VRBANJA, The Mandate of the Turning Point (Sarajevo May–September 1995)

This book describes the conditions under which Infantry Battalion No. 4 (BATINF 4) of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in the former Yugoslavia, deployed at the heart of the besieged city of Sarajevo from May to September 1995, fulfilled a mission described by some as impossible. Written by the man who commanded them, this account pays tribute to all those involved in this human and operational adventure of exceptional intensity. It honours the memory of those who, within its ranks, were killed, wounded, or taken hostage, and renders a heartfelt tribute to the courage and professionalism of the men he had the honour of commanding under fire. "Beyond this tribute, presented with all the moving force of lived testimony — and with what intensity and love for his men — Colonel Erik Sandahl draws several strategic and tactical lessons from the experience lived through five months of an operational mandate that would mark, as the title of his work indicates, a genuine turning point in this tragic Balkan War… This moving and precise account of the epic lived by BATINF 4 from May to September 1995 in Sarajevo constitutes an irreplaceable direct testimony to the way in which a unit of modest strength, but composed of valiant soldiers, commanded by seasoned, determined officers imbued with the importance and legitimacy of their mission in the service of France's arms, can, through its action alone under fire, create a true turning point in the course of a complex operation." (General of the Army (2S) Bertrand de La Presle, former commander of UNPROFOR, former military adviser to the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Carl Bildt).