Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia. Armed Forces of the Independent State of Croatia Croatian Army

This is how matters stood with Croatia's solution of foreign policy issues. Significant changes also took place in domestic policy, connected with the creation of the main institutions of an independent state, including the armed forces. On April 16, 1941, immediately after his arrival from Italy, Pavelić formed the First Croatian State Government, in which he assumed the posts of Chairman and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Pavelić's deputy, in case of his incapacity, was one of his closest associates, Slavko Kvaternik. At the same time, he received the post of army commander, with the rank of military commander, and the minister of the Croatian armed forces - Croatian Domobran (Hrvatsko Domobranstvo) .

The armed forces of the NGH were created on the basis of the Law on the Army and Navy of April 11, 1941 and consisted of the regular Croatian army (Domobran itself: ground forces, railway guards, Navy, Air Force, State Labor Service, border guards), Ustaše military formations, gendarmerie and spare parts .

From the very beginning of its existence, the Croatian armed forces lacked weapons (especially heavy ones) and equipment. Artillery battalions, for example, had only two batteries instead of the usual three or four. There were few armored units, however, they had no tanks at all, but only a few armored vehicles. Small arms, inherited for the most part from the Yugoslav royal army, met the requirements of the first world war rather than modern standards. There was no need to talk about aviation and warships. As if summing up this deplorable state of his armed forces, the commander Kvaternik said in a conversation with the Italian publicist Corrado Zoli: “I have nothing but people to form an army. Several dozen rifles, even fewer machine guns, a few machine guns and a few guns. There are no cars, no trucks, no tools. There are only six tanks, and even then they are light tanks of the old type, even tankers cannot be trained on them. Very few radio stations. There are only two factories in all of Croatia capable of producing ammunition for small arms. There are no planes at all. You understand that under such conditions no serious formation is possible.

This conversation took place on September 5, 1941. Nevertheless, by winter, it was possible to create fully combat-ready armed forces, which, in combat and moral qualities, surpassed the armed forces of all Germany's allies.

It has already been said above that Italy claimed leading role in determining the entire policy of the new state. This also applied to the construction of its armed forces. At one of the meetings between Pavelic and Mussolini, the latter raised the question of the complete control of the Croatian army by Italy. The Croatian leader rejected these claims, as a result of which the Italian side refused him any assistance and even began to slow down the creation of Croatian military structures in its zone of occupation.

On the contrary, the government of the Third Reich provided great support to the NGH government in organizing both the authorities and the armed forces. With their help, the Nazis sought to facilitate their exploitation of a significant part of the Yugoslav natural resources, communications and manpower for warfare. So, already on April 14, 1941, the commander of the 2nd German Army, Field Marshal Maximilian Weichs, gave an order according to which all German authorities subordinate to him were to provide material and moral assistance to the NGH government in creating the armed forces. Over time, all these activities were supposed to free up German troops for a future campaign against the USSR, and also make it unnecessary to continue the presence of the Italian army on Croatian territory. This was also in line with the intentions of Pavelić, who hoped to gain more freedom of action with the help of the Wehrmacht than was possible in the presence of the Italian occupying forces. German authorized general in Croatia (Bevollmachtigen Generals in Agram), from April 15, 1941, who was in Zagreb, received a number of directives, the most important of which required him to contribute to the creation of the NGH army.

To create the Croatian armed forces, personnel, weapons, equipment, barracks, and technical means of the former Yugoslav Royal Army were used. In connection with the popular uprising against the invaders that began in July 1941, the training of troops took place in a hurry. Great assistance in the creation of the armed forces was provided by 838 officers and generals who served in the Austro-Hungarian army and 2662 officers and generals of the former Yugoslav royal army, who in 1941 voluntarily joined the Domobran and the gendarmerie.

The most important posts were given to those generals and officers who at one time served in the Austro-Hungarian army and were supporters of the German military system. Through them and other pro-German and anti-Italian officers, the Nazis exercised their influence. It is no coincidence, therefore, that an Austrian, General of the Infantry Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, was appointed as an authorized general in the NGH. Officers of Austrian origin were also appointed to other posts in the German military administration, who among the officers of the Domobran met many former colleagues in the Austro-Hungarian army. Even Field Marshal Kvaternik himself once had the rank of colonel in this army. These old connections, along with other circumstances, contributed to the fact that the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) was always well aware of the state of the Croatian army and kept it under complete control.

Throughout its short existence ground forces (Kopnena Vojska) Domobrana went through three reorganizations. The first two of them were carried out on November 1, 1941 and May 1, 1943, respectively. All changes were reduced mainly to the creation of new and the disbandment of old units and formations and were due both to the influence of tactical and strategic conditions in the Balkans and to the internal situation in NGH. Finally, on November 20, 1944, Domobran and the Ustash war (Ustaska Vojnica) were merged into Croatian Armed Forces (Hrvatske Oruzane Snage). In general, this last reorganization had more moral than any other reasons: with its help, the Domobran command expected to raise the morale among its fighters by combining them with the Ustashe military formations.

The first stage of the existence of the Croatian ground forces can be roughly divided into two periods. In the first of them (April - June 1941), they did not yet have a clear organization, since most of the units and formations were "on hastily"created either from local militia formations or from the regiments of the Yugoslav Royal Army, staffed mainly by Croats. In general, the organization of the Croatian ground forces at that time looked like this:

domobranskie parts, stationed in Zagreb and its environs

25th Domobran Infantry Regiment

35th Domobransky Infantry Regiment (former 35th Infantry Regiment of the Yugoslav Royal Army)

53rd Domobran Infantry Regiment

6th Cavalry Regiment

13th reconnaissance battalion

Parts of the "Bosnia-Herzegovina" region (commander - pukovnik Matiyya Kanich)

Croatian security battalion

Zagreb, Belovar and Sisak domobran companies

police company

reconnaissance company

gendarmerie platoon

cavalry platoon

detachment of local Bosnian soldiers

Ustash company

Separate parts

10th Domobran Infantry Regiment

Cavalry Regiment Virovitica (former 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the Yugoslav Royal Army)

Infantry Regiment "Tuzla" (former 5th Infantry Regiment of the Yugoslav Royal Army).

During this period, the commander of the Croatian ground forces was General Slavko Shtanzer.

Starting in July 1941, many of these units were disbanded, and full-fledged infantry regiments and other units were created from their personnel, organized into five divisional districts (hereinafter, the location of the headquarters and the main units of the formation is indicated in brackets):

Divisional district "Sava" (headquarters in Zagreb; covered the regions of Northern Croatia; commander - pukovnik Emanuel von Baley)

1st Infantry Regiment - in Belovar

2nd Infantry Regiment - in Zagreb

3rd Infantry Regiment - in Karlovac

1st Artillery Battalion - in Varaždin

2nd Artillery Battalion - in Zagreb

Headquarters, Commandant's Company and 2nd Squadron of the Zagreb Cavalry Regiment - in Zagreb

Sapper Regiment - in Karlovac

1st Motorized Infantry Battalion - in Zagreb

mobile company "Sava" - in Zagreb

Divisional district "Osijek" (headquarters in Osijek; covered the regions of Slavonia; commander - General Mihailo Lyulich)

4th Infantry Regiment - in Osijek

5th Infantry Regiment - in Slavonska Pozega

6th Infantry Regiment - in Vinkovci

3rd Artillery Battalion - in Osijek

4th Artillery Battalion - in Petrovaradin

1st Squadron of the Zagreb Cavalry Regiment - in Virovitica

Engineer Battalion - in Osijek

3rd Motorized Infantry Company - in Osijek

Railway Guard Battalion - in Brodna-Sava

mobile company "Osijek" - in Osijek

Divisional district "Bosnia" (headquarters in Sarajevo; covered areas of central and southern Bosnia; commander - pukovnik Pero Blashkovic)

7th Infantry Regiment - in Sarajevo

8th Infantry Regiment - in Tuzla

9th Infantry Regiment - in Travnik

5th Artillery Battalion - in Sarajevo

6th Artillery Battalion - in Tuzla

separate cavalry battalion - in Kalinovik

2nd motorized infantry company - in Sarajevo

mobile company "Bosnia" - in Sarajevo

Divisional district "Vrbas" (headquarters in Banja Luka; covered areas of northern Bosnia and Lika; commander - General Dragutin Rumler)

10th Infantry Regiment - in Banja Luka

11th Infantry Regiment - in Sisak

12th Infantry Regiment - in Otočac

7th Artillery Battalion - in Banja Luka

8th Artillery Battalion - in Bihac

7th Motorized Infantry Company - in Banja Luka

mobile company "Vrbas" - in Banja Luka

Divisional district "Yadran" (headquarters in Mostar; covered the regions of Herzegovina and Dalmatia; commander - General Ivan Prpic)

13th Infantry Regiment - in Mostar

14th Infantry Regiment - in Trebinje

15th Infantry Regiment - in Knin

9th Artillery Battalion - in Mostar

10th Artillery Battalion - in Knin

7th Motorized Infantry Company - in Mostar

mobile company "Jadran" - in Mostar

During this period, the infantry regiment consisted of the following units:

two infantry battalions (three infantry and one machine gun company each),

commandant's company (observation, communications, sapper and auxiliary platoons),

companies of anti-tank guns (three platoons),

escort companies, a working half-platoon and regimental musicians.

The personnel of the regiment consisted of 1626 officers, non-commissioned officers and privates.

The artillery battalion consisted of three artillery batteries (two platoons each) and a commandant's battery (communications, guidance and auxiliary platoons). The personnel of the artillery battalion consisted of 421 officers, non-commissioned officers and privates. In total, the regiment was armed with 12 100 mm howitzers. The regiment moved on horseback, so it included 266 more horses.

In addition to these, there were a number of units that were outside the control of the commanders of the divisional districts and were intended exclusively to fight the partisans. So, in July 1941, the Liksky, Sansky and Kninsky anti-partisan detachments were created, as well as the battle groups of generals Klaich and Lukich.

In total, the Croatian ground forces numbered about 55 thousand people. During this period, Sub-Marshal August Marić was their commander.

In May 1941, the Croatian Domobran was sent to eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina to suppress the actions of the Serbs, who took up arms, driven to despair by the Ustasha terror. Nevertheless, despite the complete material and numerical superiority of the Croats, even the first battles showed that it was impossible to quickly deal with the uprising with such an organization of the army. As a result, these and other events forced the Croatian command to carry out the first reorganization of the ground forces. It began on November 1, 1941. In the course of the reorganization, the infantry regiments were consolidated into divisions, and those into three corps. For mobilization and rear service, three corps districts were also formed (with the same numbers and on the same territory as the corps):

1st Corps - Croatia proper and Northern Dalmatia (headquarters in Sisak; commander - pukovnik Vladimir Kalchak):

1st Infantry Division (1st, 2nd and 11th Infantry Regiments; 1st and 2nd Artillery Battalions) - HQ at Belovar

2nd Infantry Division (3rd, 12th and 15th Infantry Regiments; 8th and 10th Artillery Battalions) - headquarters in Bihac

Cavalry Regiment "Zagreb"

1st Bicycle Battalion

1st and 3rd Engineer Battalions

2nd Corps - Slavonia and Northern Bosnia (headquarters in Slavonsky Brod; commander - podpikovnik Dragutin Helbich):

3rd Infantry Division (4th and 6th Infantry Regiments; 3rd and 4th Artillery Battalions) - headquarters in Vinkovci, then in Tuzla

4th Infantry Division (5th, 8th and 10th Infantry Regiments; 6th and 7th Artillery Battalions) - headquarters in Doboj

brigade "Banja Luka"

Brigade "Srem"

3rd Corps - South Bosnia, Herzegovina (headquarters in Sarajevo; commander - pukovnik Ivan Klishanich):

5th Infantry Division (7th and 9th Infantry Regiments; 5th Artillery Battalion) - Headquarters in Sarajevo

6th Infantry Division (13th and 14th Infantry Regiments; 9th Artillery Battalion; 1st-4th Front Battalions) - Headquarters in Mostar

1st mountain division (1-4th mountain brigades; 1-18th railway guard battalions; 1-21st rural guard battalions).

