„Waterfalls” in Bosnia

The weather favored the Hungarian troops: at last it was not snowing, only the cool early springtime weather held out. According to the exercise scenario involving civil disturbance, riots broke out in the village of Bileca, putting allied troops at risk.

On the first day the Austrian reconnaissance platoon deployed to the designated area to enhance the commander’s situational awareness. Due to the increasing tension, the main body of the MNBN deployed to the scene on the second day. It took eight hours for the three march columns of the unit to cover the 260 kilometer-distance on public roads.

On day three – in response to the riots, burning down of buildings and shootings being acted out by the role-playing soldiers of the Turkish military police contingent – the commander of the battalion ordered the evacuation of the allied troops on duty in the village. During the first phase of the action, the Turkish infantry company of the MNBN cordoned off the access roads to prevent the angry crowd from swelling further. In what followed, the Hungarian infantry company was tasked to push out an armed group that was running riot next to the base of the allied troops, to clear the building and evacuate the designated persons.

As the crowd displayed aggressive behavior, the two reserve Austrian infantry companies were also called out to reinforce the Hungarian CRC subunit. By joining forces, the two companies managed to push out the rioters, so the Hungarian team tasked with the evacuation was able to get to the scene in the shortest possible time, where it searched and cleared the building and then evacuated our allies to a safe place.

On day four, having successfully completed the FTX, the MNBN re-deployed to Sarajevo.

During the operations, the Hungarian infantry company had to handle situations in which some rioters threw hand-grenades on them or built a barricade in front of them and set it on fire. The members of the company had to give first aid to their own personnel and allied troops who had been wounded in action, and to MEDEVAC them with their own vehicles or helicopters. Of course, all this took place in imitated situations rather than in real life.

Besides their high professional standards, the Hungarian soldiers demonstrated their motivation, and the MNBN chain of command passed the test with flying colors again. MNBN commander Lt.-Col. Thomas Holzbauer assessed the exercise as satisfactory, adding that the soldiers managed to generate situations that point in the right direction for the joint training.