Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.22586/ss.24.1.9
The 42nd Border Battalion of the YPA and Serbian Rebels in the Podravska Slatina Municipality until September 1991
Janja Sekula
Domagoj Štefančić
orcid.org/0000-0001-5647-545X
Prilozi: SS24-217-245SekulaStefancic.pdf
Sažetak
This paper discusses the collaboration of rebel Serbs and YPA forces at the local level in practice, using the example of the Podravska Slatina Municipality, first in the period of the Serbian rebellion and then of open war. The paper addresses a series of specific examples and draws attention to the complexity of these relations, which at times depended on the officers of the YPA, i.e. their more or less deep implication in Greater Serbian plans. However, in the end the mutual goal prevailed, which in the meantime had evolved in the plans of the YPA from the “struggle to sustain Yugoslavia” to the “struggle to expand Serbia”. The squads of the 42nd border battalion from Virovitica supported the Serbian rebellion and later the aggression, which escalated in this area at the beginning of August 1991. Eventually, in spite of the support of the YPA, the rebellious Serbs from Slatina did not succeed in taking control over the Podravina Highway, which was of strategic importance for the Republic of Croatia. Instead, the Croatian local forces took over the military facilities of the area which then changed the balance of power in the north-eastern part of the western Slavonian front.
The rebellious Serbs from Podravska Slatina, dependent on the overall support of the 42nd Border Battalion and on the forces of the 12th Proletarian Mechanized Brigade from the Našice Garrison in the period before the beginning of the open war, organized and equipped their armed formations on Papuk mountain. From the beginning of August 1991, the rebels took the initiative in hostile activities and control over a great part of the Slatina Municipality on September 5. The Croatian local forces responded to the aggression of Serbian units by taking control of military facilities and in doing so prevented the execution of the attack planned by the YPA in this part of Podravlje and significantly increased their combat capability, whereas the units of the Serbian rebels lost direct military support. Event though the Serbian forces had occupied a significant part of the municipality, they were not able to take over the municipal centre or cut off the Podravina Highway, which was undoubtedly the result of the fast collapse of the YPA border units.
Ključne riječi
Yugoslav People’s Army; 42nd Border Battalion; Podravska Slatina; Croatian police; Serbian aggression; military facilities
Hrčak ID:
323173
URI
Datum izdavanja:
8.12.2024.
Posjeta: 0 *