Freedom of the Press

Bosnia 1994

There wasn't much left of the city.Many buildings were still standing,but most of them had been ripped apart.They were now just empty cells.

As expected from a battle scarred city,there was hardly no sign of human habitation.Most had fled,or been killed in the fighting.

Yet,there were still people here,but only the two opposing forces continued their war,and it was a very nasty one too.

The two opposing forces fought each other,with fierce unrivaled hatred,inflicting grevious suffering on the other,as they strived to win.

On one side,were the Serbian 4th armoured brigade,led by their ruthless General Bivic.Bivic was a tough old bird,having fought many battles and winning every one of them.It made him a hero in the eyes of his own people,and the Serbian President.

Facing Bivic,were the Bosnian forces led by Major Cavat.Like Bivic,Cavat was a highly successful soldier,and he fought with great skill with his men,but he wasn't popular with his soldiers.Cavat was always chasing big things,and he was determined to achieve all his goals,no matter the cost to anybody else.

Bivic and Cavat were fighting in this city of Cazin,a Bosnian town,strategically placed in the high north of the country.Whoever controlled Cazin,would hold a major advantage in this war.

The war itself,had taken so many innocent lives,and the suffering of the living was frightening,as these people desperately tried to survive here.They needed help,and quickly.

Fortunately,they got it.

Thanks to the work of war journalists and photographers,these people had managed to get out,and tell the outside world what was happening here.The news reports and pictures taken,were extremely harrowing viewing,but an instant decision was made by the European governments.

A United Nations Peacekeeping force had been sent in,to protect the city's non-combatants.It was a mixed European force,with plenty of experience.As soon as they'd arrived,they managed to protect the fleeing and hiding refugees,but due to the rules of engagement,the UN peacekeepers were unable to strike back against the two combatants.

As a result,the UN forces were ambushed frequently,and they lost a lot of their people too.What made it more maddening for them,was that they never saw their attackers.They knew they would lose face to face,so resorted to this cowardly tactic.

Nothing made General Peters more mad than hearing about this.Peters was in command of the British units of the UN force here.He'd actually been through the sneaky ambushes,but thanks to the skill of his own men,he'd managed to survive.

The ambushes were a big problem here,and Peters knew he had to do something about it.Too many of his supplies were being looted,and it had to stop.

Peters knew he could do something about it though.He hadn't joined the British army for nothing.Like everybody else under his command here,he knew they were the best trained soldiers in the world,and Peters wasn't going to let a few cowards dictate what kind of war he had to fight.

Like any good commander,Peters knew how to learn of his opponents.He always thought the term 'known thy enemy' was priceless advice,and he watched how they worked very carefully.

This had immediately brought him instant rewards,as he and his people had begun to inflict their first major casualties on their enemies.It had given Peters some much needed breathing space,but he knew the Serb forces were cunning,and always looking for new,devious tactics to seize an advantage over the UN forces here.

Fortunately,Peters had a lot of highly skilled people under his command.They always gave their best to him,and Peters was pleased to see his soldiers defeat a ruthless,yet sneaky army,in the professional manner they'd all been trained to do.

At the present moment,Peters was sitting in his command post,which had been set up in the basement of a ruined hotel in the city.Several of his people went efficiently about their tasks,and did so positively.This was another reason why Peters was so popular;he built up a strong atmosphere of trust from his command,all the way down to the lowest rank.

As Peters went about his own tasks,he wondered what today had in store for them all.The intelligence reports he'd read earlier,had indicated a massive Serbian assault.Their target was the complete destruction of the Bosnia artillery units,which were safeguarding a strategic point.

Peters felt confident about repelling the assault,and he'd asked for volunteers to go.Everybody had volunteered willingly,but Peters chose his best men to carry out the most dangerous missions.They were on their way to him now.

Another intelligence report Peters had read,had contained some very disturbing information,and this made Peters mad.

There had been confirmed reports of mass slaughter of Bosnian civilians.The Serbian military had been witnessed carrying out these terrible atrocities,and it was due to some very brave work by one of the many war journalists.