If you follow the facts, the Croatian infantry division of the new model was in fact a brigade (the number of personnel was only 4,000 people).

During this period, the number of Domobran ground forces steadily increased: if at the end of 1941 it numbered 77 thousand people, then in the spring of 1942 it was already about 100 thousand. They were commanded by Lieutenant General Vladimir Laksa.

But even this reorganization could not completely solve all the problems. During the fighting, it became clear that conventional infantry divisions were not suitable for mountain warfare. Therefore, already in April 1942, four mountain brigades were formed, which were supposed to reinforce the units operating against the partisan detachments in Kordun, Bania and Western Bosnia:

1st Mountain Brigade - in Zagreb

2nd mountain brigade - in Belovar

3rd Mountain Brigade - in Pozhega

4th mountain brigade - in Daruvar.

Initially, each brigade had four battalions (1,000 men each), a mountain artillery battery, a sapper platoon, and various support services. In October 1942, all brigades were consolidated into the 1st mountain division (headquarters in Belovar). In parallel with external organizational changes, there were internal reorganizations in each brigade. In general, they were aimed at strengthening them, both morally and material point vision, which led to an increase in the personnel of the division to 17 thousand people. But even being already a single formation, the mountain division continued to be used separately: its 1st, 2nd and 4th brigades were subordinate to the headquarters of the 1st corps, and the 2nd - to the 3rd:

1st mountain brigade "Poglavnik Dr. Ante Pavelic" - in Belovar (1st and 5th mountain regiments, 3rd and 14th artillery battalions)

2nd mountain brigade "Voyskovoda Slavko Kvaternik" - in Konjice (2nd and 9th mountain regiments, 9th and 20th artillery battalions)

3rd mountain brigade - in Petrinja (3rd and 11th mountain regiments, 2nd and 13th artillery battalions)

4th Mountain Brigade - Daruvar, Pakrac and Lipik area (4th and 8th mountain regiments, 1st and 12th artillery battalions).

In parallel with the creation of the mountain troops, on May 1, 1943, the second reorganization of the Croatian ground forces was launched. Basically, it was completed in August 1943 and led to the following changes: all the infantry divisions that existed before were reorganized:

into four jaeger brigades, from two four-battalion regiments and one artillery battalion in each (brigade personnel - up to 2,000 thousand people).

in addition, each corps received a reserve brigade and 11 garrison brigades, the creation of which was completed by the summer of 1944 (garrison brigades usually consisted of four or five battalions and one or two artillery batteries).

each of the three corps also included a working regiment and three to five separate battalions.

Thus, the structure of the Croatian ground forces after all the innovations and the new reorganization looked like this:

1st Corps - headquarters in Zagreb (commander - General Ivan Brozovic):

1st mountain brigade (1st and 5th mountain regiments; 3rd and 6th artillery battalions) - headquarters in Belovar

3rd mountain brigade (3rd and 11th mountain regiments; 2nd artillery battalion) - headquarters in Bihac

4th mountain brigade (4th and 8th mountain regiments; 1st and 12th artillery battalions) - headquarters in Daruvar, later in Pakrac and Lipik

2nd Chasseur Brigade (1st and 10th Chasseur Regiments; 4th and 8th Artillery Battalions) - Headquarters in Donji Lapac

1st garrison brigade (1-4th battalions) - headquarters in Krizhevtsy

2nd Garrison Brigade (1-5th battalions) - headquarters in Karlovac

3rd Garrison Brigade (1st-3rd Battalions) - Headquarters in Gospic

4th Garrison Brigade (1st-3rd Battalions) - Headquarters in Sisak

Zagreb Garrison Brigade (1-3 Battalions)

1st reserve brigade (located in Pokupje, Kvarner, Velebit, Istria)

brigade "Zenica" (1st battalion of armored vehicles)

2nd Corps - headquarters in Slavonski Brod (commander - General Franjo Patsak):

1st Chasseur Brigade (4th Chasseur Regiment; 5th and 16th Artillery Battalions) - Headquarters in Doboj

3rd Jaeger Brigade (5th and 8th Jaeger Regiments; 7th and 18th Artillery Battalions) - headquarters in Tuzla

4th Jaeger Brigade (7th and 13th Jaeger Regiments; 11th and 12th Artillery Battalions) - headquarters in Ostrozhac

5th Garrison Brigade (1st-4th Battalions) - Headquarters in Nova Gradiska

6th Garrison Brigade (1-5th battalions) - HQ in Doboj

7th Garrison Brigade (1st-4th Battalions) - HQ in Sremska Mitrovica

2nd reserve brigade (Srem, Tuzla; 2nd battalion of armored vehicles) - headquarters in Vinkovci

3rd Corps - headquarters in Sarajevo (commander - General Ivan Markulya):

2nd mountain brigade (2nd, 6th and 9th mountain regiments; 13th and 20th artillery battalions) - headquarters in Sarajevo

8th Garrison Brigade (1-5th battalions) - headquarters in Sarajevo

9th Garrison Brigade (1-6th battalions) - headquarters in Dubrovnik

3rd reserve brigade (3rd battalion of armored vehicles)

Parts of non-corps subordination

mobile brigade (cavalry regiment "Zagreb", 1st and 2nd bicycle battalions) - headquarters in Brodna Sava

railway security (sectors A, B, C, D, E - 1-23rd battalions and 3 armored trains)

1-3rd working regiments (Belovar, Osijek, Sarajevo).

In the summer of 1943, the Croatian ground forces grew to 130 thousand people. However, by the end of 1944, their number was reduced to 70 thousand. The fact is that part of their personnel was transferred to the German-Croatian legionary divisions and to the Ustash war, which will be discussed below. Lieutenant-General Vladimir Laksa still remained in command.

By September 1944, the strategic situation for Germany and its allies had become catastrophic: Soviet troops withdrew Bulgaria from the war and entered the territory of Yugoslavia. And already in October, the Red Army and units of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (NOAU) liberated Belgrade and came close to the borders of Croatia.

Under these conditions, on November 21, 1944, the last reorganization of the ground forces of the NGH took place. In order to create a more effective military organization, the ground forces and the Ustasha war were merged into a single Croatian armed forces. This was primarily due to heavy losses, which suffered Domobran. Another reason was the distrust that the leadership of the NGH began to experience for some time in their army. Therefore, in addition to the simple mechanical connection of these different branches of the military, many command positions in the ground forces were occupied by Ustash officers, and by December 1944 all Ustash and Domobran units were universally united into five corps.

What was the Ustash war? We can immediately say that its formations were an analogue of the SS troops in Germany and the Blackshirt detachments in Italy. Like these organizations, it went from the usual militant squads guarding party leaders to combat formations during the war.

The insurrectionary Croatian revolutionary organization, better known as the Ustaše (rebel) organization, emerged on January 7, 1929 as a response to the coup d'etat carried out by the central royal government in Belgrade. The ultimate goal that this organization set for itself was the separation of Croatia from Yugoslavia and the proclamation of the NDH. The head of the organization was one of the leaders of the Pure (Croatian) Party of Law, created at the end of the 19th century. and adhering to the positions of extreme nationalism, the Zagreb lawyer dr Ante Pavelic. He assumed the title of "rebel leader" (“Poglavnik ustaski”) and the unlimited right to direct the activities of the entire organization and dispose of the lives of its members. However, soon after that, Pavelić had to go abroad.

In order to find moral and, most importantly, material support, Pavelić traveled to Sofia, and then to Rome, where he found complete understanding and financial assistance. Italy soon became the main base of the organization and the headquarters of its leadership. In 1930, the Ustaše managed to gather only a few dozen people in their camps in Italy. Then they drew attention to the Croatian emigration and by the mid-30s. their number has already reached about 500 people.

Initially, this organization was created as a military and terrorist organization with a system of brutal subordination of the lower echelons to the higher ones. Its activities were regulated by a statute drawn up in 1929 and finally formulated and signed by Pavelić in 1932. The entire organization was built on the "principle of the Fuhrer". Disobedience was punishable by death. Under the head was the Supreme Command of 12 people, which acted as an advisory body. The charter also provided for a strict hierarchy in local organizations: the lowest link was local organizations (camp), above them was the district organization (logor), even higher was the regional organization (storage). Main Ustash camp (Glavni Ustaski stan) headed by the head crowned the entire pyramid. However, it was not possible to create an organization in Croatia itself, despite an attempt in September 1932 to raise an uprising in the Lika region. Therefore, since 1931, the Ustashe began to create camps in Italy: near Brescia, in Borgotaro and smaller ones in Fontechia and San Demetrio. The main purpose of training in them is military-terrorist training.

Terrorist actions were directed from several bases: a camp in Janka-Pusta (Hungary) and a base in Zadar (Italy). Several groups of Ustaše were in Austria. The first terrorist act - the explosion of a train en route from Austria to Yugoslavia - occurred on June 30, 1930. The largest terrorist act carried out by the Ustaše with the help of German intelligence is the murder on October 7, 1934 in Marseille of the King of Yugoslavia Alexander I Karageorgievich and the Minister of Foreign Affairs France Louis Barthou.

However, it was clear that the Ustashe would not be able to come to power in Croatia on their own. They needed outside support, which came in the form of Germany and Italy when these states attacked Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941. As mentioned above, on April 15, 1941, Pavelić arrived from Italy in Zagreb. About 340 Ustashe arrived with him, and some returned from exile on their own. All of them, as veterans of the movement, took responsible positions in the civil and military administration of the new state.

The main activities of the Ustashe in the initial period of being in power were:

Organization of public order and security;

Development and implementation of the national policy of the state;

Creation of reliable military formations.

By decree of May 17, 1941, the Minister of the Interior of the NGH, Andrie Artuković, established the Department of Public Order and Security, the leadership of which was entrusted to Yevgen "Dido" Kvaternik, the son of the military leader Kvaternik. In accordance with the instruction of Artukovych, Kvaternik began to create the Supervision Service (Ustaska Nadzorna Sluzba)- political police (analogous to the German Gestapo). It existed from 1941 to 1943, when it was abolished, and its employees merged into the Office of Public Order and Security. The first head of the supervision service was Vlado Singer. Organizationally, the supervision service consisted of the following sectors:

I-b, the nature of the activity of which is not known;

II-a - head security service;

II-b - fight against partisans;

From the activities of the last sector, the second direction of the Ustaše activity logically followed. Even at a meeting at the Berghof, Hitler advised Pavelić "to pursue a policy of national intolerance for 50 years." Naturally, after such a council, mobile field courts, executions of hostages and imprisonment in a concentration camp became the main instruments of national policy in the NGH. "It was they who determined the legislation in the NGH on this issue," wrote the Yugoslav researcher Branimir Stanojević.

In a short time, 24 concentration camps were created (the worst of them was in Jasenovac), and during the years of the Ustashe rule, 800 thousand people out of 6.3 million died in the NGH - every eighth. First of all, terror fell upon Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and Croats who disagreed with the regime.

The third direction of activity - the creation of reliable military units - was carried out through the formation Ustasha warrior (Ustaska Vojnica) - combat structures of the organization. In addition to those Ustashe who returned from emigration and became commanders of military units (first - companies, then - battalions), about 4 thousand more Ustashe were in the country and contributed to the proclamation of the NGH. It was they who made up the main core of the war, the beginning of the creation of which dates back to May 10, 1941.

The daily management of the war was carried out by the chief of its General Staff (Glavni Stozer Ustaske Vojnice), which did not depend on the headquarters of Domobran, although formally subordinate to his ministry. Pavelich was considered the supreme commander of the war.

The Ustash warrior had a number of privileges, and the commanders of its units and divisions enjoyed great independence. The Ustaše center in Zagreb assisted, through its emissaries, in the creation of local military units. Ustasha commanders thus rendered big influence to all authorities of the NGH, in fact, from the very beginning, the Domobran and the gendarmerie were subordinate to them.

At first, the warrior was replenished at the expense of volunteers, and then its General Staff switched to recruitment through mobilization.

