Friday, March 9, 2001

Story and photos by Kevin Dougherty
Kosovo bureau

Medics provide care to an ethnic Albanian guerrilla who was shot by U.S. soldiers. The 19-year-old was transported to the hospital at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo. Soldiers say they think another guerrilla was shot during the incident, but they were unable to locate him.

MIJAK, Kosovo — The unmistakable sound of gunfire sent everyone scrambling, collecting their wits as well as their weapons.

In a burned-out, two-story house next to the command post in Mijak, Kosovo, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Alfred Williams, of the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, was giving orders and arranging his men to take defensive positions in the light fog. It was just a couple of minutes after 9 a.m. Wednesday.

"OK, guys, this is the real deal," barked the 31-year-old soldier from Austin, Texas. "If they are not wearing the U.S. uniform or the Polish uniform, consider them hostile."

Several hundred meters away to the southeast, a reconnaissance team comprised of U.S. Special Forces and Polish infantrymen had fired at five armed ethnic Albanians. Dozens of 82nd Airborne soldiers lurked nearby, and were directly involved in the incident as well.

The group of insurgents had emerged from a makeshift barracks, situated about 165 yards from the Kosovo-Macedonian border, and were attempting a flanking maneuver. According to soldiers on the scene, at least one of the insurgents had leveled his gun and, presumably, was preparing to shoot when he and another Albanian were hit.

"All it takes is a trigger squeeze and the situation would be different," said Lt. Col. Bryan Owens, commander of the 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, an hour later in his command post.

Many of the buildings in Mijak have been damaged in the various border battles that have plagued this region for the past few years.

The building occupied by Owens and his command element was no different. The main ground-floor room had been charred by fire. They sat, slept and schemed on a dirt floor. The only worthy amenity was a dilapidated, malfunctioning fireplace that kept the soldiers warm and smoky.

"I’m just glad no one [American or Polish] got hurt," said Owens to his staff during a lull in the action. "I can’t believe they tried to engage the United States Army. Do they not know what they are dealing with?"

The NATO-led force in Kosovo, dubbed KFOR, arrived in the southern Yugoslav province in mid-June 1999 following a 78-day air campaign to halt the ethnic cleansing of Albanians by Serb forces.

KFOR troops arrived assuming the Serb army would pose the greatest threat, though there was genuine concern that Albanian insurgents might seek revenge and destabilize the area. In recent weeks, it has become abundantly clear, based on many interviews and informal chats, that KFOR and the international community now regard the ethnic Albanians, who are in the majority, as the main impediment to lasting peace in Kosovo.

Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, from Baumholder, Germany, take position inside a demolished house in Mijak, Kosovo. The soldiers, many of whom spent the previous night in the house, secured the perimeter shortly after shots were fired.

"I don’t see any kind of Albanian gathering standing up against these Albanian extremist," said Serb leader Predrag Grbic after last month’s bus bombing in northern Kosovo, which killed 11 and injured dozens more.

"There are innocent victims on both sides."

The insurgents have been wreaking havoc for over a year in the Presevo Valley, located in Yugoslavia on Kosovo’s eastern border. Beginning in February, similar hostilities arose along Kosovo-Macedonian border.

Last week, KFOR beefed up its presence along the border. This past Sunday, Macedonia closed its border after three of its soldiers died in two separate attacks near the town of Tanusevci.

That led the U.S. Army to increase its strength in the southern Kosovo hamlet of Debelde, which is a couple of steep ridge lines away the Macedonian village. Lying between Debelde and Tanusevci is Mijak.

On Monday, a U.S. force of about 150 soldiers attempted to retake Mijak, which had become a safe haven for the rebels. It also was being used, as was Debelde, as a primary smuggling route for all sorts of contraband, from cigarettes to guns.

However, the mission was suspended partly because the dirt, rock-strewn road leading into Mijak was mined.

"Mijak and Becalar [another small village a half-mile west of Mijak] are kind of casualties of the war," said Capt. Koby Langley, a spokesman for the airborne battalion, Tuesday afternoon over a cup of coffee at the unit’s base camp in Vitina. "That whole border area is very heavily mined."

Minutes later, an offer was tendered.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" asked Maj. Frank Zachar, the battalion’s executive officer. He was smiling. "It’s a good, long walk."

After accepting the offer, not much more was said. And for good reason.

The paratroopers, military police, engineers, and regular infantrymen were preparing to depart on a secret mission. The plan was to drive south toward the mountainous border, swing out to the west of Debelde and stop in a largely unpopulated area. From there, it was an arduous walk up and down a steep hill to Becalar and then on to Mijak.

With the exception of the command element, two teams of the troops, each numbering between 50 and 60, walked up a steep path in the dark. All were carrying heavy packs. The last group didn’t arrived in Mijak until 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Capt. Paul Jackson, left, Spc. Sean Flynn and Staff Sgt. Alfred Williams coordinate efforts between units after the gunfire. Williams is with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, from Baumholder, Germany. Jackson and Flynn are with 1st Battalion, 325 Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne, from Fort Bragg, N.C.

The six-member command group, which now had a guest along for the stroll, took a slightly different route late Tuesday afternoon. It climbed a watery gully, called a draw, for two hours before linking up with an advance team at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The advance team, which included Special Forces personnel, a platoon of airborne scouts and about 30 Polish soldiers, had made the climb before sunrise Tuesday.

