The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename Operation Joint Endeavour.
NATO was responsible to the United Nations (UN) for carrying out the Dayton Peace Accords. The Dayton Peace Accords were started on 22 November 1995 by the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, on behalf of Serbia and the Bosnian Serb Republic. The actual signing happened in Paris on 14 December 1995. The peace accords contained a General Framework Agreement and eleven supporting annexes with maps. The accords had three major goals: ending of hostilities, authorization of military and civilian program going into effect, and the establishment of a central Bosnian government while excluding individuals that serve sentences or under indictment by the International War Crimes Tribunals from taking part in the running of the government. IFOR's specific role was to implement the military Annexes of The General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[1]
IFOR relieved the UN peacekeeping force UNPROFOR, which had originally arrived in 1992, and the transfer of authority was discussed in Security Council Resolution 1031. Almost 60,000 NATO soldiers in addition to forces from non-NATO nations were deployed to Bosnia. Operation Decisive Endeavor (SACEUR OPLAN 40105), beginning 6 December 1995, was a subcomponent of Joint Endeavor.[2] IFOR began operations on 20 December 1995.[3]
Admiral Leighton W. Smith Jr., Commander in Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH), served as the first Joint Force Commander for the operation, also known as Commander IFOR (COMIFOR). He commanded the operation from IFOR's deployment on 20 December 1995 from headquarters in Zagreb, and later from March 1996 from the Residency in Sarajevo.[5] Admiral Thomas J. Lopez commanded the operation from 31 July to 7 November 1996, followed by General William W. Crouch until 20 December 1996.[3] Lt Gen Michael Walker, Commander Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), acted as Land Component Commander for the operation, commanding from HQ ARRC (Forward) based initially in Kiseljak, and from late January 1996 from HQ ARRC (Main) in Ilidža. This was NATO's first ever out-of-area land deployment. The Land Component's part of the operation was known as Operation Firm Endeavour.[6]
At its height, IFOR involved troops from 32 countries and numbered some 54,000 soldiers in-country (BiH) and around 80,000 involved soldiers in total (with support and reserve troops stationed in Croatia, Hungary, Germany, and Italy and also on ships in the Adriatic Sea). In the initial phases of the operation, much of the initial composition of IFOR consisted of units which had been part of UNPROFOR but remained in place and simply replaced their United Nations insignia with IFOR insignia.[citation needed]
Components
Map of the International Sectors under the Peace Agreement.
NATO member states that contributed forces included Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Non-NATO nations that contributed forces included; Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Russia, and Ukraine.[7]
The tasks of the Land Component were carried out by three Multi National Divisions:
Multi-National Division (South-East), Mostar – French led. Also known as the 'Division salamandre.'[8] MND-SE included two French brigades, one Spanish brigade, one Italian brigade, a Portuguese Parachute Battalion of 700 plus a services and support detachment of 200, and Egyptian, Jordanian and Ukrainian units (around 2,500 men), as well as a Moroccan task force. The divisional headquarters was provided in rotation by divisions including the 7th Armoured Division and the 6th Light Armored Division.
Multi-National Division (North), Tuzla – US led. Task Force Eagle. The US Army 1st Armored Division under the command of Major General William L. Nash, constituted the bulk of the ground forces for Task Force Eagle. They began to deploy on 18 December 1995. MND-N was composed of two U.S. Brigades, a Russian brigade, a Turkish brigade, and the Nordic-Polish Brigade.
A Russian brigade, initially under the command of Colonel Alexander Ivanovich Lentsov, was part of the Task Force Eagle effort.[12]
The 1st Brigade of 1st Armored Division was commanded by Colonel Gregory Fontenot and covered the northwest. The 2nd Brigade of 1st Armored Division, led by Col John Batiste, constituted the southern flank of the US sector, based in Camp Lisa, about 20 km east of Kladanj. Task Force 2–68 Armor, based in Baumholder, Germany (later re-flagged to 1–35 AR), was based in Camp Linda, outside of Olovo. This was the Southern boundary of the US Sector. The 1AD returned in late 1996 to Germany.
