German troops 'hid like rabbits' during rioting (Kosovo)

Chicago Sun Times ^ | 05/10/04 | BY TONY PATERSON Advertisement

[Andy from Beaverton]

 

German troops 'hid like rabbits' during rioting

May 10, 2004

BY TONY PATERSON

BERLIN -- German troops serving with the KFOR international peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo have been accused of hiding in barracks "like frightened rabbits" during the interethnic rioting that erupted in the province in March.

A hard-hitting German police report sent to the Berlin government last week criticizes the troops for cowardice and for their failure to quell the rioting in which 19 people died and about 900 others were injured.

The charges -- the most serious made against the German army since World War II -- have been levelled by police officers serving with the United Nations civil administration in Kosovo.

During the two-day riots between Albanians and Serbs, an Albanian mob burned and looted 29 Serb churches and monasteries in the southern city of Prizren, and caused several thousand Serbs to flee their homes.

Leaked excerpts from the report on the conduct of the 3,600-strong German contingent based in Prizren disclose that U.N. Kosovo police were left to fend for themselves at the height of the rioting.

"Despite continuous appeals for help from KFOR, nobody from the military appeared to back up the police," the report said. "KFOR proved to be incapable of carrying out the duties to which it has been assigned."

Further damning evidence, based on interviews with U.N. Kosovo officers, Serb church leaders and unnamed U.N. officials in Prizren, was published in Der Spiegel magazine.

The magazine concluded: "The German soldiers ran away and hid like frightened rabbits in their barracks. They only reappeared in armored vehicles after the Albanian mob had wreaked its havoc and left a trail of destruction."

"We were acting exactly according to the rules," said Col. Dieter Hintelmann, who heads the German KFOR contingent in Prizren. They prohibit troops from protecting buildings and allow the use of firearms only in self-defense.

Sunday Telegraph

[mrustow]

Please forgive me for the interruption of the duplicate thread and for the typeface, but we need all FReepers, their friends, lovers, enemies, relatives, spouses, exes, acquaintances, strangers, debtors, creditors, colleagues, bosses and subordinates to sign The Federalist's petition to save Don Rumsfeld!

Thank you!

RUMMY Petition

We now return to the regularly scheduled, duplicate, Cowardly Gerry thread.

[AuntB]

Glad to see the posting police are alive and well today!!

Good greif.

[AuntB]

Glad to see the posting police are alive and well today!!

Good greif. It must be nice to have nothing more to be concerned about.

[AuntB]

Glad to see the posting police are alive and well today!!

Good greif. It must be nice to have nothing more to be concerned about.

[D Rider]

This was a nation which gave us icons of warriors' strength and nobility; reduced to effeminite wards of the state. My heart is sick for them.

During the time of Charles Martel,(when the French were still Franks, ie.. German), the Franks were known for their axe wielding infantry. Stopped the Islamic invasion rather suddenly.

Looks like the rest of the Franks, (as well as the other German Tribes), have become Froggiefied.

[AuntB]

Sorry about the triple post!!! This thing keeps giving me an "error", but posts it any way....time for a break.

[BayouCoyote]

"You should be getting on BayouCoyote....."


NO ONE GETS ON BAYOUCOYOTE!

Didn't know the posting police were in force today with all the shares of Krispykreme going down. Sheesh!

[DTA]

[DTA]

>>>But we're talking about the Werhmacht here? What happened???<<<

It is Waffen SX now

German military honor, R.I.P.

[getoffmylawn]

"We were acting exactly according to the rules"

Serbs out. Albanians in. Kfor is there only to ensure the Serbian army doesn't interfer with KLA's plan of driving every last Serb out of Kosovo and destroying all that is Serbian in the Serbian province.

It's the damn French and Swedes that should be reprimanded. How dare they try to stop the rampaging Albanians.[/sarcasm]

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

One more time, but with feeling:

I don't hear Freeper Serbocrazies complaining about Dutch cowardice elsewhere. Sauce, goose, gander.