Speaker A
Dramatization of the events in the film is based on testimonies of those who participated in the Battle of Kosare.
Dramatized account of the 1998 Battle of Kosare during NATO bombing of SFRJ, highlighting soldier testimonies and military operations.
Key Takeaways
- The Battle of Kosare was a significant and intense conflict during the Kosovo War, involving complex military tactics and heavy casualties.
- The rugged terrain and strategic location made Kosare a critical and volatile frontline.
- Yugoslav forces faced overwhelming numbers but used deception and ambush tactics effectively.
- The conflict deeply affected soldiers personally, highlighting themes of survival, loss, and camaraderie.
- International involvement and peacekeeping efforts influenced the operational dynamics in the region.
Summary
- The video dramatizes the Battle of Kosare based on testimonies from participants during the 1998 conflict in Kosovo.
- Kosare outpost was a strategic position on the rugged border between former Yugoslavia and Albania, known as the Cursed Mountains.
- The 53rd Border Battalion faced frequent attacks and insurgencies, with over 60 border incidents in 1998 alone.
- The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was active in the region, with Junik village serving as a KLA stronghold.
- The 63rd Parachute Brigade was involved in key operations, including a July 28, 1998 battle where several soldiers were killed.
- Tactical deception and ambushes were used by Yugoslav forces to counter KLA attacks.
- The video recounts the harrowing experience of soldiers left behind and their survival under hostile conditions.
- International peacekeepers eventually restricted special forces, allowing only Yugoslav border units in the crisis zone.
- Reinforcements arrived in September 1998, including the Nis Reconnaissance Company, to bolster border defenses.
- The video emphasizes the human cost of the conflict and commemorates fallen soldiers, especially Lieutenant Colonel Goran Ostojic.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
RTS and Zastava Film present. It was Good Friday. We were fasting. We set out towards the borderline.
Speaker A
Soldier Dragan Grubic went to get some water. SLADJANA ZARIC FILM WAR STORIES FROM KOSARE. They spotted them first and engaged in fighting.
Speaker A
They resorted to tactical deception, yelling, "Zaric, bring on the First Battalion!" or "Second squad forward!" They managed to confuse the enemy that way.
Speaker A
There must have been two to three hundred of them, and there were six of us.
Speaker A
Initially, they sustained heavy casualties. We realized that the area was swarming with terrorists. State border between former Yugoslavia and the Republic of Albania.
Speaker A
The most rugged terrain along the border. Mountain range that both Serbs and Albanians call Cursed Mountains or Prokletije.
Speaker A
Kosare outpost was located on that stretch of state borderline on Junik Mountain at the altitude of over 2000m, between Pec and Djakovica.
Speaker A
Frontier sentries have been guarding this volatile border zone for decades. Over the years, it has been exposed to numerous attacks.
Speaker A
Soldiers have been dying here in the past during the royal rule and at the time of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Speaker A
Conflicts continued during the 1990s as well. Story of Kosare and the biggest land offensive on the territory of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia started in 1997.
Speaker A
In 1997, there was an insurgency in the Republic of Albania. At the time, all the outposts gravitating towards the territory of Kosovo and Metohija were pillaged, destroyed, and torched.
Speaker A
Close to a million and a half shotguns and millions of bullets ended up in the hands of civilians.
Speaker A
The plan was to transfer those weapons to Kosovo and Metohija. For the 53rd Border Battalion, the entire 1998 was a war year.
Speaker A
That year, there were over 60 border incidents. In March of 1998, in the area of Morina outpost, we confiscated a large amount of equipment: new uniforms, weapons, ammunition… On April 23, 1998, enemy suffered first losses at Kosare.
Speaker A
We set up an ambush position at the right place at the right time. In 1998, frontier sentries at Kosare were flanked by enemy forces.
Speaker A
The outpost is in close vicinity of Junik village, which was a KLA stronghold. In summer of 1998, this village was visited by Richard Holbrooke, American special envoy to the Balkans.
Speaker A
He met with the leaders of Shqiptar terrorist forces, as they were branded at the time by Yugoslav officials.
Speaker A
This meeting was unfolding against a backdrop of antiterrorist operations conducted by Serbian army and police forces.
Speaker A
63rd Parachute Brigade took part in one such action in the vicinity of Junik, in July 1998.
Speaker A
They were sent as reinforcement. On the 28th, at 6:45 a.m., we set out on an assignment.
Speaker A
We were to seize the Bunovac elevation. A battle group headed by Snake was sent to the location.
Speaker A
Paratroopers encountered a group of KLA fighters in the forest. Battle group commander Goran Ostojic decided to call retreat as we were far outnumbered.
Speaker A
We didn't want them cutting off the route to our base. Paratroopers abandoned the conflict zone and headed towards the base at Kosare.
Speaker A
They were informed that KLA soldiers were waiting in ambush by the road. Goran Ostojic decided we should approach them from rear and surprise them, and thus secure the passage to point 502, a position that is much easier to defend.
Speaker A
When we reached the edge of the forest, there was a ledge there covered in thick fern.
Speaker A
A barrage of bullets ensued. I saw Goran get shot, he rotated and collapsed. I managed to activate the hand grenade I had on me, and I threw it at them.
Speaker A
Janicar headed to our rescue with his team, but on the way he encountered the rest of the group that had attacked us.
Speaker A
They were on the run, but they didn't know our group had split as well, so they ran right into them.
Speaker A
Fellow soldier with the code name Cowboy called out to me. When I got there, I realized Goran was dead.
Speaker A
The rest of the group was there, so we shifted his body into the Pinzgauer and we pulled out of there.
Speaker A
But Shqiptars were deployed along the entire road. We were under fire. Bullets were flying above the first Pinzgauer, we opened fire, but when our truck entered the bend, we were caught in a machine gun burst.
Speaker A
Rados Cerovic, who was standing beside me, was shot in the head. Dusanic, who was behind me, was shot in the chest. Ljubisa Bukovic sustained arm and chest injuries… The truck was on the move, and when they shot me, I fell out.
Speaker A
I fell to the ground. I jumped off the truck and ran towards him. The third Pinzgauer was approaching.
Speaker A
We saw a body on the road. He was covered in blood. We picked him up.
Speaker A
There was nothing I could do as a medic at that point, we had to get him out of there.
Speaker A
We threw him on top of Goran's dead body and pulled out. When we got to the base, we realized that Dragan Dusanic and Rados Cerovic were dead as well.
Speaker A
Also, two other servicemen were missing: Srdjan Stanicic and Turtle. Turtle was in the battle group that stayed at the fire position to gather equipment.
Speaker A
He didn't hear the second commander issue a command to board the truck and he was left behind.
Speaker A
No one even noticed he was missing. He remained there for two days without any food or water.
Speaker A
Shqiptar extremists were passing by, twenty to thirty of them. As he said, at one point, a Shqiptar was standing just five meters away.
Speaker A
On the third day, he decided to head towards the base. He was going in circles for a while.
