Jubilant families have welcomed back Colchester soldiers after a three-month tour in war-torn Kosovo.

One hundred soldiers from First Battalion the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment have returned to barracks.

They were sent to the stricken country on three weeks notice and had only one week to master the armoured vehicles they would be driving.

The soldiers drove across Greece straight into Kosovo. In Glogovac, soldiers faced the danger of mines and the atrocity of mass graves.

It was here two Gurkhas working with the company were killed whilst disarming a NATO bomblet.

In Litijan the soldiers main role was keeping peace between the two bitterly divided sides. Major Nick Welch said today: "We were preventing violence aimed against the Serbs.

"There were 14 or 15 serious incidents and two or three deaths which is a lot to a small town."

Some of the company were the first on the scene of the Gracko massacre in which 14 Serbian famers were slaughtered.

The last month was spent in the centre of Pristina again at the heart of the tension trying to prevent violence erupting.

Letting off steam - soldiers from 8 platoon back at Meanee Barracks today.

Picture: STEVE ARGENT

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