Sarajevo Airport, 1992

[Wm. Harris]

Hello all,

I‘ve been doing a bit of reading on the liberation of Sarajevo airport in 1992 by Canadian troops under the UN. However, any of the sources I‘ve looked at have been short on the details armchair historians like me look for. Perhaps someone here can answer a few short questions for me.

1) What was the battalion that actually liberated the airport. I‘ve seen 3/RCR mentioned but have read nothing definitive.

2) How were the Canadians equipped? Were there any specialist teams with the enigmatic battalion as they went into the airport? What about armour support?

3) What about the Serbs? What was their strength at the airport?

Does anyone know the answers to one or all of these questions?

 

[JRMACDONALD]

Hi,1. the Bn in question was 1R22eR Btl Gp, 3RCR provided N COy to augment the Btl Gp.
2. although the Btl Gp was an ad hoc unit( i think we had over 900 pers) it was essentially equiped as a Mech Bn. What do you mean by specialists?
3. There were alot of serbs( dont remember numbers) I visited a buddy, who was manning a TUA M113, on the airfield. It took me fifteen minutes to scan his fields of fire and range card. He had Identified over 57 AFVs/ ATwpns that were capable of engaging HIM!

 

[Gunner]

See MGen Lewis MacKenzie‘s book Peacekeeper: Road to Sarajevo. Take it with a grain of salt, but it provides good info on the Canadians.

Cheers,

:blotto: Me last night!