Orders of Battle

In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces murdered 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in an act of genocide that has come to be known as the Srebrenica massacre. Previously, the United Nations Security Council had declared Srebrenica a "safe area" and deployed a United Nations Protection Force ("UNPROFOR") to monitor it. UNPROFOR was not authorized to use force to defend the enclave. A "demilitarization agreement" required the Bosnian Serbs to give up their weapons, but they maintained their siege and continued shelling the town. When they ultimately attacked in force, the UNPROFOR troops surrendered and NATO provided only minimal support. Inspired by these events, Orders of Battle takes us from a hillside in Eastern Bosnia, where a young Marine officer must make a fateful decision, to a courtroom on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. What is the responsibility of a military officer faced with certain genocide when his orders do not contemplate the use of force? What are the legal consequences of his actions? Orders of Battle explores the answers to these questions, which have never before been decided in a court of law, in the context of a monumental and richly detailed court-martial.

Pages: 360, Hardcover, Archway Publishing