Title:I SERVE THE SOVIET UNION (ISTSU): CONSOLIDATED EQUIPMENT APPEARANCE TAPE NO 19 [Main Title]
Film Number:MIL 208
Other titles:
Summary: British Armed Forces intelligence film consisting of various scenes of Soviet units engaged in training and operations.
Description: Artillery fire, including the launch of Katyusha rockets, is followed by scenes of tanks and armoured personnel carriers advancing, crossing rivers by snorkel and pontoon and refuelling. General Yazov (appointed as Soviet Defence Minister in May 1987) gives a speech on Glasnost to a group of military personnel, and the scene returns to tanks and artillery in the field. Warships at sea fire their main armament, MiG 21 'Fishbed' and Sukhoi 7 'Fitter' aircraft attack ground targets, paratroops drop from an Ilyushin 76 'Candid' transport aircraft, then further scenes of tanks, armoured personnel carriers, infantry, artillery and possible Spetsnaz (special forces) engaged in operations in Afghanistan. MiG 29 'Fulcrum' aircraft take off and fly a formation aerobatic display. Civilians, including children, and senior officers look over a MiG 29 in a hangar, then further scenes of operations in Afghanistan, mainly of BMP-2 armoured personnel carriers and surface to air missile launchers. Footage of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan includes scenes of damaged vehicles, injured soldiers and military vehicles in convoy; part of this section includes an English language voiceover. Mohammad Najibullah, the president of Afghanistan, appears, speaking to soldiers and awarding medals.