Speaker A
It was easy for him to find water because there were lots of springs around.
Speaker A
He survived on wild strawberries. At one point, he reached an elevation and from there he could see our outpost.
Speaker A
All of a sudden, everyone started yelling, rejoicing. I got out of my tent and I saw Touche Turtle.
Speaker A
We then celebrated his return. After the hard moments we experienced, it was a great relief for us.
Speaker A
We assume that when the vehicle stopped, Stancetic jumped out thinking his help might be needed.
Speaker A
On the other side of the road, there was a steep slope. As it was already dark, it is possible that he slipped.
Speaker A
Later, when we were combing the terrain, we found his body some 30m below the road.
Speaker A
It was riddled with bullets. The hardest day for me was July 28, 1998. We lost four paratroopers in a short period of time.
Speaker A
They were my friends. That was the worst day for me. Goran Ostojic was a paragon, tall, striking, fearless… He was always in the frontlines, paratroopers trusted him.
Speaker A
It was a major loss for us. This photograph is considered the symbol of the Battle of Kosare.
Speaker A
Those are the members of the 63rd Parachute Brigade who took part in the action led by lieutenant colonel Goran Ostojic.
Speaker A
After a large-scale operation conducted by our army and police forces in summer of 1998, there were no more KLA soldiers in Junik.
Speaker A
International peacekeeping monitoring mission that was monitoring the border at the time banned the presence of special forces in the area.
Speaker A
Only border units of Yugoslav Army were allowed in the crisis area. In September 1998, the frontier sentries got reinforcement.
Speaker A
The support came in the form of Nis Reconnaissance Company. Reconnaissance Company arrived on September 29.
Speaker A
When they arrived, I was on my way to point 502 to set up an ambush position.
Speaker A
Two soldiers ran up to me. They were from Belgrade. They wanted to know what the situation was like, whether it had settled down.
Speaker A
I told them that the shooting had subsided, that they were going to be fine.
Speaker A
It's nice here. The food is good. I've made friends already. No, I haven't. I went to the ambush position. It was early morning.
Speaker A
I heard two detonations in the distance. We took hand grenades, ammunition, automatic rifles, and we headed out.
Speaker A
We approached the Pinzgauer. We saw bodies tangled in the back of it. They didn't even have time to jump out.
Speaker A
I recognized the two fellows who approached me as I was heading for the ambush position 502.
Speaker A
I remembered how I told them that the situation had settled down. That the winter w
Speaker A
At that moment I felt bad. I was sad, distraught, angry. One body was on the ground to the right, the other one was to the left.
Speaker A
The driver pretended he was dead and that is how he survived. Officer Goran Loznica, sergeant major Dobrislav Drazic, and Goran Simic, the driver survived the terrorist attac.
Speaker A
Although gravely wounded captain Loznica managed to reach the nearby brook. Later he admitted that he had suicidal thoughts at the time.
Speaker A
Captain Loznica was wounded. He fell off the vehicle and rolled down a slope that was covered in fern.
Speaker A
Luckily, my dog found him. Otherwise, he would have bled to death. Sergeant major Drazic was also there.
Speaker A
He was critically wounded, but he survived. Unfortunately, others had lost their lives. Among those who died were soldiers of the Nis Reconnaissance Company: Vladimir Radoicic, Ilija Pavlovic and Miladin Gobeljic.
Speaker A
They enlisted just three months earlier. On that day, KLA soldiers also killed enlistees Miroslav Jocic and Milos Pavlovic.
Speaker A
After the war, a video appeared on the net. Agim Ramadani was the leader of the group that had set up an ambush on September 30, 1998.
Speaker A
They were filming as they waited in ambush from the early morning. They conducted a terrorist attack on the vehicle and killed the soldiers.
Speaker A
Then they took their equipment, looted their personal belongings, desecrated their bodies. After year 2000, members of the Phoenix-Cobra group were sentenced in absence by the court in Nis.
Speaker A
They were convicted of conducting a classical terrorist act. The group infiltrated the territory of Yugoslavia from Albania.
Speaker A
In the immediate vicinity of the state border, two kilometers away from the Kosare outpost, they killed five Yugoslav Army soldiers.
Speaker A
Several months later, many of these terrorists were in the first combat lines, when a ground offensive from Albania was launched and the attack on Kosare began.
Speaker A
In the early hours of the morning a large group of KLA soldiers launched an attack on the Kosare outpost following a massive artillery barrage aimed at the nearby Morina outpost.
Speaker A
Soldiers entrenched at the C4 ambush position were on their way to the spring when they spotted an Albanian soldier with a Motorola.
Speaker A
That was the beginning of the battle of Kosare. We were most fortunate that those soldiers went to get the water.
Speaker A
They discovered enemy soldiers before they were able to close in on us. We were surrounded on three sides.
Speaker A
They would've probably encircled us was it not for those soldiers. Shqiptars were also attacking Rrasa e Koshares summit towering over the Kosare outpost area.
Speaker A
On that April the 9th, the summit was covered in snow. Rrasa e Koshares is the highest point and from it you could monitor the entire stretch of the border.
Speaker A
From that point they could provide support to troops at point C4, at Glava or any other position.
Speaker A
Their objective was to seize that point. Once you are there, you are in control of the entire area.
Speaker A
First they attacked ambush position C4. Somewhere around 5:15am Grubic asked for support. We were at the Rrasa e Koshares summit and we delivered mortar fire.
Speaker A
As soon as fired the first mine, in a matter of seconds we were under heavy artillery fire from the depth of Albanian territory.
Speaker A
The earth was shaking, stones were flying around. I was counting the mines, almost hundred of them fell on us.
Speaker A
They were yelling "Surrender!" "Soldiers, surrender! We will spare your lives!" It sounded strange. They were suggesting we surrender in our own language.
Speaker A
I suggested to a fellow soldier that we withdraw from there so they don't capture us alive.
Speaker A
Following a massive fire attack, enemy managed to take the Rrasa e Koshares position. There was also fierce fighting over the ambush position Kolibice, in Glava area.
Speaker A
This position was located above the outpost, near the border. At one point the enemy fire got so intense that I thought there were at least hundred of them.
Speaker A
Bullets were flying over our heads. Luckily, we had already prepared adequate shelters, we had already dug up gun pits.
Speaker A
Situation at Kolibice was almost surreal. They were blasting our position with mortar fire. There were ten to twelve of our soldiers there lead by corporal Sarac.
Speaker A
Just when we thought they were wiped out, someone would fire from the trench, a soldier would raise his head and fire at the enemy.
Speaker A
They were holding off a large group of Albanian terrorists, not allowing them to approach the outpost.
Speaker A
That way they were buying us time. The intensity of fighting didn't subside during the day.
Speaker A
Fighting was intense on Maja Glava, Kolibice, near the outpost... Defense efforts were hindered by unfavorable weather conditions.
Speaker A
Snow covered the summits, but around the outpost there was no snow that April. The reinforcement finally arrived - 30 military policemen.
