Battle of Zadar
| Battle of Dalmatia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Croatian War of Independence | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
.svg){kind=small} Serbian Krajina rebels.svg){kind=small} Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) |
 Croatia (Croatian Ground Army, police forces, various paramilitary formations) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Milan Babić (Serbian Krajina) Ratko Mladić (JNA) | Franjo Tudjman | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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Serb rebel militia JNA 9th Corps (Knin): 63 tanks 45 APCs Other units | 6th Operational Zone (Several infantry brigades) | ||||||
The Battle of Dalmatia (Croatian: Bitka za Dalmaciju, [Битка за Далмацију] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) was a military engagement in Croatia for the coastal region of Dalmatia that took place in the later half of 1991. The local Serb rebel militia with generous and extensive support of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) launched their attack with the aim of capturing the Croatian coastline and splitting Dalmatia from the rest of Croatia. The operation failed and the JNA was stopped before they could reach the sea.
Background
As the Croatian War of Independence began in 1991, the region of Dalmatia (primarily Croat-inhabited) found itself on the borders of the (primarily Serb-inhabited) Krajina region from where the local Serb population orchestrated the Log Revolution in 1990 (a single incident widely viewed by the Croatians as a declaration of war). With escalating civil disobedience concerning all conflicting parties over the next twelve months, the JNA forces became actively involved in August 1991, merely serving as mediators at first. This role quickly changed, as the armed forces of Yugoslavia became more Serbianized, to that of open military support for the Serbs. In Dalmatia, Croat areas soon came under fire from the JNA 9th Corps (9. Korpus) (situated in Knin) under the command of the newly arrived Colonel Ratko Mladić who later became infamous as the commander of the Bosnian Serb Army.
Strategic situation and opposing forces
The major strategic problem of Croatia is that the country is very narrow at several places, making it vulnerable to being fragmented. Several such locations lay in Dalmatia, making them an attractive target for the attackers.
The situation was only worsened because the areas under Serb control were situated along the majority of Croatia's eastern borders, making all those locations within reach.
Serb militia (the local territorial defence, "TO") serving as (generously equipped) infantry was actively supported by the 9th Corps. The JNA 9th Corps in Knin was the only JNA Corps subordinate to the JNA Navy command of the Naval District, rather than the land forces of the 5th Army District. Under its command were:
- One armored battalion of some 60 tanks and APCs,
- One motorized infantry brigade (with another 40 tanks and APCs),
- A mixed artillery regiment (rocket launchers and heavy guns),
- One mixed antitank artillery regiment,
- An engineering regiment,
- A Territorial Defence Brigade,
- And support units.
In total, there were 108 armored vehicles attached to these forces. The JNA also had strong garrisons in Šibenik, Zadar and Split over which fighting took place during the Battle of the barracks.
The Croatians had significant infantry, but these were mostly ill-equipped and without any heavy weapons. Until later in the year, some units were even lacking basic equipment like rifles and ammunition. Veterans tell stories of using Coca-Cola cans stuffed with explosives as hand grenades.
On paper, the Croatian army had several infantry brigades under the 6th Operational Zone Command, including those recruited from the population in Zadar (112th) and Šibenik (113th) which took the brunt of the fighting. However, most conscript brigades were actually severely under-strength, being the size of only two reinforced battalions instead of the regular four in brigade organizational system.
Split's 4th "Spiders" Motorized Guard Brigade was the best equipped and trained Croat military unit in Dalmatia. It was used as a mobile reserve, being redeployed to areas needing the greatest firepower.
Like in most of Croatia at the time of 1991, lack of military units forced local Police to be committed to the fighting, as well as peoples volunteer units to be formed.
The Battle
Initial operations
| History of Dalmatia |
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Eventually, the Krajina rebels decided to attempt to cut Dalmatia by striking at three locations: at the vital bridge of Maslenica and the coastal cities of Zadar and Šibenik. This was dubbed Operation Coastline '91 (Operacija Obala '91).
Rebel and JNA forces used the first half of the year to consolidate their territory and ethnically cleanse Croats from those areas, with the worst examples being the Škabrnja massacre and the heavy attack on Kijevo.
