Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told between such units were often fluid. The UCK could also boast a full administrative structure (education, culture, health, economic affairs) including a "policing" element. For purposes of organization, the UCK was divided into Zones (Drenica, Pastrik, Dukagjin, Shale, Llap and Nerodime, and a relatively inactive seventh in the Gnjilane region known as the Karadak) with a central General Staff commanding. The influence of the General Staff 17 varied with the political climate and zone in question. Tactics. The early method of the UCK was to ambush rural police patrols using small arms. Only during 1998 did the UCK attempt a wide-scale offensive that eventually proved no match for Yugoslav/Serbian forces; the inability to hold Orahovac/Rrahovec town in July 1988 clearly demonstrated the failure of the UCK to operate in an urban environment. A mixture of their cultural heritage and Yugoslav military doctrine influenced the UCK. They appear to have attempted to combine guerrilla war with Yugoslav-inspired trench warfare. The UCK attempted physically to hold villages by means of trenches, which proved futile under a VJ bombardment. The concept of the hit and run guerrilla tactic was only partially applied, although the professional ability and application of one zone varied greatly from that of another. Carefully planned ambushes, even employing the use of a remote-controlled detonation of a mine, were seen in some places; other areas witnessed ad hoc ambushes with a poorly conceived extraction and loss of UCK lives. In general, until the arrival of Agim Ceku as commander in April 1999, with his vast experience from the war in Croatia, there was only a small core of well-trained UCK personnel with the knowledge to provide leadership and backbone. The vast majority of the rank and file remained villagers with a weapon and with, in the main, only a very rudimentary idea of infantry tactics. Weaponry. The UCK used a variety of light arms, but the most common was the AK-47. Most of these came from Albania after that country fell into economic and political chaos in 1997 and army/police warehouses were looted. On the Albanian side of the border in early 1998, an AK-47 could be bought for approximately US$60. Most were the Chinese variant, although European models were sought after. There was also heavier weaponry, including surface to air missiles, light anti-tank weapons, rocketpropelled grenades and heavy machine guns. The armoury also included sniper rifles, various handguns, anti-tank mines, explosives and detonation cord. The UCK were always short of weapons and ammunition. Numbers of men were dependent on the quantity of arms available. During the war, it became increasingly difficult to obtain the supplies from Albania. A second route had been tried through Bosnia and although a number of lorries arrived, the Serbian authorities managed to close it down. Weapons could even be acquired through Serbia via Serbs - although the success and quantities are not confirmed. Communications. The UCK was relatively sophisticated in the area of communications. Most of its communications equipment comprised commercially produced models (as opposed to military models) http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch3.htm (8 of 16)12/5/2003 11:48:47 AM