Speaker A
Commander of the 53rd Border Battalion headed off in his Pinzgauer to meet the military policemen.
Speaker A
I told the driver to drive faster so we wouldn't be late, but he told me the vehicle would overturn.
Speaker A
At one point, as we entered a curve, they opened fire. I turned towards the driver, but we didn't get to exchange a single world, he was shot by a sniper bullet.
Speaker A
Terrorists were surprised when they saw me leave the vehicle because they thought no one had survived the attack.
Speaker A
Driver Miroslav Stojanovic, a 21-year-old serviceman, was the first victim of the attack on Kosare.
Speaker A
He was a member of the 53rd Border Battalion. Several hours later three armored fighting vehicles, three BOVs were coming down the same road.
Speaker A
They were supposed to bring ammunition to Kosare outpost. I was in the second BOV with the sublieutenant.
Speaker A
At the last bend before Batusa, we encountered the Pinzgauer that belonged to commander Sljivancanin.
Speaker A
We didn't know he was wounded. The driver was dead. First BOV pushed away the Pinzgauer and continued towards Batusa village.
Speaker A
As it entered the bend, the second armored vehicle hit the mine. Sublieutenant, another soldier and I were in the second vehicle.
Speaker A
Then it exploded. I blacked out and I can't remember what transpired in the next 15 minutes.
Speaker A
The third armored vehicle came by and picked up the sublieutenant. I was waving at them, but they passed me by.
Speaker A
I was left alone. Later, our soldiers found wounded Dejan Agocevic, Kosare outpost commander. Soldier Nikola Popovic from the 52nd Artillery Brigade was killed in the BOV that exploded.
Speaker A
In the months that followed KLA members photographed themselves next to the overturned BOV. They were celebrating the terrorist act they had committed.
Speaker A
But let's return to the events of April the 9th at the ambush position C4 where frontier sentries had accidentally discovered terrorist forces before they were able to surround them.
Speaker A
At the Maja Glava elevation fighting has been going on since the early morning. Call the outpost, we are out of ammunition!
Speaker A
We were checking out the stacks of ammunition, and we asked for support in men and ammunition.
Speaker A
Pull-out! We were waiting for quite a while, and since we ran out of ammunition we decided to withdraw.
Speaker A
We ran out of mortar ammunition and then major ordered me to assemble all the soldiers who were there and take them to the C4 border marker held by sergeant Vasovic and his team.
Speaker A
We went to point C4, but the soldiers were no longer there. We positioned ourselves and waited to see how the situation would develop.
Speaker A
We set out towards the outpost but we didn't know they were under the attack.
Speaker A
Lines of communication were down and they were shooting at us from all sides. They wanted to surprise us and make a break through.
Speaker A
Their objective was to reach Batusa and other villages along that line. By annihilating our troops in that area they were hoping to cut off the communication route Decane-Pec and join forces with Ramus Haradinaj's troops.
Speaker A
That way they would create ideal circumstances for airstrikes and artillery engagement on the stretch of land between Junik Polje and Milanovac Mountain.
Speaker A
Why was it so important to them? From the border, Junik Polje can be reached on foot in just two to four hours, carrying full gear.
Speaker A
From March 24th when the state of war was declared till April 9th when they launched the land offensive, we had no major skirmishes, there were no problems on the border itself.
Speaker A
As a matter of fact, just a couple of days prior to the insurgency, Jevtovic and I, and a few other soldiers crossed the stretch of border between Kosare outpost and Junik on foot.
Speaker A
We were on the lookout for any traces in snow. But we found nothing suspicious, there were no signs of scouts.
Speaker A
He himself said that Pristina Corps' assessment was that we were not in imminent danger of attack.
Speaker A
In the unlikely event, he said, they would send reinforcements as planned. The task of frontier sentries was to hold off the first attack, until reinforcements arrive within an hour or two.
Speaker A
There were no indications to suggest the attack would be launched at Kosare outpost. There were some speculations they would attack from the territory of Macedonia, or at Morina outpost.
Speaker A
Morina outpost was passable, but not only from their side, it was passable from our side as well making it easier for us to defend ourselves.
Speaker A
However, at Kosare, their side was elevated. They were in a superior position all along the border in that area.
Speaker A
They were in a position to dictate the time and the pace of the attack, the direction… Judging by the way they were grouping and communicating, we concluded they were preparing for a blitzkrieg in a matter of days.
Speaker A
However, on the first day, and especially on the second day, and later on, they encountered strong resistance.
Speaker A
That created problems in their midst. They were not capable of advancing, and they couldn't retreat either.
Speaker A
It was a cool and quiet morning, eerily quiet. It was almost ominous. Somewhere around noon a horrific attack ensued, first at the Glava outpost and then at point C4.
Speaker A
Every minute felt like a year. We didn't know what had hit us. They were firing from mortars, recoilless guns, rifles… At one point you realize that the ammunition chest you have refilled is almost empty.
Speaker A
Lieutenant colonel Dimcevski and I, and 15 of our soldiers found ourselves surrounded on three sides.
Speaker A
Point C4 was taken, enemy troops flanked us from the left, and to the right was Rrasa e Koshares which had fallen the very first day.
Speaker A
From their elevated position snipers could easily target us. Luckily, snipers at Rrasa e Koshares were hindered by poor visibility.
Speaker A
A mist had descended at that time. But sometime around 6pm they started firing at us from all directions, from Rrasa e Koshares, from C4, and from the territory of Albania.
Speaker A
We were the only ones there, so I ordered a running flight. The attack was so fierce that I thought no one would survive such fire.
Speaker A
I was in Batusa village and I told them to send reinforcement right away. One soldier told me they were attacking them in swarms, there were thousands of them.
Speaker A
By our estimate, some 1500 men attacked along the 5km stretch of frontline. They were marshalling in such a fashion that their main effort focused on the outpost and the area to the left of the outpost towards Maja Glava.
Speaker A
With the auxiliary forces they were going to attack Rrasa e Koshares. Our forces included 115 frontier sentries and 8 to 10 soldiers with 82mm mortars.
Speaker A
With the commanding staff, it was 130 men in total. When I served as a young frontier sentry, I was told that it is fear that protects the border.
Speaker A
They didn't know how many of us were there and where we were located. Also, the intensity of fire from our side at the time of attack had diverted them.
Speaker A
With what they had, they could have crushed us. On the 9th and the 10th of April frontier sentries at the first line of defense were backed up by the members of the 125th Motorized Brigade who were guarding the border from the background.
Speaker A
The problem was their manning level. 125th Brigade had a large area of responsibility, like all the other brigades.
Speaker A
In the days preceding these events they were fighting terrorist forces in the wider area of Jablanica, Pec, and in the direction of Gorazdevac and Klina.
Speaker A
It took some time for them to get there and entrench because of relentless airstrikes.
Speaker A
That is why it was only on the third day that we were able to introduce fresh troops from the Second Motorized Battalion to the wider Kosare area.
