From: sharon@unixland.natick.ma.us (Sharon Machlis Gartenberg)
Subject: How Vulnerable are U.N. Ground Troops in Bosnia?
Summary: British troops tell Washington Post they can defend themselves
Organization: Unixland Public Access Unix  (508) 655-3848
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 20:28:34 GMT

Excerpted from the Monday, December 28, 1992 Washington Post

``No Panic in Britain's Thin Red Bosnian Line; U.N. Support Troops
Dispute Their Vulnerability to Serb Attacks'' by Peter Maass

VITEZ, Bosnia--It was, as a British officer might say, a cracking
good show.

During a recent patrol near the northeast Bosnian city of Tuzla, a
convoy of British ``Warrior'' armored fighting vehicles was ambushed
by Serb militia forces. The Serbs opened fire with everything they
had--mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and other heavy weapons.

The Serbs never made a dent. The 45 tracked British Warriors in
Bosnia weigh 30 tons each, have reinforced armor plating, are
armed with 30mm rapid-fire cannon and can race across the
countryside at more than 50 mph. The next best thing to being in
a bunker on a Balkan battlefield is to be in a Warrior.

The Serb grenades ricocheted off the British armor, making 
``poing'' sounds and leaving, at worst, small burn marks on the
white paint identifying the Warriors as being under United Nations
command. Instead of firing back, the British plowed ahead and did
not stop until they reached the local Serb militia headquarters.

``We got out and shook their hands,'' said a British military
spokesman. ``The Serbs couldn't believe it; they were amazed.''
There was no immediate explanation of why the Serbs opened fire
on the clearly market U.N. vehicles, but Serb commanders have
explained such incidents in the past as regrettable accidents,
or as the understandable reaction of Serb militiamen believing
they were under attack.

Nevertheless, that engagement--in which Serb pride was the
only casualty--may have been the best demonstration yet that
the U.N. troops most at risk in Bosnia's bloody factional war
may not be as vulnerable as some Western leaders contend. ...
 
[British Prime Minister John] Major's contention--as well as,
to lesser extent, that of the French--has been that the 
destruction of Bosnian Serb aircraft, or their bases, could
provoke Serb militia forces to launch revenge attacks against
British and French ground troops helping deliver U.N. 
humanitarian aid to suffering Bosnian civilians.

But British troops operating near the frontline here seem more
than a bit bemused by such hand-wringing. Veterans of the Persian
Gulf War and sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, they don't
quite understand what the fuss is about, and they especially
don't like politicians portraying them as frightened, defenseless
Boy Scouts. ``We don't feel so vulnerable,'' said the spokesman,
who asked that his name not be used. ``We could give [the Serbs]
a nasty headache if we wanted.''

Indeed, officials of Bosnia's embattled Slavic Muslim-led government
and some Western diplomats in the region argue that the continued
focus on the vulnerability of U.N. relief troops is merely an excuse
to put off intervention. ...

Muslim advocates of intervention propose Western air strikes against
Serb air bases, artillery batteries and other military targets in
Serb-held Bosnia, and perhaps on their support bases in neighboring
Serbia as well.

This, the argument goes, would allow the Muslim-led government's
lightly armed ground forces to engage the Serbs on more even
terms; all the U.N. relief troops would have to do is hunker down and
curtail their civilian aid operations. Bosnian government leaders
have said repeatedly that they would gladly swap the relief
operation for Western military intervention against the Serbs.

The main threat to British and other U.N. ground forces would
come from heavy artillery fire, according to the military
spokesman. The frontline is about nine miles from the base here at
Vitez, well within range of the Serbs' 155mm howitzers, and an accurate
salvo could cause heavy casualties.

But British officers here say that in a hostile situation, the 
Serbs would have to be precisely on target with their first shot,
because their batteries would likely be silenced before a second
or third round could be fired. The British army, like the U.S.
Army, has advanced radar and thermal-sensing equipment that can
quickly locate smoking artillery pieces and target them for
retaliation.

Serb artillery could be taken out in several ways, military 
officers say. The easiest method would be with air strikes, and although 
the British now have no long-range guns in place with which 
to return Serb artillery fire, such weapons could speedily be shipped
here.

``The Serbs would be pretty stupid to take us on,'' boasted one
British soldier as he relaxed here at an off-hours cafe where the
video machine was playing an action movie called ``Beasts of War.''

-- 
Note: My current address (sharon@unixland.natick.ma.us) will be invalid
as of 6 p.m. Dec. 31 because unixland is shutting down. 
--
Sharon Machlis Gartenberg, Framingham MA  USA