Peters had the details on the journalist responsible,who had photographed the Serbian atrocities.He'd seen it had been a young woman.A British citizen,who worked for a magazine,detailing current world events.

The woman's name was Karen Mitchell.Peters had seen she was only in her early twenties,but her academic record was second to none.She was highly intelligent,and had plenty of guts.

Peters had also seen her picture too,and could see the girl was very attractive too.She had raven hair falling past her shoulders,warm brown eyes,and a very nice warm smile too.

However,Peters knew she wouldn't be smiling now.He'd read another report,which had told him Karen Mitchell had been kidnapped by Serbian forces.

Which was precisely why Peters had sent for two of his men.He could see them approaching him now,and Peters knew these two men could help him.They'd done so many times.

They were both tall men,and very powerfully built in physique,but Montgomery was the taller.In fact,he was the tallest man Peters had seen,and the most strongest.He was of African descent,and although Montgomery was a gentle man by nature;in battle,he was highly feared.Nobody had ever beaten him.His favourite weapon was his knife,and Montgomery had used it to deadly effect many times.

Jennings too,was also a gentle man.He had fair hair,blue eyes,and a really warm heart.Peters knew Jennings had always wanted to be a soldier,as he'd told him he wanted to fight for the right cause and help people.

Peters knew Jennings had certainly had helped many people.He too,was a highly skilled,deadly fighter,and Peters was glad to have them both on his side.They were definitely bad news,for the bad guys.

More to follow...

Both of them stood to attention before him,and correctly saluted.Peters returned the salute.

'At ease,Jennings,Montgomery,'Peters told them.'I have another mission for you.'

He handed over a photograph of Karen Mitchell to them.

'This young lady,'Peters went on to explain,'was abducted by Serbian forces not too far away from here.She's been responsible for identifying many Serbian war criminals,and recording their crimes.I want you two to recover her safely,and bring her back.'

Peters then handed over some more maps to them.

'Intelligence has marked where Miss Mitchell being held.The Serbian general:Bivic has also been confirmed in her presence.So you'd better move.We all know what kind of sick bastard he is.'

Both Jennings and Montgomery knew precisely that.Bivic wasn't just ruthless and cruel in his soldiering,but he liked to operate in the modern slavery market too.It had been rumoured he'd ravished so many girls,but no trace could be found of them.

Quickly,Jennings and Montgomery gave another salute,and they both hurried away.Peters hoped they'd get there quick,and prayed the Mitchell girl was okay.

+++

If Peters had seen Karen Mitchell in her current position,he would have been correct in his assumption that the girl wouldn't be smiling.


This was because she had been tightly bound and gagged by her kidnappers.Her hands had been tied securely behind her back,and ropes encircled her upper body,as well as her knees and ankles,which firmly imprisoned her.

Her gag had been ruthlessly stuffed into her mouth by one of General Bivic's thugs,and he'd tied another strip of black cloth over Karen's mouth,keeping her cries for help practically non-existent.

General Bivic was also present,sitting next to Karen's also sitting figure.He enjoyed looking at the girl.She was a real beauty,and he knew from the way she was dressed,that she was a journalist.He recognised the typical shirt and the sleeveless jacket with all the pockets a lot of them wore.

The girl was staring fearfully at him,clearly recognising who he was,which Bivic was pleased.He liked the aura of fear he could inflict on those that challenged him,and then ruthlessly dispose of them.Nothing and nobody was going to stand in his way.

His men had caught this girl,just after they'd massacred a group of Bosnians.The girl had photographed the whole thing,but fortunately for Bivic,his men had seen her,then caught her.

Karen knew it was hopeless trying to free herself.The ropes had been tied very tight around her,and her gag was highly effective.She was screaming inside to get her voice back,but Bivic wasn't having any of that.He kept her the way she was.

Bivic was actually looking at Karen's personal items.Her photo ID card was carefully examined by him,and he now knew she worked for a British newspaper.

This made Bivic think more carefully,as he strongly suspected the girl's people would come looking for her.He knew there was a British military presence in the area,and whilst his spies had confirmed it was only a small presence,Bivic knew not to underestimate them.They'd come for her,no doubt about it.