When the idea of building a tunnel under the airport in Sarajevo was born to connect Sarajevo with the rest of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, many became strange. However, there were times when everything was more than strange. At the end of the 20th century, the city itself was found in a classic medieval siege. In military theory, it is precisely in this period, Namely, the early Middle Ages, which connects the tunnel as fortifications. During this period, it was often the tunnel that was considered a decisive factor in achieving war goals. In recent war history, we encounter tunnels that were dug for various purposes. Tunnels were used in the First and Second World Wars. Today, on the British island of Jersey, there is an entire underground complex known as Jersey War Tunnels, and a similar complex can be visited in Gibraltar.
Tunnels were also used by the Vietnamese, and a similar model of underground communications used by some armed groups in the Middle East. Tunnels played a particularly important role in Beirut. The Palestinians have their own gas tunnels that connect them to Egypt. Of particular interest were the tunnels that were flooded during the Cold War in Berlin. It is believed that today, in Berlin, there are about 30 tunnels that were used to escape from the east to West Berlin, and a dozen served this purpose. Next to ordinary people, tunnels and spies was in Berlin, and the most famous tunnel of this kind was an American-British project worth about $ 30 million, which was supposed to connect the American radar with Soviet telephone lines. At the very end of the work, it was discovered by the Soviets.
Unlike all the others, the Sarajevo Tunnel, from idea to realization, and above all for function, was by far the most unique property of its kind in the world. This perpendicular hole in the ground, about 800 m long, with an average height of 1.6 m and a width of 1 m, resembled everything else except the tunnel, but it would be important for Sarajevo and Bosnia to become larger than the English Channel. The dough of freedom passed through the tunnel into the city that was squeezed, and was enough to give the people new strength to survive in the years of war that followed. Due to the military, political, psychological and supply significance the city had, it was the most secretly guarded secret – “the tunnel it does not have”.
