Pristina Corps Order of Battle

Notes: 125 Motorised Inf Bde is believed to have a motorised infantry battalion detached to Pec.

At the beginning of 1999 the commander of the 3rd Army was Colonel General Samardzic and the Commander of the Pristina Corps was General Nebojsa Pavkovic.

On 20 March HQ 3rd Army appeared to have moved a forward tactical HQ into Pristina.

Reinforcements
Over the weekend of the 20/21 March 1999 reinforcements were believed to be moving into Kosovo. These included one reinforced brigade from the Nis Corps and one reinforced brigade from the Leskovac Corps. In addition two more reinforced brigades, one from the 1st Army and one from the 2nd Army were believed to be preparing to move to Kosovo.

One of the 3rd Army SAM regiments was also believed to be moving from Nis to the area around Pristina for what is probably an airfield and lines of communication (road bridge)protection task.

Analysts have been impressed by the high standard of electronic silence displayed by the YA over the past 72 hours. While it is still possible to monitor electronic transmissions from the battle area as YA forces engage the KLA, elsewhere, electronically Kosovo appears almost silent. Most worrying for NATO planners is the lack of transmissions from air defence radars and the subsequent difficulty in establishing the positions of mobile surface to air missile systems. Latest estimates suggest that there may now be as many as 24 x SAM-6 launchers in the Kosovo theatre of operations (TAOR).

Serbian Ministry of the Interior Police (MUP)
In addition to the regular units of the YA, the Ministry of the Interior Police (MUP) have police infantry units in Kosovo. The MUP consists of a number of company sized light infantry type units equipped with infantry weapons and armoured vehicles. Under command of the Minister of the Interior there are also a number of specialised anti-terrorist units such as the Special Operations Unit (Red Berets) and SAJ "Commandos".

Irregular units such as Arakan's Tigers and Bokan's White Eagles have also been reported as operating in Kosovo, both units probably under the umbrella command of the MUP. Numbers are impossible to verify but there may be as many as 8,000 personnel under MUP command serving in the Kosovo TAOR. MUP HQ locations are known to be in Pristina, Gnjilane, Urosevac, Prizren, Djakovica, Pec and Kosovska Mitrovica.

The Dutch YPR armoured vehicles seen in use in Western Kosovo during May 1998 (captured from the UN in Srebrenica during 1995) were almost certainly being used by MUP units and may still be in the Kosovo TAOR.

Charles Heyman
Editor - Jane's World Armies

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