sped forward with the whole convoy, forget mines, get out of one danger area, worry about the next one if you hit it. He didn’t. He quietly ordered his APC’s to put their spotlights on, thus illuminating the convoy and showing it to be UN. His APCs had taken up static fire positions and were ready to fire heavy machine gun rounds at anything that opened up.
Nothing opened up. We sat in silence. After a while, I spoke with the French officer. He decided to send the APC ahead to sweep a stretch of road then call us forward. This we did for the next fifteen minutes after which we saw the bodies in the road. They had been moved by the convoy and were more gory. The French officer was not happy to stop and move them. We had had the scare of the flare, moving the bodies may annoy whoever is out there. He then asked,
– If we stop, who is actually going to do it?
– I have some plastic sheets from the pallets. We will just pull their bodies onto them and put them on the trucks.
– I will not let the military help. It is a job which needs gloves and masks. I have spoken with Sarajevo. They have said NO.
I did not want to do it. I could not do it on my own. It was a dirty job and it did have the risk of attracting fire. But I had told the Serb that we would do it. Also, we had damaged the bodies. But at that time of the night, after the day we had had, I was prepared to hide behind a Sarajevo decision.
When we arrived in Rogatica it was absolutely deserted. It took ages to find Dragon. I then went to the house of the commander and explained that I had been unable to collect the bodies. I blamed the flare and the threat of an ambush. He told me that the flare was his and that there had been an ambush section in the hill but that it had seen our convoy. He was not upset that I had failed to bring in the bodies. I offered with no enthusiasm to stay and assist in their recovery the following day.
– No need, we will have them back before dawn. He did. By dawn we were back in Sarajevo.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.