Operation Corridor

According to the latest pre-war census of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, there were 1,905,829 people (43.7%) Muslims, 1,369,258 people (31.4%) Serbs, 755,892 people Croats (17.3%). Of the 106 communities in BiH, Muslims made up the majority in 35 communities, mainly in central Bosnia, and Serbs in 32 western and eastern communities of the republic. Croats made up the majority in southern BiH and in some central communities. About 240 thousand inhabitants of BiH have identified themselves as “Yugoslavs”. Most of them were Serbs or children from mixed marriages. In 1991, 27% of marriages were mixed. Serbs were ahead of other Bosnian peoples in the area they occupied. They represented the vast majority of the population in 53.3% of the territory of BiH ^[2] .

On November 18, 1990, the first multi-party elections were held in the republic. The majority of seats in the Assembly (86) were won by the Muslim Democratic Party, followed by the Serbian Democratic Party (72) and the local Croatian Democratic Community (44). The election results showed a clear division on ethnic grounds long before the outbreak of hostilities ^[3] .

After the election, a coalition leadership was formed representing all three national parties. The leader of traffic rules Izetbegovich became the chairman of the Presidium of BiH. Croatian Jure Pelivan became Prime Minister. Serbian Momchilo Kraishnik became the speaker of the Assembly. However, cooperation between the parties in the government and parliament could not be achieved. Already at the first meeting of the Assembly, there was a separation of deputies on a national basis, and then the Muslim-Croat coalition began to take shape. She introduced the Declaration of Independence of the Republic for discussion, and the Serbian Democratic Party, in response, began to unite communities with the majority of the Serbian population ^[3] .

On October 12, the parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina without the knowledge of the Serbian deputies adopted the “Memorandum on the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina” by a simple majority vote ^{[4] [5]} . Serbs and Croats in BiH were defined as national minorities ^[3] . This gave an impetus to the autonomy of the Serbian regions. The Assembly of the Bosnian Serbs was convened and a plebiscite was held, on which on November 9, 1991, the Serbs spoke for unification with Serbian Krajina, Serbia and Montenegro, that is, for the creation of a renewed Yugoslav state. The leadership of Bosnia called the Serbian plebiscite illegal and insisted on an independent and unitary country. However, then on the creation of its state. education - Herzeg-Bosny was expressed by Bosnian Croats, which deepened the process of territorial demarcation in the republic ^[6] .

On January 9, 1992, the Assembly of Bosnian Serbs proclaimed the creation of the Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a federal unit of the SFRY. On March 24, Serbs formed a government, parliament, and a bureau. On March 27, the Constitution of the Republika Srpska was adopted. Then they put forward a proposal to reform Bosnia and Herzegovina into a confederate republic of three equal peoples ^[6] .

On January 25, 1992, the Assembly of BiH decided to hold a referendum on the sovereignty and independence of the republic. The Serbian faction in the Assembly left the courtroom in protest. The referendum was held on March 1, 1992, 63.4% of voters (2,073,932 people) voted on it, of which 62.68% voted for independence. On the same day, the authorities of BiH declared sovereignty, a request for recognition was sent to the EU ^[6] .

The Serbian Republic of BiH had a weak spot - a narrow isthmus in the area of ​​the cities of Dervent - Bosanski Brod - Bosanski Shamac , connecting the western and eastern parts of the republic. Muslim troops occupied this isthmus in the early spring of 1992 , thus cutting off transport links between the western part of the Serbian Republic of BiH and the Republic of Serbian Krajina with eastern territories and Serbia . For some time, communication was maintained by air, but after the UN ban on flights over Bosnia, the western lands were completely isolated. Due to food shortages in the region, famine began, there were no medicines in the hospitals, the armies did not have enough weapons and ammunition. In the maternity hospital Banja Luka , 12 children died due to a lack of medical oxygen, which was the reason for the start of the operation ^[7] . In the conditions of the blockade, the leadership of the BiH and RSK SR decided to regain control of the Derwent-Bosansky Brod-Bosansky Shamats Isthmus.

The main developer and inspirer of this plan was General Momir Talich , who then commanded the First Krainsky Corps of the VRS. Together with him, General Boshko Kelechevich, the headquarters of the PKK VRS, General Borivoe Dzhukich, commander of the special forces of the RSK Ministry of Internal Affairs, and General Novitsa Simich, the head of the First Motorized Brigade, participated in the development of the Corridor. The officers had an almost unsolvable task - firstly, according to the canons of military strategy, there should have been at least three times as many attacking Serbs as enemy soldiers, but it was impossible to create such a numerical superiority. Secondly, parts of the PKK of the VRS and the detachments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSK had to operate in a full operational environment, which they had to break through. By mid-June, work was completed - according to the calculations of the military, by the end of the month the blockade should have been broken - there were simply no other options for saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians. The following task was confronted to the units of the Airborne Forces and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSK - to attack the enemy along the Croatian border in the direction of Dervent - Bosanski Brod - Brcko , occupy these cities, and then establish and maintain control over the region’s highways, thereby ensuring unhindered transport communication between the western regions of the BiH and RSK with SR Yugoslavia and the rest of the world.