Speaker A
KLA forces have penetrated the border and were now holding some of our ambush positions.
Speaker A
At Maja Glava insurgents were holding positions 100 to 200 meters into the Yugoslav territory.
Speaker A
When they seized Rrasa e Koshares they were in control of 1.5 km of the territory.
Speaker A
Their forces also seized the Kosare outpost which was indefensible due to its unfavorable position.
Speaker A
International media reported about the fall of Kosare, the outpost located 200 meters from the borderline.
Speaker A
KLA soldiers who attacked the territory of Yugoslavia from the direction of Albania in early April, withdrew from Kosovo to terrorist camps in Albania during 1998 or early 1999.
Speaker A
There they went through comprehensive combat training. Here, we see those same KLA soldiers taking the equipment frontier sentries had left behind.
Speaker A
In the meantime, frontier sentries were occupying alternate positions on Opljaz Hill, at the foot of Mt. Rrasa e Koshares.
Speaker A
I set off with a battle group to occupy a position. There we encountered Vasojevic and Kovacevic.
Speaker A
As soon as we arrived, someone opened fire from a short distance away. Men who attacked us were wearing our uniforms.
Speaker A
They tricked us. Our fighters stood up and they shot at them. Vasojevic died there.
Speaker A
He fought bravely at C4 inflicting heavy casualties. Soldier Darko Bjelobrk stood up and started yelling "Don't shoot!" But he was shot down by a machine-gun burst.
Speaker A
Among the soldiers who died that day were frontier sentries Predrag Bogosavljevic and Milenko Bozic.
Speaker A
Frontier sentries suffered most losses that day. I saw my soldier crying. I asked him what was the matter, and he told me that he had seen them.
Speaker A
"How did you see them?" I enquired. I saw them half an hour ago. He didn't tell anyone because they were wearing our uniforms.
Speaker A
They were behind us so he didn't suspect anything. I am the one who saw them last.
Speaker A
I spent the entire night with them and in the morning sergeant Vasojevic was killed.
Speaker A
That was the hardest moment for me. On April 11, fighting was also going on at the foothills of Junik Mountain.
Speaker A
On the Skoza slope that descends from Morina outpost, members of the 125th Motorized Brigade encountered a group of KLA soldiers who have crossed the border and penetrated deep into the territory of Yugoslavia.
Speaker A
Captain Ralevic and I flanked them and attacked. Captain supported us with mortar fire. We annihilated that terrorist group.
Speaker A
When we approached their trenches we noticed there was lots of blood there, there were also parts of people's scalps left behind, lots of equipment, ammunition.
Speaker A
They were obviously well prepared, and we didn't expect that. We surprised them. On April 11, Agim Ramadani was killed.
Speaker A
He was the commander of KLA 138th Brigade. According to Albanian sources, he was killed by a mortar shell in the vicinity of Kosare outpost.
Speaker A
Agim Ramadani lead the terrorist attack on Kosare in September 1998, when five Yugoslav Army soldiers were killed.
Speaker A
Further advance of KLA soldiers was halted. Yugoslav army launched a counter-offensive to reclaim the occupied parts of its territory.
Speaker A
A group of soldiers was heading from Morina outpost towards Kosare. Mobile platoon of the 53rd Border Battalion received an order to recover the C 4 border marker, ambush position Maja Glava.
Speaker A
Leovac suggested to the Battle Group commander Kotur to deploy experienced volunteers instead of the RA soldiers of the 53rd Border Battalion Mobile platoon.
Speaker A
He thought that people with some experience in battle should be sent to that position instead of the inexperienced young soldiers.
Speaker A
Some 300 meters away from the C 4 border marker I spotted two Shqiptars and alerted Leovac.
Speaker A
He remained at his position and I heard him fire a shot. At the same time, I heard a shot coming from the direction where the Shqiptars were.
Speaker A
His head collapsed at that moment. I said "Give me your hand!" He said he couldn't.
Speaker A
He couldn't move. Shqiptars opened heavy fire. When we set out on that assignment we were told by the intelligence staff that we could expect twenty to thirty Shqiptars up there.
Speaker A
However, at that point, there were at least 200 to 250 of them. Four men took the stretcher and headed towards the Morina outpost that was 2.5km away.
Speaker A
We were running, trying to save him, to save the life of an officer who was a real hero.
Speaker A
He took the volunteers with him to spare active forces. We were informed that they weren't able to save Leovac, that he had died.
Speaker A
It was a great loss for me, and especially for our troops. It was a heroic deed by sublieutenant Leovac.
Speaker A
That young man was an example to others. I have to say that prior to that assignment he was wounded by a mine and was still spared duty.
Speaker A
But when the aggression started he returned to his unit although his wounds hadn't healed properly.
Speaker A
Yugoslav Army started attacking from all directions. On April 14, they attacked Rrasa e Koshares.
Speaker A
Members of the 125th Brigade set off to reclaim this strategically significant ambush position. I fell into the snow.
Speaker A
It was so high that it reached my chest. As I was getting out of there I noticed some tracks.
Speaker A
I warned the captain and the others. As we came closer, we spotted a Browning machine gun pointed in our direction.
Speaker A
Fortunately, there was no one by the machine gun. Two sentries were standing close by and talking.
Speaker A
They were not expecting us. Our people opened fire and neutralized them. They regrouped quickly and opened fire at us.
Speaker A
Soon, they were delivering mortar fire as well. We were caught in crossfire. At one point captain Krunoslav Ivankovic suggested we make a move and help our men who were wounded.
Speaker A
Negic took the mortar… In the meantime Vojvodic was shot. Unfortunately, he was the first casualty.
Speaker A
I followed Negic uphill and then I heard a loud shot. Negic cringed and said "I am finished, bro." Captain probably wanted to use the opportunity to approach Branislav Negic and get him out of there.
Speaker A
At that moment captain was shot in the stomach. I ran up to him and asked him how he was.
Speaker A
He said he was finished and gave me the field radio and a little bag with the documents.
Speaker A
He asked me to tell his daughters that their father had died defending the homeland.
Speaker A
I couldn't get to soldier Negic because of the heavy fire. He was on the front ridge which made it harder.
Speaker A
Body of Branislav Negic was never found. We don't know where it is. Soldiers Branislav Negic and Danilo Vojvodic died in battle that day, and so did the Yugoslav Army officer Krunoslav Ivankovic.
Speaker A
Yugoslav Army was now attacking KLA terrorist positions on a daily basis. 125th Motorized Brigade was advancing towards Maja Glava, the C 4 border marker.
Speaker A
It wasn't easy recovering taken positions. Enemy had seized the positions that were overlooking ours.
Speaker A
In Kosare area there is a battle going on… Down! Just 200m away. They spotted us and soon we were subjected to mortar fire.
Speaker A
Volunteer Josip Sich from Subotica was in front of me. At one point he twitched and fell down.
Speaker A
We were calling his name, but he didn't reply. His body twitched on the ground several times and then he became motionless.
