Canada. Canadian Armed Forces. Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, 4

4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (4 CMBG) came into being on 1 May 1968, but its strength was substantially reduced into the next decade. It moved from CFB Soest in northeastern Germany to CFB Lahr in the southwest in June 1971. The Canadian Government planned to improve the state of the Army in the Central Region in the 1980s, particularly given NATO's alarm over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, but with the crumbling of the Soviet Union and the advent of perestroika and glasnost, the Army's Cold War posture in Europe came to an end; the close-out of 4 CMBG took place in August 1993. Operation Harmony was Canada's contribution to the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), which was created in February 1992 to ensure the protection and demilitarization of three "UN Protected Areas" in Croatia. Its mandate was soon expanded to include observation activities elsewhere in Croatia: monitoring the demilitarization of the Prevlaka Peninsula, and monitoring the implementation of various cease-fire agreements in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. On March 31, 1995, UNPROFOR was restructured to form three separate but linked peacekeeping operations. More than 2,000 Canadian Forces personnel served in the Balkan region with UNPROFOR and one of its successor missions, the United Nations Peace Forces Headquarters (UNPF). The initial Canadian contingent, which deployed in March and April 1992, was drawn primarily from the 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group based in Lahr, Germany. It was based on troops of the Royal 22e Regiment, along with detachments from the Royal Canadian Regiment and 4 Combat Engineer Regiment.