Returning to the 3rd Division , Dannatt planned two exercises at the British Army Training Unit Suffield in Canada . The first was , at the time , the largest exercise the Army had run since the end of the Cold War ; the second only took place after Dannatt 's tenure as commander had expired . Dannatt gave evidence as an expert witness in the trial of Radislav Krstić in relation to the Srebrenica massacre , shortly after which he was posted to Bosnia , where he served as deputy commander of NATO 's Stabilisation Force in 2000 . His tour , originally scheduled to last a full year was cut short when Sir Michael Willcocks took early retirement from the Army in order to become Black Rod . The resulting personnel changes to fill the vacancy meant that Dannatt was appointed Assistant Chief of the General Staff ( ACGS ) in April 2001 . In September 2001 , he was on a visit to British troops in Cyprus and watched the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks on television . As ACGS , he was peripherally involved in planning for the Army 's subsequent involvement in Afghanistan and later Iraq , as well as standing in for the Chief of the General Staff ( then Michael Walker ) when Walker was unavailable . Dannatt was succeeded as ACGS by David Richards , to whom he had handed over command of 4th Armoured Brigade in 1996 and who later succeeded Dannatt as Chief of the General Staff
Srebrenica massacre
Srebrenica massacre
Richard Dannatt