User:Ementaler01/sandbox

According to Domazet Lošo (retired admiral), colonel Vagn Ove Moebjerg Nielsen, news sites, official documents and other types of sources,     there is no single evidence, report, document or a statement about "the bigest canadian battle since Korean war" as well as from either of these resources:

- UNPROFOR Sector South HQ

- UNPROFOR HQ Croatia

- CANBAT HQ

- CANBAT soldiers statements in September 1993.

- CANBAT Commander Jim Calvin statement in September 1993.

- FREBAT HQ

- UN Military observers

- UN Civil police

- UN Security Councile

- Serb HQ, field units or inteligence

- Croat HQ, field units or inteligence

- Human rights watch and similar organisations

- US State department

Among all of these, there is only a mention the incident, reporting "minor incident" as sporadical firefigt or few shootouts. Serbs also do not mention "the battle" in their own view of operation Medak pocket.

Of its 875 soldiers (2PPCLI), only 375 came from the regular unit: the rest were augmentees, 385 militia citizen soldiers and 165 from other regular force units. In fact, reserve soldiers made up 70% of rifle company strength during the mission due to the requirement for highly skilled and experienced regular soldiers in support and technical trade positions. This includes 7 out of the 12 platoon commanders who came from militia battalions as Reserve Entry Scheme Officers (RESO). Nevertheless the 2 PPCLI Battlegroup in Croatia contained the highest concentration of reserve soldiers on an operational mission to date.

""There was no time to properly exercise the companies, let alone the whole battalion...No one could know that the 2 PPCLI platoons would be called upon to gel together and go into action as a full battalion.""

Alpha and Bravo Companies, arrived in the area (Sector South's Medak Pocket) from Sector West on September 7th 1993. just 48 hours befor Croatian ofensive started.

""UNPROFOR have been successful in the first 24 hours of the mission. After a few difficulties they managed to cross the crossing point onto the Croatian side and the first company moved into the front lines of the Croatian forces. The Croatians then withdrew so within two and a half hours there was a buffer zone in place. There has been sporadic fire at UNPROFOR from the Croatian side.""

- Colonel Jim Calvin

UNTV reports (1993-09-18) on the actions of CANBAT and CIVPOL after UNPROFOR had successfully crossed Croatian lines to set up a buffer between Croatian and Serbian forces in the Medak pocket. Includes interviews with civilians caught up in the recent Croatian offensive.

In an interview with three CANBAT soldiers they explain that they arrived 48 hours ago and that their task was to observe the area and take up a position on the earth embankment fifty metres from where they had first come in between the opposing sides. They explain that in process of replacing the Serb lines, they came under direct and indirect fire from the Croatian lines and, following the UNPROFOR rules of engagement, they did return fire but with small arms only. The soldiers say that there were no casualties on their side, that the Serbs have a couple of casualties, and they have no knowledge of any Croatian casualties.

There are also serious uncleared questions surrounding the story;

1. It is not clear how only 4 Canadian soldiers were wounded while killing 27 Croatian soldiers. Croats had over 2,500 soldiers, M-84 tanks and large numbers of artillery at their disposal. 9th Guards Brigade „The Wolves“ was the main attacking force. Theories that Croats were untrained, undisciplined soldiers are completely false. Members of that brigade, as well as others, served compulsory military service in YPA (Yugoslav People's Army), and already had 2 years of war experience (9th Guards Brigade also participated in operation Maslenica before Medak and Operation Storm after). Also the Croats had an advatage by being on their home turf. On the other hand Canadian reserve soldiers made up 70% of rifle company strength during the mission.

One Regular Force sergeant from ROTO 2 provided a view from platoon level:

“I had ten personnel in my section, including myself, two of which were Reg Force, seven of which were reservists. Six of those seven, it was the very first time besides their general military training with the reserves that they ever encountered any sort of operation with the military. So in actual fact I had civilians in my section that worked as soldiers with minimal training. And I was only one of many section commanders with the same responsibility.” —— Sgt Chris Byrne, testimony to Croatia Board of Inquiry, 25 November 1999, p.15.

Also, allegedly it was confirmed for Nacional that Croats have listened in on Canadian commanders conversations. In those conversations, the commanders agreed that they have no possibility to repel a frontal attack.

