The powerful, disturbing and highly acclaimed account of a British officer in the Parachute Regiment, of part Yugoslav origin, painfully caught up in the savage maelstrom of the Bosnian war. Milos Stankovic worked as an interpreter and liaison officer for senior British commanders and two British UN generals – Mike Rose and Rupert Smith. Armed with the pseudonym ‘Mike Stanley’ he was propelled from one nerve-racking crisis to another as he helped negotiate ceasefires between rival warlords, secured the release of UN hostages and organised the escape from Sarajevo of stricken families. Yet his close contacts with the Bosnian Serb leadership of Dr Karadzic and General Mladic bred suspicion and paranoia on all sides – not just in the Bosnian Muslim and Serb ranks (who thought he might be a British spy – General Rose’s ‘trusted mole’) but in the minds of the Americans as well. In a final, horrific twist, the author was arrested by the British authorities on suspicion of being a Serb spy – two and a half years after returning from Bosnia.
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The powerful, disturbing and highly acclaimed account of a British officer in the Parachute Regiment, of part Yugoslav origin, painfully caught up in the savage maelstrom of the Bosnian war.
' A Soldiers Journey into Bosnia's Heart of Darkness' "Milos Stankovic served longer in the Bosnian war than any other British soldier… He was the outstanding liaison officer of his time. He did for Britain in the 1990's what Fitzroy MacLean had done in the 1940's, and in the same turbulent corner of Europe… ['Trusted Mole'] is the best book yet written on the Bosnian war, certainly including my own. It is more than that. It is the most extraordinary soldier's story that I have ever read."MARTIN BELL, M.P. This is the powerful, disturbing and highly acclaimed account of how a British officer in the Parachute regiment, of part Yugoslav origin, became painfully embroiled in the savage maelstrom of the Bosnian war. Milos Stankovic's work as interpreter and go-between for senior British commanders propelled him from one nerve-racking crisis to another as he helped to negotiate ceasefires between rival warlords, secured the release of UN hostages and organised the escape from Sarajevo of stricken families. Yet his close contacts with the Bosnian Serb leadership of Dr Karadzic and General Mladic bred suspicion and paranoia on all sides – not just in the Bosnian Muslim and Serb ranks (who thought he might be a British spy – General Rose's 'trusted mole') but in the minds of the Americans as well. In a final, horrific twist, the author was arrested by the British authorities on suspicion of being a Serb spy – two and a half years after returning from Bosnia. "Stankovic's book is far more than the outcry of an innocent man foully accused. He has a wonderful eye for detail and a natural storytellers gift, and passion… This man was a hero, caught in the middle and discarded by a military bureaucracy that should be shot at dawn for its betrayal."JON SWEENEY, 'Observer' "Well written, gripping and highly informative… a fascinating account of an experience that would leave most people shattered."ADRIAN WEALE, 'Daily Mail'
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24 b/w plates (24pp), (3 x 8pp b&w + maps) • Foreword by Martin Bell, M.P., who writes: 'Milos Stankovic served longer in the Bosnian war than any other British soldier … He was the outstanding liaison officer of his time. He did for Britain in the 1990s what Fitzroy MacLean had done in the 1940s, and in the same turbulent corner of Europe … [Trusted Mole] is the best book yet written on the Bosnian war, certainly including my own. It is more than that. It is the most extraordinary soldier's story that I have ever read.' • Major serialisation for the hardback in the Sunday Times, and excellent review coverage: ‘By far the best book to have come out of the Balkan wars,’ Sunday Times; ‘He has a wonderful eye for detail and a natural storyteller’s gift, and passion … This man was a hero, caught in the middle and discarded by a military bureaucracy that should be shot at dawn for its betrayal.’ John Sweeney, Observer; ‘Well-written, gripping and highly informative … a fascinating account of an experience that would leave most people shattered.’ Adrian Weale, Daily Mail.
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780006530909
Publisert
2001-04-17
Utgiver
Vendor
HarperCollins
Vekt
390 gr
Høyde
198 mm
Bredde
129 mm
Dybde
28 mm
Aldersnivå
00, G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
496

Forfatter
Foreword by

Biographical note

Milos Stankovic was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1962 – a British citizen with Scottish and Royalist Yugoslav parents, themselves refugees from Yugoslavia. Educated in England, he enlisted in the Parachute Regiment in 1981; the Army sent him to university where he studied Russian at Manchester and in Minsk in the Soviet Union. He has served with the British Army in Belize, Northern Ireland and Africa, and with the UN in post-war Kuwait and Iraq, and two long tours in Bosnia between December 1992 and April 1995.

Prior to his arrest at Staff College in October 1997, Major Stankovic served as a company commander with the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment.