OPERATION AGRICOLA IV, KOSOVO, 2000-2001 (TAPE 5) [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: OPERATION AGRICOLA IV, KOSOVO, 2000-2001 (TAPE 5) [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: BFM 386
  • Other titles: COLLECTION OF ROYAL MARINES TAPES [Allocated Title]
  • Summary: Operation Sexton: further scenes at a makeshift roadside grave in Podujevo, where alleged victims of war crimes are to be exhumed for forensic analysis.
  • Description: Military personnel carry out a final search before the mechanical digger begins to exhume the ground; members of the forensic team put on their white suits. Soldier with cadaver dog searches the partially excavated hole. First bodies are removed in white body bags. A second hole is excavated, revealing a series of wooden planks; underneath are further bodies wrapped in blue plastic, These are bagged and stretchered into the back of an ambulance. Marines talk to local children nearby. Interview with Musician Bush (?), a Royal Marine Bandsman who is taking part in the exhumation. Civilian member of the British Forensic Team describes to camera the regretful necessity of exhuming the bodies because the cause of death need to be examined to establish the cause of death. The bodies are taken to a mortuary facility, where they are stretchered in and laid down. Convoy: camera focuses on a tanker (described in shotsheet as a fuel tanker but actually carrying water) as it drives through the Kosovan landscape. ROYAL MARINES VIDEO PRODUCTION UNIT SHOTSHEET The following has been copied, without amendment, from RMVPU electronic shotsheets: TIME DESCRIPTION 00:00 BARS 00:30 L/s military personnel searching and removing flowers 01:22 L/s military personnel carrying tools on stretcher 01:32 L/s foreground scientists background digger digging up land 02:50 W/s personnel putting on forensic suits in front of 4 tonne 03:13 L/s digger digging land c/u of ground being dug 04:51 L/s goats pan away to forensic scientists 05:15 L/s personnel searching hole 08:11 L/s building pan away to personnel removing bodies 10:14 L/s personnel carrying and placing bodies onto 4 tonne 11:07 M/s hole being dug out by digger 11:40 M/s personnel searching hole 15:01 M/s personnel removing bodies 16:08 L/s personnel carrying and loading bodies on 4 tonne 16:36 L/s personnel with children and Land Rover pan away to w/s 17:19 W/s building pan to personnel in hole 17:42 L/s personnel carrying and loading bodies onto 4 tonne 18:18 W/s personnel with children 2 tanks go past behind them 19:19 L/s personnel carry many bodies to 4 tonne Break in tape 00:00 L/s personnel carrying and loading bodies onto 4 tonne 03:10 Personnel in forensic suit being interviewed 05:59 M/s personnel in civvies (British) being interviewed 08:01 Personnel carrying bodies from 4 tonne into building 09:45 Personnel carrying bodies, camera follows them into building 11:10 M/s personnel carrying bodies off 4 tonne 11:47 L/s camera ( on moving vehicle) looking at front of fuel tank 12:45 M/s driver in fuel truck 12:58 L/s fuel truck driving off down road 13:10 W/s landscape pans wide to rest of landscape 13:54 W/s fuel truck driving past camera round corner Tape ends
  • Alternative Title: COLLECTION OF ROYAL MARINES TAPES [Allocated Title]
  • Colour: Colour
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: BFM 386
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © Crown copyright. IWM (BFM 386)
  • Featured Period: 2001-2025
  • Production Date: 2000-08-14
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Royal Marines Video Production Unit (Production company) Martin, Jim (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Commando Logistic Regiment (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Podujevo, Kosovo (geography) Kosovo intervention (event) Balkans post-1991 (theme) Royal Marines (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: Colour Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: Beta-SP Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Tape length: 30; Running time: 13 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    BFM 386

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