European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes War in the Balkans tuesday february 15,1994 weary croatian City awaits peace by Vince Crawley staff writer Barlovac Croatia the Crum bling serbian orthodox Church in Karlo vac s town Square blown up during the 1991 outbreak of fighting was hit again last september and collapsed. Some of the thousands of bosnian muslims who lived in adjoining refugee Barracks swarmed onto the huge serbian orthodox Cross from the toppled Steeple. Heaving and breaking it in half they vented their anger at the Symbol of the bombers. The country less muslims have since been moved to a safer Haven. But the citizens of Barlovac say they have no where to go. They Are already Home. Barlovac is controlled by croatian authorities but some serbs and muslims re main in the City. The last shelling was sept. 30, when the armies fired a final Salvo of 2,500 Gre Nades into the City before the serbs and croats called another unsteady truce that no one really seems to believe in. Is John Bohmer two croatian army officers make their Way sunday through the bombed out Vil Lage of Turnaj near Barlovac. Death is common but not overwhelm ing in Barlovac a City of 60,000 at the Junction of the Rivers Kupa and Koruna about 30 Miles Southwest of Zagreb. Residents explain that the serbs decided the two Rivers would be the Northeast Corner of the Balkans. Europe would be on one Side greater Serbia on the other. The geographic problems Are far reaching. If the Muslim dominated government of Bosnia and Herzegovina ends up with the Borders it wants then the serbian occupied zones of Croatia would be Cut off from Serbia. Croatia wants its Borders to include the serbian occupied areas and says the serbs May live there in peace like ethnic minorities in any other democracy. Serbs say that they just want their people to be governed by serbs and that they Are trying to preserve their Union rather like in the american civil War. This Complex state of affairs makes for Odd entanglements. Residents of Karlo vac say the first shelling was ordered by the serbian commander of the City s yugoslav army forces whose own daughter and grandchildren lived in the town. The War Here kills people in ones and twos so it does not catch much of the world s attention compared with the plight of the outgunned muslims in neighbouring Bosnia. And the croats 1991 War for Independence was More or less successful except for three stalemated serbian occupied  pockets. Sometimes the serbs break the truce sometimes the croats do. There is no major fighting but every Day there is killing shooting said Sasha Salaj a Barlovac teacher. You have to Send your sons and daughters to school but you can never be sure if things will remain quiet through the  the chore of worrying about his pupils and his own 8-year-old daughter has worn out the 43-year-old teacher. I Don t think anymore Salaj said. I Hope. There Are others to  Barlovac was in mourning Over the weekend for its latest victims four Logis tics soldiers who walked onto land mines Friday at the nearby ghost Village of to Ranj. Their four photographs were posted on the sandbagged doors of every crop attack. The Headquarters used to be Domebo War from Page 1 Bian occupied Croatia has technically been liberated. But she does t feel that Way about it. She considers herself a croatian Citi zen she says As her remarks Are Hal tingly translated by her English teacher Sasha Salaj. Radoshevich says All she wants is forthe War to end so that the fear of shelling will Stop and she can get on with her life. Her Mother was Able to visit her in Barlovac once in 1992, but Radoshevich has t seen her since. She has t seen her father since sep tember 1991 when she went off to what was supposed Tobe just another semester at boarding school. But the Serbo croatian War engulfed her Village the following month before stopping angrily on the outskirts of Kar Lovac. Her last letter from Home was four months ago. Since then she s heard nothing. Her brother is in the croatian infantry stationed Jess than 20 Miles from  the tangled boundaries of the War also keep him from going Home. Radoshevich lives with six other girls in a crowded dorm room about the size of a is John Bohmer a . Truck passes the final croatian checkpoint before entering Turnaj which has been divided by croatian and serbian forces and is monitored by . Peacekeepers. Tian army building in the City. By s living room. Military radios Are at a front line Headquarters a gaunt stacked on the Coffee table. Military faced croatian army commander silently maps Are pinned to the Walls alongside Chain smoked while one of his English family Knickknacks and the picture we speaking officers explained that the Dows Are sandbagged. The television is troops Are growing restless and want to tuned to the Winter olympics. A rocket launcher rests upright against the Couch. They want to go Forward the officer said of his men. It s so difficult to stay in one place. It s dangerous and  it was this unit that had four men killed by mines Friday the soldiers want the War Over so they can go Home the English speaking offi cer said. And the sentiment on the front line is that croatian soldiers could drive out the serbian army and end the War in a few months if Only their political Lead ers would give them the go ahead. The officer talks a moment with his commander then Speaks again in English. We believe in peace not War he said. We Don t want to go in and fight. If we. Must we will. But we wish politicians would make peace. Without blood. With out our  the officers visited Turnaj where every House is a ruin. Here is nobody s land one of them said in imperfect English. On the Snow covered Street an enlisted Man pointed to one of the devastated wrecks and laughed. That s my Home he said. My Beautiful  is John Bohme Milana Radoshevich left scans a map of Croatia with her English teacher Sasha Supoj right and a fellow student Zeljko sch Michich. Two person . Army Barracks room. Their room has few ornaments except forthe stuffed animals on Radoshevich s bed. Along with about 135 students the school also houses 84 refugees from near by towns that have been destroyed in fighting. The classrooms have been turned into sleeping areas for the refugees so lessons arc held in the dorms. Pupils learn while sitting on the edges of their Beds and sometimes just Plain on Edge. For these students skipping school could mean their lives. Meanwhile in Barlovac Miroslav Bre Zan drove through the City s streets and said the peace is not  on the surface it looks like any other Western european City. But a closer look reveals hastily patched Shell holes boarded windows cratered Walls missing roofs and the random heaps of rubble that were ground Zero for artillery shells. It is not wholesale destruction. There Are just bits of it Here and there. This is a very very dirty War Brezan said. Like a dirty