Its original organization was as follows:

Elite Head Guard Battalion (Poglavnikova Tjelesna Bojna), which on May 10, 1942 became a brigade, having increased by June 1943 to two regiments. This unit included almost all Croatian armored formations, concentrating them in its armored battalion. In addition, it included the following battalions: guards, cavalry and mobile. He commanded a battalion, and then a brigade, Colonel Ante Moshkov. Already from the very name of the unit it is clear that its units carried the guards of the residence of the chief, and also accompanied his person everywhere. In addition, they guarded the government house, parliament, and as a guard of honor participated in the reception of foreign guests.

Security battalion under the command of the pukovnik Vekoslav Luburich - formed during 1941 to guard the concentration camps. In January 1942, he rose to the 1st Ustash Security Brigade (another name is the Camp Security Brigade). In general, the number of security units steadily increased, which made it possible already in 1942 to form the 2nd security brigade. As a result, by 1944 the number of their personnel numbered 10 thousand, and in 1945 - already 13 thousand people

39 operational battalions (Ustaske Djelatne Bojne)- the basis of the military organization of the Ustashe (on average, the number of each battalion ranged from 400 to 1000 people). Battalions from the 1st to the 12th were formed during 1941, from the 13th to the 39th - in 1942.

27 Ustasha preparatory battalions (Ustaske Pripremne Bojne)- security units in which reservists of non-conscription age served, and even young volunteers underwent pre-conscription training before being enrolled in the Ustash formations

Garrison Brigade "Zagreb" (reserve and training units)

Parts of the railway guard (organized in October 1941, in 1942 grew to 8 battalions)

In addition to these units, another one operated during this period - the 1st Ustash regiment, known as the "Black Legion" (Crna legija) whose history is worth dwelling on separately. It was formed in September 1941 in Sarajevo. The initiators of the creation of the regiment were the local Ustasha head of the pukovnik Juraj Frantsetich and his deputy boinik Rafael Boban. Initially, the personnel of the regiment consisted of 800 people. However, its numbers grew very quickly, and by September 1942, 1,500 people were already serving in its four battalions.

The Yugoslav historian Branimir Stanojevic wrote: “It was an elite Ustash regiment… where the ‘knightly spirit of the crusaders’ and bestial hatred of the Gentiles were cultivated. His distinguishing feature was cruelty against the civilian population ... Ustash propaganda raised Frantzetich to the rank of "the greatest national hero" and glorified his exploits. His death in battles with the partisans in December 1942 was commemorated by order of Archbishop Alois Stepinac with a special funeral service in the Zagreb Cathedral.

It was the most combat-ready Ustash unit. And, at the same time, the most odious in the Croatian armed forces (and some researchers believe that the most cruel in the entire history of the Second World War). The legion operated in Eastern Bosnia (Foca and Gorazde region) until September 1942, when it was disbanded. Most of its members became part of the 5th Ustash operational brigade as a separate battalion, which was called the "Boban battalion" - Bobanova Bojna(named after his second commander).

During this period, the commander of all Ustasha formations was the pukovnik Tomislav Sertich.

By the end of 1941, the number of the Ustash war was about 15 thousand people, but by the end of 1942, the Ustash combat formations already had about 25 thousand people, making up a rather large force that began to require reorganization. It began on June 1, 1943, when brigades for various purposes were created by combining all operational battalions and other units on a territorial basis. The number of personnel of each of these brigades ranged from 3 to 3.5 thousand people:

head guard brigade (Poglavnikov Tjelesni Sdrug)- 1-2 operational regiments, cavalry, mobile, artillery, security, engineering and two spare battalions

1st operational brigade (Sarjevo district, Sokolac, Ustiprach) - 2nd, 3rd, 14th, 21st, 28th operational battalions

2nd operational brigade (in Srem and Tuzla region) - 4th, 6th, 8th, 15th, 18th, 36th operational battalions, 1st railway guard battalion, 2nd mountain battalion

3rd Operational Brigade (Karlovac, Ogulin, Otočac and Gospic area) - 5th, 10th, 30th, 33rd, 35th, 37th operational battalions

4th operational brigade (Glina and Bihac area) - 9th, 17th, 19th, 31st, 34th operational battalions, 4th mountain battalion

5th operational brigade (Travnik area, Bugoino, Glamoch); 6th (Imonski, Vrgorac, Makarska) - 1st, 7th, 20th, 24th operational battalions, engineering company, 1st mountain battalion

1st (Zagreb) and 2nd (Sarajevo) railway guard brigades ensured the security of communication lines (four battalions each)

The 1st and 2nd security brigades in Jasenovac and Nova Gradiska guarded the concentration camps

During this period, the pukovnik Sertich still remained the commander of all Ustash units.

In the autumn of 1943, the Ustash war increased to 32 thousand people. In proportion to the numbers, the duties of the Ustashe also increased compared to Domobran, so a new reorganization was required, which began on January 1, 1944. Its main point was to form new operational brigades - from the 7th to the 18th - due to new operational battalions. The composition of the 1-7th brigades, which were redeployed to the Drnis, Benkovac area, was also slightly changed:

head guard brigade - 1-2 operational regiments, cavalry, mobile, armored, artillery, security, engineering and two spare battalions (in October 1944, Colonel Vekoslav Servatsi became the brigade commander)

1st operational brigade - 2nd, 24th, 29th operational battalions

2nd operational brigade - 6th, 15th, 18th operational and reserve battalions

3rd operational brigade - 5th, 10th, 13th, 30th, 33rd operational and reserve battalions

4th operational brigade - 9th, 19th, 20th, 31st, 34th operational and security battalion "Otochats"

5th operational brigade - 1st, 7th, 20th, 35th operational battalions

6th operational brigade - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 26th operational battalions

7th operational brigade - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th operational battalions

8th operational brigade (Petrinya district, Dubica) - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 11th operational battalions

9th operational brigade (Ostrozhac area, Mostar, Gibela) - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th operational battalions

10th operational brigade (Banja Luka region, Turopolye) - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th operational battalions

11th operational brigade (Doboj district, Sarajevo) - 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th operational battalions

12th operational brigade (Tuzla area) - 14th, 23rd, 25th, 29th operational battalions

13th operational brigade (Vinkovtsi district, Ilok) - 6th, 16th operational battalions

14th Operational Brigade (Nova Gradiska District) - 1st Railway Guard Battalion, "Moslavac" Railway Guard Battalion, Reserve Battalion

15th operational brigade (Zabok area, Krapina) - 5th, 6th, 7th operational battalions

16th operational brigade (Bosanski Brod area, Derventa) - garrison battalions "Brodna-Save" and "Derventa", 2nd railway guard battalion

17th operational brigade (Karlovac district, Ogulin) - garrison battalions "Ogulin", "Vrbovsko", "Sushak", "Riechitsa", "Ozalya" and "Karlovac"

18th Operational Brigade (Otočac District) - garrison brigades "Otočac", "Brinje", "Senja" and "Lovinac"

garrison brigade "Zagreb" (1-4th garrison battalions)

security brigade (1-4 security, mobile and artillery battalions).

In addition, Ustasha garrison commandant's offices were created in Zagreb and Sarajevo (about 1,300 people) and 27 training battalions (about 10,500 people).

The total number of the Ustash war during this period was about 45 thousand people. Pukovnik Ivan Gerenchich became her new chief of staff.

I must say that in addition to the regular Ustashe units organized according to a single plan, many Ustashe who returned from emigration and the leaders of local organizations created armed groups that were called "wild Ustashe" or "Ustashe militia" (Ustaska Milicija).

The number of these groups, the creation of which began in May and June 1941, steadily increased, especially in Lika, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This "warrior" behaved especially unbridled: "wild Ustashe" broke into Serbian villages, robbed and killed peasants. In their atrocities, carried out under the pretext of "protecting the Croats and Muslims from the Chetniks", they knew no bounds. Even Pavelić himself was forced on August 9, 1941 to issue a special order disbanding the "wild Ustashe", who by that time, according to the Ministry of Domobran, numbered 25-30 thousand people. The detachments of the "wild Ustashe" were also disbanded because the German command considered them the main reason for the armed uprising in the Serbian regions. By the end of 1941, most of the "wild Ustashe" joined the formations of the Ustasha warrior and various security units, and the rest were disarmed. However, in some areas, the "Ustash militia" lasted until the end of the war.

After the reorganization, the structure of the Ustasha war did not remain unchanged for long: until November 20, 1944, when, through the last transformations, the Ustashe and Domobran brigades were merged into a single Croatian armed forces.

As a result of all the reorganizations, the order of battle of the Croatian armed forces looked like this:

1st Corps - Head Guard Corps (Poglavnikov Tjelesni Collection):

Head Guard Division (Poglavnikova Tjelesna Division) - 1-2nd security regiments; reserve regiment; artillery, cavalry, mobile, engineer and other battalions

1st shock division (1sa Udarna division)(20-22nd infantry regiments; 20-21st artillery battalions; mobile battalion) - the best formation of the Croatian armed forces (located in the Belovar region, Zagreb)

5th division (5th Ustash brigade; 11th infantry brigade; two artillery batteries; 5th infantry strike regiment; mobile brigade) - Koprivnica, Belovar

2nd building:

2nd division (15th and 20th Ustash brigades; 20th infantry brigade; 3rd engineering reserve brigade) - Zagreb, Velika Gorica

12th division (3rd mountain brigade; 12th Ustash brigade; 2nd engineer reserve battalion; three artillery batteries) - Brcko

14th Division (14th Ustasha Brigade; 19th Infantry Brigade) - Slavonski Brod, Novoka

17th Division (under formation)

18th shock division (like the previous division, was in the process of formation)

3rd building:

3rd Division (1st Jaeger Brigade; 2nd and 13th Ustash Brigades; 7th and 18th Artillery Battalions) - Vinkovci, Chadzhyavitsa

7th mountain division (1st and 14th mountain brigades; 1st and 6th artillery battalions) - Nova Kopela, Slavonska Pozega, Pakrac

8th division (1st and 11th Ustash brigades; 18th infantry brigade; one artillery battery) - Sarajevo, Kalinovik, Pracha

9th Mountain Division (2nd Mountain Brigade; 9th Ustash Brigade; three artillery batteries) - Mostar, Shiroki Brieg

4th Corps:

4th Division (7th Jaeger Brigade; 8th and 19th Ustash Brigades; 14th Infantry Brigade; 12th Artillery Battalion) - Sisak, Sunya, Dvor-on-Une

6th division (10th Ustasha brigade; 15th infantry brigade; two artillery batteries) - Banja Luka, Kotor Varosh

15th Division (16th Ustash Brigade; 16th Infantry Brigade) - Doboi, Zavidovichi

5th Corps:

10th Division (10th Chasseur Brigade; 7th Ustasha Brigade; 8th Artillery Battalion and two batteries) - Bosanski Novi, Bihac, Donji Lapac

11th division (4th and 18th Ustaše brigades; 13th infantry brigade; one artillery battery) - Gospic, Sep, Rijeka

13th division (3rd and 17th Ustasha brigades; 12th infantry brigade; one artillery battalion; separate battalion "Rekke") - Karlovac, Duga-Resa, Kamensko

16th Reserve Division (21st and 23rd Reserve Brigades; 21st Ustash Reserve Brigade; four spare batteries)

16th Ustash training reserve division (Ustash reserve brigade; Ustash reserve engineering battalion; Ustash student detachment)

1st Ustash security brigade (1-4th infantry battalions; mobile battalion; artillery battalion; garrison battalion; three recruiting battalions; 1st Ustash reserve regiment) - in April 1945 became known as the 30th Ustash shock regiment

Ustasha reserve corps (shelves "Lamb", "Vuka" and "Posavye")

General Đuro Đurić was placed in command of these combined armed forces, answering directly to Pavelić, who became the supreme commander.