Following the takeover of Benkovac, Krajina forces had an important forward base to strike at the coast. On July 15, 1991, Krajina TO forces started to advance from Benkovac towards Biograd, a costal town between Zadar and Šibenik. It held, and the coastal Zadar-Šibenik road line was maintained, but the frontlines remained close until 1995.
Maslenica and Zadar
At the same time, Serb forces advanced west from Obrovac, targeting Maslenica. On July 26, Croats deployed the 4th Guard brigade between the two cities, but it managed only to slow the advance. On September 11, the rebels reached the bridge, severing the land route of Croatia with Dalmatia. Traffic and supply had to be rerouted to the island of Pag via a ferry line to the island and another bridge further west, which led to Zadar. The bridge was destroyed on November 21, under unknown circumstances.
Further southwest, an important airfield near Zadar (Zemunik) was captured and Krajina forces advanced on the city. Zadar was heavily shelled from September 15, but the attackers were spread too thin and could not afford troops for a major land attack. Electricity and water supplies were cut to the city for over 100 days and the city was shelled indiscriminately.
Battles for Šibenik
Skradin north of Šibenik was attacked but not captured in August and the JNA advanced on the major coastal city. On September 15, the Croatian 113th Brigade captured the JNA barracks in the city and came under heavy combined air, sea, and land attack on September 16. The city theatre, the largest in the country, built in 1870, was destroyed during the shelling. The attack lasted until September 22, when it was finally stopped on the northern bridge leading to the city, at its very outskirts. This became known as the September battle in Šibenik.[1] A total of 269 Croatian soldiers from the Šibenik-Knin county died during the entire war.
On September 21, a famous video tape was taken during the Šibenik battles of the Croatian air defence shooting down one of the two attacking Soko J-21 "Hawk" ground-attack aircraft. The first aircraft was shot at innacurately with an anti-aircraft gun, a flash from a rocket it just launched being mistaken for a hit by AA, while the second was hit with an SA-7 anti-aircraft missile and exploded over the sea, pilot being killed. One of the defenders immortalized the tape with the erroneous words: "Obadva! Obadva! Oba su pala!" ("Both of them! Both of them! Both have fallen"); which grew into one of the most prominent icons of the war in Croatia.[1]
Southern Dalmatia
Further south, Drniš was occupied on September 16 and the rebels advanced further south, capturing Vrlika and an important power source: the Peruča dam. Further advances were stopped by military units from Dalmatia's capitol city of Split and the 126th Brigade from Sinj. After this the line stabilized for the rest of the war.
The JNA barracks in Split started to evacuate in October, supported by Yugoslav Navy which blockaded and sporadically shelled the city. One of the ships involved in the blockade was the destroyer Split; the first time in history that a city came under attack from a warship bearing its name.
Fighting also took place in the furthest southern part of Dalmatia, which became known as the Siege of Dubrovnik.
End of operations
Due to the inability of the invaders to capture any of its primary objectives, its artillery heavily shelled all cities, causing numerous civilian casualties.
On October 4, Mladić was promoted to Major-General, apparently for his successes, although except for the capture of Maslenica, the operation was largely a failure.
By December, the entire line had stabilized and major fighting had stopped entirely. On January 3, 1992 the final ceasefire came into effect and the large scale fighting ended. As part of the ceasefire, the JNA withdrew from most of Croatia and UN peacekeepers came in to patrol the lines between the two armies. In reality, the 9th Corps just passed its equipment down to local Serb units and dissolved.
Aftermath
Although the operation failed in achieving most of its primary objectives, Dalmatia now had severely reduced land links with the rest of Croatia. Dalmatia had trouble with its electricity, water and food supply for much of the following several years as a result.
Consequently, the Croatian Army launched Operation Maslenica in 1993 to reinforce its link with the remainder of Croatia. It was successfully concluded, communications were normalized, and the Maslenica pass was reopened, even though the front lines remained dangerously close to the bridge.
The rest of occupied Dalmatia would remain under Serb occupation until Operation Storm in 1995 when the Krajina was overrun by the Croatian Army.
References
- Thomas & Mikulan: The Yugoslav Wars (1): Slovenia & Croatia 1991-95 (Elite, Nmr. 138), Osprey Publishing, 2006
- Basic data on operation Coastline '91
- JNA Order of battle for operation Coastline '91
