Murder, arson, extortion and drug dealing are the most popular offences in our area and the police appear to have a quick detection rate when asked by the IPFT. Their suspects usually confess fairly quickly after interrogation, but whether they actually had anything to do with the crime is another matter. A legacy from pre \var communist days is that the police feel that they cannot carry out their job without permanent police check points on major routes. These had been removed in April, but a change in police chiefs saw their re-
emergence, so a squadron operation was mounted to forcibly remove the new check points with the help of a Foden recovery vehicle
, a... JVsI-ng‘ CoH Coleman on patrol in Dwar.
ing. The task of the IPTF is to monitor their activities and to advise them on modern West European police methods. The team responsible for Drvar and Bosansko Grahovo includes Americans, Germans, Russians, Portuguese, Jorda» nians and Egyptians, so a wide spectrum of experience and differing standards exist in the IPTF Our dealings with the police have been centred on ensuring that they guarantee Freedom of Movement as agreed at Dayton. A Croat policeman earns an average of 200 Deutch Marks a month, so it is not surprising that they supplement their income with illegal on the spot fines, particularly from Muslims at their traf— fic check points. This became a regular occurrence during the summer months and we were able to stamp it out by shadowing their patrols day and night. Crime is rampant in post war Bosnia. Tpr Jones ano‘ 7Troop In Drvar on Electron Day
Day to day patrolling could be mundane at times, but the operations cycle was frequently interrupted by events and specific operations directed by Brigade. Routine patrols yielded an average of one weapon confiscated per week, but some vigilant patrolling followed by quick reaction in the best traditions of recce soldiering produced some more spectacular results. One incident concerned an illegal convoy of Muslim soldiers (ABiH) which was known to be travelling from Tuzla in the north of the country, to Bihac in the extreme west, a distance of some 400 km. A call came from brigade one morning to all units to stop the convoy if sighted and to turn it around. As C Squadron is the western most unit in 1 UK Mech Brigade, we did not expect to get involved. However, the SQMC was carrying out a replen to Drvar in the afternoon and spotted the convoy moving through Bosansko Gra» hovo at about 1800 hrs. This was report— ed to Brigade who confirmed that the convoy had been stopped by the Dutch but had been allowed to continue after the convoy commander had lied about permission that he had been given by the Americans to move. We were told to stop them and turn them around. Four troop were dispatched immediately to intercept the convoy before it reached Drvar. We got into position just in time and were able to stop the 8 buses and military police escort. An argument ensued; they genuinely thought that they had authorisation but they had no paper work. They were only 60 KM from their destination, so the thought of returning was out of the question for them. To complicate matters, a crowd of hostile Croats began to gather as a traffic jam formed. The convoy was moved to an area where they could get off the road and GW Troop was tasked to set up a road block on the north side of town to
stop any inquisitive Croats becoming involved. A further complication was the arrival of General Dudakovic, the hero of Bihac and commander of S Corps BiH. He had been returning from Sarajevo and had become caught up in the convoy. He was most put out that his men had been stopped and told the squadron leader that General Kiszely would get to hear about how the ABiH was being victimised! He was given one hour to make some phone calls to arrange for fuel to be provided to get them back to Tuzla. He told us that the convoy would be going to Bihac as he
sped off in a cloud of dust. In fact he returned an hour later, a little the worse for drink and gave his own men a massive dressing down before ordering them to turn round, which they did, escorted by 4 Troop. By this stage, the ops officer had organised a co—ord point on our boundary manned by the Corpo~ ral Major and the Malaysians and the convoy was handed over to their escort. The election was a tense time and much preparation had been put in by the troops recceing potential polling sta— tions and making security arrangements for what could have been a serious movement of opposing entities across the various boundaries. It was two days before the election that GW Troop came across a convoy of ABiH special forces in Bosnansko Grahovo. They were travelling to Bihac from Sarajevo, probably to disrupt a campaign rally being held by a government opponent. They were certainly prepared for trouble as they were armed with ten MP 5 sub machine guns, ten AK 47 rifles, a G3 rifle and several grenades. These were duly confiscated by the troop and again the con— voy was sent back. Election day itself was rather an anti—climax throughout the country, mainly due to the postpone— ment of the municipal level of the elections. The whole squadron moved to Drvar for two days, but rather than the 6000 Serb former residents which had been expected, a rather meagre 200 turned up in buses, bewildered to find empty streets as they had been corralled away from the Croat population in a joint operation with the civilian police. Visits by Displaced Persons (DPs) across the IEBL in either direction was the most frequent cause of trouble in Bosnia in 1996. The most important clause of the Dayton agreement was that which guaranteed Freedom of Movement for all. But such is the hatred and mistrust which lingers a year after the cessation of hostilities that few DPs are willing to
risk visiting their former homes. Visits which have taken place, particularly in MDN(N), have ended in violence. The
position of IFOR is difficult in that we are seen as the upholders ofDayton, and therefore the concept of freedom of movement, but we are not responsible for the security of civilians. That is the responsibility of the police force of the hosting entity and none of the entities are particularly good hosts to each other. One of the biggest DP visits in MND(SW) area during the past six months was to Drvar. An association of former Serb residents of Drvar had been set up in Banja Luka led by Milo Marceta. His aim was to organise visits to Drvar with the intention of eventually moving back to their former homes. But he did not have the backing of the Serb authorities who were keen to formalise the IEBL as an International border and are not keen to allow Serbs to return to Federation territory. No one could stop Marceta from visiting Drvar, but he was advised against it by IFOR Liaison Offi— cers in Banja Luka and by UNHCR offi— cials whose responsibility it is to co— ordinate DP visits. The Squadron Leader had warned the Chief of Police and the Mayor of Drvar that the visit would take place, but both men are par— ticularly anti Serb and warned of violence if the Serbs entered the town. They didn’t actually threaten violence themselves, but they refused to be held responsible for the safety of the DPs. On the day of the visit, we had been told by Brigade to keep a low profile and to