Speaker A
I had an icon of the Mother of God with me. I took it out and venerated it.
Speaker A
I was grateful that my life was spared. It might have been me. Josip was in the front and in a way he died for me.
Speaker A
In the first place we were looking after each other, and then after the country.
Speaker A
Josip's body remained there. There are some videos of him on YouTube posted by the Albanians.
Speaker A
Several other men were left there. Several volunteers were making headway, terrain in front of them was clear.
Speaker A
They didn't realize they had crossed the border line. They didn't get lost, they were just advancing.
Speaker A
At one point they stopped and enemy troops surrounded them. Some of them managed to bail out, but three of them didn't.
Speaker A
We didn't know what had happened to them. Later we found out that they were dead.
Speaker A
One soldier from Zablace village near Cacak… His name is Predrag Bojovic. He was crying out for help as he was seriously wounded.
Speaker A
We could hear his cries clearly. I have to say I still hear them from time to time.
Speaker A
Several of our volunteers went down to help him, to dress his wounds, but the bleeding was too profuse and he died.
Speaker A
When the volunteers returned, I first inquired about Bojovic. They told me that he had died and that they had to leave him there when pulling out.
Speaker A
I sent men to find his body, but they couldn't find him. I have unofficial information that six of those soldiers whose bodies are missing are in a mass grave somewhere in Albania.
Speaker A
I remember that day clearly. The weather was awful. Soon after the action was launched a thick fog descended creating mayor problems for us.
Speaker A
That day I lost a few friends. They were not killed, but captured alive because of the fog.
Speaker A
They got lost in the forest and fell into enemy hands. April the 16th was a difficult day for the 125th Motorized Brigade.
Speaker A
On that day, eleven soldiers and volunteers were killed, and four are missing in action.
Speaker A
Posthumous remains of soldiers Dejan Kostic and Dejan Mitic were exhumed after year 2000. Bodies of Zlatko Acic and Sasa Ivankovic, who disappeared on April 16, were never found.
Speaker A
Special Forces, the elite units of Yugoslav Army arrived at Kosare. Some 1,500 members of the Yugoslav army were now at Kosare.
Speaker A
The sixty-third parachute brigade was assigned the task of seizing the C4 border marker, that is, Maja Glava.
Speaker A
We were marching 14km carrying the equipment weighing some 50-60kg each. We spread out in line, everyone knew their position.
Speaker A
Element of surprise played a key role. We practically ran into them. People were yelling, bullets were flying by… It seemed to me that the crossfire had lasted for hours.
Speaker A
We didn't know who was shooting from which side. There was our artillery support, their mortars, and the familiar sound of Chinese rifles.
Speaker A
They were shelling our first line intensively with grenades. It was clear to our commanders, and it was clear to me that it wasn't Shqiptars who were shelling us.
Speaker A
Only experienced professional soldiers were capable of something like that. It's a well known fact that they had mercenaries among them including Croatians.
Speaker A
I saw them running by, we were discussing our plan of action, and instinctively, I turned to the left.
Speaker A
I spotted a large yellow circle with a black dot inside. Next moment I felt a strong sharp pain, and I fell on my knees.
Speaker A
His left eye was full of sanies. He was delirious. It was obviously a shock trauma.
Speaker A
I put my hand under his left armpit and I realized there was an open wound there of at least 20cm.
Speaker A
I dressed the wound and when I got up to put on my backpack on, I was shot.
Speaker A
When I looked at the sky, it seemed like it was on fire. Bullets were flying in all directions, bouncing.
Speaker A
I was still conscious and I realized we were in a hopeless situation. I told the man who was second in-command that our only option was to withdraw.
Speaker A
Paratroopers lost their chief of staff at Kosare in 1998. They didn't want that to happen again.
Speaker A
Under heavy enemy fire, they managed to pull out their seriously wounded commander. On April 19th, members of the 72nd Special Brigade together with the soldiers of the Military Police Battalion set out to reclaim the seized territory.
Speaker A
KLA forces were slowly withdrawing. The front line moved forward several hundred meters. A great battle fought by the 72nd Special Brigade occurred in the beech forest on the slopes of Rrasa e Koshares.
Speaker A
There was a protruding rock on the slope. Enemy troops had flanked the Special Brigade unit determined to surround them.
Speaker A
Reinforcements for the Special Brigade arrived. We were approaching our men and reinforcing their positions.
Speaker A
That is when I heard that Tomislav Kostic, Zoran and Miroslav had died in action.
Speaker A
Four members of the 72nd Special Brigade died that day: Zoran Filipovic, Miroslav Marinkov, Tomislav Kostic and Zoran Milojevic.
Speaker A
They told me that Kostic was shot in the chest, and Zoran and Miroslav were shot in the head, probably by a sniper.
Speaker A
In a clash with special forces enemy suffered heavy losses. On that day, KLA 138th Brigade lost another commander.
Speaker A
Albanian media reported that commander Salji Ceku was killed at Rrasa e Koshares on April 19.
Speaker A
That day terrorist forces were also targeted by our howitzers from the area of Batusa village.
Speaker A
The Battle of Kosare could also be called the battle or mortars. It was this weapon that caused most casualties on both sides.
Speaker A
On the average, I was throwing 1200 to 1400 mines a day. In total, I fired somewhere between 40 and 45 thousand mines.
Speaker A
We were providing support to the troops on the first line, whether it was the First or the Second Squad.
Speaker A
I was on the watch 24/7, prepared to provide support when needed. From the 16th to the 20th the front line had stabilized.
Speaker A
It was the second part of the Battle of Kosare. The first part ended on the second day when sentries stabilized the front on alternate positions.
Speaker A
On April 20th the area of Rrasa e Koshares was stabilized. On the line of advance we defined as Kosare, although it is a much wider area, officially two Shqiptar terrorist brigades were attacking.
Speaker A
Those were the 131st and 138th KLA brigades. In total some 1500 to 2000 men.
Speaker A
Forces that were in the battle range were taking turns. Their grouping varied. There were parts of the Albanian Army 2nd Infantry Division, NATO special forces units including SAS special forces, American Green Berets, and others.
Speaker A
French artillerymen were also creating major problems for us. So, in total, some 1500 men were operationally engaged in the wider Kosare area.
Speaker A
If we exclude the aviation, force ratio was 1:1. The front line at Kosare was stabilized.
Speaker A
Soldiers of the 125th Brigade were approaching Rrasa e Koshares position that was taken by the members of the 72nd Brigade.
Speaker A
That part of the mountain was covered in snow even in late April. In the coming days the famous rock at Rrasa e Koshares became the death trap for many Yugoslav Army soldiers.
Speaker A
I had a machine-gun and Stanoje Jovanovic and I were told to take the position by the rock, on the right flank, because my weapon was more powerful, so I could shoot from there.
Speaker A
The rock was important because it was on the right flank and was our last protection point.
Speaker A
Stanoje noticed a Shqiptar moving across the meadow in front of us. He moved towards a little platform to the left and took aim at him.
