Implementation Force

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NATO-led force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995–96)

title: "Implementation Force" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["military-operations-involving-nato", "history-of-republika-srpska", "nato-led-peacekeeping-in-the-former-yugoslavia", "military-units-and-formations-of-nato", "military-history-of-bosnia-and-herzegovina", "united-states-marine-corps-in-the-20th-century", "military-units-and-formations-established-in-1995", "military-units-and-formations-disestablished-in-1996", "military-operations-involving-portugal"] description: "NATO-led force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995–96)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementation_Force" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary NATO-led force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995–96) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox military unit"]

FieldValue
unit_nameImplementation Force
imageInsignia NATO Army IFOR.svg
captionPocket badge of the IFOR
countries32 countries
typeCommand
dates1995–1996
command_structureNATO
nickname"IFOR"
disbanded(succeeded by SFOR)
::

|unit_name=Implementation Force |image=Insignia NATO Army IFOR.svg |caption=Pocket badge of the IFOR |countries=32 countries |branch= |type=Command |dates=1995–1996 |specialization= |command_structure=NATO |size= |nickname="IFOR" |current_commander= |garrison= |battles= |notable_commanders= | disbanded = (succeeded by SFOR) The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename Operation Joint Endeavour.

Background

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/9th_Engineer_Battalion_Crossing_The_Sava_River_into_Bosnia,_October_1996.jpg" caption="U.S. Army engineers]] when this photo was taken in 1996."] ::

In 1995, NATO was tasked by the United Nations (UN) to carry out the provision of the Dayton Peace Accords ending the Bosnian War. The Dayton Peace Accords were started on 22 November 1995 by the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, on behalf of Serbia and the Bosnian Serb Republic. The actual signing happened in Paris on 14 December 1995. The peace accords contained a General Framework Agreement and eleven supporting annexes with maps. The accords had three major goals: ending of hostilities, authorization of military and civilian program going into effect, and the establishment of a central Bosnian government while excluding individuals who are serving sentences or under indictment by the International War Crimes Tribunals from taking part in the running of the government. IFOR's specific role was to implement the military Annexes of The General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

IFOR relieved the UN peacekeeping force UNPROFOR, which had originally arrived in 1992, and the transfer of authority was discussed in Security Council Resolution 1031. Almost 60,000 NATO soldiers in addition to forces from non-NATO nations were deployed to Bosnia. Operation Decisive Endeavor (SACEUR OPLAN 40105), beginning 6 December 1995, was a subcomponent of Joint Endeavor. IFOR began operations on 20 December 1995.

The Dayton Agreement resulted from a long series of events, notably, the failures of EU-led peace plans, the August 1995 Croat Operation Storm and fleeing of 200,000 Serb civilians, the Bosnian Serb war crimes, in particular the Srebrenica massacre, and the seizure of UNPROFOR peace-keepers as human shields against NATO's Operation Deliberate Force.

U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry and his Russian counterpart, Pavel Grachev agreed on 8 October that the peacekeeping operation name will be Implementation Force of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia-Herzegovina, that is without reference to NATO; other differences were unresolved at that time (chain of command, area of command and control). On 27 October they agreed that "the Russian unit will not be part of the NATO peacekeeping force, but will perform special engineering, transport and construction ".

Admiral Leighton W. Smith Jr., Commander in Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH), served as the first Joint Force Commander for the operation, also known as Commander IFOR (COMIFOR). He commanded the operation from IFOR's deployment on 20 December 1995 from headquarters in Zagreb, and later from March 1996 from the Residency in Sarajevo. Admiral Thomas J. Lopez commanded the operation from 31 July to 7 November 1996, followed by General William W. Crouch until 20 December 1996. Lt Gen Michael Walker, Commander Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), acted as Land Component Commander for the operation, commanding from HQ ARRC (Forward) based initially in Kiseljak, and from late January 1996 from HQ ARRC (Main) in Ilidža. This was NATO's first ever out-of-area land deployment. The Land Component's part of the operation was known as Operation Firm Endeavour.

At its height, IFOR involved troops from 32 countries and numbered some 54,000 soldiers in-country (BiH) and around 80,000 involved soldiers in total (with support and reserve troops stationed in Croatia, Hungary, Germany, and Italy and also on ships in the Adriatic Sea). In the initial phases of the operation, much of the initial composition of IFOR consisted of units which had been part of UNPROFOR but remained in place and simply replaced their United Nations insignia with IFOR insignia.

Components

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/IFOR_map_split.jpg" caption="Map of the International Sectors under the Peace Agreement."] ::

NATO member states that contributed forces included Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Non-NATO nations that contributed forces included; Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Russia, and Ukraine.

The tasks of the Land Component were carried out by three Multi National Divisions:

NATO began to create service medals once it began to support peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia, which led to the award to IFOR troops of the NATO Medal.