The main phase

On June 12, parts of the PKK of the VRS entered into battle with Muslim-Croat formations near the village of Modran south of Derventa. Fighters of the 16th KMBr, with the support of a tank company from Doboy, attacked the enemy, thus marking the beginning of the implementation of the “Corridor - 1992” plan. However, the most intense battles began after the well-fortified Croatian village of Zer fell on June 22 - control over it, according to the plan of the VRS officers, was an indispensable condition for starting the main phase of Operation Corridor. Two days later, on June 24, Serbian artillery launched a massive shelling of enemy positions on the entire front, demonstrating readiness for an imminent attack. Talich and his colleagues managed to mislead the enemy - the Croats and Muslims decided that the Serbs were going to attack Tuzla , and not Dervent and Bosanski Brod. This was the trick of General Talich’s plan - deceived by false artillery fire, the commanders of Muslims and Croats transferred some of their forces to the Tuzla region, somewhat weakening the defense on the line of Dervent - Bielo Brdo - Odjak - Modrica . But, nevertheless, the battles for the corridor, called the "Road of Life", were very difficult. The Muslim-Croat units offered fierce resistance - their counterattacks in the areas of the settlements of Vidovici, Korac and the village of Vucilovac bordering Croatia cost the Serbs many lives. During the fighting in Posavin, parts of the Air Force and Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSK lost 293 killed and 1,129 soldiers were injured. One of the dead was Major Milivoy Rashula, commander of the battalion of the RSK Ministry of Internal Affairs, whose unit operated in the Odzhak area. Wanting to hoist the Serbian flag on the local water tower, Major Rashula went deep into the territory occupied by the enemy, where he was discovered and killed in a shootout. Together with him, two more policemen were killed, accompanying their commander. As for the losses of the Muslim-Croat units, there is no exact data on this subject, however, with a high degree of probability it can be assumed that they were no less than the Serbian ones.

The blockade was broken through on the night of June 25-26, 1992 - the fighters of the First Krainsky and East Bosanian corps of the VRS met in the area of ​​the villages of Kornitsa and Chardak, Modrica community. Despite the fierce resistance of the enemy, which outnumbered parts of the Air Force and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSK in numbers and equipment, the task set by General Talich was completed. The blockade of the Serbian territories, which lasted 42 days, was broken, and the road to Serbia was now free.

The final phase

After the blockade ring was broken, the RS and RSK troops faced a new task - to occupy the maximum amount of territory adjacent to the transport corridor in order to minimize the possibility of regaining control over it for the enemy forces. As part of this assignment, fighters of the Serbian formations fought until mid-October 1992, occupying the settlements of Modrić (busy June 27), Plekhan (busy July 1), Derventa (busy July 4), Yakes (busy July 7) and Odjak (busy 13 July).

The final phase of the “Corridor - 1992” deserves special attention - the operation to take the strategically important city of Bosanski Brod, occupied by units of the 16th KMBR on October 6, 1992. Here, the command of the VRS clearly demonstrated its ability to use all the technologies of modern warfare - the Serbian units entered the city without a single shot thanks to the operation to disinform the enemy successfully carried out by their electronic warfare specialists. On the eve of the capture of Brod, they managed to infiltrate the radio network of the Croatian units defending the city and “throw” information there that the Serbian forces had crossed the Sava River and were about to attack Brod from the rear. The command of the Croatian group panicked, and units of the KhSO hastily left the city, which was soon occupied by tanks and infantry of the 16th KMBr without firing a shot. Thus, the city escaped destruction, and the surrounding nature - an environmental disaster inevitable in the event of street fighting - is located in Bosansky Brod and to this day continues to operate the largest oil refinery in the Balkans.

in Russian

• Guskova E.Yu. The history of the Yugoslav crisis (1990-2000). - M .: Russian Law / Russian National Fund, 2001. - 720 p. - ISBN 5941910037 .
• Yugoslavia in the XX century: essays on political history / K.V. Nikiforov (ed.), A.I. Filimonova, A.L. Shemyakin, etc. - M .: Indrik, 2011. - 888 p. - ISBN 9785916741216 .

in English

• David C. Isby. Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict, 1990-1995 . - Washington: Diane Publishing Company, 2003. - Vol. 1. - 501 p. - ISBN 978-0-7567-2930-1 .

• Operation Corridor 1992
• RTRS documentary "Operacija Koridor-Koridor života" (Serb.) . YouTube Date of treatment April 17, 2014.
• Documentary film "Proboj Koridora" (Serb.) . YouTube Date of treatment April 17, 2014.
• Serbian shooting operation (Serb.) . YouTube Date of treatment April 17, 2014.