The Homeland War - Croatian War
The Homeland War is the war fought by the Croatian people in defence of the Croatian state against the aggression brought in 1990 by the joint Greater Serbian forces: Serbian 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 Serb rebels supported by the JNA launched armed attacks against the legal institutions of the Croatian state and set up the self-proclaimed Serbian 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 Serbia 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 UN peacekeeping forces on the demarcation lines in the spring of 1992, Croatia began negotiations in order to recover the occupied territories in a peaceful way. After the negotiations failed, the occupied areas of Posavina and western Slavonia were liberated by military and police actions in May 1995, while all the other occupied areas in northern Dalmatia, Lika, Kordun and Banovina were liberated in August of the same year. The occupied areas in eastern Slavonia, Baranja and western Srijem are under temporary international administration while the process of peaceful reintegration of those areas continues and the aggressor is obliged to recognize the international borders of Croatia.
Battlefields (1991 – 1993)
During the first democratic elections in Croatia in 1990, the Greater Serbian regime in Serbia, with the help of the Serb–oriented JNA and a part of the Serbian population in Croatia, started making operational preparations for a military aggression against the Republic of Croatia. The aggression began with the instigation of an armed rebellion by one part of the Serbian population in Croatia and with the involvement of the JNA, first logistically and then militarily. As the intensity and pace of the Serbian aggression against Croatia increased, Serbian formations from Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Hercegovina started participating in the attacks with increasing frequency. The directions, intensity and sequencing of the Serbian attacks determined the corresponding organization of the Croatian defence and the creation of eight areas (battlefields) where the aggressor was stopped. The battle of Vukovar has to be singled out because of its special significance. The defense operations on all battlefields started independently and were gradually co–ordinated and united following the creation and consolidation of the Croatian Army (HV).