'Canada's Secret Battle' validated

[Andrej Tisma]

"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
[...] 38 months after it occurred."

"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."

"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."


===============================
PUBLICATION WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
JULY 16,2002

'Canada's Secret Battle' validated
Citation awarded to outgunned 2PPCLI peacekeepers who held their ground in
1993 firefight with Croatia forces

by  Scott Taylor

Governor General 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.