C a m pa i g n s a n d B at t l e s
Jan–Mar 1989 Apr–May 1991 Jun 1991–Sep 1992 Jul 1992–Jan 1993 Dec 1994–Jun 1995 May–Nov 1999 Mar 2002–Feb 2004
C a m pa i g n s a n d B at t l e s
Londonderry South Armagh (Spearhead Bn deployment) Londonderry (Coy attachments to 3 R Anglian) South Armagh and North Belfast (split tour) East Tyrone West Belfast County Londonderry (Ballykelly)
DWR Jun–Oct 1971 Apr–Jul 1972 Feb 73–Aug 74 Jan–Mar 1976 Oct 1979–Feb 1980 Dec 1981–Apr 1982 Feb 1978–Feb 1989 Feb 1995–Mar 1997
Belfast South Armagh Co Londonderry (Ballykelly) Portadown (Spearhead Bn deployment) Belfast South Armagh Belfast (Palace Bks) Province Reserve Bn (Weeton)
AWARDS PWO
GH
DSO
1
CBE
2
OBE
3
6
MBE
11
4
MC
2
GM
1
MM
5
2
QGM
2
3
DWR
The disintegration of Yugoslavia began when Serbia blocked the assumption of Croatia to the chairmanship of the country’s collective leadership council in 1991 with consequent Serb-Croat armed confrontation. Under UN Security Council Resolution 743 of 21st February 1992 a UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) was mandated to ‘create the conditions of peace and security required for the negotiation of an overall settlement of the crisis.’ A UN Force was established and, so as not to show partiality to either Serbia or Croatia, its headquarters was placed in Sarajevo in Bosnia–Herzegovina. (Hereafter referred to as ‘Bosnia’). The situation took a turn for the worse when, in March 1992, the mixed population of Bosnia voted by a two-thirds majority for independence from Yugoslavia, ignoring a threat by the 32% Serbian population that they would become part of a ‘Seamless Serbian Nation’ in the event of Bosnian independence. Fighting with appalling atrocities broke out in Bosnia and, following two months of dithering, UN Security Council Resolution 758 of 1992 gave authority for the expansion of UNPROFOR to ‘allow delivery of humanitarian supplies to besieged communities in Bosnia.’ The first British contribution to UNPROFOR was a battle group formed by 1st Battalion The Cheshire Regiment, a squadron of 9th/12th Lancers and supporting units.
1st Battalion The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire 8
BEM
4
2
6
MID
22
12
17
QCB
1
QCVS
1
Totals
40
28
47
KIA
2
9
6
258
Bosnia 1993–2006
On completion of the Cheshire battle group’s tour of duty in Bosnia in May 1993, 1 PWO and B Squadron The Light Dragoons were assigned to form the next UK contingent. Arrival of the PWO battle group in Bosnia coincided with a change in local allegiances. Hitherto, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Muslims had combined to protect themselves from the Bosnian Serbs but owing to a rumour that the Muslims were about to make a separate deal with the Serbs the Croats turned on them. A three-sided war of murder and pillage ensued. The first act of Lieutenant Colonel Alastair Duncan, commanding the 1 PWO group, was to help carry the charred bodies of a Muslim family from the remains of their house in Armici. Duncan’s initial tactical concern was the Turbe-Kiseljak valley where Bosnian Croats and Muslims had begun competing in the odious practice of ‘ethnic cleansing’; that is driving inhabitants of the opposite faith out 259