Speaker A
As he was walking towards me I said "Stanoje, get down!" "No one's going to shoot," he said.
Speaker A
I warned him again, but his body turned at that moment and he fell to the ground.
Speaker A
He yelled "Help, I've been shot!" Stanoje was 19 or 20 years old. He was born in 1978 in a village near Pozarevac.
Speaker A
The second day they intensified mortar fire. A grenade fell ten to fifteen meters away from us.
Speaker A
He fell over me and I felt this awful pain in my chest. Next to him was Bogojevic.
Speaker A
I was tearing the uniform in order to see where he was shot, but there was no blood.
Speaker A
I was holding him in my arms and I didn't know how to help him.
Speaker A
At one point he wasn't reacting at all. I thought he was kidding, I even slapped him in the face saying "Get up!" I couldn't accept the fact that he was gone.
Speaker A
Soldier Bojan Bogojevic died as a result of a detonation. It was the same explosive device that injured me and another two soldiers.
Speaker A
He died instantly. The second day I was alone by the rock. Stanoje was dead. I haven't slept for three days.
Speaker A
The fourth day I couldn't hold my head up. I lay down into the snow, covered myself with the ground sheet over my head and fell asleep.
Speaker A
After a while I woke up and I heard voices. I removed the sheet and got up. The two of them were in shock.
Speaker A
"What's the matter?" I asked. They said they thought I was dead. "Why would you think that?" I enquired.
Speaker A
"Look at the snow around you" they said. It was black. I asked what had happened and they said it was the fiercest mortar attack so far.
Speaker A
And I slept right through it. After seven days on the mountain I got frostbites.
Speaker A
When the shooting stopped, I took off my boots and started massaging my feet. As soon as I took them off, I had this awful burning sensation.
Speaker A
I could no longer put my boots on. My feet were purple. They attacked again.
Speaker A
They were shelling my position with a mortar. The fourth mine fell right onto the rock.
Speaker A
My entire life was fleshing before my eyes. I thought the fifth one would be fatal for me because they were getting closer and closer.
Speaker A
But then again, shooting stopped as if someone had intervened. Volunteers arrived at the position by the rock in order to replace young soldiers who have been fighting in the first line of fire for days.
Speaker A
Volunteers came to replace me. I told them to refrain from long fire, to shoot in short bursts.
Speaker A
I told them that as soon as I'd start firing in long bursts, they would throw a mine.
Speaker A
But when they transferred me to the base, I heard that the three volunteers by the rock were hit by a mortar.
Speaker A
The fifth mine killed them. Mortar bomb killed Vladimir Nestorovic, Dragan Petkovic, Zoran Stajic and Novica Stankovic.
Speaker A
We were some 500 to 600 meters away from the first line of fire. After two days they sent volunteers to replace us.
Speaker A
Cerna's position was by that rock. He got really mad. The bastards killed them! He wanted to help the volunteers, to take that position because he thought he was in charge of the rock.
Speaker A
He wanted to reclaim that position and prevent Shqiptars from penetrating deeper into our territory.
Speaker A
Cerna Tibor was the squad leader. He was a positive person, good at boosting the morale.
Speaker A
He was always sprightly, a really good man. It is not a good feeling, having to take a position and pull out the dead bodies of your fellow soldiers.
Speaker A
But that is your assignment and you have to take it in stride. You can't just decide you don't want to be there anymore.
Speaker A
You can just say "I don't want to play anymore". You friends are there, the ones that are alive and the ones who died.
Speaker A
Life goes on, at least for a while. No one was afraid of death there.
Speaker A
We knew it was the war. We were not afraid. That was our job. We were doing our job, defending our homeland.
Speaker A
It wasn't easy at first, seeing someone dead, his leg torn off by the grenade, or someone without his arm, or a decapitated body.
Speaker A
But eventually you get used to it. Had we not been determined, was it not for the sense of solidarity among us, things could've taken a different turn.
Speaker A
When you tell people about it, they don't believe you. My family though I had gone bonkers.
Speaker A
It wasn't fear. What bothered us was the uncertainty. Once you got into the thick of it, things would just take their own course.
Speaker A
The worst thing was the uncertainty, knowing that something was bound to happen but not knowing when.
Speaker A
We would test the sniper the way it's done in the movies. We would put the helmet on a tree branch and he would start shooting right away.
Speaker A
He was annihilated on the 14th day. To the left of Rrasa e Koshares, from the direction of point 601… I have a friend from Zvornik, but I doubt he'd talk about it.
Speaker A
He still keeps watch… I'll tell you the way it was. Enemy soldier kept shouting "Chetnik!", referring to us as Chetniks.
Speaker A
We could see the enemy side. I remember vividly. He was wearing glasses and he was almost bald.
Speaker A
He was provoking us. Our sniper said "Wait till I find him". It was a matter of seconds. He had a steady hand.
Speaker A
He was an exceptional marksman. We never heard "Chetnik" again. They had Chinese rifles, they couldn't shoot in bursts, just in single shots.
Speaker A
Those were automatic rifles, just like ours. They sounded like chatter. We would make fun of them mimicking the sound.
Speaker A
We would go like this… In the early morning Radic gave me a call. He thought we could attack their machine-gun nest that was at the end of their holding line.
Speaker A
Bullets were flying around us, but luckily no one was shot, no one was injured.
Speaker A
We approached him from behind. He was in shock. The way he looked at us… I don't know whether it was fear or hatred.
Speaker A
We then returned to our positions with the machine-guns. After a while, I am not sure how many days we stayed there, we were taken to the base for a day or two.
Speaker A
Guys from Pec came to replace us, and afterwards we were deployed to the left flank.
Speaker A
A soldier from Valjevo was crying. He said he couldn't take it anymore, that there were too many Shqiptars around, that he could hear them.
Speaker A
I thought he was just scared. I told him there was no way he could hear them.
Speaker A
I told him it was time for them to return to the base, that we were there to replace them.
Speaker A
He ran off rejoicing. Darko Milosevic and I were in the trench. He was from Ljig.
Speaker A
We were there for half an hour when I decided to go pick some branches so we could camouflage the trench.
Speaker A
As I picked up a branch and looked down I realized the place was crawling with them.
Speaker A
40 to 50 meters from my trench there was an entire platoon. They were entrenching. I could hear them talking.
Speaker A
The young man wasn't imagining things when he said he could hear them. There were six of us. We made a plan of attack.
Speaker A
We were in a better position because they were below us. We fired three Zolja grenades at them, we were throwing bombs in the direction of the creek, we were firing from machine-guns, automatic rifles… It was fierce.
Speaker A
Shqiptars were running around all confused. Then I took a machine-gun with 600 rounds and I placed it on a chopped beech tree and I discharged it.
Speaker A
I left it there so I could run faster back uphill. Just as we jumped into our trench they appeared and we annihilated them too.
Speaker A
The lull lasted half an hour. I went to my trench. Darko was there and he suggested we have something for breakfast.
