Operation Swath-10
Operation Swath-10 | |||||||
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Part of the Croatian War of Independence | |||||||
Western Slavonian towns on map of Croatia (JNA-held area in late December 1991 is in red) | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Croatia |
SAO Western Slavonia Yugoslavia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Franjo Kovačević | Rade Čakmak | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
2,647 troops 48 artillery pieces 12 armoured vehicles |
c. 1,750 troops 22 artillery pieces 8 armoured vehicles | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
5 killed Dozens wounded | 24 killed | ||||||
22 Serb civilians killed, 4,000 displaced |
Operation Swath-10 (
The offensives were accompanied by the displacement of most of the
Background
During the 1991 Yugoslav campaign in Croatia, the 5th (Banja Luka) Corps of the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija, or JNA) was tasked with advancing north through western Slavonia from Okučani to Daruvar and Virovitica and with a secondary drive from Okučani towards Kutina.[1] This was essentially consistent with the line expected to be reached by the main thrust of the JNA, advancing from eastern Slavonia in about a week. The link was designed to facilitate a further advance west, to Zagreb and Varaždin.[2] The corps had deployed a battlegroup of the 265th Mechanised Brigade near Okučani, supporting an advance which began on 21 September and reached the Papuk Mountains. The corps received one artillery and two motorised brigades as reinforcements during the advance, but the desertion and morale problems experienced by the JNA elsewhere also existed in the Banja Luka Corps.[3]
The JNA was stopped by the
On 1 October, the Banja Luka Corps began probing attacks in the region before a major effort with most of the corps three days later. The advance established defensive positions just outside Novska and Nova Gradiška.[6] On 6 October Pakrac was briefly isolated when the JNA captured Batinjani four kilometres (2.5 miles) (northwest of the town), blocking the last road available to supply the town. The ZNG recaptured the village the same day, driving the JNA back six kilometres (3.7 miles) at a cost of 22 killed.[5] The JNA captured Jasenovac on 8 October; Lipik and part of Pakrac were captured four days later.[6] By then, the JNA offensive in western Slavonia had lost momentum[7] and the ZNG made minor advances north of Novska and west of Nova Gradiška on 13 and 16 October.[5] Croatian authorities no longer considered the war situation critical, issuing an order to plan a counter-offensive for 15 October.[8] On 29 October, the ZNG launched Operation Hurricane-91 against positions held by the JNA and the TO near Novska and Nova Gradiška.[9]
The TO forces in the Bilogora Mountain region were officially part of the 28th Partisan Division, commanded by
Timeline
Operation Swath-10 (also known as Bilogora '91)[16] was planned by the Croatians to regain control of the Virovitica–Lončarica–Grubišno Polje road, cutting off and destroying the TO forces deployed in the area of the road (the northernmost part of western Slavonia captured by the TO or the JNA). Those objectives were also designed to deny the Banja Luka Corps support if it attempted to break through towards Virovitica; control the last remaining supply route between Zagreb and Slavonia; shorten the Croatian defensive positions, and improve troop and civilian morale.[17] The offensive was originally scheduled for 15 October, but was postponed for two weeks due to the unavailability of the 105th Infantry Brigade and the special police. The plan of operation called for the ZNG to first cut off the two TO battalions on the Bilogora Mountain within 48 hours, with the second stage of the offensive destroying the trapped TO force.[18] The operation was authorised by Colonel Miroslav Jezerčić, commander of Bjelovar Operational Zone, on 7 October.[19]
The offensive was launched at 6 am on 31 October, with a 50-minute artillery bombardment followed by a ZNG advance in three groups:[19] the 57th Independent Battalion from the south, the 127th Infantry Brigade from the north and the 1st Battalion of the 127th Infantry Brigade from the northwest.[20] That day the ZNG captured the villages of Velika Barna, Gornja Kovačica and Zrinska, northwest of the Grubišno Polje–Veliki Grđevac road, securing Grubišno Polje. The ZNG also advanced along the Virovitica–Grubišno Polje road, arriving at the outskirts of Mala Peratovica (four kilometres (2.5 miles) east of Grubišno Polje) and approaching Lončarica (eleven kilometres (6.8 miles) south of Virovitica).[13] The TO forces put up a strong resistance (especially near Lončarica), although the battlefield situation was described as hopeless. The TO requested close air support from the Yugoslav Air Force,[21] and four to six aircraft were deployed in response.[11]
