Lester W. Grau

Last updated
Lester W. Grau
AllegianceFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Service/branch United States
Years of service- 1992
RankLieutenant Colonel
Battles/wars Vietnam War

Lester W. Grau is the Research Coordinator for the Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Defense Language Institute (Russian) and the U.S. Army's Institute for Advanced Russian and Eastern European Studies. He retired from the US Army in 1992 at the rank of lieutenant colonel. His military education included the Infantry Officers Basic and Advanced Courses, the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Air Force War College. His Baccalaureate and master's degrees are in International Relations. His doctorate is in Military History. He served a combat tour in Vietnam, four European tours, a Korean tour and a posting in Moscow. He has traveled to the Soviet Union and Russia over forty times. He has also been a frequent visitor to the Asian subcontinent, especially Pakistan and Afghanistan. He visited Iraq in October 2003. He is a recent CENTCOM Fellow.

Contents

Publications

Grau has published over one hundred articles and studies on tactical, operational and geopolitical subjects. [1] His book, The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan, a translation of a study by the Soviet Frunze Military Academy was published in 1996. The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War, co-authored with Ali Jalali, was published in 1998. The Soviet-Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost, a translation from a study prepared for the Russian General Staff, was published in 2000, and is almost 700 libraries. [2] The Partisan's Handbook, first published in the Soviet Union in 1942. and The Coils of the Anaconda: America's First Conventional Battle in Afghanistan were published in 2011. He is also republishing General Skeen's 1932 Passing It On: Short Talks on Tribal Fighting On the North-West Frontier of India.

He is an occasional contributor to the Journal of Slavic Military Studies. [3]

Books

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ali Jalali</span> Afghan politician, diplomat, and academic

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Operation Magistral was a Soviet Army military operation during the Soviet–Afghan War that began in late November 1987 and ended in early January 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panjshir offensives (Soviet–Afghan War)</span> Front of the Soviet–Afghan War

The Panjshir offensives were a series of battles from 1980 to 1985 between the Soviet Army and groups of Afghan mujahideen under Ahmad Shah Massoud. The goal of these offensives was control of the strategic Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan, during the Soviet–Afghan War of the 1980s.

The Battles of Zhawar were fought during the Soviet–Afghan War between Soviet Army units, and their allies of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against Afghan mujahideen groups. The Soviets' objective was to destroy the Mujahideen logistic base situated at Zhawar, 3 kilometers from the Pakistani border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khost (Matun) District</span> District in Khost Province, Afghanistan

Khost (Matun) District is situated in the central and eastern part of Khost Province, Afghanistan. The district center is the town of Khost. Khost Airfield is situated 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of the town of Khost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Afghanistan (1978–1992)</span> Period of Afghan history from 1978 to 1992

The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was the government of Afghanistan between 1978 and 1992. It was recognised diplomatically by only eight countries which were allies of the Soviet Union. It was ideologically close to and economically and militarily dependent on the Soviet Union, and was a major belligerent of the Afghan Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Arghandab (1987)</span>

The Battle of Arghandab was an offensive launched by Afghan government forces, supported by Soviet troops, against mujahideen strongholds in the Arghandab District of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, in 1987. The operation ended in failure, and the government forces withdrew after suffering heavy losses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Urgun</span> Battle of the Soviet–Afghan war

The siege of Urgun was a military engagement that took place during the Soviet–Afghan War. Between August 1983 and January 1984 Mujahideen forces laid siege to the town of Urgun, which was defended by a garrison of troops loyal to the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The mujahideen tried to take the town by storm using tanks, but despite making initial progress, they were eventually driven back and the siege was lifted.

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Alishang is a village, river and a fertile valley of Laghman Province, and also the district headquarters of Mihtarlam District, in eastern Afghanistan. It lies about 40 km northwest of Jalalabad.

Bagram District is a district of Parwan Province, Afghanistan. Its seat lies at Bagram, which lies about 60 kilometers north of the capital of Kabul. It borders Kabul District to the south, Shinwari District to the east, and Chaharikar District to the north.

Kokari-Sharshari or Kakari and Sharshari was a fortified supply depot in western Afghanistan, operated by mujaheddin as a logistic base in the 1980s during the Soviet invasion and at least up to 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilyas Daudi</span>

Iliyas Daudi is a former Soviet and Russian military serviceman, best known for being one of few veterans of the Soviet–Afghan War who was awarded the title Hero of Russian Federation.

<i>The Bear Went Over the Mountain</i> (1996 book)

The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan is a 1996 non-fiction book translated and edited by American military scholar and author Lester W. Grau. The book is translated from a study initially published by the Frunze Military Academy in 1991 titled "Combat Actions of Soviet Forces in the Republic of Afghanistan" and subtitled "A Thematic Collection of Tactical Examples." Grau received the original Russian language text from the Department of the History of the Military Art at the Frunze academy. With their permission he translated, included commentary, and published his results as this book.

<i>The Other Side of the Mountain</i> (1998 book)

The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahadeen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War is a 1998 non-fiction book written by former Afghan Army Colonel Ali Ahmad Jalali and American military scholar Lester W. Grau.

A battalion tactical group, abbreviated as BTG, is a combined-arms manoeuvre unit deployed by the Russian Army that is kept at a high level of readiness. A BTG typically comprises a battalion of two to four companies reinforced with air-defence, artillery, engineering, and logistical support units, formed from a garrisoned army brigade. A tank company and rocket artillery typically reinforce such groupings. BTGs formed the mainstay of Russia's military intervention in Ukraine from 2013 to 2015, particularly in the War in Donbas.

References

  1. WorldCat Identities
  2. WorldCat
  3. "Microsoft Academic Search". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2015-02-19. Retrieved 19 February 2015.