Speaker A
He opened a can and I went to the trench where we kept the weapons to get the Kalashnikov.
Speaker A
Then I heard a detonation and my friends shouting "They killed Darko!" Shqiptar had thrown a bomb into the mortar pit.
Speaker A
Shqiptar started running down the hill but the soldiers from the pit on the left killed him.
Speaker A
Darko Milosevic was nineteen or twenty at the time. He was from Ljig, Sumadija. We just had to survive that night.
Speaker A
We hit them hard, and they were hitting back. It was quite a feat, getting through the night.
Speaker A
Nights there were strange. First of all, you have to learn what sounds animals make at night.
Speaker A
There were some birds that were making sounds I never heard before. They sounded so creepy I would get goose bumps.
Speaker A
Not just me. The others thought it was creepy too. And it was foggy. To this day I get shivers when I see fog.
Speaker A
I try to avoid going into the fog. That night they were walking along the frontline with torches in their hands.
Speaker A
That way they were provoking us, hoping we would start shooting. They were mimicking the sounds owls make.
Speaker A
But even the real owls sounded weird there. It was like a horror film. All the further attacks by KLA forces were repelled.
Speaker A
Yugoslav Army fierce resistance prevented KLA forces stationed in Albania from joining forces with the KLA in Kosovo and Metohija.
Speaker A
The Serbian side had the initiative now. In May Yugoslav Army intensified the attacks in an attempt to destroy enemy troops.
Speaker A
Members of the 63rd Parachute Brigade were assigned to move forward the front line at Rrasa e Koshares, the summit within the territory of the Republic of Yugoslavia, which was seized by KLA on the first day of the attack.
Speaker A
It was hard to move the front line forward. No one was advancing because it was a brutal battle.
Speaker A
Not much could be done, couple of meters back and forth. It seemed like eternity advancing a hundred meters.
Speaker A
We were in the forest where it's hard for the enemy to spot you, but it's also hard for you to spot the enemy.
Speaker A
We launched the attack successfully, and soon took the camp. They retreated and we moved into position.
Speaker A
The fighting lasted almost three days. With counterattacks they were trying to retrieve the position.
Speaker A
At one point they even managed to separate us into two groups. I think they gave up by dawn.
Speaker A
Over the night we inflicted heavy losses on them. I am not sure exactly what day it was, maybe the second or the third… One Shqiptar dropped his backpack, and a 1kg package, yellow in color, rolled out of it.
Speaker A
One of our soldiers risked getting caught in the crossfire when he went to get it.
Speaker A
We were covering him. We all thought it was plastic explosive. Come back! Leave it!
Speaker A
Be careful. What is it? It is halvah. -Are you sure? When he opened the backpack we realized it contained 12 kilos of sesame halvah.
Speaker A
Was it not for that halvah, we would have stayed hungry for the next two days.
Speaker A
Some fighters refused to eat Shqiptar's "explosive", but most of us did. It got us going.
Speaker A
It's real good. Do you want some? Maja Zez, a summit that lies at some 2,000 meters above sea level.
Speaker A
The right flank of Kosare defense was there. Parts of the 125th Motorized Brigade were positioned there.
Speaker A
It was the night of May the 10th, we lay down in our shelters to have some rest.
Speaker A
We were about to embark on a major assignment the next day. I woke up around midnight and then I fell asleep again.
Speaker A
I was woken up by a deafening detonation. NATO aviation was bombarding positions below us.
Speaker A
It woke us up, but soon we went back to sleep. Five minutes later second airstrike ensued targeting out position.
Speaker A
They were dropping cluster bombs. We didn't hear the airplanes, just the explosions. The explosions might have lasted three minutes, but to some of us, it seemed like eternity.
Speaker A
It is horrific, like a machine-gun fire, but with explosions. Then you hear cluster bomb splinters hitting trees, the cracking of the wood.
Speaker A
Then you hear cries from the distance, and the ones closer to you. When the splinter hits human flesh, the sound is subdued.
Speaker A
It is very hard for me, talking about this. Believe me. I don't know how to describe it.
Speaker A
I keep seeing images of soldiers who died next to me. A friend was killed next to me.
Speaker A
Another was seriously wounded, and so was I. Later, in Pristina, they established I was hit by over 100 splinters.
Speaker A
My injured friend was begging me to stay with him, not to leave him alone.
Speaker A
Hold on, bro! I beg of you! I stayed with him as long as he was showing signs of life.
Speaker A
He died in my arms. I arrived up there with a stiff back. I didn't know what to do when I saw 30 to 40 young man who had sustained heavy injuries and were holding on to each other.
Speaker A
As they were walking they left a bloody trail behind them. I climbed to the clearing to see whether someone was left behind.
Speaker A
Body parts were scattered around. The forest was no longer there. The trees were ripped from the ground.
Speaker A
Vukoman Tesovic, Milan Kenic, Sasa Vasiljevic, Dragan Marinkovic, Izet Colakovic, Vladimir Djordjevic, Miladin Dogandzic, Bojan Jovanovic, Sasa Skiljevic, Robert Stosic, Oliver Taricic, Milijan Toskovic, Milan Jevtovic, Petar Mijatovic, Milosav Milosevic and Rade Milosevic died that day at Maja Zez summit from cluster bombs.
Speaker A
Yugoslav Army launched a major counter-offensive. They were attacking from all directions. Almost all of the soldiers who were at Kosare took part: members of the 125th Motorized Brigade, volunteers, paratroopers...
Speaker A
Out of the blue, I heard this noise that sounded familiar, but I would never expect to encounter it there.
Speaker A
It was the sound of an engine that seemed like thunder. It was echoing in the mountains. We exchanged puzzling looks.
Speaker A
It reminded me of a tank, but what would a tank be doing at the top of a mountain?
Speaker A
Then radio-operator got the information that tanks were coming to our rescue. Engineer corps deserve every accolade for getting those tanks uphill.
Speaker A
It was quite a feat. We left the mine field and the tanks followed us.
Speaker A
The sound of tanks at that altitude was daunting. The earth was shaking. It's hard to describe.
Speaker A
It was a great relief for us and we felt so proud of the people who did it.
Speaker A
It was a great feeling, knowing that we were not alone. They were there for us.
Speaker A
Every positioning on the front line represented a risk because they were targeting us with infrared-guided missiles round the clock.
Speaker A
With every move we were risking lives. These tanks had to cross 30 to 40 km, to climb to the altitude of 1800m and to support us in our assignment.
Speaker A
To have tanks climb all the way up to support us, it sure boosted our morale.
Speaker A
I told him to take out the beech tree down the road. The tree went flying in the air, almost 20m up.
Speaker A
They started running out of their pits and shelters. They just wanted to get out of there, no one was firing back.
Speaker A
The distance was short so the grenades where exploding one after another. We took shelter, and the fellow next to me started shooting over their shelter with a machine-gun.
Speaker A
He must have cut down all those who were running away. The loading belt has 250 bullets.
