As a
UK based group we portray the image of the Croatian combat soldier
between the June 1991 and March 1992 period of the Homeland War of
Independence.
The group represents unit members of the
109.Brigade
of the
Croatian Army
with the sole aim of providing a better awareness of the conflict and the Croatian forces of
the time. In our efforts to provide an authentic
portrayal we use only original items of uniform, equipment and weapons.
We also offer a gathering place for
the
veterans of the conflict and collectors
and individuals who share an interest in
this period.
Hrvatski
109. brigade 'Storks',
Vinkovci
Originally formed as the 10.Brigade ZNG "R" (National
Guard Corp -
Reserve) on May 10th 1991, the Brigade staff, support units, and 1st and
2nd Battalions were formed from persons mobilized from the Vinkovci
municipality, the 3rd Battalion from the Zupanja municipality and a 4th
Battalion was planned from Vukovar, however events in Vukovar prevented
the formation so a further Independant Company was formed in Vinkovci.
The basis of the
brigade was mobilized from the Bosut Brigade of the Territorial Defence
(TO) of Vinkovci, the Secretariat for People's Defence (NO) and the
Vinkovci Police Department (PU). The formation was completed on May
30th, 1991 in the village of Ceric with a line up of the brigade staff
and support units under the command of Ivan Petrinovic, out of a planned
1,903 soldiers the brigade had 1,800.
When formed the
brigade had enough weapons for only 40% of its personnel, only the
independent company was fully armed and was designed as the assault
force of the brigade. Initially the brigade had only 800 rifles, on July
1st another 1000 rifles arrived along with some light machine guns,
RPG's and two Strela 2M (SA-7).
On June 5th Josip
Matic assumed command and on June 20th the 106, 107 and 108th brigades
were formed, since the 10th was already formed it was renamed the 109th.
Part of 109 brigade were constantly engaged in the defence of Vukovar,
by October 1st the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) reached the line of the
Bosut River cut communications to Vinkovci and Vukovar and completely
surrounded Vukovar.
The brigade was now
covering some 60 kilometers of front line from Lipovac to the
Durgutovica forest, and exhausted from months of fighting without
cohesive leadership they suffered significant losses.
After the fall of
Vukovar on November 18th, command was assumed by Colonel Josip Zvirotic.
During the next month the brigade reached its peak with a total of six
infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, armoured battalion,
independent company, engineer company and platoon level staff units, but
were still under strength in it's brigade staff.
After several failed
attempts to breakthrough brigade lines - as results of a well fortified
defence line with fire control systems, the JNA limited itself to the
shelling of Vinkovci and it's surrounding villages. Despite the Sarajevo
truce, skirmishes continued throughout January and February 1992.
The 109 brigade was
partially demobilized in March, however an active defence of the region
continued for a further five years until the Eastern Slavonia region was
re-integrated.
Brief conflict history
The Homeland War was the war fought by
the Croatian people in defence of the Croatian state against the
aggression brought
in 1990 by the joint
Greater Yugoslav forces: Yugoslavian extremists in Croatia, the Yugoslav
National Army (JNA) (which was gradually transformed into the Serbian
army), and Serbia and Montenegro. The Homeland War was fomented against
Croatia in August 1990, when Yugoslavian rebels supported by the JNA launched
armed attacks against the legal institutions of the Croatian state and
set up the self-proclaimed Yugoslavian autonomous regions in Croatia with
the purpose of seceding from Croatia. The war continued in April with
the gradual military intervention of the JNA and intensified in June
1991 with the direct invasion of those parts of Croatia which Yugoslavia
wanted to occupy and annex. Croatia succeeded in halting the aggressor
by military and diplomatic means and in liberating a part of the
occupied regions through counter-attacks. Following the arrival of the
United Nations peacekeeping forces on the demarcation lines in spring
1992, Croatia began negotiations in order to recover the occupied
territories in a peaceful way.
The War for the Barracks
The rebellion in the
summer of 1990 by extremist militia from Knin signalled an unquestionable
declaration of the war on Croatia. Since the Croatian territorial
defence (TO) had been disarmed a few months before, the basic questions
in ensuring the survival of the Croatian state were how to defend the
country and by what means. Two initial defence objectives were set: to
capture the weapons from the numerous warehouses and barracks of the JNA
situated in Croatia and to stop the outbreak or spreading of the war by
political means.
In the months that
followed, political means were used in order to prevent war and to buy
time while preparations to block and conquer the barracks were made in
case a political solution was not reached. Since the course of events
pointed in the direction of war, it became critical to determine the
right time for capturing the JNA barracks.
In the beginning of
July 1991, during the JNA attack on Slovenia, smaller-scale, mostly
spontaneous attacks on JNA barracks and armoured vehicles were carried
out by citizens. It was during that time that the process of resistance
to the JNA started throughout Croatia in all the places with military
installations. Resistance came in the form of peace rallies, appeals to
the JNA to surrender, blockades, stoppage of food, water and electricity
supplies, occasional shootings and similar activities by Croatian
citizens. Those events mostly occurred spontaneously. However, at the
end of August, huge Yugoslavian military forces started the conquest of
Croatia with the battle of Vukovar, signalling that it was high time for
the Croatian defence to arm itself. At the beginning of September the
blockade was strengthened and the pressure on all the barracks in
Croatia increased. The biggest part of the battle for the barracks took
place in September, and Croatian soldiers captured a large number of
barracks and military depots, which made it possible for Croatia to
defend itself.
The war for the
barracks ended on 7th October when the Croatian Army captured the
barracks in Samobor and the TO military depot and barracks in Velika
Buna and Velika Gorica. When soldiers, weapons and equipment of the JNA
were gone from the unoccupied parts of Croatia, the Croatians then
captured their military installations.
The weapons,
ammunition and military warehouses captured in the war for the barracks
played an important role in the defence of Croatia. This is obvious from
the fact that the weapons and ammunition captured from the barracks war
were seven times as powerful as the weapons that Croatia had possessed
before, further weapons supplies came by way of organised supply routes
crossing the Hungary/Croatia border.
The Eastern Slavonian
battlefield
This region
comprised the areas of the municipalities of Vukovar, Vinkovci, Osijek
and Beli Manastir. The strategic significance of this area in the
Homeland War arose from the fact that it bordered Serbia. The defeat of
eastern Slavonia was necessary for Yugoslavia in order to fulfill its drive
for a Greater Serbia. The Yugoslavian military aggression began on May 2nd
1991 in Borovo Selo. Explosions, shootings and the terror inflicted by
the Yugoslav paramilitary units and the JNA upon the towns and villages
of eastern Slavonia intensified in May and June.
The villages of of
Tenja, near Osijek, and Mirkovci , near Vinkovci, became Yugoslavian
militia
strongholds. The aggressor occasionally attacked Osijek and Vinkovci
during July using artillery and combat aircraft. After the fall of
Vukovar, Yugoslav artillery and aircraft intensified their attacks on Vinkovci and Osijek, but their experience of the heroic defence of
Vukovar had taught them better than to try and take the towns. At the
end of November the Croatian Army successfully defended Nustar, and in
mid-December a part of the territory between Osijek and Kopacevo was
liberated. Over the next five months, the JNA fortified their
positions (trenches, bunkers, pillboxes and mine-fields etc.), drove out
the non-Serbian population, and then inhabited the occupied towns and
villages.