By the end of April 1945, German troops were finally withdrawn from Yugoslavia. The command of the Croatian armed forces acted similarly, which, in order not to be captured by the NOAU, retreated to Austria, where, between May 15 and 17, 1945, they surrendered to the British. Below is their latest order of battle, consisting, as before, of five corps. It should be noted that although the corps from the 2nd to the 5th were called Ustasha, not all of their fighters were Ustasha:

1st Corps - Guard Corps of the Head Guard (commander - General Ante Moskov):

Head Guard Division

1st Assault Division

2nd Infantry Division

5th Infantry Division

16th Ustash training and reserve division

2nd Ustasha Corps (commander - General Vekoslav Luburic):

12th Infantry Division

14th Infantry Division

18th Infantry Division

3rd Ustasha Corps (commander - General Josip Metzger):

3rd Infantry Division

7th Infantry Division

9th Infantry Division

4th Ustasha Corps (commander unknown):

4th Infantry Division

6th Infantry Division

15th Infantry Division

5th Ustasha Corps (commander - General Ivan Gerenchich):

10th Infantry Division

11th Infantry Division

13th Infantry Division

It is difficult to judge the final size of the Croatian armed forces at the time of the surrender, since the civilian population retreated along with the army. In general, according to the estimates of Croatian historians, in May 1945, 200 thousand soldiers and the same number of civilians crossed the Austrian border.

The least developed in comparison with the ground forces and the Ustash war were the naval and air forces of the NGH.

Immediately after the adoption of the law on the army and navy in the NDH, the Italian government, whose troops occupied the Adriatic coast of Croatia, banned the latter from using ships with a displacement of more than 50 tons in its navy. Therefore Croatian Navy (Hrvatska Ratna Mornarica) were originally organized as a customs guard and a coast guard service. With only small armored boats and armed fishing boats, the Croatian fleet was based in Dubrovnik during this period. Another area of ​​activity of the naval command during this period was the selection and training of the necessary number of personnel to create a combat-ready navy in the future. So, by the end of 1941, 1798 members of the former Austro-Hungarian and Yugoslav Royal Navy voluntarily joined their ranks, of which: 5 admirals, 3 rear admirals, 131 senior officers, 235 junior officers, 1331 non-commissioned officers and 93 military officials .

The main governing body, which carried out the command of the Navy and was subordinate to the Ministry of the Croatian Domobran, was the High Command of the Navy (Zapovjednistvo Ratne Mornarice). It was founded in April 1941 and was located in Zagreb. Organizationally, the High Command included three commands: naval units, coastal service and sea routes and rivers and river routes messages. Each of them was responsible for their area of ​​work.

Unlike the ground forces, the Croatian Navy did not undergo any reorganization until September 1943. The surrender of Italy lifted the ban on the tonnage of warships, and allowed Croatia to capture several convenient harbors on the Adriatic coast. This significantly influenced the structure of the Navy, which after 1943 looked like this:

Command of Naval Units, Coastal Service and Maritime Communications:

The main naval commandant's office "Northern Jadran" (headquarters in Crikvenica, since 1943 in Sushak) - the commandant's offices in Kralevice (bases in Bakar and St. Jacob) and Senya (bases in St. Juraj, Jablanets, Karlobag, Obrovac) were subordinate to it and Page)

The main naval commandant's office "Middle Jadran" (headquarters in Makarska, since 1943 in Split) - the commandant's offices in Omis (base in Krilo), Supetar (bases in Milan, Suvitan, Postira, Bol, Povlima and Sumartin) were subordinate to it), Makarska (bases in Baska Voda, Podgora, Igran, Zaostrog and Graz), Metković (bases in Opuzen and Neum) and Hvar (bases in Starigrad, Jelsa, Vrbosko and Sučurje)

The main naval commandant's office "South Jadran" (headquarters in Dubrovnik) - the commandant's offices in Trpanje (base in Draga), Orebic (base in Trstenik) and Dubrovnik (bases in Ston, Slano, Sipan, Lopud and Zaton), as well as subcommandatory in Cavtat

In addition to the main naval commandant's offices, the following naval bases were also subordinate to the High Command of the Navy: 1st class (Crkvenica, Senja, Makarska, Hvar and Dubrovnik), 2nd class (Karlobag and Sipan) and 3rd class (Kraljevica, Obrovac, Suchurje, Omis and Cavtat)

Command of rivers and river routes:

Commandant's offices in Sisak, Brodna Sava, Hrvatsk Mitrovica, Zemun, Petrovaradin, Vukovar and Osijek

river flotilla based in Zemun - it consisted of 2 river monitors, 5 patrol boats, 2 river boats, 2 auxiliary minesweepers and 1 auxiliary boat. All these vessels were engaged in patrolling on the Danube and Sava

marine battalion - the 1st company of the marines was stationed in Osijek, then transferred to Zemun), the 2nd and 3rd companies of the marines were stationed in Zemun.

In 1944, the Croatian Navy numbered about 1,300 people and had several large floating assets that were part of the German 11th security naval division. The headquarters of the river flotilla was transferred to Slavonski Brod and was now subordinate to the naval headquarters in Zagreb. During this period, the flotilla consisted of 2 river monitors and several military boats patrolling on the Sava and Vrbas.

The commanders of the Croatian Navy were in succession: Rear Admiral Djuro Dzhakchin (April 1941 - late 1943), captain of the boynog ford Edgar Angeli (late 1943 - January 1944) and Rear Admiral Nikola Steinfl (January 1944 - May 1945).

Croatian Air Force (Hrvatsko Zrakoplovtvo / Hrvatske Zracne Snage) were created on April 12, and finally formed on April 21, 1941. Like the ground forces and the Navy, they were subordinate to the Domobran Ministry, which led the air force through the Air Force Command (Zapovjednistvo Zracnih Snaga). In turn, under this command were air bases from which Croatian pilots operated, and units air defense.

Initially, two air bases were created, on which, by December 1941, the following air formations were located:

1st bomber air group as part of the 1st bomber squadron

4th Fighter Air Group as part of the 10th and 11th Fighter Squadrons

5th bomber air group as part of the 12th and 13th bomber squadrons (it should be said that two recent groups were listed as part of the Croatian Air Force only formally - these were parts of the so-called Croatian Aviation Legion, which served as part of the German Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front - we will talk about it in more detail below)

3rd bomber air group consisting of the 7th, 8th and 9th bomber squadrons

In the autumn of 1943, another air base was created, which received the fifth serial number. As a result, on November 1, 1943, the battle formation of the Croatian Air Force looked like this:

2nd air group as part of the 1st fighter and 3rd bomber squadrons, as well as the 19th communications squadron

4th Fighter and 5th Bomber Air Groups (continued to be part of the Croatian Air Force, but were still on the Eastern Front)

2nd Air Base "Sarajevo - Railovac":

2nd air group as part of the 4th communications squadron, 5th and 6th bomber squadrons

3rd air group as part of the 7th and 8th bomber squadrons

5th air base "Banja Luka":

6th Aviation Group as part of the 13th bomber squadron and the 18th communications squadron

Finally, at the end of 1943, the last Air Force air base was created. She received the third serial number. The Croatian command planned to create another air base - the 4th in Zemun - but these plans remained on paper. Thus, the battle order of the Croatian air formations remained unchanged after the last reorganization until the very end of the war and looked like this (data as of October 1, 1944):

1st Air Base "Zagreb - Borongay":

2nd air group as part of the 1st mixed, 2nd fighter, 3rd bomber squadrons and the 19th communications squadron

11th air group consisting of the 21st, 22nd and 23rd fighter squadrons

2nd air base "Sarajevo - Railovac":

2nd air group consisting of the 4th, 5th, 6th reconnaissance and 20th squadrons

3rd Air Base "Mostar":

3rd air group as part of the 7th bomber squadron

5th air base "Banja Luka":

6th air group consisting of the 13th and 15th bomber and 14th fighter squadrons.

The main problem Croatian aviation throughout its existence remained technical equipment and staffing. Croatian pilots operated mainly on obsolete aircraft, many of which were trophies. So, already in June 1941, the German command transferred 60 aircraft of the former Yugoslav Royal Air Force to its new ally. By the end of 1941, the combat power of Croatian aviation increased somewhat: the Germans handed over to them a number of their obsolete combat vehicles, as well as some captured English and French ones. As a result, the strength of the NGH Air Force during this period amounted to 95 aircraft, but only 60% of them were fit for combat operations. In 1942, Italy became the main supplier of aircraft for the Croatian Air Force. In total, during the year, she handed over 98 aircraft to the NGH, which made it possible to create new air connections and increase the total number of combat vehicles to 160. Italian-German deliveries continued further: by September 1943, the Croatian Air Force had 228 aircraft, although only 177 of them were fit for combat. From the middle of the summer of 1944, mass desertion began from the Croatian Air Force: entire crews flew over to the side of Tito's partisans. All this, combined with growing losses (more than 60 aircraft were lost in 1943 alone), led to the fact that by the end of April 1945 only 30 combat vehicles remained at the Zagreb airfield.

For the most part, Croatian aircraft operated as support for the German Air Force in anti-partisan operations. However, at the end of the war, they had to face the bombers and fighters of the Anglo-American allies in the sky over the Croatian cities.

Much better than with combat vehicles, the situation was with trained personnel in the Croatian Air Force. So, after the surrender of Yugoslavia, a significant number of its former pilots joined the armed forces of the new state. At the same time, intensive training of new personnel began (usually with the help of the Germans). All this led to the fact that at the end of 1941 there were more than 2,600 people in the NGH Air Force: 200 pilot officers, 50 pilot non-commissioned officers and 2,400 technical and support personnel. And in 1943, the total number of personnel of the Croatian aviation reached almost 10 thousand people.

The Air Force headquarters also subordinated the command of anti-aircraft artillery ( Zapovjednistvo Protueroplanske Obrane), which included two anti-aircraft districts:

1st Air Defense District "Zagreb" as part of the 1st and 2nd Air Defense Battalions and

2nd air defense district "Sarajevo" as part of the 3rd and 4th air defense battalions

Another unit that was subordinate to the Air Force Command was the 1st Croatian parachute company. (1sa Hrvatska padobranska lovacka satnija), which was formed in late 1941 - early 1942. Until the end of August 1943, the personnel of the company were trained, and already in September they were thrown into their first battle against communist partisans east of Zagreb. In November 1943, during the battle for Koprivnica (where the company was deployed), the Croatian paratroopers were almost completely defeated: in total, their losses amounted to 20 people killed and missing. After that, the company was assigned to Zagreb for rest, where it was temporarily disbanded. Soon, however, the unit was again restored. Due to the new volunteers, it was possible to form not one, but four companies, which in July 1944 were deployed to the 1st Croatian parachute battalion, which received the honorary name "Croatian Eagles" (1sa Hrvatska padobranska lovacka bojna “Hrvatski Orlovi”). Zagreb was chosen as the location of the new battalion, and the commander of the 1st air base was chosen as its immediate superior. From the autumn of 1944 to the spring of 1945, the battalion took part in numerous anti-partisan operations. The last day of the existence of this unit - May 14, 1945, when it, along with the rest of the Croatian troops, surrendered to the British.

Until the end of September 1944, the Croatian paratroopers were commanded by the striker Dragutin Dolanski, then he was replaced by the striker Ljudevit Agich - both former officers of the parachute units of the Yugoslav Royal Army.

All the Croatian Air Forces were consistently commanded by: General Vladimir Kren (April 16, 1941 - September 14, 1943), the pukovnik Adalbert Rogulya (September 14, 1943 - June 4, 1944) and again Vladimir Kren (June 4, 1944 - May 1945).

The command of the Croatian armed forces paid considerable attention to the training of officers and non-commissioned officers. Beginning in May 1941, with active German assistance, a whole network of military and military special educational institutions.

The main training of officers was carried out at the Domobran Military Academy (Domobranska Vojna Akademija). It was opened in Zagreb in May 1941, and organizationally consisted of four companies, in which officer training was carried out. The first graduation of students took place on June 13, 1941: a total of 189 people were trained (127 for infantry, 30 for artillery, 15 for engineering troops, 12 for the Air Force, 3 for transport troops and one each for cavalry and signal troops). Latest release took place in 1944 in Stockerau (Austria), where the academy was transferred in 1943. In general, it is not known how many officers this educational institution has trained. Accurate data are available only for 1941, in June-December of which 878 people received officer ranks.