let the IPTF lead. We were to force the convoy across the IEBL but we were
told not to force them into town if a crowd had developed. Two hundred DPs were expected by UNHCR, but when the buses arrived at the IEBL, there were more like six hundred people, mainly middle aged and elderly men and women, crammed on the buses. It is always amazing to see people travel in this country. Every journey is an occasion, and vast picnics are produced, much Slivonic plum brandy is drunk and the reek of the rather distinctive local cigarettes collects in a trailing mist. The plan went like clockwork. Marceta Was told at the IEBL that the inhabi— tants of the town were likely to give him a hostile welcome and that we could not guarantee his security but he was determined to carry on. He was strikingly earnest and well intentioned, his only desire to visit his home. The convoy was stopped at a track jttnction about 16
KM from the town by two policemen who were quickly joined by more. It was
very difficult to stand by and watch this going on, but we had been specifically told not to get involved. The Chief of Police arrived and so did the deputy Mayor and a number of municipal offi— cials. Quite a crowd gathered, the Serbs got off the buses and the negotiations began. Eventually, Brigadier Plummer, Commander I Mech Brigade arrived and it became obvious that we would have to become more involved. CoH Coleman in Drvar had reported a large crowd gathering with the intention of driving the Serbs back. So he was tasked to set up a road block to prevent more Croats from joining the incident. Lieutenant Swetman and LCoH Pickford provided security with their section at the track junction and Two troop was tasked to move from the rebro to provide a reserve. After much cursing and shak— ing of fists and idle threats, the Serbs decided to turn back. The disappointed passengers had spent six hours by the side of the road and faced another four hours in the crowded buses on appalling roads to Banja Luka, but they will try again until they succeed; the desire to return home is passionate and is really beyond our comprehension. The Croats had scored a hollow victory; the police and the municipal officials had behaved dreadfully, like gangsters, but no worse than their counter parts in Republika Srpska. A particularly vindictive reaction to the return of DPS was the systematic destruction of empty homes. This took place on both sides of the IEBL and was aimed at discouraging the return of DPs by dynamiting or burning their former homes. This practice was at its height in early November and during one weekend, there were 80 homes burning in our AOR. This prompted a brigade operation called COMET, the aim of which was to watch likely target areas with covert observation posts and then prompt the local police through the IPTF to do something about it. C Squadron manned three covert OPS, two of which were dismounted, commanded by Captain Whitbread and the F00 party and one was mounted, command-
ed by CoH Smith. Two overt Ops acted as cut-off groups and a quick reaction force. The operation lasted for two weeks and although no one was caught in the act of burning, a lot of useful information was gathered. It was probably the longest that anyone in the squadron had spent in an OP and was a
advantage of the excellent adventurous training facilities provided by 1 UK Armoured Division on the Island of Brac in the Adriatic. Throughout the summer, a hotel was rented by the Army and four day packages consisted of canoeing, dinghy sailing, sub-aqua diving and windsurfing were organised. There was also the chance to spend four days on a Nicholson 55 yacht which was moored at Brac for the summer and the whole exercise was at no cost to the sol— dier. Our success in the Regimental Athletics must have gone to our heads because we had some great successes on
the sports field in Bosnia. First of all, a team was sent to take part in the Mount Igman march near Sarajevo. This was a 40 KM march against over a hundred teams from all the troop contributing nations. The march took place in July with temperatures in the thirties and the team did well to finish in the first forty. As a brigade unit, we were very much the under dogs in brigade competitions, as we were competing against the likes of 22 Engineers with over 800 men to choose from. So it was with great pride that we came second to 22 Engineer Regiment in the Brigade Military Skills competition. This was organised very well by the Dutch Battle Group at their beautiful camp in the ski resort of Sisa« ya and consisted of six events which involved getting very hot and bothered running up hills and climbing ropes and carrying things etc. There was also a commanding officers’ race which the Squadron Leader finished a creditable second. Lieutenant Swetman and LCpl Haywood won the Up Hill Running event out right and the Tug of War team won their event out right under the direction of CoH Smith and CoH Span— ley. The Tug of War was particularly close fought and as the under dogs, we were well supported and made a lot of friends. Another sporting triumph was our second place in the divisional 15 a side rugby tournament. Due to the ops cycle, it was difficult to get the team together to train, but our scratch side were only beaten in the final very narrowly by the QDG. Again, a very good performance for a squadron of our size. Apart from having the worst camp in Bosnia, we also became famous for hav— ing the only golf course. This was con-
structed by the SCM with the help ofthe engineers who blew the bunkers. It was only a three hole course, but with six approaches to each hole making a total of eighteen holes.
very useful experience for recce soldiers. It has not been all work and no play. Almost all junior ranks have taken
It is difficult to know how to judge this tour. It has been successful in that we
Household Cavalry News 64
Household Cavalry News