"These aren’t mountains, but they’re not hills," said Spc. Erik Harris, a member of the Scout platoon. "They kicked my ass."

The command element included Owens, the airborne commander; his operations officer, Maj. Bill Burleson; and the battalion fire support officer, Capt. Paul Jackson. Also in the group were Spc. Gavin Lappe, Spc. Sean Flynn and Pvt. Patrick Williams.

Williams, a 20-year-old from Middletown, Ohio, is a communications guy, along with Lappe. But mission aside, Williams was revved up because someone needed his 82nd Airborne Division flag for the march to Mijak.

Around noontime Thursday, his banner along with the U.S. flag were hoisted to the top of two makeshift poles in front of Building 23 — the barracks building in Mijak that had been one of the primary objectives.

"It’s going to be a part of 82nd Airborne history, but it’s mine," said Williams as he stood around a small bonfire built by the Polish forces Tuesday night. (The fire was on the backside of a ridge near Becalar and served for a brief time as a command post.) "Someone would have to pay me a lot of money for it, but, even then, I wouldn’t sell it."

At about 9:30 p.m., the first of the two large U.S. elements moving up the mountain linked with Polish forces. Capt. John Digiambattista, commander of the airborne battalion’s Bravo Company, gave his men a breather while he got briefed on the situation.

Prior to their arrival, Owens, Burleson and a few others moved down the mountain, through Becalar and into Mijak, setting up the primary command post on the north end of the village. Becalar came to be known as objective "Bush," while Mijak assumed the code name "Washington."

The 793rd Military Police Battalion secured Becalar, and the rest of the task force moved on to Mijak. The second group didn’t arrive until well past midnight.

"Man," exclaimed one soldier as he and others walked into the command post, "this is medieval."

After a couple of hours of sleep — at best — Digiambattista’s company and 2-6 Infantry began at 6:30 a.m. securing house after house. In all, there were about two dozen buildings to secure and search. Soldiers were looking for weapons, ammunition, rebel uniforms and anything else that might aid the armed ethnic Albanian group.

Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division from Baumholder, Germany, provided perimeter security following the shooting.

Aside from the insurgents, the entire hamlet was deserted, save for three families. The day before, Special Forces personnel had made contact with the families, assuring them they were safe. For folks who have seen buildings in the town burned, bombed and occupied by at least a couple of different factions, they were understandably frightened and leery.

To Owens and others, the operation all harked back to that mantra of creating "a secure and safe environment." The insurgents working in this part of Kosovo are a threat to that principle. Exactly how many of them operate in the area is unknown. Estimates range from 80 to 200 people.

While his forces were securing building after building, Owens said his men know the insurgents have automatic weapons and mortar capability. He expected the insurgents would either surrender or head south into Macedonia, where they could link up with their brothers-in-arms in Tanusevci. Owens and others doubted the guerillas would engage the U.S.-led force.

"I think it is highly unlikely they will fight," Owens said about an hour before gunfire rolled over the landscape.

At about the same time Owens was talking, Bravo Company was moving southeast through town. Ahead of them were Special Forces personnel and Polish infantrymen. Sometime before 9 a.m., as the advance team was conducting reconnaissance near Building 23, a suspected insurgent either surrendered or was captured.

Eventually, the two groups — Bravo Company and the reconnaissance element — somehow linked up, with Digiambattista asking Owens for permission to move on the building. Owens declined the request, but told his company commander not to hesitate to have his soldiers protect themselves.

"If they engage you, or you feel threatened," Owens said over the radio to Digiambattista,"you can take them out."

Then, shortly thereafter, a group of about five individuals emerged from the building and began a flanking motion on the reconnaissance team. That led the team to pull back to a better position. While they retreated, a Special Forces soldier, and possibly another, apparently noticed at least two of them leveling their guns, seemingly preparing to fire. But before the insurgents could get a shot off, they were hit.

One of the men hit was a 19-year-old. He took a bullet in both legs and a third in either the lower back or abdomen. The Albanian scrambled back to the barracks building, but was later recovered by one of the townsfolk and taken to the Americans. A U.S. Army medevac helicopter flew in and picked him up in the afternoon. He was taken to the Army hospital at Camp Bondsteel.

The other man who was shot has not been found. The original detainee escaped amid the confusion of battle.

"I want you all to think about this," said Army Chaplain (Capt.) Robert Glazener as the helicopter carrying the wounded Albanian lifted off. "You carried him a long way. You worked hard. And if it was one of us, we probably would have worked twice as hard."

During the course of the day Wednesday, Owens and others were continuously frustrated by the weather. The fog would lift, and then return. Owens wasn’t about to move on Building 23 until a supporting force could provide cover for an advancing team. In the fog, that wasn’t possible. Owens feared an ambush, and he wasn’t about to risk it.

By Thursday morning, the fog lifted.

Two insurgents were captured at about 10 a.m., said Langley, the airborne battalion spokesman, and Building 23 was occupied an hour later. U.S. personnel had apparently seen other insurgents leaving the building and another nearby position Wednesday night, moving south into Macedonia. When Digiambattista and his men took control of the building, they found it unoccupied.

"They do have an agenda, but it’s hard to understand what it is," Langley said Tuesday as the Mijak mission was beginning. "Patriots will be patriots, but you have to know when to stop."

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