First installment

On the third day Tate returned from Osijek to tell us that we were to do a recce for 106bojna (company) as they were going to attack a enemy held village which was just in front of our lines. We all got all got ready and got on the lorry, it was only 5km but the difference in the two villages was great, the one where we were staying was untouched and the ones that we were passing through had by the looks of them been bombed regularly, no wonder they wanted the village so badly. We arrived at a village called Ostra Luka and we were told that we were going to be split up, two of us plus two of 106recce section were going on three different recces as there were three different ways that they could attack the village which was called Brvnik, once we had arrived back we would report to the commander who would then decide. They split us up and Alan was with me, almost immediately we got into one of their vehicles and left the others behind, we were on our way to god knows where and with people that we didn't even know and what their capabilities were. We arrived at the front line which was in a large wooded area, my first impression was that it was a well built and well defended front line, we told the sentries that we were going out and then proceeded. The Croatians went first as they supposedly knew where they were going, then Alan and I, we must of gone one and a half km before we reached another wood, we had not arrived here slowly as a recce should be carried out but had almost run and I for one was out of breath. We slowed down as we went into the woods, one of the Croatians to our front was a machine gun nest and another further down to the right of it, the open area which we had run across was also covered by a machine gun and a T-84, in my opinion there was no way that they could attack from this direction as the attacking men would be cut to pieces, we decided to go back but this time almost running as there was not much cover. On the way back that they had mined the woods directly in front of our lines and that we should remember which woods we were as there were so many around this area. We arrived back at the base and the Croatians told their commander what they thought as Alan and I waited not asking for our assessments, the other two groups arrived and our men told us what they thought. The two recces they had made were ideal with plenty of cover for a large amount of men and armour, there was long grass and corn fields which were very hard to mine so therefore relatively safe. While we were waiting a very old friend of ours arrived, it was Peter, "what on earth was he doing here" I wondered to myself,

he went straight into command without actually seeing us, I went to where Alan was and told him who I had just seen and the first thing that he said was, 

"this must be another Laslovo as there were a lot of people that we know".

We decided that as soon as Peter came out we would try and talk to him, the only one of our men who was allowed in the house was a man named Donald, he was the commander of our unit when Tate wasn't here. We had been waiting for about ten minutes when Donald came back, he called us all together and explained that 106 had asked us to lead the attack and we were going in on one of the safe routes. The only problem was that none of the Croatians in our unit wanted to do it, they made up the excuse that they were only there to do recces and not to lead attacks, Alan and I were astonished because this was what a recce unit was supposed to do but here they were making excuses not to go. All my time in Croatia this was the first time that I had witnessed a Croatian soldier not willing to get revenge of the enemy who did so much damage in Croatia. While we were talking Peter came over and shook our hands he spoke to Donald and it was evident that he for one was determined not to go, eventually he asked with Fred translating what we wanted to do and after talking amongst ourselves we said we would go if that was what was ordered. He went back inside and returned saying that he had spoken to Tate on the phone and that we were not going to lead the attack, I was disgusted and so were Alan and Peter who were right behind me. We were told to get back in the lorry as we were going back to our base, there must of been at least seventy men from 106 there waiting and he expected us to just walk away. We, because of our commander were backlng down from the fight, as we walked back to the lorry I for one wasn't able to look any of the men waiting there in the face, I felt ashamed to be associated with this unit. As we walked back Peter came up and shrugged his shoulders in the direction of Alan and myself, he knew what we wanted to do but he was unable to do anything. We got on the lorry and left, all the way back all I could think about was how I was going to walk down the streets of Tolisa with my head held high, I had come with this unit to Bosnia to help not to run away at the first sign of trouble. We arrived back at our base and everyone went into their respective houses, we just went upstairs as we were not interested in talking to anyone let alone the Croatians, how on earth could they call themselves a recce group I didn't know, the only thing that they were good for now was looking good, they weren't soldiers they were just posers, sitting upstairs talking the general concensus of opinion was that we should leave the unit, we were just going to walk out and go to the front line but I explained that we had to do it properly and I would talk to Peter when he came to visit us.