Fitch, Edward: my Bosnian War recollections (March 23, 2011)

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Interviewee: Fitch, Edward

Interviewer: Porta, Rowan

An interview/narrative of Edward Fitch's experiences in the former Yugoslavia. Interview took place on March 23. 2011.

ABSTRACT: File 1 00:00-02:42 – Initial narrative, declaration of consent. Fitch begins discussing his service in Bosnia. Discusses RMC and training; begins discussing the duties of military engineers in the CF. End of first file due to telephone interruption. File 2 00:00-04:35 – Fitch resumes interview. Mentions how his 29 years of prior service in the CF all helped him with his duties. Resumes his discussion of CF military engineering duties. Fitch mentions that being skilled in his profession and as a soldier as being a very important in Bosnia, as it enabled him to stand up to the “thugs in that country” [Bosnia]. Just before end of second file, Fitch is asked about his specific duties in Bosnia. End of second file. File 3 00:00-04:07 – Interview resumed, Fitch discusses his duties in Bosnia. Fitch discusses the transformation from UNPROFOR to IFOR. As chief engineer for UNPROFOR and later deputy chief engineer in IFOR, working under British Brigadier-General John Moore-Bick, and the general nature of his duties. 04:07-08:12 - Digression on operation Storm, includes discussion of how UN operations were run in Bosnia, compares UN command in Bosnia to using Paris in the First World War as a headquarters. Discusses the politics of the UN and its ineffectiveness. Question about how politics interfered with his work, before interview is again interrupted. File 4 00:00 – 09:38 – Further discussion of how politics of UN affected Fitch’s duties. Discussion of the Agrokomerc army under Fikret Abdic and how his forces and their families ended up being forced into area around Koplensko – well armed and cornered. Fitch describes finding them as “living on the road” in a “concentration camp.” Discusses how conditions in Koplensko were made better, even when he had to go behind UN headquarters back, due to political considerations. Discusses how people in Koplensko were evacuated. 09:38 – 13:10 – Discussion of how explosive ordnance collection and weapons was organised in Koplensko. Discusses the types of ordinance that were collected in these areas. Discusses how Croatian police behaved and related to the people within the Koplensko camp. 13:10 – 20:29 – Discussion of issues presented by mines and unexploded ordnance. Discussion of clearing unexploded ordnance from a hotel outside Sarajevo that was later to be an IFOR military compound. Discusses injury of a local child and local harassment. Discussion of role of NGOs and local paramilitary groups in demining, mentions use of dogs. Mentions how mine clearance could be a difficult task when it came to demining conflict areas. Digression on impossibility of guaranteeing absence of unexploded ordnance. Discusses how local mine clearance groups drawn from militias could be very unreliable. 20:30 – 26:45 – Discussion of mines and booby traps being deliberately laid for UN personnel. Mentions how one of these booby traps had been laid in a “pre-meditated act of murder” which killed sergeant Ralph, a Canadian soldier. Discussion of British Scorpion armoured reconnaissance vehicle being blown up by a mine. Discussion of Canadian officer losing both legs while driving over a mine in a jeep. 26:45 – 41:59 – Discussion of rebuilding bridges “knitting the country back together.” Discussion of various types of bridges (Bailey Bridges, PMP, Mabey-Johnson, pontoon bridges, Acrow bridge). Discussion of advantages of the Mabey-Johnson bridge over the Bailey bridge design, also mentions using these bridges in Canada. Discusses complexities of rebuilding some of the bridges in the area. Gives example of a bridge being rebuilt over a hairpin turn. Further discussion of the engineering challenges presented by some of the bridging sites. Digression on one German engineer losing toes to a mine at a bridging site near Sarajevo during a reconnaissance. Discussion of Romanian contingent as doing anything asked of it. Digression on how Italian and Romanians could speak with one another and how their languages are similar. 42:00 – 48:03 – Discussion of pre-deployment training given to individuals deployed on UN peacekeeping missions. Mentions taking personal steps to prepare himself while being at CFB Chilliwack. Mentions that things got better later on. Discussion of mine awareness and unexploded ordnance awareness and how this was a high priority, to the point that people would never leave a paved road for their own protection. 48:04 – 52:00 – Digression on the history of mine warfare to explain anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. Fitch uses this to segway into a discussion of how hard it was to detect certain types of mine due to their low metal content, even when it came to using dogs. Discussion of wide distribution of mines among troops in certain of the local paramilitary factions. 52:00 – 61:51 – Discussion of leadership challenges in a multinational element like IFOR. “Forging peace in Europe for the next one hundred years,” Fitch discusses how former Warsaw Pact military personnel were introduced to NATO-style headquarters and operating standards, example of Hungarian engineers learning to work independently and thriving “Knitting Europe back together.” Use of friendly rivalry to encourage contingents to work together, as in the example of how French and Germans built a Mabey-Johnson bridge in as fast a time as possible. On the topic of how it was to work with other contingents, Fitch mentions that there were variations with regard to what it was like to work with some contingents versus other countries. File 5 00:00 – 06:14 – Discussion of professional lessons learned as a result of deployment to the former Yugoslavia. Fitch mentions that the most important thing he learned was “how to function in a multinational environment.” Fitch talks about “technique for working in highly political, dysfunctional multi-national headquarters,” namely lateral networking and “friendly subterfuge.” Fitch discusses the use of “NATO standard” to get things done in these situations. Fitch discusses how this technique was later useful during his postings to NDHQ. 06:14 – 20:14 – Further discussion of the interaction with local factions on the ground. Discussion of how it was difficult to describe what was occurring on the ground to his father who was a Veteran of the Second World War. Discussion of the ethnic aspects of Yugoslavia and heavy presence of history and the various ethnic differences. Fitch discusses a type of society in which a “gangster mentality” which was kept in check by an “imposed rule of law” and how after Tito’s disappearance situations spiralled out of control in a vicious circle. Essentially every faction was equally ruthless, spurred on by the “gangster elements.” Despite this, there were still bonds linking people from different backgrounds. 20:14 – 21:25 – End of interview, confirmation of release form being signed, Major-General Fitch is thanked.

In Collection:
Contributor Subject Language Keyword Date created Relation Resource type Rights statement Extent
  • 5 sound recordings (MP3)
Geographic coverage Coordinates
  • 44, 19.75
  • 43.84864, 18.35644
  • 60.10867, -113.64258
Additional physical characteristics
  • Original sound recordings (WMA) also available.
Physical repository Collection
  • Canadian Military Oral History Collection
Provider Genre Archival item identifier
  • FE_693
Fonds title Fonds identifier Is referenced by Date digitized
  • April 1, 2011
Technical note
  • Digital sound recording in .mp3 format at 128 kbps and 44 kHz. Recorded in digital format by interviewer, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview recorded in digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2011. Migration metadata by KD and MT.
Rights
  • This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca
DOI

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