Speaker A
He would fire a burst of 100 bullets. There is no hiding from that. They were running like mad.
Speaker A
They couldn't believe it. We reached the clearing and we were firing from there, but we couldn't advance any further because they were shelling us from the hill on the right.
Speaker A
The fire was fierce. Grenades were falling at us from all directions. I was certain it was artillery but I couldn't see them from inside the tank.
Speaker A
I couldn't see the entire area. Otherwise, I would have fired randomly. They were firing from a cannon that was positioned at the Albanian border, at the attitude of 1070m, above our lookout post, some 900 m to the north-west.
Speaker A
It was regular Albanian army. They were also shelling us from the depth of the territory with howitzers 155.
Speaker A
I had no one at the right flank. So I withdrew some 200m. All we could do at that point was to withdraw.
Speaker A
We had young men who had just finished their service period and were deployed to the war zone.
Speaker A
We decided to bring them in as replacement because we had suffered heavy losses, and soldiers were already exhausted, wet, and hungry.
Speaker A
So, those young men must have copped all the fury caused by the damage we have inflicted.
Speaker A
They paid the price. The older, experienced soldiers will never forgive themselves for not enduring a bit longer.
Speaker A
That's it. We feel responsible. When we looked up, the cloudy sky was covered in thousands of little stars.
Speaker A
It went like a wave. They were exploding one after another. We were hit once, I heard cries from one pit, then from another.
Speaker A
Then the second attack ensued. That is, the second cluster bomb. All hell broke loose.
Speaker A
Sinisa just said "Fellows, hold on!" He protected us with his body. We looked at each other, we were fine, Sinisa was fine.
Speaker A
We couldn't believe that we were alive. I've never experienced something like that before, and I hope no one will ever have to go through something like that, to be targeted with cluster bombs that are outlawed by the Geneva Convention.
Speaker A
Then it got even worse. Cries were coming from all directions. Sinisa examined us first as we had sustained serious injuries, my friend from Kragujevac Zoran Milivojevic and me.
Speaker A
He was hit in the arm and was in a critical condition. Friends came with a ground sheet and got us out of there.
Speaker A
Luckily, there was a dispensary van nearby. Luckily, doctor Gile was there. Was it not for him Dikovic wouldn't have survived that injury.
Speaker A
I spent all the supplies of infusion solution to maintain his blood pressure. He regained consciousness only after receiving a couple of liters of solution.
Speaker A
Raca and I would only part if it was required by an assignment. I told him that the boy would die if I didn't take him to the hospital.
Speaker A
Zoran and I pulled through, but after several surgeries I was left without my right leg and Zoran's has a serious arm injury.
Speaker A
He can no longer use it. Soon I realized that the two of my men were missing.
Speaker A
They were Rade Antonic and Bojan Radojkovic. I looked for their pit, but I couldn't find it in the dark.
Speaker A
When reinforcements arrived the day was breaking. We went back to our positions and we found Radojkovic and Antonic dead in their pit.
Speaker A
Their shelter was probably hit by cluster bombs first, and then, in the second attack Antonic was hit directly.
Speaker A
Bojan Radojkovic didn't have a single wound on his body, at least as far as we could see.
Speaker A
It was probably the blast effect that killed him. After May 13, there were no major attacks on Kosare from either side.
Speaker A
Unfortunately, the soldiers were still dying in individual attacks, actions reconnaissance... Yugoslav Army continually engaged the enemy at Kosare, as KLA have taken the outpost on the third day.
Speaker A
They were using the outpost as a base, and they were so confident that they brought many foreign journalists there.
Speaker A
Yugoslav army was using mortars and howitzers to shell the outpost, and since May 12, they were using a multipurpose rocket launcher and an aerial bomb launcher called "Kosava".
Speaker A
Although there were claims that Kosare outpost was mistakenly hit during NATO airstrikes on May 21, 1999, our officers claim that it was us who hit Kosare outpost.
Speaker A
I launched four aerial bombs from Kosava launcher aiming at our outpost. For another half an hour we were firing from VBRs and howitzers.
Speaker A
We spent loads of ammunition to prepare for the attack. When it became apparent that the troops at Kosare won't be able to break through and that land offensive couldn't be launched from that direction, by the end of May 1999,
Speaker A
KLA troops, supported by NATO forces, tried to penetrate deep into the territory of Kosovo and Metohija from a different direction, across Pastrik Mountain towards Prizren.
Speaker A
Yugoslav forces managed to hold off the attack. Military actions known as Arrow 1 and Arrow 2 have failed.
Speaker A
They didn't achieve their goal, to join KLA forces stationed in Albania and KLA in Kosovo and to defeat Pristina Corps of the Yugoslav Third Army.
Speaker A
Yugoslav Army left Kosare and Pastrik only after the signing of Kumanovo Agreement, when the withdrawal from Kosovo began on June 14th.
Speaker A
Until then, Yugoslav border was defended, and its army was undefeated. These photographs were taken in the period 1998-1999 in the Kosare outpost area.
Speaker A
This is above the outpost. Border line is here somewhere, and this land in the background is the territory of the Republic of Albania.
Speaker A
So it is clear whose position was dominant. This photo was taken at point 502.
Speaker A
Here you can see the famous creek. This was a rugged terrain with lots of rocks.
Speaker A
These are old beech trees. The next picture was taken from point 601 at Rrasa e Koshares.
Speaker A
In the distance, deep in the Albanian territory we can see their outpost. I circled it.
Speaker A
In the back it says "Kosare, January 1999". This is me with Ivan Vasojevic. We would talk all night, airing out our problems.
Speaker A
He confided in me, I knew all his secrets. He remains in our hearts. Those are the wounds that never heal.
Speaker A
Each of them took with them a piece of us. This is what saved my life that day.
Speaker A
Automatic rifle magazine I had on me. I carried it in my flak vest on the left, below the heart.
Speaker A
The first bullet hit the magazine edge. Had it gone a centimeter to the left, I would have ended up dead.
Speaker A
On impact two bullets inside caught on fire. Teir bullet got stuck in one of mine forming a cross.
Speaker A
I saw it as a sign, a symbol. This is all I have left from Kosare.
Speaker A
I cannot describe how valuable this ID tag is to me. It is the most valuable thing I have.
Speaker A
This is the original paper with my personal details, and these stains are from my blood.
Speaker A
News and Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nenad Lj. Stefanovic Author Sladjana Zaric Executive producer Snezana Rodic Sindjelic Journalist Vesna Ilic Narrator Nenad Jezdic Cameraman Milan Stanic Sound designer Bojan Mangovic Set designer Snezana Popovic Composer Vladimir Tosic Director of photography Zarko Pekez
Speaker A
Editor Bojan Perisic Translation Jasmina Ristic RTS 2019
Topics:Battle of KosareKosovo War 1998Yugoslav ArmyKLA63rd Parachute BrigadeNATO bombing SFRJKosovo conflictJunik villagemilitary ambushwar testimonies
