1994 Photo Contest, General News, 2nd prize
Photographer

James Nachtwey

Magnum Photos for Time

01 May, 1993

A Bosnian commando in a field hospital outside Brcko, cries out from pain as surgical preparations have begun before he has been anaesthetized. He had penetrated the Serbian lines, but was detected and hit by a rifle-grenade. His foot was shredded, but he made it back to his own lines. In 1992, irregular Serb forces had captured and 'ethnically cleansed' the town of Brcko in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina, on the border with Croatia. During the spring of 1993, they pushed south to widen their land link to Serbia, fighting Bosnian youths who defended the Bosnian hamlets they found in their way. The sustained hostilities turned the sons of farmers and shopkeepers into veteran fighters.

About the photographer

James Nachtwey

Photographs of the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights movement inspired him to become a photographer. While teaching himself photography, he worked as truck driver and as ...

This image is collected in