On 1 November the ZNG conducted mopping-up operations in the areas northwest of Grubišno Polje, and the following day the TO force began retreating towards Papuk Mountain. Lončarica and Dapčevački Brđani (a village about two kilometres (1.2 miles) northeast of Mala Peratovica, along the Virovitica–Grubišno Polje road) were captured by the Croatian force on 3 November after they overcame strong TO resistance.[13] That day, the ZNG was renamed the Croatian Army (Hrvatska vojska, or HV).[22] After the villages were captured, HV forces advancing from Grubišno Polje and Virovitica met; the HV captured the village of Velika Peratovica, which was isolated by the advances along the Virovitica–Grubišno Polje road and northwest of Grubišno Polje on the first day of the offensive. On 4 November the operation was declared finished, after the HV secured the area.[13]
Follow-up operations
Battle of Bastajski Brđani
On 10 November the 57th Independent Battalion advanced against the TO in Veliki Miletinac (east of the area captured in Operation Swath-10), capturing the village the same day. The neighbouring Mali Miletinac was captured by the HV the following day, and on 12 November the HV captured the villages of Bastajski Brđani and Rekići. Two days later the TO counterattacked, killing nine HV troops and wounding about ten more, but the HV defence held. Another effort to recapture Bastajski Brđani was made by the TO, reinforced with 50 paramilitary White Eagles. It failed (despite being well prepared and supported by artillery) because the defending HV force was alerted by signals intelligence of the attack and reinforced. The White Eagles lost 46 killed in the battle.[23]
Operation Papuk-91
Operation Papuk-91 was planned to follow Operation Swath-10, advancing south from the Virovitica–Osijek road and clearing the Papuk and
The operation was launched on 28 November; the HV advanced across a front spanning Grubišno Polje and
From 12 to 15 December the HV captured a cluster of villages around Đulovac, southeast of the area captured in Operation Swath-10. The HV units approaching from the east captured Voćin, about ten kilometres (6.2 miles) southeast of Đulovac, on 14–15 December.[25] Voćin and Đulovac were badly damaged by the retreating TO and paramilitary White Eagles,[26] and the latter killed 43 civilians in Voćin on 13 December.[27][28] The victims' bodies were mutilated and left unburied, presumably as a warning to others.[29]
On 16 December the HV (in an operation codenamed Sokolina) captured the villages of
On 21 December, the HV launched an unsuccessful attack (codenamed Prkos) on Kamenska and the adjacent village of Mijači. The TO withdrew from the area north of Kamenska (including the village of Sažije on 24 December), retreating from Kamenska and Mijači the next day. HV forces deployed in the Pakrac area (west of the Papuk and the Psunj), advanced east to support Operation Papuk-91 (capturing the villages of Dereza, Gornji Grahovljani, Donji Grahovljani, Kusonje and Španovica on 24–25 December) and left less than 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) of the Pakrac–Požega road separating HV units advancing from the west and east.[30] Operation Papuk-91 ended on 26 December, when forces of the 123rd, the 127th and the 136th Brigades met at Bučje; the final day's advance was codenamed Velebit.[31]
Aftermath
Five HV soldiers were killed in the operation and dozens were wounded.[32] Twenty-four JNA personnel and Croatian Serb rebels were also killed, as were 22 Serb civilians. A further 17 Serb civilians were killed in the weeks preceding the operation,[33] in which Croatian forces secured 370 square kilometres (140 square miles) of western Slavonia (including 21 villages). Although the HV secured the Virovitica–Grubišno Polje road, it failed to trap the TO troops deployed to the area. This was later attributed to insufficient manpower: the unavailability of the 105th Infantry Brigade or the 73rd Independent (Garešnica) Battalion, which were deployed in Pakrac. The HV positions set the stage for further advances against the SAO Western Slavonia in Operation Papuk-91.[34] Some sources conflate Operations Swath-10 and Papuk-91, describing the latter as part of Operation Swath-10.[35] Operation Papuk-91 eliminated the threat to the road connecting eastern Slavonia and Zagreb; the TO forces were pushed south, placing the road out of artillery range.[36] In Operation Papuk-91, the HV captured 110 settlements[24] and 1,230 square kilometres (470 square miles) of territory.[20]
