Bibliograph

Operation Insanity, the dramatic true story of the mission that saved 10,000 lives, Colonel Richard Westley, OBE, MC with Mark Ryan

Type

Label

Operation Insanity, the dramatic true story of the mission that saved 10,000 lives, Colonel Richard Westley, OBE, MC with Mark Ryan

Language

eng

resource.biographical

contains biographical information

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Operation Insanity

Responsibility statement

Colonel Richard Westley, OBE, MC with Mark Ryan

Sub title

the dramatic true story of the mission that saved 10,000 lives

Summary

In the summer of 1995, the Bosnian town of Gora de came under attack from the Bosnian Serb Army, despite having been designated a Safe Area by the United Nations. Soldiers of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, sent to the area as UN peacekeepers, outnumbered, lacking firepower and without air support, began to be taken hostage by the encroaching Serbian forces, while the city itself came under bombardment. The entire British venture could have been summed up in two words: "Operation Insanity". The author, then a thirty-two year old major, knew he had to act quickly and decisively to have any chance of saving the lives not only of the men under his command, but of Gora de's 45,000 inhabitants. Colonel Westley's reflections on a horrendous period of modern history are harrowing and unforgettable. At one point, he witnessed the murder of a young Bosniak boy by Serbian snipers, and he himself was wounded by shrapnel while directing the defence against an attack by renegade Muslims. Yet his is also a very human story, from the gallows humour of the SAS team to his friendship with Selma, a female Muslim interpreter, whose courage and skill inspired him. Two decades on, his story is as relevant as ever

Classification