Balkan Dusk. Bosnia, 1994 (oil on board)

Balkan Dusk. Bosnia, 1994. Oil on board by Jonathan Wade, Royal Highland Fusiliers, 1994 circa. An unidentified non-commissioned officer of C Company stands in the turret to survey the terrain, accompanied by his gunner. This painting is based on a photograph of a Warrior, or Combat Vehicle, Personnel, Tracked, of the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, taken on Mount Igman, near Sarajevo in 1994. Nicknamed ‘The Poachers’ from their predecessor the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment, the 2nd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment began their six-month tour in Bosnia, Operation GRAPPLE 4, on 8 May 1994. As part of UNPROFOR, the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Former Yugoslavia, the vehicle flies the United Nations flag from a radio antenna. The angled pole appearing to intersect it is a wire-cutter, to prevent the decapitation of crewmen by wire strung across the road by members of the warring factions. Projecting from the front is Warrior’s main armament, the 30 mm Rarden cannon. During Operation GRAPPLE, British troops’ duties included convoy escort to ensure the safe passage of humanitarian aid to the needy. While accompanying convoys into Sarajevo, they were regularly fired upon by Bosnian Serbs from Mount Igman and other heights overlooking the city. They also manned checkpoints along convoy routes and at points of potential confrontation. Many troops found a terrible contrast between the beauty of the countryside and the atrocities committed by the conflicting sides in this civil war.