Review article
https://doi.org/10.65243/s.9.1.5
Involvement of the Varaždin Battalion of the 104th Brigade of the Croatian Army in the Liberation of Western Slavonia in Autumn 1991
Marijan Kostanjevac
; CDA „Dr. Franjo Tuđman”
Darko Duhović
; CDA „Dr. Franjo Tuđman”
Ivan Benković
; CDA „Dr. Franjo Tuđman”
Abstract
In late October 1991, the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces requested the
command of the 104th Brigade of the National Guard in Varaždin to prepare and
equip a battalion-sized unit for deployment to the broader area of the Pakrac front.
The aim was to prevent the fall of Lipik and Pakrac and to relieve part of the forces
of the 105th Brigade, which had been assigned to the Posavina Operational Group to
participate in Operation Orkan 91.
The command of the 104th Brigade mobilized the 1st Battalion (from Varaždin) for
this mission. This unit had already taken part in the liberation of Varaždin, was wellarmed and equipped, and after three days of preparation was sent to the Pakrac front
on October 30, 1991. On that same day, in their first combat operation, the Varaždin
defenders—with the support of tanks from Bjelovar—liberated the village of Toranj
and secured a wider area of the Pakrac hinterland, eliminating the enemy threat of
encircling the town.
Two days later, in a second offensive operation—much larger in scope and manpower
than the Toranj operation—Croatian forces attempted to liberate the village of
Kukunjevac and the road route from Gaj through Dobrovac to Lipik. Two companies
from the 1st Varaždin Battalion took part in the action, but the mission was not
successful.
This paper is based on an ongoing project to create a scholarly monograph on the
Varaždin Battalion, drawing from archival sources, literature, and testimonies of
veterans—members of the 104th Brigade of the Croatian Army—who participated
in these combat operations during the liberation of Western Slavonia in the autumn
of 1991.
Keywords
1st Battalion / 104th Brigade, Varaždin, Western Slavonian Front, 1991, Toranj, Kukunjeva
Hrčak ID:
336539
URI
Publication date:
1.6.2025.
Visits: 560 *