KRSTICEVIC SEES "STORM" AS KEYSTONE OF VICTORY IN HOMELAND WAR

ZAGREB, Aug 3 (Hina) - The 1995 military and police operation "Storm" solved the issue of the victor in the war, helped liberate the occupied areas, enabled Croatian displaced persons and refugees to return and facilitated Croatia's position at negotiations with the opposite party. After the "Storm" the Croatian Army gained a strategic advance over the adversary and managed to retain it until the end of the mandate of UN troops in eastern Slavonia (eastern Croatia), said Major General Damir Krsticevic, a deputy chief-of-staff of the Croatian Army's headquarters. These were some reasons for viewing the August 1995 action as a great and fair victory of the Croatian Army, Maj. Gen. Krsticevic told Hina, ahead of the fifth anniversary of this famous liberating operation. At that time Krsticevic was the commander of the fourth Guards Brigade, which along with the seventh Guards Brigade, liberated the central Croatian town of Knin which was at the time the stronghold of local Serb rebels. Commenting on the military value of the operation, Krsticevic said that in the entire Homeland War, the Croatian armed forces had planned and carried out many successful operations but the Storm was "the greatest feat of the Armed Forces, during which about 11,000 square kilometres of formerly occupied Croatian regions were liberated." He stressed the "Storm" operation helped settle some military and political problems which had been almost insoluble prior to that event. It is enough to say that it solved the issue of the winner in the war and the winner was the Croatian Army. In addition, the "Storm" enabled many Croatian displaced persons to come back and offered to Croatian negotiators such arguments which facilitated their position at talks with the opposite party, he added. Speaking of the course of that action, Maj. Gen. Krsticevic said it was launched at 05.00 am August 4, 1995. The Croatian Army (HV) attacked from several directions at the 600-kilometre-long front- line from Mount Dinara to the town of Sunja. The guards brigade were at the vanguard of the HV. They stroke the first lines of Serb insurgents (the so-called Serb army) and immediately after the first attack, they managed to break through them at about 30 sites from (military) districts of Split, Gospic, Karlovac, Zagreb and Bjelovar. The town of Knin was set free for 30 hours and the entire operation was completed in 84 hours. On the first day of the operation, the depth of the Croatian Army's advances was about 15 kilometres at some sites. Things proceeded at unbelievable speed. After the liberation of Knin, we heard news of the liberation of other towns such as Drnis, Benkovac, Gracac, Lapac, Korenica, Slunj, Glina, Dvor, Petrinja and so on. It was impossible to stop the Croatian Army and police that entered and set free towns and villages that had experienced the terror of rebels for four years, the Croatian general added. Commenting on the conduct of and situation in the enemy troops, Krsticevic, who was the fourth Guards Brigade commander, said he had seen them offering strong resistance at all lines and points. The strongest resistance was at their first line, but they left no position without fighting. Recalling his memories, Maj. Gen. Krsticevic said that after they entered Knin, it looked like an abandoned town . The Serb forces, along with civilians, fled via Srb to Drvar (Bosnia), the only direction which was left free by the HV for civilians to be able to go, so that unnecessary casualties could be avoided. Commenting on the atmosphere and morale of soldiers who liberated Knin, he said he had felt they had given a final blow to the idea of a Greater Serbia. He emphasised he was proud of high moral values of Croatian soldiers. "The secret of this brilliant victory was in our people, their bravery and resoluteness and in the fact that they gave precedence to their only goal - liberation of their motherland - over all other things," the General said. Krsticevic spoke how much the "Storm" opened the door for Dayton peace talks and led to changes in the military situation in neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina. After the "Storm" the HV came at the frontier with Bosnia. For the HV and for me, however, this was not the end of the war, because interests of the Croat and Bosniak peoples in Bosnia-Herzegovina were not yet fulfilled, according to what Split Agreement envisaged. This conditioned the continuation of operations on territory of western and central Bosnia, and much has been said and known about this. The operations lasted by the end of November 1995. This was a legal and legitimate action of the HV, the HVO (Bosnian Croat Defence Council) and the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Krsticevic explained. Military successes on Bosnian territory opened the door of the Dayton negotiations. The "Storm" and military operations in Bosnia showed advantages of the co-operation and partnership between the Croat and Bosniak (Moslem) peoples. Their co-ordinated liberating feats helped set up the grounds of the military balance in our region. A peace process was instigated and steps were taken toward permanent stabilisation, he added. Asked how much the HV at the time adopted foreign military experiences and NATO standards, Krsticevic said during great operations, including the "Storm" the Croatian Army had been organised in the up-to-date manner and possessed modern weaponry. Troops were well trained and had war experience. The commanding personnel was young, but they grew up in the war. According to him, there were some members in the HV, who had international military experience and who were capable of transferring the tactics and military skills as well as NATO experiences, but there were individuals who gained military experience in our region. "All of them acted in unison. Besides, the HV enjoyed the full support of its people as it was waging a fair and liberation war," Krsticevic said. Experiences from the Homeland War are a part of the Croatian military thought. There was no thing which concerns the army or the war which is not interesting to military officials and analysts. During the Homeland War big things happened and the "Storm" was the central event. That's why our partners from Europe and the world show great interest in all what happened then," Krsticevic said. What we definitely know and what we can offer are our great experiences in the skills of warfare and use of various systems of arms under circumstances we had then. On those experiences we base the concept of the Croatian military strategy, the Maj. Gen. Krsticevic said. (hina) ms