In 2008, a monument to HV troops participating in the offensive was unveiled in Grubišno Polje.[37] Another monument was erected on Papuk Mountain to the 11 soldiers from the 123rd Infantry Brigade who were ambushed in Operation Papuk-91 on 2 December 1991.[38] Operations Swath-10, Papuk-91 and Hurricane-91 (implemented in western Slavonia in late 1991) are considered the first offensive liberation operations in the Croatian War of Independence.[39]
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) charged Vojislav Šešelj with a number of war crimes, including the killings by the paramilitary White Eagles in Voćin on 13 December. Although the trial ended in 2012, as of August 2013[update] the verdict was pending.[40][41] Slobodan Milošević, the president of Serbia at the time of the killings, was also tried by the ICTY for the crimes in Voćin, but died before his trial ended.[42]
Refugees
About 4,000
In response to the situation (and a request from the Presidency of Yugoslavia) an ECMM team toured the area affected by the offensive on 6 November, targeting locations where media reports indicated atrocities; these included Velika Peratovica, Mala Peratovica, Gornja Rašenica, Donja Rašenica and Lončarica. The 6 November ECMM report refuted the accusations; although the team found only one Serb couple remaining in the area, they denied claims that the HV mistreated civilians left behind. The ECMM team reported no systematic destruction of houses, although a number of structures had artillery-bombardment damage and a small number of houses, farms and
The HV offensives in western Slavonia conducted in late 1991 (Operations Hurricane-10, Swath-10 and Papuk-91) created a total of 20,000 Serb refugees. They fled the area when the JNA ordered Croatian Serb forces to withdraw,[51] and were settled in the JNA-held Baranja region of eastern Croatia.[52] The refugee resettlement coincided with Croatian Serb efforts to change the ethnic composition of the Danube area seized in late 1991, providing a secondary motive for the expulsion of non-Serb civilians.[53]
Ceasefire
A 3 January 1992 ceasefire allowed the implementation of the
Footnotes
- ^ Marijan 2012b, p. 262
- ^ Marijan 2012b, p. 261
- ^ Marijan 2012b, p. 266
- ^ CIA 2002, p. 102
- ^ a b c Nazor 2007, p. 144
- ^ a b Marijan 2012b, pp. 269–270
- ^ Marijan 2012a, p. 110
- ^ Marijan 2012a, p. 107
- ^ Nazor 2007, p. 134
- ^ a b Škvorc 2010, p. 119
- ^ a b c Nazor 2007, p. 138
- ^ Bašić & Miškulin 2010, p. 470
- ^ a b c d Bašić & Miškulin 2010, p. 485
- ^ Bašić & Miškulin 2010, p. 476
- ^ Bašić & Miškulin 2010, p. 483
- ^ Glas Slavonije & 3 August 2012.
- ^ Nazor 2007, p. 137
- ^ Nazor 2007, pp. 137–138
- ^ a b Nazor 2007, p. 136
- ^ a b Nazor 2007, p. 130
- ^ Bašić & Miškulin 2010, pp. 485–486
- ^ MORH & 8 July 2013
- ^ Nazor 2007, p. 140
- ^ a b c d Nazor 2007, p. 141
- ^ a b c Nazor 2007, p. 145
- ^ Duijzings 2000, pp. 54–55
- ^ Duijzings 2000, p. 55
- ^ ICTY & 15 January 2003, p. 6
- ^ Gow 2003, p. 163
- ^ a b Nazor 2007, p. 146
- ^ Nazor 2007, pp. 146–147
- ^ Večernji list & 1 November 2014
- ^ Srna & 30 October 2013
- ^ Nazor 2007, p. 139
- ^ Thomas & Mikulan 2006, p. 50
- ^ Štefančić 2011, p. 428
- ^ Virovitica.net & 4 November 2008
- ^ 034portal.hr & 2 December 2011
- ^ MORH 2011, p. 11
- ^ Jutarnji list & 20 March 2012
- ^ The New York Times & 30 August 2013
- ^ ICTY IT-02-54, p. 1
- ^ Srna & 30 October 2013
- ^ Bašić & Miškulin 2010, p. 486
- ^ Bašić & Miškulin 2010, pp. 491–492
- ^ Bašić & Miškulin 2010, p. 487
- ^ Bašić & Miškulin 2010, p. 488
- ^ Bašić & Miškulin 2010, p. 489
- ^ Bašić & Miškulin 2010, pp. 489–490
- ^ Bašić & Miškulin 2010, p. 490
- ^ HRW & 13 February 1992, note 28
- ^ HRW & 21 January 1992, p. 297
- ^ The New York Times & 10 May 1992.
- ^ Armatta 2010, pp. 194–196
- ^ Ramcharan 1997, pp. 449–450
- ^ CIA 2002, p. 106
- ^ Trbovich 2008, p. 300
References
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- Nazor, Ante (2007). Počeci suvremene hrvatske države: kronologija procesa osamostaljenja Republike Hrvatske: od Memoranduma SANU 1986. do proglašenja neovisnosti 8. listopada 1991 [Beginnings of the Modern Croatian State: A Chronology of the Independence of the Republic of Croatia: from 1986 SANU Memorandum to the Declaration of Independence on 8 October 1991] (in Croatian). Zagreb, Croatia: Croatian Homeland War Memorial Documentation Centre. ISBN 9789537439019.
- Ramcharan, B. G., ed. (1997). The International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia: Official Papers, Volume 1. BRILL. ISBN 9789041104298.
- Thomas, Nigel; Mikulan, Krunoslav (2006). TheYugoslav Wars (1): Slovenia & Croatia, 1991–95. Oxford, England: ISBN 9781841769639. Archived from the originalon 18 December 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
- Trbovich, Ana S. (2008). A Legal Geography of Yugoslavia's Disintegration. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195333435.
