Photo: PO Ian Smith

Lt. Anne-Claude Gouy
First published in
SFOR Informer#158, February 20, 2003

For more than seven years, the Hellenic Battalion (HELBA) was based in Visoko. This unit was the only logistic unit within the whole theatre. Due to the re-structuring of SFOR, it left Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) this month. The experience of those Greek soldiers in BiH was the best clue for their motto: "I was born in Hellas but I am a citizen of the world," as answered by the great philosopher Socrates when he was asked about his nationality.

Visoko - Based 27 km Northwest of Sarajevo, Visoko was the first capital of BiH. Nowadays, the expansion of industry and trade (metal and leather) has helped Visoko to become one of the most developed regions of the former Yugoslavia. For SFOR, Visoko was also the cradle of its logistic unit.

Once upon a time
The Hellenic contingent was first established in Visoko on Dec. 26, 1995. One month later, the unit took the name of BELUGA, which stood for BElgium, LUxembourg, Greece and Austria. "I was the commander of this camp for one year, from 1996 until 1997. Each time I passed near Visoko, I remembered this time, full of good memories. We had a lot of tasks. For example we were building the road to Gorazde," explained Col. Thomas Rapatz, Defence Attaché of the Austrian embassy in Sarajevo, which came Feb. 7 to Visoko to say a last goodbye to HELBA.
In February 1999, after the first reorganisation of SFOR units, Luxembourg and Belgium withdrew from the theatre, and Greece became the leading nation. The arrival of Bulgaria brought the name 'HELBA'. In February 2000, the Austrian contingent was re-deployed in Rajlovac, and one month later the Portuguese battalion was deployed to Visoko as Operational Reserve (OPRES). In January 2001, the Bulgarian platoon left the theatre and HELBA took its current and last form. They left Visoko on Wednesday Feb. 12, in a last convoy.

Ogre's appetite
Under the operational control of HQ SFOR and direct orders for specific missions from CJ4 (logistic branch), HELBA's main mission was to provide wide transportation support within the theatre. To support the multinational brigades (MNB) and the national support elements (NSE) within BiH, and to provide transportation support to civilian initiatives. "They helped us a lot for transferring humanitarian help from Austria to BiH. They helped us so much that it can't be valued in money. Their departure will make the work harder and we will try to get help from another SFOR contingent. But it will be quite hard," said Mr. Smajl Bajric, local co-ordinator for Bauern Helfen Bauern (Farmers help Farmers), an Austrian non-governmental organisation. In order to fulfil those tasks, HELBA got an important vehicle capability: five trucks Steyer 680M type (capacity of 2.5 tons for each) and 20 trucks Magirus 168 M11 type (capacity of 5 tons for each). These vehicles could deliver a total of 112.5 tons of cargo and 5 tons of fuel in one loop. Additionally, HELBA got 25 special equipped vehicles, which were used to enhance security and provide adequate support to their convoys. Since the arrival of HELBA in BiH, its platoons drove more than 24 millions kilometres, and transported annually over 20,000 tons of cargo, among which 200 tons of humanitarian help.

The last trip
"By judging the amount of transportation, which was reducing year after year, and since the situation in the country is gradually stabilising, we can assume that SFOR had a successful mission," said Lt. Col. Aristomenis Kragaris, commander of Hellenic force in BiH for two years. That explains the last convoy of HELBA: its own. Half of their equipment and vehicles are already back in Greece with one third of their personnel. The remaining vehicles, material and personnel left Visoko to Mostar, and then Mostar to Ploce, where a Hellenic roll on - roll of took them away from BiH to their country. "The last trip won't be the least. We started to pack and check everything at the end of December," told Capt. Christos Papantoniou, operations officer. Actually, the convoy had to be divided in two parts in order to avoid too much trouble in the local traffic.

The magic formula
HELBA gave a lot of concrete signs up in BiH. They've participated in the transportation of bridge components and minefields materials throughout the theatre: from Ploce to Doboj, Crni Most to Banja Luka, Odzak to Jajce. They helped the transportation Pazaric of all ammunition and weapons from a weapon storage site (WSS) from Glamoc to Donji Vakuf. They also took part in the transportation of house equipment of dislocated families in the area of Zepa and in several humanitarian aid projects.
Nevertheless, it wasn't so easy to drive so many kilometres in this country. A monthly training program included first of all a test under hard conditions on various surfaces. "During the first months, every mission was difficult and even dangerous. With mines and snipers all over the place, nobody felt secure. Also, it took time for the personnel to get accustomed to the local roads. To drive in wintertime with our trucks onto slippery roads is really a well-trained man's job," said Kragaris. Despite all that, HELBA always saw its missions through. "The most important thing is that they did everything with a smile. They were so cheerful and friendly. Their smile was a perpetual present," added Bajric.

Peaceful tale
Their best memory of BiH will be the help they provided for the transfer of displaced persons and refugees, as well every mission involving humanitarian aid. "Every smile that came from a child or an elderly person also put a smile on our heart. It was difficult for most of us in this case to restrain tears," explained Kragaris.
More than its missions, HELBA also promoted peace between different religions. "When I came here, I thought it will be difficult because of our own religion. We are orthodox. But there was no problem at all: we worked side by side without any concern," confided Papantoniou. Their best success was certainly on May 1, 2002, during the Easter celebrations. They succeeded in gathering Muslims, Catholics and Christian orthodox. Greeks, Bosniacs, Turks, Bosnian-Croats, Bosnian-Serbs, Bulgarians, Spanish, Americans and Portuguese celebrated this day together.
Rapatz gave the moral of this story: "Better than not seeing our differences, we joined them. And after seven years, when a foreign country is leaving, it means that BiH is on the good way towards the peace."

Related link:
Nations of SFOR: Greece