2. While Canadian sources claim that the situation was critical, it is questioned why French Lieutenant-General Jean Cot, who was in charge of the operation, did not use NATO airstrikes and reinforcements from Bosnia avaliable to him.

3. Attacking Canadian forces while „clamoring“ for western help at that time during the war in Croatia, does not make much sense.

UN Security Council final report
UN Security Council final report (S/1994/674) of the United Nations commission of experts established pursuant to security council resolution 780 (1992). Under the Direction of: William J. Fenrick Member and Rapporteur on On-Site Investigations, Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780 (1992). Principal Legal Analyst: Major J. C. Holland, Canadian Armed Forces; Member of Canada's Contributed Personnel to the Commission of Experts. The document states that there is no word of ethnic cleansing and does not mention „the battle“. However it does mention an extensive and unnecessary level of destruction.

Divoselo and Čitluk „There is no convincing general pattern in the deaths occurring in the Pocket. It is suspicious that UN troops found virtually no survivors. It may also be suspicious that there were more head wounds and close-range injuries than might be expected. However, the majority (71%) of the located dead were military. Although not strictly comparable, this was a higher percentage of military casualties than the global figures in WWII, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War.“

„Care must be taken in relying upon local witnesses. They tend to be unreliable due to their extremely emotional attachment to their own community s cause and their demonization of the enemy. Witness "9" has given several versions of her experiences. While her versions are not inconsistent, they do not cover the same material, some of which it is surprising not to hear in all versions. Her testimony should be confirmed and carefully considered before presentation.“

„As mentioned, there is no evidence identifying any specific individuals with any crimes, including any of the murders. The only first-hand evidence of a murder is in the murder of the 83 year-old blind woman. However, even here, neither of the witnesses identified the responsible individuals beyond being "Croat soldiers". In any event, there are serious discrepancies between the two witnesses. "6" describes 20 soldiers, "7" describes 10. Furthermore, "6" describes a second woman with the victim, but "7" omits this.“ —— UN Security Council final report (S/1994/674) It is also mentioned that the irrationality of the parties to this conflict is shown by the absurd excuse given by the Croat authorities for the deaths of the two elderly women. They say one was killed while operating anti-aircraft artillery and another used a grenade to kill herself rather than face capture. However, the first one (Danica Obradović) did indeed operate a Browning 12.7 mm heavy machinegun. She was featured on TV-Knin holding the heavy machinegun. She also claimed that she disarmed two "ustashas" in a forest. SKA (Serbian Krajina Army) conscripted in their ranks those who do not have liability to be conscripted; men older than 60 and women older than 50. It is shown below:

„Many civilians were fleeing in the company of retreating Serb soldiers, armed Serb civilians or were themselves armed. Thus, the actions of many Croat soldiers were possibly lawful and, at least, ambiguous. Much of the firing was at night. They may have believed they were firing on retreating non-surrendering enemy forces, which remain lawful targets. The law of war does not impose a standard of perfection on soldiers. It accepts that unfortunately civilians near military objectives may be incidentally killed without necessarily breaching the law of war.“

„There is no direct evidence of the commander of the Ninth s role in the wanton destruction. However, based solely on the orbat information, a prima facie case can be made. As the commander of the major unit involved, he is responsible for the destruction inflicted in the Pocket, which must have involved his unit. Graffiti in some of the destroyed buildings implicate the Ninth.“

„A violation of the laws or customs of war, being plunder of private property contrary to Article 3(e). The charges involve the wanton destruction and plunder which occurred during the Medak Pocket Operation. While the case against one officer is stronger than that against the other, it is believed that there is also a prima facie case against the second officer.“

„It is also recommended that no one be charged with any murder (murder, killing, unlawful targeting of civilians or genocide related deaths), torture or mutilation occurring during the operation. No one has been identified as being directly responsible for such crimes. There are some suspicious circumstances and even some probable murders. However, no convincing pattern can be proved such that a commander can be held indirectly criminally responsible using the doctrine of command responsibility.“

It should also be noted that all the evidence supporting claims made by Jim Calvin and members of 2PPCLI are solely from interviews and statements. There is no single evidence, report, document or a statement from any credible source (UNPROFOR, UN Security Councile, US State department etc.) to this date that the battle between the Croats and the Canadians ever happened. It is not known why did Colonel Jim Calvin change his statements in the years after operation Medak pocket.