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The Peacekeepers' Tale

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GORAZDE: THE PEACEKEEPERS' TALE
A documentary on Bosnia
bosnia, british, gorazde, town, UN, SFOR, NATO, british soldiers, british, bosnia, media, documentary, peacekeepers, tale

Reporter: Gillian Sandford
Co-Producers: Gillian Sandford and Mike Price
Technical director: Mike Price


This double CD is the soldiers' story of one of Britain's most dangerous peace- keeping missions: to the UN-declared "safe area" of Gorazde during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia. The lightly-armed UN "Warriors" were trapped in the besieged town with no secure route for food, fuel or ammunition - and no guaranteed way out.
Listen to the track:
"General Mladic"
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The first CD, Wheel of Fire, depicts the entry of the British UN peacekeepers into Gorazde, under the threat of Nato bombing in April 1994. Abandoned at Sarajevo airport by the French, who were supposed to be providing the main elements of the Gorazde battalion, a single company from the Duke of Wellington's Regiment journeyed through Bosnian Serb held territory and entered the blasted town of Gorazde in the early hourse of 25 April 1994. The men tell of entering a place of horror. The final route in was, "like Apocalypse Now," says one. "It smelt of death," says another. The men describe how they kept the lid on a highly unstable situation, separating the warring parties, establishing observation posts, patrolling aggressively to ensure Serb soldiers left the 3km zone around the town set up under UN mandate and by Nato and waiting to see if the Serbs pulled out their heavy weapons from 20km around the town. They were later joined by a second company and their commanding officer with a tactical headquarters.

The second CD, Full Circle, covers the deployment of the Royal Welch Fusiliers. They tell of an attack by the Serbs - and one corporal describes being taken hostage by the Bosnian Serbs in May 1995. His fellow soldiers tell how they fought to hold the vital heights over Gorazde until the Bosniak forces could take over from them. The men then withdrew into the town and fusiliers describe the pressures of life spent living for a month in bomb shelters in Gorazde as a battle for the town raged around them. Finally able to leave the enclave, they speak of relief as they extract to safety a breathtaking 24 hours before the strategic Nato bombing of Republika Srpska began.

GORAZDE: THE PEACEKEPERS' TALE is told by the privates, corporals and young officers. It is a documentary, an oral history, a sound poem from the peacekeeping trenches, telling what went on in an isolated and besieged enclave aware from the glare of the international Press.

The documentary includes all key incidents in the 18 months of peacekeeping, including the death of a young Duke soldier hit by Serb fire and the deaths of four soldiers from the Royal Gloucester Berkshire and Wiltshire regiment in two road accidents.

The battalions garnered a clutch of medals. The first two recipients of the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal - Corporal Wayne Mills and Colour Sgt. Peter Humphreys tell what they did. Soldiers awarded MCs and Mentions in Despatches also tell their tales

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