- Journal articles
- Bašić, Petar; Miškulin, Ivica (September 2010). "Grubišnopoljska kronika 1990.-1991. (drugi dio)" [Grubišno Polje Chronicle 1990–1991 (part two)]. Scrinia Slavonica (in Croatian). 10 (1). Croatian Historical Institute – Department of History of Slavonia, Srijem and Baranja: 454–494. ISSN 1332-4853.
- Marijan, Davor (May 2012). "The Sarajevo Ceasefire – Realism or strategic error by the Croatian leadership?". Review of Croatian History. 7 (1). Croatian Institute of History: 103–123. ISSN 1845-4380.
- Marijan, Davor (November 2012). "Zamisao i propast napadne operacije Jugoslavenske narodne armije na Hrvatsku u rujnu 1991. godine" [The Conception and Failure of the Offensive Operation of the Yugoslav National Army in September 1991]. Journal of Contemporary History (in Croatian). 44 (2). Croatian Institute of History: 251–275. ISSN 0590-9597.
- Škvorc, Đuro (February 2010). "Zapadna Slavonija uoči i u Domovinskom ratu do studenoga 1991. godine" [Western Slavonia on the Eve of and in the Croatian War of Independence up to November 1991]. Cris: Journal of the Historical Society of Križevci (in Croatian). 11 (1). The Historical Society of Križevci. ISSN 1332-2567.
- Štefančić, Domagoj (December 2011). "Autocesta – okosnica rata u zapadnoj Slavoniji" [Motorway – The Axis of the War in Western Slavonia]. Journal – Institute of Croatian History (in Croatian). 43 (1). Institute of Croatian History, ISSN 0353-295X.
- News reports
- "Obilježili 23. obljetnicu VRO 'Otkos 10' – prve oslobodilačke akcije MUP-a i HV-a" [23rd Anniversary of the Military-Police Operation "Swath-10" – The First Liberation Action of the MUP and HV] (in Croatian). Večernji list. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- Burns, John F. (10 May 1992). "The Demographics of Exile: Victorious Serbs Repopulate Croatian Villages". The New York Times.
- "Dokumentarac o egzodusu Hrvata iz Dalja, Aljmaša i Erduta" [Documentary on Exodus of Croats from Dalj, Aljmaš and Erdut]. Glas Slavonije (in Croatian). 3 August 2012.
- Nakić, Mario (2 December 2011). "Najtužniji dan za požeške branitelje: Poginulo 11 mladića" [The Saddest Day for Defenders of Požega: 11 Youths Killed] (in Croatian). 034portal.hr. Archived from the original on 29 January 2012.
- "Otkriven spomenik braniteljima akcije Otkos 10" [Monument to Troops in Operation Swath 10 Unveiled] (in Croatian). Virovitica.net. 4 November 2008. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013.
- "PARASTOS POVODOM STRADANJA SRBA U ISTOČNOJ BILOGORI" [Parastas Held in Memory of Serbs Killed in Eastern Bilogora] (in Serbian). Srna. 30 October 2013. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- Simons, Marlise (30 August 2013). "International Judge Is Removed From Case Over Apparent Bias". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 November 2013.
- "U Haagu završilo suđenje četničkom vojvodi Šešelju: Tužiteljstvo traži kaznu od 28 godina zatvora!" [Trial of Chetnik Leader Šešelj Ends in the Hague: The Prosecution Asks for 28 Years in Prison!]. HINA. 20 March 2012. Archivedfrom the original on 3 December 2013.
- Other sources
- "20 Years of the Croatian Armed Forces" (PDF). Ministry of Defence (Croatia). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
- "Case Information Sheet – Kosovo, Croatia & Bosnia (IT-02-54) – Slobodan Milošević" (PDF). International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
- "Povjesnica" [A History] (in Croatian). Ministry of Defence (Croatia). 8 July 2013. Archived from the original on 30 November 2013.
- "The Prosecutor of the Tribunal Against Vojislav Seselj" (PDF). International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 15 January 2003.
- "Appendix D: Helsinki Watch Letter to Slobodan Milošević, President of the Republic of Serbia and Blagoje Adžić, Acting Minister of Defense, January 21, 1992". War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina (PDF). New York City: Human Rights Watch. 21 January 1992. pp. 274–309. ISBN 1-56432-083-9.
- "Appendix E: Helsinki Watch Letter to Franjo Tudjman, President of the Republic of Croatia, February 13, 1992". War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina (PDF). New York City: Human Rights Watch. 13 February 1992. pp. 310–357. ISBN 1-56432-083-9.
Further reading
- Blaskovich, Jerry (1997). Anatomy of Deceit: An American Physician's First-Hand Encounter With the Realities of the War in Croatia. Sonoma, California: Dunhill Publishing. ISBN 9780935016246. – "Chapter 4: What Happened in Vocin"