Gallery

File:Two Russian BTR 80 personnel carriers, commanded by LT Aleksei Terebov, Military Police, Platoon Leader, 1ST Battalion, Airborne Brigade, 76th Airborne Division, follow a high mobil - DPLA - d8e506033fdf01d054e5ecbe7d10cc4c.jpeg|Two Russian BTR-80 APCs following an American Humvee in Zvornik File:BTR-80 and Bradley.jpg|An American M2 Bradley and a Russian BTR-80 during a patrol near Zvornik File:Centauro01.JPEG|An Italian Army B1 Centauro during a patrol in Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of IFOR during 1996 File:Swedish soldier in Bosnia-Herzegovina 1996.JPEG|A Swedish soldier manning a civilian checkpoint leading to the Joint Civilian Commission meeting in Doboj File:Danish Leopard 1A5 destroys a Serbian M55 AA gun 1996.jpg|A Danish Leopard 1 preparing to drive over and crush a Serbian Zastava M55 anti-air gun File:IVECO - OTO Melara Centauro B1 close up.JPEG|The crew of an Italian B1 Centauro deployed as part of IFOR File:Unimog truck of the Bundeswehr in Croatia.JPEG|German Unimog medical vehicles in Trogir File:British Army vehicles convoy through Kupres during deployment - DPLA - 4efbc2d5315644ee45092693c2848c70.jpeg|A British convoy passing through Kupres File:Greek Army - IFOR - Bosnian elections DD-SD-00-00344.jpg|Greek soldiers guarding a truck carrying polling equipment for the 1996 Bosnian general election in Zenica

Notes

References

  1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110916231119/http://www.oscebih.org/dejtonski_mirovni_sporazum/EN/ The General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina]
  2. [http://ftp.fas.org/irp/ops/smo/docs/ifor/bosappc.htm "Appendix C: References"], [[Federation of American Scientists]] {{webarchive. link. (26 September 2008)
  3. "Peace support operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina".
  4. (22 September 1994). "NATO AIRCRAFT ATTACK BOSNIAN-SERB TANK". [[NATO]].
  5. (8 October 1995). "The United States and Russia failed Sunday to resolve...". UPI.
  6. (27 October 1995). "Russia-U.S. agreement on Balkans reached". UPI.
  7. [http://www.nato.int/sfor/MISC/resi-comp/t990921d.htm SFOR leaves Residency Compound]
  8. [http://www.gbv.de/dms/tib-ub-hannover/318604868.pdf Operational Analysis Support to NATO IFOR/SFOR Operations]
  9. Clark, A.L.. (1996). "Bosnia: What Every American Should Know". [[Berkley Books]].
  10. McGrath, John J.. "Boots on the Ground: Troop Density in Contingency Operations". Combat Studies Institute Press.
  11. [http://www.cdef.terre.defense.gouv.fr/publications/doctrine/no_spe_chefs_francais/version_us/art08.pdf The Multinational Division South-East in Bosnia] {{webarchive. link. (28 June 2013)
  12. (1996). "Nº 672 1996 Mayo".
  13. "Recap6-opex".
  14. "History: 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment {{!}} French Foreign Legion Information".
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  16. "Recap6-opex".
  17. "Recap6-opex".
  18. (September 1996). "Nº 675 1996 Septiembre".
  19. "The medal collection - Esercito Italiano".
  20. "SPABRI I - Spanish army".
  21. "Contenido - Ejército de tierra".
  22. "Contenido - Ejército de tierra".
  23. (18 July 1996). "British Forces Bosnia". [[Hansard.
  24. (23 July 2002). "Army senior appointments". United Kingdom Government News.
  25. Lord, p. 304
  26. (28 October 2018). "2nd Battalion The Light Infantry Bosnia 1995 - 96 Op Grapple 7".
  27. (6 June 2015). "1 RRF Bosnia".
  28. (2017-09-08). "The Dutch contribution to Implementation Force (IFOR), Stabilization Force (SFOR) and European Force (EUFOR) - Historical missions - Defensie.nl".
  29. (2017). "Commonwealth & Foreign Honours to Members of Her Majesty's Canadian Armed Forces".
  30. "ARMED FORCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC: A symbol of democracy and state sovereignty".
  31. Fontenot, Gregory. (2007). "Peace in the Posavina, or Deal with Us!".
  32. (2003). "Regional peacekeepers: The paradox of Russian peacekeeping". United Nations University Press.
  33. Nelson, James. (2005). "Bosnia Journal: An American Civilian's Accountof His Service". Infinity Publishing.
  34. Bilski, Artur O.. (March 2001). "War and Peacekeeping Mission of the Nordic-Polish Brigade in Bosnia-Herzegovina".
  35. (May 2018). "RKK Apprenticeship Partnership Membership".
  36. Bishop, Rob. (April 19, 1996). "Earth moving platoon forms roads out of mud".
  37. (2011). "Changing Security Paradigms in Romania and South Africa after the Cold War". Military Publishing House.
  38. "History of the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina".
  39. Hawton, Nick. (2004-10-23). "EU troops prepare for Bosnia swap". BBC News.
  40. (2015-07-22). "NATO Medal for Former Yugoslavia (NATO-FY)".

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military-operations-involving-natohistory-of-republika-srpskanato-led-peacekeeping-in-the-former-yugoslaviamilitary-units-and-formations-of-natomilitary-history-of-bosnia-and-herzegovinaunited-states-marine-corps-in-the-20th-centurymilitary-units-and-formations-established-in-1995military-units-and-formations-disestablished-in-1996military-operations-involving-portugal