VUKOVAR, Sept 25 (Hina) - A central ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the 204th Vukovar Brigade (204. Vukovarska brigada in Croatian) began in that eastern Croatian town on Monday morning with wreath-laying
ceremonies at Ovcara, the site of the November 1991 massacre of Croatian civilians and soldiers by Serb rebels, and at the Homeland Defence War Memorial Cemetery in Vukovar.
VUKOVAR, Sept 25 (Hina) - A central ceremony marking the 15th
anniversary of the establishment of the 204th Vukovar Brigade (204. Vukovarska
brigada in Croatian) began in that eastern Croatian town on Monday morning with
wreath-laying ceremonies at Ovcara, the site of the November 1991 massacre of
Croatian civilians and soldiers by Serb rebels, and at the Homeland Defence War
Memorial Cemetery in Vukovar. Wreaths were laid by the first
war-time commander of the brigade, Mile Dedakovic, and by delegations of the
city government and Vukovar-Srimium County authorities.
The commemoration continued with a review of the 204 Vukovar Brigade at
the town stadium with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, Parliament Speaker
Vladimir Seks, and Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor attednding the
event.
According to statistics released by Homeland Defence War veterans'
associations, this brigade consisted of 4,000 soldiers, with about 2,000 of
them having been engaged in the defence of the town of Vukovar and other having
been deployed in battlefields in a wider Vukovar area.