Bosnia's Forgotten Battlefield Bihac

by O'Shea, Brendan; Fisk, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780752465951
• ISBN10: 0752465953
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-01
• Publisher: The History Press

Summary

Twenty years ago, the term 'ethnic cleansing' entered the common lexicon. The terrible events that took place in the UN 'safe haven' at Bihac in North-west Bosnia between 1992 and 1995 represent the Bosnian conflict in microcosm. Muslim fought all factions of Serb, Muslim fought Muslim, and the Croats interfered. As an EC Monitoring Mission Observer, author Brendan O'Shea was not only an eye witness to the horrific war crimes committed by all sides but also had access to both EU and UN official documents. As such he was perfectly placed to unravel the deceit, the politicking and the struggle for power that led to tragedy and suffering for hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children. The names Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic - both on trial at The Hague -Slobodan Milosevic, Alija Izetbegovic and Franjo Tudjman have become synonymous with the worst excesses perpetrated during the war in Bosnia. This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of that conflict.

Author Biography

Brendan O’Shea is a member of the Irish Defence Forces and the author of Warrior 80: Irish Volunteer Soldier 1913–23 and the coauthor of Baptised in Blood: Illustrated History of the Cork Brigade and The Burning of Cork. He served with the UN in Lebanon and in the former Yugoslavia. Robert Fisk is the Middle East correspondent for the Independent, described by the New York Times as "probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain." His books include The Age of the Warrior and The Great War for Civilisation.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the First Edition	p. vi
Acknowledgements	p. x
Introduction to the Second Edition	p. xii
The Main Protagonists	p. xviii
Groupings and Abbreviations	p. xx
Bihac Pocket	p. 1
Enter Fikret Abdic	p. 15
The 5th Corps Fights for Survival	p. 33
The Advent of Bosnia's Muslim/Croat Federation	p. 39
The Safe Area of Gorazde	p. 43
The Contact Group Plan	p. 51
Bihac Under Siege	p. 63
Operation Tiger-Liberty	p. 83
Turanj Crossing and Batnoga Camp	p. 91
The 5th Corps' Southern Offensive-Operation Grmec	p. 101
Boutros-Ghali goes to Sarajevo	p. 117
Croatia's Economic Agreement and the Z4 Plan	p. 121
Casualties for Bangladesh	p. 125
The Carter Initiative	p. 129
Christmas Time in Bihac	p. 139
Croatia's Gratitude to UNPROFOR	p. 143
'Arms Embargo! What Arms Embargo?'	p. 155
The Serb Stranglehold on Bihac Recede	p. 165
General Vlado Santic Disappears!	p. 173
A New Military Alliance	p. 177
A Muslim Offensive Shatters the COHA	p. 183
Political Unification of the Krajina and Bosnian Serbs	p. 189
The Croatian Army invades Sector West	p. 197
The Beginning of the End for the Krajina Serbs	p. 209
Operation Storm and the Fall of Fikret Abdic	p. 217
Epilogue	p. 231
Index	p. 247
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