ST H, KDOLG, PIO, PLAN 2, PLAN 306,
o
PFO
l, OPFO 2,
CHVPROD, CH/PROD 3, PROD 4, PROD 306,
~ROD
305
.
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I~ERN:
ry
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INTERNATIONAL IIEUALD TJUBUNE, FRIDJ\Y,
MAY
6,
199{f.
.
greb, Croatia- directed by a spedal envoy, village. Then, the Danes said, the Serbs
Yasushi Akashi of Japan -has rcjcctcd at stcpped up the attack, firing 40mm anli-tank
leasl four of the battalion's rcquests for cannons.
North Allantic Treaty Organization planes
Dy
then the Serbs had bcen firing for 30
to fly close air support for UN troops.
minutes, the Danes said. When tlie troaps in
Dut on Friday, the UN response came not Saraci reported thal more an ti-tank rockels
from Zagreb or New York.
Il
came from the
~ere
on their ytay, lhe three tanks in Saraci
Danish soldiers in their Leopard tanks, the
·
f1red. four warning shots. When the Serbs
most advanced weapons system of the mea- contmued the attack, the Danes fired in
ger UN arsenal in Bosnia.
earnest.
Shortly after Il . P. M., Serbian gunners
The first round silenced an an ti-tank gu n;
araund Mounl Vis, to Tuzla's south, opened the_ second destroyed the post of a forward
up on a UN observation post called Tango 2. art11lery observer, and the third plowed
Smce October, necording to UN figures, the through a Serbian bunker, the Danes said.
Serbs had shelled the post 28 tinies with 96
·
"Things were getting out of hand," Colo-
.
shells. As they always d9, thc Leopårds re-
·
neJ Moller said. He and Major Carsten Ras-
sponded.
·
mussen, the tank unit comQlander, agreed to
~
Colonel Moller and
·
his men sped east
-
~old
their fire and ensure that Serbian shell-
from Tuzla in seven tanks and two armored
·.
mg of Tango
2
had ceased. Arter
30
min utes
personneJ carriers. Atthe village of Saruci,·in · of quiet, the. forward tanks began moving
view
-
of the Serbian gunners, the Danes
.
ba~k
lo
S~rac1,
but the Serbs began attacking
slopped and- in
'accord
with UN rules of them agam.
..
.
.
engagement - illuminated their white vehi-
The officers ordered the tanks fire again,
des with searchlights lo let the Serbs know continuously, for 15. minules.
··
they were there.
·
One round plowed into a Serb ammuni-
The lighis drew shellfire. One shell lamled tion dump, igniting a huge, concossive blast.
9
meters
(30
feet) from Colanel Maller's "The Dosnian Serbs said. aflerward that nine
vehicle, he said. Others blew shrapnel over soldiers died in the exchange.
,
. .
the tanks.
,
Colonel Maller. said the Danes spared
"Al that point we turned the lights off," three Serbian T-55 tanks because, although
Colanel Moller said. "Goooood thinking, as thi: Leopards' infrared detectors found the
the Brits say,"
. .
·.
Serbs' a1ming systems turned on, they also
With that, Colanel Moller's operation
bc-
determined thal the enemy tanks' barreJs
gan in earnest. The Danes had practiced the . were cold. Under lhe restriclive UN mles of
routine. Four of the Danish tanks and an engagement, only gu ns actually caught in aet
armored personneJ carrier &ped to another of.firing may be hit.
village, Kalesija, which was eloser to Tango
Colonel Moller said the ordeal was meant
2.
.
.
to be a trap for the Danes.
The Danes moved two tanks up the hi
li
"Il
was an ambush," he said. "Tango
2
was
toward the belenguered observation post,
.
the cheese, and we were the mouse. Only il
and placed two others behind houses in the lurned out thal lhe mouse ale the cat:"
In Attack
by
Danish
Tanl~s,
'the MouSe A te the Cat'
By
John Pomfrct
IVushiugttm l'o.rt Service
1
1
TUZLA, Bosnia-llen.egovina - Whcn
Serbian fighters shelled an isolatcd United
Nations observation post near Tuzla last
week, it was an unremarkable event. In nenr-
ly two years of UN
_
operations in Dosnia, this
country' s combatanis have routine! y shelled,
sniped and humilialed UN soldiers - even,
sametimes robbing them al gunpoint of their
weapons and uniforms.
But last Frida y nighl, the Serbian fusillade
elicited
n
UN response more incendiary than
the usual verbal protest. A Danish officer,
Lieulenanl Colanel Lars Maller, ordered his
white-painted Leopard tanks to fire back at
the Serbian artillery position.
Dy dawn, the Danisit Army had fought its
fiercest battie since the Nazi invasion of J943
- and Colonel Moller had shown thal the
United Nations need not always retreal in
the face of its frequenl military ellalienges by
the Serbs.
.
Colanel Moller said his tour in the Balkans
had taught him that "if you aresenred down
here, you're going lo gel kicked - that's the
way it
work~.u
'
In Dosnla's civil war,.he said: "All
·sides
are full of a Jot of macho bull. You have to
adjusl your behavior accordingly.u
·
The Danes' destruetion of a Serbian artii-
Jery position undcrscored the dilemma of
UN peacekeeping. UN soldiers and foreign-
aid workers here often express frustration
with the UN. forces' passiv1ly in the face of
provocations. Dut the Danes' momentary
aggressiveness was similar to that adopted as
policy -and abandoned in frustration -by
the peacekeeping mission in Somalia last
year.
.
Colanel Maller, for example, does nol,
.
view his troops' riposte as, in lhc end, a
vie tory.
Dy finally shooting back, thc colt)J\el and
his troops destroycd bridges of confidence
and trust that they had painslakingly built to
the Serbian side. The Danes had built a 6.5-
kilomeler (4-mile) road for Scrbian children
to usc in walking to school from the nearhy
village of Pelemsi,
so
they would remain safe
from Muslim shelling. They had arranged
shipmenls of diesel fuel to Serbian road
repair crews and seeds to Serbian farmers.
But, Colanel Moller said, given the belli-
cose psyche of this region;its deadly postur-
you are scared
dow·n here, you 're
going toget
kicked - that's tbe
way
i
t
works.'
ing and its adalescent tests of strength, he
eannot regret having given the order to fire.
"The UN sl10uld not bow its head to any
of these people," he said. "Oncc you do that,
you Jose your dignity and, even worse, thc
other guy will keep walking over you. In the
Balkans, you've gotta stand tall."
Standing tall has been difficult for thc
Nordie Dattalion - a UN unit comprising
l, 753 Swedes, Danes, Norwegians and
Dutch - that is based around the Muslim-
held region of Tuzla. In the last two months,
Serbia n gunfire has destroycd
·
four of the
battalian's armored personneJ carriers.
Allhougit the Serbian allacks }Jave grown
intense, the UN political command in Za-
~Il
ij