One of MND-N's components was the Nordic-Polish Brigade (NORDPOLBDE) (Polish: Brygada Nordycko-Polska) which was a multinational brigade of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden and USA. It was formed in 1996, and till its disestablishment in 2000 it was stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of both IFOR and SFOR.[13] The Nordic Support Group at Pécs in Hungary handled the relay of supply, personnel and other logistical tasks between the NORDPOL participating countries and their deployed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It comprised several National Support Elements.
On 20 December 1996, the task of IFOR was taken over by SFOR.[14] In turn, SFOR was replaced by the European EUFOR Althea force in 2004.[15]
NATO began to create service medals once it began to support peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia, which led to the award to IFOR troops of the NATO Medal.[16]
Components of the IFOR
Russian and US troops on a joint patrol around the Bosnian town of Zvornik on the afternoon of 29 February 1996 in support of Operation Joint Endeavour.
Italian army M113 of the IFOR (clearly visibile the Chevron, representing the alliance of the NATO forces).
^An account of the interactions of the Americans and Russians in Bosnia in 1996 may be found in James Nelson, Bosnia Journal: An American Civilian's Account of His Service With the 1st Armored Division and the Russian brigade in Bosnia.
^Baumann, Robert F.; George W. Gawrych; Walter E. Kretchik (2004). Armed Peacekeepers in Bosnia. DIANE Publishing. p. 192. ISBN1-4289-1020-4. via Google Books
^"History of the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina". NATO. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
^Hawton, Nick (October 23, 2004). "EU troops prepare for Bosnia swap". BBC News. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
^"NATO Medal for Former Yugoslavia (NATO-FY)". National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. July 22, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
Further reading
Charles Bertin,
Lord, Cliff (2004). Royal Corps of Signals: Unit Histories of the Corps (1920–2001) and its Antecedents. Helion & Company. ISBN978-1-874622-92-5.
Siegel, Pascale (1998). (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 June 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
Wentz, Larry (1998). Lessons from Bosnia: The IFOR Experience(PDF).
Lambert, Nicholas (2002). Measuring the Success of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1995 – 2000. Issue 140/2, pp. 459–481. European Journal of Operations Research, Special 2000 Edition. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(02)00083-8.
External links
Media related to IFOR at Wikimedia Commons
CCRP Bosnia Research and Publications
Information on Operation Joint Endeavour on the NATO Website
January 26, 2023
implementation, force, ifor, redirects, here, other, uses, ifor, disambiguation, ifor, nato, multinational, peace, enforcement, force, bosnia, herzegovina, under, year, mandate, from, december, 1995, december, 1996, under, codename, operation, joint, endeavour. IFOR redirects here For other uses see IFOR disambiguation The Implementation Force IFOR was a NATO led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename Operation Joint Endeavour Implementation ForcePocket badge of the IFORActive1995 1996Country32 countriesTypeCommandPart ofNATO Contents 1 Background 2 Components 3 See also 4 Notes 5 Further reading 6 External linksBackground EditNATO was responsible to the United Nations UN for carrying out the Dayton Peace Accords The Dayton Peace Accords were started on 22 November 1995 by the presidents of Bosnia Croatia and Serbia on behalf of Serbia and the Bosnian Serb Republic The actual signing happened in Paris on 14 December 1995 The peace accords contained a General Framework Agreement and eleven supporting annexes with maps The accords had three major goals ending of hostilities authorization of military and civilian program going into effect and the establishment of a central Bosnian government while excluding individuals that serve sentences or under indictment by the International War Crimes Tribunals from taking part in the running of the government IFOR s specific role was to implement the military Annexes of The General Framework Agreement for Peace GFAP in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 