Gholam-Ali Pichak
Gholam-Ali Pichak (1959–1981) was one of the commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in western Iran. He was martyred during Operation Matla al-Fajr in Baraftab, Gilan-e Gharb.
Gholam-Ali Pichak was born on October 1, 1959, in Tehran.[1] He started school at the age of four[2] and graduated from high school in 1975. That same year, he began attending classes on Islamic beliefs, taught by Seyyed Muhammad Javad Sharafat at the Al-Hussain (AS) Mosque on Safa Street in Tehran.[3]
In 1977, Pichak was accepted into university and began studying nuclear energy sciences.[4] Alongside his university studies, he pursued Islamic education in a seminary, quickly completing the introductory courses and beginning the study of jurisprudence and philosophy.[5] The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran officially employed him on November 22, 1977.[6]
Pichak played an active role in the revolution, joining the committee for welcoming Imam Khomeini (RA) in February 1979.[7] He engaged in armed struggles against the Pahlavi regime and participated in critical events during February 10–11, 1979, particularly in the Tehran-No district clashes. He also took part in disarming military centers in Tehran, most notably the Eshratabad Barracks and the Air Force Base.[8]
After the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was established on April 22, 1979, Pichak joined the organization[9] and served in the cultural department of the IRGC’s[10] Sixth Region in Tehran, located on Kheradmand Street.[11] Later, with the formation of the Jahad-e Sazandegi Organization on June 17, 1979,[12] he went to Sistan and Baluchestan to teach at local schools.[13]
With the outbreak of the Kurdish insurgency,[14] Pichak, alongside Mustafa Chamran,[15] participated in the liberation of Paveh.[16] Soon after, he was dispatched by the IRGC to Gonbad to suppress the communist-led insurgency organized by the Turkmen People’s Headquarters, which had started in early 1979.[17] He then returned to Sanandaj, which had been under siege by anti-revolutionary forces.[18]
Pichak and his forces, part of the IRGC’s 9th Combat Battalion in western Iran,[19] played a crucial role in defeating anti-revolutionary elements in Sanandaj, breaking the siege of the Officers' Club of the 28th Army Division, and ending the months-long siege of the Baneh military base.[20] During a July 19, 1980, operation to clear villages around Sanandaj and Baneh, Pichak was injured and transferred to Tehran.[21]
When the Iran-Iraq War broke out on September 22, 1980,[22] Gholam-Ali Pichak went to Sarpol-e Zahab. Due to his impressive skills in managing the Kurdish conflict, he was appointed commander of the Sarpol-e Zahab region to lead operations in that area. Not long after, Muhammad Boroujerdi, the commander of the IRGC’s Seventh Region,[23] recognized Pichak’s military expertise and appointed him head of IRGC operations in western Iran.[24] He was officially made head of the Operations Unit at the IRGC’s Western Headquarters on December 22, 1980.[25]
Pichak planned and led several operations, including the Kolineh and Seyyed Sadeq operations,[26] conducted in the northern region of Sarpol-e Zahab on March 6, 1981.[27] On March 21, 1981, Pichak accepted a position at a school in Tehran.[28] However, he was already planning a large-scale operation to liberate parts of the western mountains of Iran from Iraqi occupation. Alongside Ali-Reza Movahed Danesh, he spent several months gathering intelligence on enemy lines. For the first time, a joint operation, called Bazideraz, was entrusted to the IRGC. Pichak attended all the meetings held with the Army regarding this operation.[29]
Pichak devised the general plan for Operation Bazideraz, entrusting Mohsen Vazvaei,[30] Mohsen Hajibaba (commander of the IRGC in Sarpol-e Zahab),[31] and Ali-Reza Movahed Danesh with leading the operation, while he personally oversaw its execution.[32] This operation, later known as the First Bazideraz Operation (Operation Velayat-e Faqih), was carried out on April 22, 1981.[33] He also led the Second Bazideraz Operation (Operation Martyrs Rajaei and Bahonar), which took place on September 2, 1981.[34] After the failure of this operation, Pichak was removed from his position as head of the Operations Unit of the IRGC’s Western Headquarters.[35]
In the meantime, Pichak returned to Tehran for his wedding, and on October 18, 1981, he married Mahboubeh Karbalaei.[36]
After the Second Bazideraz Operation, many members of the IRGC’s 9th Battalion left the western front. Shortly afterward, the 7th Battalion was deployed to the region to conduct defensive operations. A few months later, the 9th Battalion was redeployed.[37]
Pichak and his comrades spent nearly five months preparing the operational plan for what would later be known as Operation Matla al-Fajr.[38] On December 11, 1981, although no longer the operational commander in the region, Gholam-Ali Pichak, along with Ali-Reza Movahed Danesh and other comrades, deployed troops to the frontline and headed towards the Baraftab Heights in Gilan-e Gharb. During the operation on the Cham Imam Hasan (AS)[39] axis near Tang-e Qasemabad,[40] Pichak engaged in fierce combat with Saddam’s forces. He was shot in the neck and chest and was martyred.[41]
After several days, Pichak’s body was retrieved, during which two of his comrades were also martyred.[42] His funeral was held on December 17, 1981,[43] and he was laid to rest in Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery in Tehran.[44]
References:
- [1]
- [2] Vahidi Sadr, Mehdi, Gholam Ali Pichak (Permanent Faces 12), Tehran: Zolal Kausar, 2011, p.4
- [3] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, p. 60; Babaei, Gol Ali, those three men, Tehran: Ghoncheh, 2004, pp. 13 and 14.
