Operation Essential Harvest (or Task Force Harvest) was a deployment mission in the

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, officially launched on August 22, 2001, and effectively started on August 27. Because national contributions were larger than expected, the force ultimately grew to approximately 4,800 troops. Troops from the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment and members of the SAS working in the A.O.R. The operation was headquartered in a fruit processing plant called Tri Kruši in Dracevo.

Background

"Although France was not a member of the NATO integrated command structure, then President Chirac had begun to reintegrate into the military structure of the Alliance in order to allow for French participation in combined operations in Bosnia under NATO command. . . . At the summit in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

on 12 June, Chirac's suggestion for military cooperation with German units within NATO was confirmed by Schröder and put in place by the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries on 5 July. Both countries cooperated in NATO Operation Essential Harvest – two German, two French and one Spanish companies were placed under the overall French Command."

Battle of Tetovo

The Battle of Tetovo occurred in the beginning of January 2001 which also involved NATO and the Macedonian Armies to disarm Albanian insurgents who had occupied a number of cities, towns and villages in the

. This battle lasted until November 2001.

Operation Amber Fox

Following the conclusion of Operation Essential Harvest and at the request of the Macedonian President, NATO established Operation Amber Fox, to allow for a continuing NATO presence in the country.

Background

Battle of Tetovo

Operation Amber Fox

See also

References

Further reading