IFOR relieved the UN peacekeeping force UNPROFOR which had originally arrived in 1992 and the transfer of authority was discussed in Security Council Resolution 1031 Almost 60 000 NATO soldiers in addition to forces from non NATO nations were deployed to Bosnia Operation Decisive Endeavor SACEUR OPLAN 40105 beginning 6 December 1995 was a subcomponent of Joint Endeavor 2 IFOR began operations on 20 December 1995 3 The Dayton Agreement resulted from a long series of events Notably the failures of EU led peace plans the August 1995 Croat Operation Storm and expelling 200 000 Serb civilians the Bosnian Serb war crimes in particular the Srebrenica massacre and the seizure of UNPROFOR peace keepers as human shields against NATO s Operation Deliberate Force 4 Admiral Leighton W Smith Jr Commander in Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe CINCSOUTH served as the first Joint Force Commander for the operation also known as Commander IFOR COMIFOR He commanded the operation from IFOR s deployment on 20 December 1995 from headquarters in Zagreb and later from March 1996 from the Residency in Sarajevo 5 Admiral Thomas J Lopez commanded the operation from 31 July to 7 November 1996 followed by General William W Crouch until 20 December 1996 3 Lt Gen Michael Walker Commander Allied Rapid Reaction Corps ARRC acted as Land Component Commander for the operation commanding from HQ ARRC Forward based initially in Kiseljak and from late January 1996 from HQ ARRC Main in Ilidza This was NATO s first ever out of area land deployment The Land Component s part of the operation was known as Operation Firm Endeavour 6 At its height IFOR involved troops from 32 countries and numbered some 54 000 soldiers in country BiH and around 80 000 involved soldiers in total with support and reserve troops stationed in Croatia Hungary Germany and Italy and also on ships in the Adriatic Sea In the initial phases of the operation much of the initial composition of IFOR consisted of units which had been part of UNPROFOR but remained in place and simply replaced their United Nations insignia with IFOR insignia citation needed Components Edit Map of the International Sectors under the Peace Agreement NATO member states that contributed forces included Belgium Canada Denmark France Germany Italy Luxembourg the Netherlands Norway Portugal Spain Turkey the United States and the United Kingdom Non NATO nations that contributed forces included Australia Austria Bangladesh the Czech Republic Egypt Estonia Finland Hungary Latvia Lithuania Malaysia New Zealand Pakistan Poland Romania Slovakia Sweden Russia and Ukraine 7 The tasks of the Land Component were carried out by three Multi National Divisions Multi National Division South East Mostar French led Also known as the Division salamandre 8 MND SE included two French brigades one Spanish brigade one Italian brigade a Portuguese Parachute Battalion of 700 plus a services and support detachment of 200 and Egyptian Jordanian and Ukrainian units around 2 500 men as well as a Moroccan task force The divisional headquarters was provided in rotation by divisions including the 7th Armoured Division and the 6th Light Armored Division Multi National Division South West Banja Luka British led The British codename for their armed forces involvement in IFOR was Operation Resolute MND SW included a British brigade a Canadian Brigade Canadian code name Operation Alliance and Dutch units 9 Division headquarters was provided by 3 UK Division 10 then 1st UK Armoured Division 11 Multi National Division North Tuzla US led Task Force Eagle The US Army 1st Armored Division under the command of Major General William L Nash constituted the bulk of the ground forces for Task Force Eagle They began to deploy on 18 December 1995 MND N was composed of two U S Brigades a Russian brigade a Turkish brigade and the Nordic Polish Brigade A Russian brigade initially under the command of Colonel Alexander Ivanovich Lentsov was part of the Task Force Eagle effort 12 The 1st Brigade of 1st Armored Division was commanded by Colonel Gregory Fontenot and covered the northwest The 2nd Brigade of 1st Armored Division led by Col John Batiste constituted the southern flank of the US sector based in Camp Lisa about 20 km east of Kladanj Task Force 2 68 Armor based in Baumholder Germany later re flagged to 1 35 AR was based in Camp Linda outside of Olovo This was the Southern boundary of the US Sector