Circa March-June 1999 - The NATO operation against Serb forces operating in Kosovo took place between March 24 and June 10, 1999. The 22nd Special Air Service is believed to have played a role in the NATO campaign. The Cimmerians will reenact elements of this operation. Backgrounder - "Operation Picnic" involved UK and US Special Forces operating inside Kosovo in order to gather much needed intelligence. Members of D Squadron, 22 SAS inserted into Kosovo in the early hours of March 21st, several days before the NATO bombing campaign began. Their mission was to identify Serbian units, SAM and AAA sites, supply lines and positions while remaining undetected. They also scouted out potential invasion routes for use by NATO forces and collected photographic evidence of Serbian war crimes. Once the air campaign began, the SAS called in air strikes against selected targets. AO: CISCO OPCOM : CObleigh The SAS also reportedly trained and worked alongside specially-selected Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) soldiers who, unfortunately for the secretive SAS, were keen to boast about the SAS presence in Kosovo. The efforts to train and equip the KLA were a joint US-UK operation and involved the US DIA and UK MI6 as well as serving and former UKSF personnel (sounds like a job for the increment?). |