From May 1941 to September 1942, the head of the Domobran Military Academy was the pukovnik Viktor Pavichich (he was later replaced by the pukovnik Miliva Durbesic), and his deputy was the pukovnik Victor Prebeg. The command of the training companies of the academy was respectively carried out by the striker Milan Ugarkovich, the rider Drago Pecic, the shooter Antun Girichek and the rider Josip Bako.

In addition to the main courses in Zagreb, the Preparatory Courses of the Domobran Military Academy operated in Sarajevo. (Pripremni tecaj Domobranske Akademije). In 1941, they prepared 231 people, who then entered the academy. The head of the courses was the pukovnik Gashchich.

In parallel with the officer academy in Croatia, a number of schools also operated, in which special non-commissioned officers were trained. In total, from 1941 to 1945, six of them were created:

Combined-arms non-commissioned officer school - located in Zagreb

Artillery non-commissioned officer school - located in Petrovaradin

Cavalry non-commissioned officer school - located in Varazdin

Sapper non-commissioned officer school - located in Karlovac

Railway non-commissioned officer school - located in Brod na Sava

Non-commissioned officer school for the training of riders and drivers - located in Varazdin

In addition to the ground forces, the Air Force also had its own network of educational institutions. In general, from 1941 to 1945, four of them were created:

Parachute Academy - located in Koprivnica (later - in Zagreb)

Air Force Training Regiment - located in Petrovaradin

Air Force Glider Training School - located in Sveta Nedelya (near Zagreb)

Air Force Pilot Training School - located in Borovo (near Vukovar)

From May 1941, General Karlo Klajic was the head of all military educational institutions in Croatia.

State Honorary Labor Service (Drzavna Casna Radna Sluzba), was founded on April 16 and finally organized on July 30, 1941. Like a number of previous parts of the Domobran, this service was a complete copy of the German Imperial labor service. Its functions were similar: all physically fit young men from 19 to 25 years old served in the ranks of this service for a year of labor service before joining the regular army. In parallel with pre-conscription training, members of this organization were also involved in the construction of fortifications on the front line or in the rear, for restoration work after air raids, or as assistants to the sapper units of the Domobran. In addition, the central management of the labor service kept a record of all the technical personnel that were available in Croatia at that time.

Starting from the day of its foundation, the number of personnel of the labor service has steadily increased, and by the summer of 1942 its personnel numbered more than 90 thousand people. However, already in September 1943, only 6 thousand people remained in its ranks (the youngest or not suitable for service in the regular army). The rest were sent as replacements for Domobran units. In January 1945, all the remaining members of the labor service by that time were sent to the ranks of the 18th shock division of the Croatian armed forces, and this organization itself was disbanded.

The chiefs of the labor service were successively: Pukovnik Ferdinand Halla (July 30, 1941 - May 1942) and General Dusan Palcic (May 1942 - January 1945).

Border guard. On May 9, 1941, the Croatian border with Montenegro and Serbia was closed. Initially, control over it was carried out by local gendarmerie units. Later, by the end of May, the Eastern Frontier Command was established in Sarajevo. (Zapovjednistvo istocnog podrucja), which took over all duties related to the protection of the border. In early June, the command created two border battalions (three companies each), and later another one. Used separately, all these battalions, however, were parts of the Border Rifle Brigade. (Brigada pogranicnih lovaca).

In June 1941, the Croatian border guard completed its organization: in less than two months, it grew both qualitatively and quantitatively. Now its governing body has become known as the Command of the Military Krayina ( Zapovjednistvo Vojne krajine). Its headquarters still remained in Sarajevo. And in addition to the existing three border battalions, two more were formed. Now the order of battle of the border guards looked like this:

1st Border Battalion - guarded the border in the Gorazde area

2nd Border Battalion - carried out border guards in the Zvornik area

3-5th border battalions - guarded the border in the region of Trebinje, Bilech, Gacko, Foca and Bielina.

In general, such an organization of the Domobran border guards remained unchanged until May 2, 1942, when the commander Kvaternik ordered it to be disbanded. The headquarters of the border guard was reorganized into a military engineering organization, which was supposed to carry out the construction of fortifications along the border river Drina. The personnel of the border battalions were transferred to the 2nd (5th battalion) and 3rd (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th battalions) Domobran Corps.

The gendarmerie pukovnik Stjepan Yakovlevich commanded the border guards.

On April 16, 1941, the Domobran command issued an order according to which all members of the former Yugoslav Royal Gendarmerie were to remain in their places and continue to serve in accordance with the previous instructions until new orders. They had to wait until April 30, 1941, when it was finally formed Croatian Gendarmerie (Hrvatsko Oruznistvo).

The main governing body of the new organization was the Command of the Croatian Gendarmerie, created in April 1941 ( Zapovjednistvo Hrvatskog Oruznistva), which consisted of four departments: organizational, personnel records, economic and protection of communications. The headquarters of the command was in Zagreb.

The structure of units and divisions of the gendarmerie was also reorganized. As a result, by August 1942, it included five gendarmerie regiments, divided into 27 gendarmerie companies, which carried out security service in the following areas:

1st Gendarmerie Regiment - the headquarters of the regiment was located in Zagreb, and its companies were stationed in the following settlements: Ogulin, Gospic, Petrinja, Belovar, Varazdin, Brodna-Save, Osijek and Vinkovci (the last three were part of the regiment only until August 1941 .)

2nd Gendarme Regiment - the headquarters of the regiment was located in Split (then in Knin), and its companies were stationed in the following settlements: Knin, Omiš, Makarska, Dubrovnik, Mostar and Travnik

3rd Gendarmerie Regiment - the headquarters of the regiment was located in Banja Luka, and its companies were deployed in the following settlements: Banja Luka, Doboj, Bosanski Petrovac and Bihac

4th Gendarmerie Regiment - the headquarters of the regiment was located in Sarajevo, and its companies were deployed in the following settlements: Sarajevo, Tuzla, Gorazde and Bilecha

5th Gendarmerie Regiment - the headquarters of the regiment was located in Osijek, and its companies were deployed in the following settlements: Osijek, Vinkovci, Zemun, Brodna Sava and Nova Gradishka.

By 1943, the number of gendarmerie regiments was increased to seven. As a result, they were distributed among the following settlements: 1st (Zagreb), 2nd (Split), 3rd (Banja Luka), 4th (Sarajevo), 5th (Mostar), 6th (Knin) and 7th (Zemun). However, the number of gendarmerie companies was reduced to 23.

The lowest link of the gendarmerie was the post, of which there were from 600 to 700 during the entire period of the existence of the NGH. They were scattered throughout the territory of Croatia, carrying out security service, in general, in 1600 settlements. In addition, in some areas of Herzegovina and Eastern Bosnia, the heads of the gendarmerie units had at their disposal small groups of armed inhabitants from Croats and Muslims (the so-called "militia"), who were given weapons to fight against the partisans, Chetniks and the Serbian population.

In addition to these units, the gendarme training battalion, the shock gendarme battalion "Lika" and three special battalions united in the so-called "Petrigna Brigade" were also subordinate to the headquarters of the gendarmerie. (“Petrinja Brigade”). The last military formation was created in January 1942, and was used for anti-partisan purposes in Slavonia.

The training of personnel for the Croatian gendarmerie was carried out by the Central Gendarmerie School, which was established on November 1, 1942 in Belovar.

As in all other types of the Croatian armed forces, the number of gendarmerie has steadily increased: if by the end of 1941 its personnel numbered about 8 thousand people, then in 1943 it had already grown to 18 thousand fighters. However, by the end of the war, the number of gendarmerie decreased somewhat: the 6th and 7th gendarme regiments were disbanded, as a result of which, 10 thousand officers, non-commissioned officers and privates served in its remaining units.

The gendarmerie was successively commanded by General Milan Mezler and then by General Quintilian Tartaglia (until August 1942). In August 1942, the gendarmerie was transferred from the Domobran to the Ustash war, and now Ustash officers began to command it: pukovnik Vilko Pechnikar (August 1942 - April 1945) and pukovnik Slavko Skoliber (April - May 1945).

The gendarmerie was responsible for the security service mainly in rural areas. In cities, similar functions were performed by police (Redarstvena Straza). It was founded in April 1941 by reorganizing the former Yugoslav police. The entire period of its existence, the police were considered part of the Domobran, and only from June 1942 to January 1943, its leadership was subordinate to the General Staff of the Ustash war. In total, the personnel of the Croatian police consisted of 5 thousand people who served in 142 settlements. The pukovnik Franjo Lukács commanded the police.

The last category of the Croatian armed forces proper were the so-called backup connections. Of these, mention should be made of such as the Ustash Reserve Corps (Pucko Ustaski Collection) also called the People's Ustash Corps. It was formed in the summer of 1944 and was under the command of General Josip Metzger. This unit consisted mainly of older ground forces reservists, commanded by non-commissioned officers and officers from the Ustash war. Like many other parts of the Croatian armed forces, this corps was a complete copy of the German Volkssturm. The corps consisted of four regiments, formed according to the territorial principle in Vuk, Baranya, Posaviya and Livac-Zapolya. In December 1944, the regiment from Livats-Zapolya was attached to the Ustasha security brigade of Vekoslav Luburich as the 1st People's Ustashe Regiment. The remaining three regiments became part of the 5th Army Corps, where they remained until their disbandment in March 1945.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 1941 to 1944, there was a Volunteer Militia (Domobranska dobrovoljacka vojnica / “Domdo”), which consisted of 21 battalions and was under the control of Domobran, being his reserve in the area. Since the personnel of these battalions consisted mainly of local Muslims, they were sometimes also called the Muslim Militia. (Muslimanska vojnica). In September 1943, about 7,500 people served in these units. At the beginning of 1944, these battalions were disbanded, and most of their members were included in the Domobran garrison brigades, or transferred to reinforce the 13th Mountain Jaeger Division of the SS Handshar, which will be discussed below.

Another very interesting page in the history of the NGH armed forces is the service of non-Croats in their ranks. These foreign parts were not some kind of separate branch of the troops, however, it is worth dwelling on their history in more detail. As mentioned above, Croatia, after all the territorial acquisitions, has become a multinational state. Formally, all its citizens, except for the deprived Serbs and Jews, were subject to conscription to the Domobran or could join the Ustash war. However, in reality, it turned out that only Croats and Bosnian Muslims served in the armed forces (they were considered Muslim Croats). The same national minorities living in the NGH, like the Germans and Ukrainians, got the opportunity to form their own ethnic parts.

The German national minority in Croatia was the most significant and, at the same time, the most loyal towards the new authorities. Among other things, this loyalty was based on that special attitude towards him, which was confirmed by a number of agreements between Germany and the NGH. According to these agreements, all Volksdeutsche(ethnic Germans living outside the Third Reich) received the status of a "special racial group" in Croatia (Deutsche Mannschaft), which could enjoy the rights of broad autonomy. And one of these rights was the creation of their own military units, which were supposed to play the role of self-defense.

In August 1941, the Headquarters was created in Osijek operational detachments of the German national group (Einsatzstaffel der Deutsche Mannschaft) and began the recruitment of volunteers in these units. All Croatian Germans between the ages of 18 and 28 could join them. As a result, by April 1943 - the official date of the disbandment of the headquarters - the following formations were organized under its auspices:

Operational Battalion "Prinz Eugen" (Verfugungs-bataillon “Prinz Eugen”), composed of six companies

1st Preparatory Battalion "Ludwig von Baden" (Bereitschaft-bataillon “Ludwig von Baden”), composed of four companies

2nd Preparatory Battalion "General Loudon" (Bereitschaft-bataillon “General Laudon”), composed of five companies

3rd Preparatory Battalion "Maximilian Emmanuel of Bavaria" (Bereitschaft-bataillon “Maximilian Emanuele von Bayern”), composed of three companies

reserve battalion (Ersatzbataillon)

volunteer companies "May" and "Zikmund" ( Freiwilligen-Kompanie “May” and “Zikmund”)

special purpose motorcyclist platoon (Kradschutzenzug z.b.V.)

The general command of these units was carried out by Oberstleutnant Jakob Lichtenberger, who also had the rank of Ustashe dopukovnik, since he was operationally subordinate to the Main Headquarters of the Ustasha War. However, these Germans swore allegiance to both Hitler and Pavelić at the same time.