The 1AD returned in late 1996 to Germany One of MND N s components was the Nordic Polish Brigade NORDPOLBDE Polish Brygada Nordycko Polska which was a multinational brigade of Denmark Estonia Finland Latvia Lithuania Norway Poland Sweden and USA It was formed in 1996 and till its disestablishment in 2000 it was stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of both IFOR and SFOR 13 The Nordic Support Group at Pecs in Hungary handled the relay of supply personnel and other logistical tasks between the NORDPOL participating countries and their deployed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina It comprised several National Support Elements On 20 December 1996 the task of IFOR was taken over by SFOR 14 In turn SFOR was replaced by the European EUFOR Althea force in 2004 15 NATO began to create service medals once it began to support peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia which led to the award to IFOR troops of the NATO Medal 16 Components of the IFOR Russian and US troops on a joint patrol around the Bosnian town of Zvornik on the afternoon of 29 February 1996 in support of Operation Joint Endeavour Italian army M113 of the IFOR clearly visibile the Chevron representing the alliance of the NATO forces French AuF1 howitzer of the 32nd Artillery Regiment with IFOR markings being serviced near the installations of the 1984 Winter Olympics at Sarajevo Russian forces in Bosnia Challenger 1 tank of the UK s 1st The Queen s Dragoon Guards with IFOR markings on a loading shipSee also EditNational Support GroupNotes Edit The General Framework Agreement for Peace GFAP in Bosnia and Herzegovina Appendix C References Federation of American Scientists Archived 26 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine a b Peace support operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina NATO Retrieved 18 December 2020 NATO AIRCRAFT ATTACK BOSNIAN SERB TANK Press release NATO 22 September 1994 SFOR leaves Residency Compound Operational Analysis Support to NATO IFOR SFOR Operations Clark A L 1996 Bosnia What Every American Should Know New York Berkley Books The Multinational Division South East in Bosnia Archived 28 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine British Forces Bosnia Hansard 18 July 1996 Retrieved 13 April 2013 Army senior appointments United Kingdom Government News 23 July 2002 Archived from the original on 26 July 2011 Retrieved 13 April 2013 Lord p 304 An account of the interactions of the Americans and Russians in Bosnia in 1996 may be found in James Nelson Bosnia Journal An American Civilian s Account of His Service With the 1st Armored Division and the Russian brigade in Bosnia Baumann Robert F George W Gawrych Walter E Kretchik 2004 Armed Peacekeepers in Bosnia DIANE Publishing p 192 ISBN 1 4289 1020 4 via Google Books History of the NATO led Stabilisation Force SFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina NATO Retrieved December 18 2018 Hawton Nick October 23 2004 EU troops prepare for Bosnia swap BBC News Retrieved December 18 2018 NATO Medal for Former Yugoslavia NATO FY National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces July 22 2015 Retrieved December 18 2018 Further reading EditCharles Bertin A Summer in Mostar 50 days with the Salamander Division January June 1996 Lord Cliff 2004 Royal Corps of Signals Unit Histories of the Corps 1920 2001 and its Antecedents Helion amp Company ISBN 978 1 874622 92 5 Phillips R Cody Bosnia Herzegovina The U S Army s Role in Peace Enforcement Operations 1995 2004 Washington D C United States Army Center of Military History CMH Pub 70 97 1 Archived from the original on 9 December 2013 Siegel Pascale 1998 Target Bosnia PDF Archived from the original PDF on 28 June 2015 Retrieved 19 January 2007 Wentz Larry 1998 Lessons from Bosnia The IFOR Experience PDF Lambert Nicholas 2002 Measuring the Success of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NATO Operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1995 2000 Issue 140 2 pp 459 481 European Journal of Operations Research Special 2000 Edition doi 10 1016 S0377 2217 02 00083 8 External links Edit Media related to IFOR at Wikimedia Commons CCRP Bosnia Research and Publications Information on Operation Joint Endeavour on the NATO Website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Implementation Force amp oldid 1128010494, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
