DATE : TUE JUL.16,2002
PAGE : A13
CLASS : Focus
EDITION :
'Canada's Secret Battle' validated Citation awarded to outgunned
2PPCLI peacekeepers who held their ground in 1993 firefight with
Croatia forces
by Scott Taylor
GOV. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson has created two new military decorations in
recognition of Canadian peacekeeping exploits in the Balkans. These
Commander-in-Chief unit citations were awarded to the First Battalion,
Royal 22nd Regiment (Vandoos) and the Second Battalion, Princess
Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) for the "outstanding service
of Canadian Forces in times of conflict under direct enemy fire." The
Vandoos are being credited for their 1992 role of allowing then UN
sector commander Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie to reopen the Sarajevo
airport at the height of the Bosnian civil war. Thanks in part to the
tremendous international attention garnered by MacKenzie at that time,
the Vandoos' dangerous exploits were relatively well publicized. One
cannot say the same about the 2PPCLI action in the Medak Pocket, which
has subsequently been dubbed "Canada's Secret Battle." This unheralded
action began with a devastating bombardment on the morning of Sept. 9,
1993, and lasted a total of nine days before a ceasefire was reinstated.
When the Croatian shells first began to explode in the Serbian village
of Medak, Lieut. Tyrone Green and his platoon found themselves caught
in the centre of the maelstrom. They, along with the rest of 2PPCLI,
had only recently been deployed to this region known as Sector South.
Although it was included within the administrative boundaries of newly
independent Croatia, this area was historically populated by ethnic
Serbs. Having no desire to submit to Croatian authorities, the Serbs,
in turn, declared their own independent region called Krajina. Croatian
military threats to eliminate this pocket of resistance prompted the
United Nations to declare this a protected area. From the outset,
Lieut.-Col. Jim Calvin, Commanding Officer of 2PPCLI, made it clear
that he and his battalion would not back away from their mandate to
protect the Krajina Serbs. Despite the danger, Green's platoon remained
in Medak to provide the UN Security Council with an up-to-the-minute
account of the heavy fighting. On the night of Sept. 10, Green reported
a distinct shift in the bombardment. Croatian special forces troops had
begun rolling through the Medak valley. Brave but futile Serb
resistance resulted in a steady stream of wounded soldiers and
frightened refugees flowing past Green's position.
Serbian reinforcements were rushed from all over the Krajina to halt
the Croatian advance. After desperate fighting on the morning of Sept.
14, the Serbs had succeeded in stabilizing their line, barely 1,200
metres from the village of Medak itself. Under intense political
pressure from the UN, the Croatians reluctantly agreed to withdraw to
their pre-Sept. 9 lines. However, when Calvin attempted to push his
troops forward, the Croatians opened fire at the advancing
peacekeepers. Invoking their right to self-defence, the men of Charlie
Company, 2PPCLI, started shooting back. Over the next 16 hours a
vicious firefight took place at ranges often less than 200 metres.
Despite being outgunned, the PPCLI held their ground. The following
morning, Calvin resumed his attempt to push forward into the contested
pocket. When a Croatian general refused passage to Delta Company,
Calvin ordered his men to "lock and load" their weapons. A tense
standoff ensued, with the heavily outnumbered Canadians looking through
their gunsights at Croatian gun barrels. To break the impasse, Calvin
gambled on the threat of negative international press coverage by
calling forward a handful of journalists to the roadblocks. Based on
violence witnessed by his troops the previous evening, Calvin accused
the Croatians of committing "crimes against humanity." The tactic
worked, and the general backed down. As the Croatian soldiers removed
the roadblocks and the Canadian armoured column rolled forward, it soon
became evident that Calvin had been correct in his allegations of
atrocities. What could not be looted by the retreating Croats was
burned, and of the 171 Serb civilians reportedly trapped in the pocket,
the PPCLI found only 16 badly mutilated bodies. Discarded surgical
gloves next to bloodied soil left little doubt as to the fate of the
other missing Serbs. Given the heavy fighting they had endured and the
carnage they had uncovered, the men of 2PPCLI expressed little remorse
for having inflicted heavy casualties upon the Croatian forces --
officially listed as 21 dead and dozens wounded. With hundreds of our
soldiers enduring more than a week of artillery fire and several close
quarter firefights, the Medak remains the largest combat engagement
experienced by Canadian troops since the Korean War. In contrast to the
almost constant media attention being directed towards the activities
of our troops currently on operational duty in Afghanistan, incredibly
the first news reports of the Medak battle were not publicized in
Canada until the Ottawa Citizen broke the story in November 1996 -- 38
months after it occurred. Despite the exemplary performance of 2PPCLI
and the relatively light casualties they suffered during the operation
(four wounded and one accidental death), the senior bureaucrats at the
Department of National Defence deliberately chose not to make public
the Medak incident. Domestically, the senior brass was already
embroiled in the Somalia scandal, and the Progressive Conservative
government was in the midst of disastrous federal election. No one
wanted to put a spotlight on the military, particularly when this
incident had the potential to embarrass the U.S. over their
pro-Croatian foreign policy in the Balkans. U.S. military advisers had
assisted the Croatians in planning the overall Medak operation. At the
time, some Defence officials argued internally that 2PPCLI had "failed"
to protect the Serbs in Medak. However, the fact remains that Calvin's
troops demonstrated, for the first time, that the UN was prepared to
use deadly force to back up its stated mandate in Croatia. Official
recognition of this brave effort with a decoration is a step in the
right direction. However, nine years later, the perpetrators of the
Medak atrocities have still not been indicted by The Hague War Crimes
Tribunal, despite the overwhelming evidence supplied by the Canadian
soldiers who witnessed the horrors. Only when this international court
alters its anti-Serbian bias and begins applying an even hand of
justice can our Medak veterans' efforts be considered truly validated.
Scott Taylor is editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps, an
Ottawa-based monthly magazine, and co-author of the book Tested Mettle.
PHOTO
Serbian News Network - SNN
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