In April 1943, all these units were disbanded, and a significant part of their personnel was transferred to reinforce the 7th Volunteer Mountain Jaeger Division "Prince Eugen", which was formed from Germans living in the Balkan states. Another, smaller part, members of the operational detachments, was used as a regular personnel of the Croatian-German police, the creation of which began in the summer of 1943 (more on it will be discussed below).

The total number of ethnic Germans who served in various units of the Croatian ground forces can be seen from the following table:

In the summer of 1941, the Orthodox priest Vasily Strilchyk wrote a letter to the German authorized general in Croatia, Edmund Gleise von Horstenau, in which he suggested that he form a national legion from Ukrainian youth, in order to then send him to Eastern front. Turning to the Germans, the priest pursued certain goals. In his opinion, such a legion would enable young Ukrainians to survive the civil war that began in Yugoslavia. Soon his initiative became known in Ukrainian circles in Zagreb. Local Ukrainian leaders decided to rush this matter and turned to the Domobran command. Soon the commander Kvaternik gave his consent to the creation of the Ukrainian Legion.

In the autumn of 1941, the recruitment of volunteers into the ranks of the legion began on the ground. In less than a month, about 1,500 people were recruited, who were gathered in Varazdin. Here the legion was to be finally organized and prepared for combat operations. It should be said here that it was not so much Domobran officers who trained him, but former officers of the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1918–1920), many of whom settled in Yugoslavia.

The process of preparing the legion continued until the spring of 1942, when, having received the official name 1st company of Ukrainian legionnaires (1sa satnija Ukrajinska Legionara) , was thrown into battle. In the summer of 1942, the Ukrainian legion arrived in the area Prinyavor - Derventa - Kozara. And here his fighters suffered the first disappointment. Instead of sending them to the Eastern Front, the Germans and Croats decided to use them to fight the Serbian Chetniks. Moreover, Ukrainians from the Domobran were transferred to the Ustash warrior. As a result, mass desertion of personnel began: within a year, the number of the legion was reduced to 150 people. Nevertheless, the Ukrainians did not enjoy such notoriety as their Ustashe counterparts: both officers and privates behaved quite correctly against the local Serb population. Besides, it was the best way to avoid repression by the Chetniks, which they could subject the families of Ukrainian volunteers.

Until the spring of 1943, the legion managed to avoid serious losses in its ranks. They appeared only when he was thrown against the communist partisans in the Bihac region. And these losses were so significant that by the end of 1943 the number of personnel of the Ukrainian formation was reduced to 50 people (the total losses of the legion for the entire war are estimated at 120 people). A new mobilization was announced, but it also did not bring the desired result: the Chetniks did not allow Ukrainian youth to enter the recruiting stations.

In the spring of 1945, the remnants of the Ukrainian Legion began to retreat to the Austrian border, along with German and Croatian troops. However, they could not surrender to the British: somewhere in Slovenia, the Ukrainian legionnaires were intercepted by partisans of Josip Broz Tito. Their further fate is unknown, but there is every reason to believe that all the fighters of the legion were simply shot on the spot. The same legionnaires who deserted from their formation and returned home were subsequently subjected to repression by the authorities of communist Yugoslavia as "Ukrainian fascists".

From the spring of 1942 to the spring of 1943, the legion was commanded by a former officer in the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, whose name remained unknown. He was replaced by engineer Vladimir Pankiv, who remained in this post until the very end of the war, and after the surrender of Germany committed suicide.

From what has been said, it is clear that, despite the relatively short period of its existence, the Croatian armed forces went through several stages in their history and met the end of the war as a very branched military organization. The table below gives a general idea of ​​the number of main branches and types of troops of the NGH armed forces in different periods of their existence:

Notes:

Müller N. The Wehrmacht and the Occupation (1941–1944). - M., 1974. - S. 45.

Butorovic R. Susak i Rijeka u NOB. - Rijeka, 1975. - S. 42.

This military official was, in fact, the head of the German military infrastructure on the territory of Croatia, and commanded the Wehrmacht troops stationed here. Vertically, he was subordinate to the commander of the German occupation administration and Wehrmacht troops in the "Southeast" (Yugoslavia and Greece). Since 1942, this position has become known as "Commander of the German Forces in Croatia" (Befehlshaber der Deutschen Truppen in Kroatien). Agram - German title Zagreb.

According to the calculations of the Croatian historian Ivan. Kossutych, these were: 515 lieutenants, 417 senior lieutenants, 1005 captains, 254 majors, 228 lieutenant colonels, 212 colonels and 31 generals. In May 1941, the Yugoslav royal government (in London) stripped 559 officers from this group of military ranks.

West R. Josip Broz Tito. The power of strength. - Smolensk, 1997. - S. 104.

Colic M. Op. cit. - S. 224–226.

Colic M. Op. cit. - S. 284–294.

Vrancic V. Postrojenje i Brojcano Stanje Hrvatskih Oruzanih Snaga u Godinama 1941–1945 // Godisnjak hrvatsko domobrana. - Buenos Aires, 1953. - S. 27–29.

Strugar V. Decree. op. - S. 30–31.

Hory L., Broszat M. Op. cit. - S. 146.

Colic M. Op. cit. - S. 292–294.

Broszat M. Waffendienst der Volksdeutschen in Kroatien // Gutachten des Institut fur Zeitgeschichte. - Munchen, 1966. - Bd. 2. - S. 225–231.

Littlejohn D. The German Struggle Against Tito's Partisans // Military Illustrated. - 1993. - No. 67. - P. 37.

Vasilisha M. The Ukrainian Legion in Yugoslavia // News of the brotherhood of numerous warriors of the 1st Ukrainian division of the Ukrainian National Army. - 1955. - Veresen - Zhovten. - S. 2–3.

The disintegration of Yugoslavia began with the open separatism of Slovenia and Croatia. At the same time, the first one left easily, the second independence was given with great bloodshed. Slovenia did not actually participate in the civil war, so there was no particular need to strengthen its armed forces. They got a small part of the JNA equipment, and Ljubljana did not claim more.

Land fleet country

Slovenia has been a member of NATO since 2004, the interest of its leadership in rearmament fell to zero. New technology is not acquired, so the VS are an increasingly symbolic value.

In Slovenia, there is no division into the army, aviation and navy, which is characteristic of the vast majority of countries. The Air Force and Navy are so small that it makes no sense to make them certain types, they are structural units of the ground forces, which in turn are identical to the armed forces as a whole. They include the 1st (Ljubljana), 72nd (Maribor) and transport brigades, a special forces group, reconnaissance, communications, logistics, military police battalions, the 15th air wing (Air Force), the 430th naval division (Navy) . In service:

- 19 M-84 tanks (Yugoslav version of the T-72),
- 10 Turkish armored vehicles "Cobra",
- 13 Yugoslav infantry fighting vehicles M-80A,
- 85 armored personnel carriers "Valuk" (Austrian "Pandur"),
- 30 BTR "Svarun" (Finnish AMV).

Yugoslav BMP M-80A

Artillery represented by 18 Israeli M-845 (TN-90) howitzers and 56 MN-9 (K-6) mortars of the same origin. There are 12 self-propelled anti-tank systems "Malyutka" and "Fagot" on the chassis of the Yugoslav armored personnel carrier BOV-3 and 10 portable anti-tank systems "Fagot".

air defense includes 12 air defense systems (6 French Rolands and Soviet Strela-1 each), 126 Russian MANPADS (4 Igla-1, 122 Igla), 60 ZSU (12 Yugoslav BOV-3, 24 Czechoslovak M-53 / 59, 24 Soviet ZSU-57-2). In addition to MANPADS and, possibly, the Roland air defense system, all these means are not combat-ready.

Aviation Slovenia does not have combat aircraft, only transport (1 Czech L-410, 2 Swiss PC-6, 1 American Falcon-2000) and training (9 Swiss RS-9M, 8 Czech Z-242 and 2 Z-143). Helicopters - multipurpose (1 Bell-212, 9 Bell-412) and transport helicopters (4 AS532AL, 6 Bell-206, 1 AW-109E and EC135 each).

Marine division consists of two patrol boats - the Israeli type "Super Yard" and the Russian project 10412.

Troops on two tanks

Croatian army was born during a long bloody confrontation with the Serbs during the collapse of Yugoslavia. For Zagreb, this war ended in the fall of 1995, when its armed forces completely captured the Serbian Krajina. In 2009, Croatia entered the third wave of NATO expansion. But the Armed Forces are still equipped almost exclusively with Soviet, Yugoslav and domestic equipment, a significant part of which has already exhausted its resource. And the main supplier of the new one is not NATO, but neutral Finland.

Tank M-84 (Yugoslav version of T-72)

Ground troops include armored and motorized infantry brigades, as well as regiments - infantry, artillery, air defense, engineering, transport, communications, intelligence and military police.

tank park consists of 74 M-84s, of which two have been upgraded to the M-84D level, with the rest stalled due to lack of funds. Two more M-95 tanks of our own design, but based on the same T-72 / M-84.

In service 10 Italian LMV armored personnel carriers, 104 Yugoslav M-80 infantry fighting vehicles and about 500 armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles (up to 18 old Soviet BTR-50, 54 Yugoslav BOV-VP and 36 BOV-M, up to 72 LOV-1OP, 126 latest Finnish AMV, 212 American , using MRAP technology - 30 MaxxPro, 162 Oshkosh, 20 RG-33).

Artillery: there are 9 Soviet 2S1 self-propelled guns and 15 of the latest German PzH-2000, 12 M48 mountain guns, 89 American M-2A1 and their Yugoslav counterparts M-56H1, 54 Soviet D-30s modernized in Croatia itself, 18 Argentine L-33s. All mortars of own and Yugoslav production: 69 M57, 69 M96, 43 M-75. MLRS - 24 Romanian APR-40s and their towed RAK-12s (a variant of the Yugoslav M-63).

There are about 800 anti-tank systems - 461 Soviet "Malyutka" (of which 43 are self-propelled on the M-83 armored personnel carrier), 119 "Bassoons", 42 "Competition" (24 on the chassis of the BMP M-80), 54 "Metis", up to 100 French " Milanov.

Military air defense predominantly Soviet-made: 9 Strela-10 air defense systems on the AMV chassis, 221 MANPADS (141 Strela-2, 80 Igla), as well as 62 Yugoslav ZSU on the BOV-3 armored personnel carrier chassis and 189 anti-aircraft guns (177 Yugoslav M -55, 12 Swedish L/70).

air force include two air bases - the 91st ("Pleso") and the 93rd ("Zemunik"). It is armed with 13 old Soviet MiG-21s (9 MiG-21bis, 4 combat training MiG-21UM) and 6 American counterguerrilla attack aircraft AT-802AF. There are 9 transport aircraft (1 CL-604 and 6 CL-415, 1 American RA-31 and Cessna-210 each) and up to 22 training aircraft (17 Swiss PC-9M and 5 Czech Z-242L) in service. Multi-purpose and transport helicopters: 13–14 Mi-8, 10 Mi-17, 11 American Bell-206V and 1 AB-212. 3 American "Hughes-369" are in storage.

Navy have in their composition the minesweeper "Korcula", 5 missile (1 "Koncar", 2 "Helsinki", 2 "King", all armed with Swedish anti-ship missiles RBS-15), 5 landing (2 "Cetina", 2 "Type-11" , 1 "Type-22") and 4 patrol boats "Mirna" (in the Coast Guard). Except "Helsinki", all the rest are locally built. Coastal defense has three RBS-15K SCRC batteries and 21 artillery batteries.

The Balkans remain an extremely restless, unstable region, so the potential of the armed forces of Slovenia and Croatia may, under certain circumstances, be insufficient. And membership in NATO will not help at all.

Called to protect its sovereignty and independence and protect its territorial integrity. Along with this, their main task, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia take part in international peaceful, humanitarian and other operations and missions, perform certain tasks in an environment of imminent threat and provide assistance to civil authorities and citizens in the event of natural disasters and man-made and environmental disasters.

