle of Khorramshahr.
Bagheri was killed in action by a mortar shell in January 1983, shortly before the start of the Operation Before the Dawn during reconnaissance operations in Fakkeh. He was the brother of Mohammad Bagheri, former chief of the Iranian Armed Forces.
Early life
Qolamhossein Afshordi was born on March 16, 1956 near Khorasan Square in Tehran, Iran. His family was from Afshord, a village in Heris, East Azerbaijan province. He attended Motarjem al-Dowleh School and Marvi High School.Education
In 1975, after obtaining a mathematics diploma, he began to study Animal husbandry at the Faculty of Agriculture of Urmia University. After the Iranian revolution, he enrolled in the Iranian University Entrance Exam after receiving a literary diploma in June 1979. He was ranked 104th in entrance exam, so he was admitted at Tehran University in the field of judicial law.Military service
In March 1978, Afshordi was conscripted into the Imperial Iranian Army. Upon completing training, he was transferred to Ilam in the Jaldian Garrison. During his military service, he became friends with the scholars of Ilam and especially Sadri (former Imam of Friday Prayer of Ilam. When it became known that he divulged military information he was no longer trusted and sent to work as a driver. In 1979, he deserted from the army and took part in the Iranian Revolution as a partisan. During the outbreak of the revolution, he, along with other relatives and friends, was present in the capture of 14 Police Station and Eshratabad Barracks in Tehran.Post–Iranian revolution and military career
Afshordi was active in the Islamic Revolution Committees and some other institutions until May 1979. In 1979, he started his activity by entering the cultural and political service section of the Islamic Republican newspaper. During this period, at the invitation of the United Nations, he made a 15-day trip to Lebanon and Jordan 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. 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 of Tehran University.At the beginning of 1980, he joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This was where Afshordi changed his name to Hassan Bagheri as a nom de guerre. His job in the Intelligence Section was to identify anti-government rebel groups.
Role in the Iran-Iraq war
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 in Khuzestan. Yahya Rahim Safavi considers Hassan Bagheri one of the genius commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 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.Intelligence and combat unit
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 the Iraqi Army's 3rd Corps in order to obtain information about the enemy's situation.Bagheri is the founder of IRGC Intelligence and Operations Unit. From the beginning of his arrival in Ahvaz at Montazerane 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.
Hassan Bagheri had a great talent in analyzing the enemy's information and predicting possible movements of the Iraqi army in the future. One of his predictions in December 1980 was regarding the movement of Iraqi army forces to join the north-south axis of Susangerd region to connect Jafir and Bostan, which Iraq did less than a week after Bagheri's prediction with the installation of numerous military bridges and extensive efforts.
Deputy of the Southern Operations Headquarters
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 of Susangerd, the operation of Imam Mahdi, the Operation Fath ol-Mobin, liberation of the heights of Allah Akbar and Dehlaviyeh. 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 of Abolhassan Banisadr and according to the political conditions of that time in Iran, Bagheri participated in the Operation Farmandeh Kole Ghowa and after the injury of Yahya Rahim Safavi, he took over the leadership of the operation.Darkhoveyn axis command
Hassan Bagheri, who was in charge of the Darkhoveyn axis and Mahshahr road in the Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh, played a role in planning, organizing, and obtaining news and information from the enemy in the operation to break the siege of AbadanOperation Tariq al-Quds
In the Operation Tariq al-Quds, when a joint headquarters was established between the IRGC and the Iranian Army for the first time, Bagheri was present at the headquarters of the joint operations command as the deputy commander of the IRGC.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:
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.
Command of Nasr camp
Hassan Bagheri was in charge of the Nasr camp during the Fath ol-Mobin, Beit ol-Moqaddas and Ramadan operations.Operation Fath ol-Mobin
According to the size of the operational area, before the start of the Operation 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 of Nasr camp in this faction. In the first stage of the Fath ol-Mobin operation, Nasr camp successfully achieved all the set goals. Also, in the second phase of the operation, the Iranian forces captured the Radar Heights.Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas
Bagheri presented the plan of the Beit ol-Moqaddas operation for the liberation of Khorramshahr in the Karbala camp and in the presence of other commanders. In this plan, 40,000 to 50,000 troops were transferred from the Karun River to the enemy's positions at night to capture the enemy's main points. The plan of this operation was reviewed and approved for 20 days and nights in the Karbala 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.During the Second Battle of Khorramshahr, Bagheri's forces in the Nasr camp, by encircling the enemy and preventing their advance in the Shalamcheh area, provided the ground for the break the siege and liberation of Khorramshahr by the Fath camp.