Topic: The Medak Pocket

[NewCenturion]

Hey galvanizer you must be familiar with the great Croat military victory at the villiage of Stupni Do....

[blueboy]

Thanks for the enlightenment noneck. It's hard for some to accept the truth when they view it like an ostrich with their head in the sand.

[pbi]

Galvanizer is sadly very typical of the numerous Croat "ethnic cleansing" deniers I have met since I served in Sector South with CANBAT in 04 (MCpl Isfeld was killed in my company area). I have argued with them on a number of occasions since then. One thing I noted about the Croats, both in the homeland and the expat organizations here in Canada, was their capacity for denial and self-delusion about what had been done in ther name by the HVO and the Special Police. (Similar perhaps to some in the German population in the post WWII years.) They have swallowed their own information operation, whole.

Nobody (not least the Canadians) denies the stupid, hideous and unrepentant behaviour of the Serbs in many situations in FRY. What people like Galvanizer hope is that we will all be so busy yelling about Sarajevo, Srebenica and Mostar that we will forget about Medak and the atrocities during AKTION GROM in 1995. To a great exent they have been successful, and they get very upset when "liars" like us bring up a different version than what Zagreb approves.

IMHO the healthiest thing for Croatia to do is to follow Germany's post-war example and admit to the fact that war, especially war driven by nationalist and ethnic furies, can produce horrible results. The recent actions of  the Croat governmen in indicting people such as Gen Gotovina and others will go some way towards this, but there needs to be a national effort. Only then can  Croatia rightfully lay claim to the status it so desperately wanted in 1993: to be a civilized part of the modern Europe, not a throwback Balkan backwater with a murderous history  in the service of the Austro-Hungarians or the Axis, or of their own uncontrolled nationalist feelings.

Cheers

[Medak]

I suppose you can tell by my name that i was also therelet me know what you want to know and we will chat.

[Medak]

Hey noneck I was with D Coy 11 pl name is Cpl Matt Rushton

[noneck]

Good to hear from you buddy, PM sent.

Noneck

[3rd Horseman]

I do believe that a new member here at army.ca was also present at the battle and he would from what I understand be the only gunner present. Pm him if you want, his handle is billyray.

Cheers

[Centurian1985]

As an 'investigator' who worked in the Balkans long after Medak, there was ample evidence that all three sides had units that were involved in ethnic cleansing and war crimes. 

Ref the documents published by Serbs and/or Croat sources, after the war ended in 1995 all three sides were actively 're-creating history' to make themselves appear innocent and the others guilty (yes, including the Muslim Bosniacs).  Special departments were created on all three sides to create documentation and testimy that would reinforce their claims of their innocence and others wrongdoing.

Its called 'disinformation' and 'propoganda'; people forget that the inhabitants of this area of the world learned their craft over the past 50 years from experts: the Russians, the Nazis and the extremist Muslim factions. 

It is made worse by the fact that once information gets into the electronic information systems those who are unaware of whats going on, or who dont have first or second hand knowledge of events, dont know what to believe and are easily led down the wrong path.

[54hawken]

 I was in the medak , I was lead wagon once we crossed the start line by the Serb Bgd HQ in Medak and I have read every propaganda article that Croatia has written that I could find. The fact is this the  proof of their ethnic cleansing was carried out by the Bn and the UN . Theres pictures , VHS tapes written statemants from dozens of men we dont have it together enough to create that many false statements. They are claiming that its false only to salvage their *** cause they want into the EU and the EU wont have anything to do with them because of War crimes conducted by their forces in the Medak in Sep of 93. End of their LIES! Read Ghost of the Medak its very well written ! And it shows the truth of the Croats assault and Ethnic cleansing and of the Canadian problems with certain personnell!

[noneck]

BILLYRAY was there, we were in the same Company. 

Matt say hello to Steve for me and any of those other C-Coy reprobates you run into!

Cheers
Noneck

[Zevon26]

I was in D Coy and I am intrested to see if 54hawken and I were in the same vehicle. I was in the first M113 to cross the line in Sept after C Coy had engaged the Croats.

noneck, I was in a section with a BILLYRAY from BC. Same person I guess??

[Mark C]

54 Hawken is on the cover of "Tested Mettle".  He was the sect comd involved in the heaviest fighting in the Pocket.  That ought to be enough for you to figure out if you two were in the same track.  He doesn't hang out here much, but you might try PM'ing him.  He's CSM of the 3PPCLI Para Coy these days.

[3rd Herd]

Just an observation and maybe a bit of highjack but. I can't figure out if it is the water or training but the past couple of posts have been great in view of opsec/persec. You have all managed to figure out who is who without an internet broadcast such as found in the "Any 1 CER here" thread and a couple of others. Again from purely an observation point it has been both interesting and enjoyable to watch.

[George Wallace [4]]

Just an observation and maybe a bit of highjack but. I can't figure out if it is the water or training but the past couple of posts have been great in view of opsec/persec. You have all managed to figure out who is who without an internet broadcast such as found in the "Any 1 CER here" thread and a couple of others. Again from purely an observation point it has been both interesting and enjoyable to watch.

When it comes to PERSEC, there is none if all the information is already in a profile.  Sort of like Pte Bloggins trying to tell the MP that his name is "Smythe", when his nametag tells the real story.