Camp Monteith/Gnjilane JNA artillery outpost

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Kosovoprisoner — A blindfolded Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) prisoner awaits interrogation at **Camp Monteith**, June 1999.

Gnjilane building — Communist-era apartment complex in Gjilan.

Overview[]

Gjilan is located in the southern Binačka Morava river basin (Binačko Pomoravlje).

Gjilan (Albanian) or Gnjilane (Serbian: Гњилане) is a city and municipality in eastern Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the District of Gjilan. It is famous for having recorded the lowest temperature in Kosovo with −32.5 °C (−26.5 °F) on 25 January 1963.

Camp Monteith was a military base near Gnjilane, Kosovo and located about 20 miles (32 km) east of Camp Bondsteel.

History[]

Pre-2000[]

The Cold War era Gnjilane JNA artillery outpost was well established by the time of the colapse of the former Yugoslavia. It saw action with the Yugoslav People's Army) (Jugoslavenska Narodna Armija (JNA)) in the Kosovo War.

2000 and onward[]

Camp Monteith was a military base near Gnjilane, Kosovo and located about 20 miles (32 km) east of Camp Bondsteel. A former Serb artillery outpost and 79 parcels of private land, the area was taken over by U.S. Marines and used as a base of operation during the Kosovo War of 1999. The camp was named after Jimmie W. Monteith, who received the Medal of Honor for heroism in France during World War II. At its peak, the camp housed 2000 soldiers and civilian contractors. Established in June 1999 to be used as a staging point for the bulk of U.S. forces stationed in the Multi National Brigade-East. Initially occupied by U.S. Marines, over the past seven years successive rotations of U.S. Army forces have used the camp as part of NATO’s KFOR.

The base camp originally consisted of one main building, used as a command post and makeshift interrogation center, as well as a few small outbuildings that had been stripped by retreating Serb forces. The other buildings were destroyed previously by bombing during Operation Allied Force.

Initially U.S. Marines occupied the land during Operation Joint Guardian setting up camp around the main building in tents and in their vehicles, patrolling Gnjilane and the surrounding villages from Camp Monteith. In July 1999, Seabees, along with Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), began construction of more permanent structures, with plumbing and electricity including a vast number of semi-permanent barracks known as South East Asia huts (SEAhuts). The camp continued to be used by peacekeeping forces up until early 2006 when the remaining soldiers relocated to Camp Bondsteel. The camp was closed in March 2007 to U.S. personnel and as of July 2007 has been transferred to the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC).

The near by town[]

History[]

The town of Gjilan became a kadiluk around 1780, and 20–25 years later a large village.

In 1915, in and around the city, the Serbian army made a futile stand against the 1st Army of Bulgaria, during the World War I Battle of Kosovo. That battle resulted in the defeat of the Serbian military, and the occupation by the forces allied with the then German Empire, though the territory was finally liberated by the Serbs in 1918.

In World War II there was a significant amount of activity in and around Gjilan by the Partisans fighting against Nazi Germany and her allies. Monuments to these actions can still be found today, one of which is located in the middle of the village of Koretište.

In 1999, Camp Monteith was established outside the city as a base of operations for KFOR during Operation Joint Guardian, on the site of a destroyed Serbian military base which is handed over to Kosovo Protection Corps in 2007 after U.S. Military downsized their troops. Gjilan has also served as the regional headquarters of the UNMIK International Police task force from 1999.

In between 23 and 27 November 1999, during the Gnjilane massacre, Gnjilane was the scene of the killing of 104 Serb civilians by the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) paramilitary troops and Albanian extremists in November 1999, during the Kosovo War.

Population[]

In March 2011, the Gjilan municipality was estimated to have over 90,015 residents.[9] The vast majority of the population is Albanian, followed by Serbs, and a small number of minorities. The population density was 229.7 km2 (595 sq mi).

Languages[]

Albanian, Serbian and Turkish languages are official languages in the municipality.

KLA warcrimes[]

The Gnjilane killings refers to the killing of Serb civilians in Gnjilane by a local branch of the Albanian paramilitary group Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in the period of June–September 1999, during the Kosovo War (1998–99). The remains of 80 Serbs were discovered in mass graves during the early 2000s.

Diplomatic notes[]

The nation of Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the Brussels Agreement. Kosovo has received recognition as an independent state from 110 out of 193 United Nations member states.

Camp Monteith/Gnjilane JNA artillery outpost

Contents

Overview[]

History[]

Pre-2000[]

2000 and onward[]

The near by town[]

History[]

Population[]

Languages[]

KLA warcrimes[]

Diplomatic notes[]

Also see[]

Sources[]