1. Number

The total active service (professional army) is 20,000.

The number of the reserve is 12,000, of which 6,000 are in full combat readiness. Theoretically, 1,035,712 men aged 15-49 are fit for military service, of which 771,323 are actually fit for military service.

2. Structure

Structure of the Croatian Armed Forces 2009 (click to enlarge)

The Croatian Armed Forces consist of three branches: Croatian Army (Hrvatska kopnena vojska), Croatian Navy (Hrvatska ratna mornarica), Croatian Air Force and Air Defense (Hrvatsko ratno zrakoplovstvo i protuzračna obrana).

The Croatian armed forces are ready and trained to carry out all forms of armed struggle and have some differences in the structure in peaceful and war time. The composition of the Armed Forces in peacetime covers military personnel, civil servants and employees appointed to full-time positions in the Armed Forces, cadets, recruits and reserve soldiers when the latter are on military exercises in the Armed Forces. The composition of the troops in wartime includes, in addition to the structure of peacetime, all the soldiers of the reserve of the Armed Forces.

The current organizational structure of the Croatian Armed Forces since 2008 is based on long-term plans for the development of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kharkiv and it includes the General Staff with headquarters units, the command of the branches of the Croatian ground forces, navy and the Air Force and Air Defense Command, Support Forces Command and the Military Academy. Petar Zrinski. The early structure of the Armed Forces of the Russian Army was based primarily on the concept of individual defense and was aimed at building and maintaining the ability to defend the country's territory and was developed on the experience of the Patriotic War. The current structure is adapted to the new tasks set before the Armed Forces in the strategic defense documents.

2.1. General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kharkiv

The General Staff is a joint body within the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Croatia responsible for the development, organization, equipment, training and operation of the first strategic echelon (regular troops) and the second strategic echelon (reserve). The Chief of the General Staff in peacetime is responsible to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief for the Plan of Use of the Armed Forces and the military elements of combat readiness and is accountable to the Minister of Defense for the execution of orders. Since 2003, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces has been Iosif Lutsich, who was elected for a second five-year term on February 28.

The headquarters units of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kharkiv carry out tasks to meet the needs of the entire aggregate of the Croatian armed forces and include Honor Guard Battalion, Special Forces Battalion and Center for Electronic Intelligence.

2.2. Ground troops

BRDM of the special forces battalion

2.3. Support Force Command

This is the most important part of the logistics system, which is responsible for the implementation of logistical, medical and sanitary and partially personal support for the Armed Forces.

In addition to the Command of Support Forces, the logistic support system of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kharkiv is also made up of other elements and subunits of logistic support in the branches, commands, units and institutions of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kharkiv.

2.4. Air Force and Air Defense

The main task of the Air Force and Air Defense is to ensure the inviolability of the Croatian airspace and providing air support to other branches of the Armed Forces in the performance of their tasks in joint operations. Conductor and organizer of the integrated air defense of the Republic.

From where the Command of the Air Force and Air Defense - the capital of Zagreb.

2.5. Navy

missile boat RTOP-41 Vukovar

The command of the Croatian naval forces is stationed in Split.

In addition to the tasks of protecting the integrity and sovereignty of the state, the protection and defense of the Croatian coast and territorial waters, the naval forces are involved in search and rescue operations, the protection of maritime transport, the prevention of criminal and other illegal activities in shipping, the protection of natural resources and the environment, the provision of assistance in extinguishing large fires and in eliminating the consequences of other natural and man-made disasters.

In 2008, the Coast Guard of the Republic of Croatia was created as part of the Navy.

3. High Command

The President of the Republic is the Supreme Commander of the Croatian Armed Forces in time of peace and war. The Commander-in-Chief approves the organization of the Croatian Armed Forces at the proposal of the Chief of the General Staff with the consent of the Minister of Defense.

In peacetime, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief exercises his command through the Minister of Defense. In war and in cases where the Minister of Defense does not follow orders, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief exercises command directly to the Chief of the General Staff.

In the second half of 1990, Croatian military units were born - the Volunteer Youth Units, and then the People's Guard (in the summer of 1991, 90,000 people, mostly unarmed). At the end of the spring of 1991, the first military units of the National Guard were created, founded on April 20, 1991 by Decree of the President of the Republic, which, for legal and political reasons, was formally subject to the Ministry of the Interior. In addition to the structures and units created by the state, there were also party military organizations or their embryos. The Croatian Party of Rights organized its own armed detachments - the Croatian Defense Forces (MOF), privately armed, relatively well trained and trained in terms of tactics and deployed in the most important sectors of the front. The Party of Democratic Change (reformed communists, SDP) in Istria, Littoral and Dalmatia armed their activists, as did the ruling Croatian Democratic Commonwealth in other parts of Croatia. There were also volunteer troops under the control of local authorities. In some places, the maintenance system was successfully restored (for example, in Zagreb).

The command and control system was initially extremely confusing, and responsibilities were vague and unclear. There were often several different units operating on the ground, which, although they belonged nominally to the same organization, often did not have a common high command.

The main tasks of the Croatian National Guard (later the RC Armed Forces) were to counter the penetration of the Yugoslav army and other hostile forces in the main directions, the defense of cities and vital areas and the receipt of JNA barracks in their own rear. These tasks begin to be carried out more fully and systematically only after in September, according to the new law "On Defense", the armed forces are consolidated into a single Croatian army (AF of the Republic of Belarus), and on September 21, 1991, the General Staff is established, headed by General Anton Tus. Then the systemic mobilization of the reserve and the organization of units, commands and institutions, as well as the planned use of troops, begin.

6. Foreign arms suppliers

Croatia purchases military products from the following countries.

On April 10, 1941, during the Yugoslav operation of Germany, Italy and Hungary, a puppet "Independent State of Croatia" was created on the territory of Croatia.
With the permission of the German occupation authorities, the armed forces were created in this state, called the Croatian domobranstvo (Hrvatsko domobranstvo or abbreviated Domobrani- Croatian Self-Defense Forces), which consisted of three types of troops:
- Croatian army Hrvatska vojska);
- naval forces Mornarica Nezavisne Države Hrvatske);
- air Force ( Zrakoplovstvo NDH).

About 3,500 Croatian "Volksdeutsche" were sent to the 7th SS Mountain Division "Prince Eugene".
In addition, the SS division "Handshar" (1st Croatian) and the 23rd mountain division of the SS "Kama" (2nd Croatian), as well as other units, were formed from the citizens of Croatia.
In this article we will talk about the uniform of the Croatian army in 1941-1945.

Initially, the army of the Independent State of Croatia used the uniform of the Yugoslav Royal Army with Croatian symbols - the national tricolor.

Later, a special committee was created, whose duties included the creation of a new military uniform for the Independent State of Croatia.
On June 13, 1941, the new uniform was officially presented, but due to the fact that it was necessary to sew thousands of copies of the new uniform, the old uniform continued to be used for some time.
However, it was not possible to establish the production of the required number of new uniforms, therefore, in 1944, German-style uniforms appear more and more often in the Croatian army.

Military ranks have also changed.

The table below shows the new Croatian military ranks in relation to those of the Yugoslav Royal Army:

Croatian army	Yugoslav army
General of Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry	Army General
Submarshal (Lieutenant General) (Podmaršal (General-poručnik))	Divisional general (Diviziski đeneral)
Major General (General)	Brigadier General
Colonel	Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel (Podpukovnik)	Lieutenant Colonel (Potpukovnik)
Major (Bojnik)	Major
Senior Captain (Nadsatnik)	Captain 1st class (Kapetan l. klase)
Captain	Captain 2nd class (Kapetan ll. klase)
Lieutenant (Nadporučnik)	Poruchnik
Second Lieutenant (Poručnik)	Lieutenant (Potporučnik)
Non-commissioned officer 2nd class(Časnicki namjesnik)	Narednik 1 class (Narednik-vodnik l. klase)
Staff sergeant (Stožerni narednik)	Narednik 2nd and 3rd class (Narednik-vodnik ll. i 111. kl.)
Sergeant	Narednik 1 and 2 classes (Narednik l. i ll. klase)
Junior Sergeant (Vodnik)	Podnarednik 1 and 2 class (Podnarednik l. i ll. klase)
Corporal (Razvodnik)	Corporal (Kaplar (s vise od 6 mjeseci službe))
Corporal (Desetnik)	Corporal (Kaplar (s man je od 6 mjeseci službe))
Private (Domobran)	Redov

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Buttonholes of the Croatian army, 1941-1945: 1 - private (Domobran); 2 - corporal (Desetnik); 3 - corporal (Razvodnik); 4 - junior sergeant (Vodnik); 5 - sergeant (Narednik); 6 - staff sergeant (Stožerni Narednik); 7 - non-commissioned officer of the 2nd class (Casnički Namjestnik); 8 9 - second lieutenant (Poručnik); 10 - lieutenant (Nadporučnik); 11 - captain (Satnik); 12 13 - major (Bojnik); 14 - lieutenant colonel (Podpukovnik); 15 - Colonel (Pukovnik); 16 - Major General (General); 17 - Lieutenant General (General-Poručnik); 18 - General of Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry (General Pješastva, General Topništva, General Konjaništva); 19 - Field Marshal (Vojskovodja); 20 — slaughterhouse (after 1942); 21 - lieutenant colonel (after 1942); 22 - Colonel (after 1942); 23 - General (after 1942); 24 - lieutenant general (after 1942); 25 - General of infantry, artillery, cavalry (after 1942);

Information:

The buttonholes of the generals were red.
The following military colors have been defined:

type of army	color
generals	red
General Staff officers	red with black velvet trim
infantry	bright red
artillery	fiery red
cavalry	yellow
technical troops	light green
military judges	violet
quartermaster officers	cherry velvet
military doctors	dark brown velvet
medical service	light beige
military veterinarians	gray velvet
pharmacists	light brown
financial service	light blue
mountain rangers	green
warehouse officers	light gray
armored troops	black

Soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers wore emblems in pettits in accordance with their branch of service. At the same time, for privates, non-commissioned officers and junior officers they were silver, for senior officers they were gold.
The generals did not wear emblems.

As a headdress, generals and officers wore a cap with a high German-style crown, a black visor and twisted gold (for generals) and silver (for officers) cords.
Since 1943 non-commissioned officers began to wear caps.
Their cord color was green.

On June 9, 1942, a new form of twisted chin cords was introduced: the color became "aluminum gray", and the width became 1.8 cm for senior officers, and 1 cm for junior ones.
For generals, the chinstring has not changed.

The directive of November 28, 1942 determined the single width of the cord - 1 cm.
In the summer, generals and officers could wear a white cap with a black visor.

The rules for wearing military uniforms, which were published in mid-1941, determined that privates, non-commissioned officers and officers should have dark green collars, and generals dark brown.
At the end of 1941, a change was made: the everyday officer uniform had a dark green collar, and the front one had a dark brown one.
Summer officer uniforms resembled winter ones, but were made of thinner fabric, and there was only one button on the wrists.
Also, officers and generals were allowed to wear a white uniform in the summer, which in reality did not happen often.

Croatian army officers. Buttonhole on the overcoat. Officer buttons. Metal officer badge. Oval cockade with the letters NHD. Generals wore a gold cockade, officers - silver, privates - bronze. There were cockades of olive color.

Information: Mikulan, Pogacic "Hrvatske oruzane snage 1941.-1945."

In August 1941, a light gray-olive raincoat made of waterproof (rubberized) fabric was introduced for officers (see below).
No insignia was worn on it.
The acquisition of the raincoat was carried out at the personal expense of the officer.

Officers were also allowed to wear short leather coats and, from 1943, German-made long coats.