- [4] Babaei, Gul Ali, Baghdad Front: The Operational Record of the Western Front in Eight Years of Sacred Defense, Tehran: Sa'eqa, 2016, p. 10720
- [5] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, p. 63; Babaei, Gol Ali, those three men, Tehran: Ghoncheh, 2004, p. 16.
- [6] Babaei, Gol Ali, those three men, p. 22.
- [7] Ibid., pp. 19 and 21; Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, pp. 62, 65, and 67.
- [8] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, p. 21.
- [9] Unnamed, days and events (Solar years), Qom: Payam Mahdi (Aj), Ch II, 1999, p.69.
- [10] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, p. 21.
- [11] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, pp. 67and 68.
- [12] Days and Events (Solar years), p.163.
- [13] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, p. 67.
- [14] Babaei, Gol Ali, those three men, pp. 23 and 24.
- [15] Days and Events (Solar years), p.166.
- [16] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, pp. 68 and 69.
- [17] Mansouri Javad, Oral History of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Tehran: Cultural and Artistic Institute and Islamic Revolution Documents Center Publications, Vol. 1, 2014, pp. 256 and 257.
- [18] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, p. 69.
- [19] Ibid., p. 99; Babaei, Gol Ali, The Three Men, p. 37.
- [20] Babaei, Gol Ali, The Three Men, pp. 71 and 78.
- [21] Babaei, Gol Ali, The Three Men, pp. 29, 35, 36, 39, and 48.
- [22] Days and Events (Solar years), p.314.
- [23] Babaei, Gol Ali, The Three Men, p. 49.
- [24] Babaei, Gol Ali, The Three Men, p. 89.
- [25] Babaei, Gol Ali, Baghdad Jebheh, p. 107; Babaei, Gul Ali, Those Three Men, p. 53.
- [26] Dari, Hossein, Guide Atlas 7: War in Kermanshah, Tehran: Center for War Studies and Research of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, 2005, p. 94.
- [27] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, p. 97.
- [28] Babaei, Gol Ali, The Three Men, pp. 22 and 105.
- [29] Ibid., pp. 60 and 61; Babaei, Gol Ali, The Oghaban Bazyderaz, p. 97.
- [30] Babaei, Gol Ali, The Three Men, p. 61.
- [31] Babaei, Gol Ali, Baghdad Jebheh, p. 99.
- [32] Guide Atlas 7. P. 98.
- [33] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, pp. 97 and 99; Babaei, Gol Ali, those three men. P. 61.
- [34] Guide Atlas 7. P. 100.
- [35] Babaei, Gol Ali, Baghdad Jebheh, p. 107.
- [36] Babaei, Gol Ali, Shahin Baraftab, 27 Besat Publications, Tehran: Vol:1, 2018, p. 308.
- [37] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, p. 99; Babaei, Gol Ali, those three men. P. 65.
- [38] Ibid., p. 100; Ibid., pp. 84 and 85.
- [39] Babaei, Gol Ali, Baghdad Jebheh, p. 108.
- [40] Ibid, p. 280.
- [41] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, p. 10
- [42] Keyhan Newspaper, No; 19133, July 14, 2008, p. 6.
- [43] [43] Babaei, Gol Ali, Oghaban Bazidraz, p. 104; Babaei, Gol Ali, those three men. Pp. 88 and 89
- [44] Babaei, Gol Ali, Shahin Barafatab, p. 311.