Muslim captain in official winter uniform. Officers, non-commissioned officers and ordinary units, consisting of Muslims, instead of the official kepi wore red fez. At first, a standard cockade with the letters NHD was worn on the fez, and from November 28, 1942, officers began to wear such a cockade framed by a wreath of oak leaves. Jacket with four patch pockets - two chest and two side. Brown leather waist belt 5 cm wide with metal buckle. Until February 12, 1944, the holster was worn on the right side, and after - on the left. As for trousers, there were five types. - loose trousers. Black boots were worn with them; - black trousers for formal occasions under black boots; — "Bosnian" trousers, worn in the first years of the war, under windings and high boots: — "German" or "ski" trousers, replacing "Bosnian" trousers in 1942; - breeches and straight trousers with side piping in the color of the type of troops 2 mm wide. The officer is shod in brown boots and brown leather leggings. Winter gloves were leather, summer ones were made of gray cotton.

Information: Mikulan, Pogacic "Hrvatske oruzane snage 1941.-1945."

The Croatian army used a large number of steel helmets various types. So, in the first days of the war, these were French-made M15 "Adrian" helmets with a metal crest.

Also wide application found helmets of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies of World War I M-16, M-17 and M-18 (cavalry version), which were produced in the Kingdom under the official designation M-20.
The M-34 helmet of Czechoslovak production was also used, called the "Model Cačak" and distinguished by an ovoid shape (see below).

Of course, later German-made M-35, M-42 and M-43 helmets were also used.
As for the color of steel helmets, it was mainly olive green, although there were steel and even black.

Following the German model, the Croatian national coat of arms was applied to the right of the helmets, and the tricolor Croatian flag was applied to the left. However, it is worth noting that most Croatian steel helmets were unmarked.

Insignia of the Croatian army, January 13 - May 15, 1945. 1 - private (Vojnik); 2 - senior soldier (Strielac); 3 - corporal (Dorojnik); 4 - corporal (Rojnik); 5 - junior sergeant (Vodnik); 6 - sergeant (Straznik); 7 - staff sergeant (Stožerni straznik); 8 - non-commissioned officer of the 2nd class (Časnički Namjestnik); 9 - non-commissioned officer of the 1st class (Zastavnik); 10 - 2nd lieutenant (Porucnik); 11 - lieutenant (Nadporucnik); 12 - captain (Satnik); 13 - senior captain (Nadsatnik); 14 - major (Bojnik); 15 - lieutenant colonel (Pupukovnik); 16 - Colonel (Pukovnik); 17 - Major General (General); 18 - Lieutenant General (General Porucnik); 19 - Colonel General (General Pukovnik).

Information: Thomas, Mikulan "Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941-45"

The current Ukrainian crisis and attempts to resolve it are very similar to the events that played out in the territory of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Exactly 20 years ago, in August 1995, the Republic of Serbian Krajina, the unrecognized state of Croatian Serbs, was destroyed, who were trying to defend their rights to language, culture and faith in the confrontation with radical Croatian nationalists.

The confrontation between Serbs and Croats has a long history. The once united nation was once split along religious lines: the Croats, who fell under the influence of the Vatican, adopted Catholicism, the Serbs remained Orthodox.

During the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire encouraged the Croats to take part in the Serbian pogroms, attracted them to punitive expeditions against the Serbs.

The darkest page of Serbo-Croat relations is associated with the Second World War, when, with the support of Nazi Germany, the puppet Independent State of Croatia was proclaimed, headed by the leader of the so-called "Ustashe" (Croatian Nazis) Ante Pavelic.

Among all Hitler's accomplices, one cannot find people more stained with blood than the "Ustashe". Against their background, even the monstrous cruelty of the crimes of Bandera fade.

"For Serbs, Gypsies and Jews, we have three million bullets"

The genocide of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies was part of public policy Croatia. As one of the leaders of the regime stated Mile Budak: “We will destroy one part of the Serbs, we will evict the other, we will transfer the rest to catholic faith and turn them into Croats. Thus, their traces will soon be lost, and what remains will be only a bad memory of them. For Serbs, Gypsies and Jews, we have three million bullets.”

The exact number of victims of the Serb genocide in 1941-1945, carried out by the Ustaše, is unknown to this day. According to the most conservative estimates, about 200,000 people were exterminated, but most historians believe that the number of victims is much higher and could reach 800,000 people. Up to 400,000 Serbs were expelled from their lands, and another quarter of a million were forcibly converted to Catholicism.

Most of the executioners of the Serbian people fled at the end of the war. Ustaše leader Ante Pavelic, sentenced to death by Yugoslavia, lived out his days safely in Spain, where he found refuge with dictator Franco.

It is not customary to recall the terrible fate of the Serbs during the Second World War. But the terrible atrocities of the "Ustashe" largely influenced the events that took place in the early 1990s.

"Wastelands" Tudjman

Post-war Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito developed quite successfully, combining the socialist system with good relations with the West.

After Tito's death and with the beginning of perestroika in the USSR, national contradictions, previously suppressed by the authorities, came to the surface. Nationalist groups revived, advocating secession from Yugoslavia.

Western powers, including the United States, openly sympathized with such trends, calling them the desire for freedom.

The most difficult situation developed in Croatia, where the so-called "democratic forces" were actively supported by Croatian emigrants - the "Ustashe" who fled from retribution and their descendants.

In 1990, the head of Croatia became Franjo Tudjman. Having fought in the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia as a youth and rising to the rank of general in the post-war years, Tuđman eventually turned into a militant Croatian nationalist. For this, he was twice convicted and deprived of all awards.

In 1989, Tuđman released Wastelands of Historical Reality, in which he questioned the reality of the Serb genocide during the war years, and also stated that the scale of the Holocaust was exaggerated.

At a congress of the Croatian Democratic Commonwealth party, Tuđman announced that World War II Croatia was not only a Nazi entity, but also expressed the millennial aspirations of the Croatian people.

Serbian referendum

The coming to power of a person with such views, who intended to build an independent Croatia for the Croats, could not but cause rejection among the Serbs living in the republic.

The measures taken by the new authorities left no doubt about their intentions. The name of the Serbo-Croatian language was changed to "Croatian", after the name the grammatical norms were also changed. Cyrillic writing was forbidden in official correspondence and in the media. Texts on Serbian history, materials about Serbian writers and poets were withdrawn from school curricula. Serbs in government offices were forced to sign "loyalty sheets" to the new Croatian government, and "disloyal" ones were expelled. There was an active purge of Serbs from law enforcement agencies, figures of Serbian culture who lived in Croatia were forced to leave.

Among the Croatian Serbs there were many who survived the nightmare of the 1940s, those whose relatives were slaughtered by the Ustashe. Now in Croatia, the Pavelić regime was elevated to the rank of heroes, and the Serbs were again defined as second-class people who had to either leave the country or assimilate.

In August 1990, a referendum on sovereignty and autonomy was held in Kninska Krajina, a territory densely populated by Serbs in Croatia, with 99.7 percent of the participants in favor.

The water tower in Vukovar is a symbol of the beginning of the war. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The situation in Croatia continued to deteriorate. Politicians in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, vehemently denied the Serbs' right to autonomy, and called for an end to the "separatists" by force. In the summer of 1991, armed clashes broke out between Serbs and Croats, which escalated into a full-scale war.

Krajina vs Croatia

On December 19, 1991, all the territories of Croatia with a dense population of Serbs united into the Republic of Serbian Krajina, which declared its sovereignty. Moderate Serbian politicians advocated autonomy within Croatia, however, the longer the war went on, the more voices sounded for complete independence and the further annexation of the Serbian Krajina to Serbia.

The Serbian territories in Croatia were located at a sufficient distance from each other, the possibilities of communication were limited, which was actively used by the Croatian formations.

Despite the intervention of the UN and the introduction of peacekeepers, the hostilities did not finally stop. The Croatian army captured more and more Serbian cities and villages. International observers recorded crimes against civilians committed by Croatian formations.

Soon the conflict in Croatia was overshadowed by a similar confrontation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It should be noted that the Croatian armed forces also fought in Bosnia, where they acted in alliance with the detachments of the Bosnian Muslims against the Christian Serbs.

Illusion of the world

In 1994, the situation relatively stabilized. In March, an armistice was signed between Serbian Krajina and Croatia. Croatian Serbs tried to establish a peaceful life. In December 1994, bilateral documents were signed on the restoration of economic ties, it was envisaged to hold negotiations on the return of refugees, the payment of pensions, and the opening of a railway connection.

The position of the international community regarding the conflict in Serbia was extremely similar to that expressed today in relation to the Ukrainian crisis. Europeans and Americans, while recognizing Croatia's right to independence, categorically denied the right to self-determination to Croatian Serbs. The so-called "Zagreb-4" plan, put forward in January 1995, provided for autonomy for the Kninska Krajina within Croatia, as well as full integration without any additional rights of other Serbian territories.

However, this option, which was an infringement of the rights of the Serbs, did not suit the official Zagreb. Franjo Tudjman believed that he could completely solve the "Serbian question" without any concessions.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Lightning war plan

On November 15, 1994, the United States and Croatia signed an agreement on military cooperation. Within its framework, the United States provided assistance to Croatia in the training of the armed forces. Military advisers from the American private military company MPRI participated in the training of Croatian special units and guards brigades. A special intelligence center was created to collect information and listen to the negotiations of the Serbian side.

In December 1994, the Croatian General Staff began preparations for Operation Storm, which provided for the complete defeat of Serbian formations and the liquidation of the Republic of Serbian Krajina. According to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Croatia Mate Granic, the United States advised the Croatian army on the conduct of this offensive. Retired American generals, as employees of private military campaigns, did not leave Zagreb, preparing for the blitzkrieg.

The Tempest Plan called for a lightning-fast operation that would last several days, leaving no time for the international community to intervene. At the same time, it was supposed to exert political pressure on Serbia in order to prevent its intervention in the conflict.

Invasion

On May 1-3, 1995, the Croatian army carried out Operation Lightning, capturing Western Slavonia, which was part of the Republic of Serbian Krajina. The protests of the Serbs did not lead to anything - the international community responded to this aggressive act with only sluggish declarations. The military situation of the Serbian Krajina was complicated to the limit.

By the beginning of August 1995, the armed formations of the Serbian Krajina numbered from 27 to 34 thousand people, about 300 tanks, 295 infantry fighting vehicles and 360 large-caliber guns.

The total number of the Croatian army at this point was approaching 250 thousand people, of which 150 thousand were involved in the actions under the "Storm" plan. More than 230 tanks, 161 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, 320 large-caliber guns, 26 combat aircraft and 10 combat helicopters were in service.

The 5th Corps of the Bosnian Muslim Army, numbering 25,000, also participated in Operation Storm.

At 2 am August 4, 1995 Croatian representative Hrvoje Sarinic officially announced Commander of the UN peacekeepers unit, General Janvier about the start of the operation. As a pretext for her, the Serb offensive against the Croatian-controlled city of Bihac was named, which had already stopped by that time.

At 5 o'clock in the morning on August 4, Croatian artillery and aviation dealt a massive blow to the Serbian troops, as well as to the settlements of the Serbian Krajina. Following this, Croatian "commandos" went into battle, which, while capturing UN observation posts, killed and wounded several peacekeepers.

Serbian Krajina. A Russian checkpoint on the line of division of fire between Croatian and Serb units near the town of Orolik. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Vyatkin

Fall of the Republic

During the first day of the operation, the Serbs managed to hold back the onslaught of the Croatian army, however, in the direction of the capital of Krajina Knin, the Croats managed to seriously move forward.

The next day, August 5, Knin fell. A mass exodus of refugees began from Serbian Krajina. The retreat of the Serbian units began to take on the character of flight.

On August 6, the Croatian army joined forces with the Bosnian Muslim corps. Settlements Serbian Krajina came under the control of the Croats one by one.

It became clear that without immediate intervention from the international community or military assistance to Serbia, Serbian Krajina would be defeated. Neither of these happened.

On August 7, 1995, the 11th and 19th Serbian infantry brigades were surrounded in the area of ​​​​the city of Topusko. Together with the Serbian military, who took up all-round defense, 35,000 refugees fell into the "ring". Croatian general Stipetic demanded immediate surrender from the Serbs, otherwise promising to begin the destruction of everyone who was inside the "cauldron". By the end of the day, the Serbs laid down their arms in exchange for the right to evacuate to the territory of Yugoslavia.

At 18:00 August 7 Croatian Minister of Defense Gojko Susak announced the end of Operation Storm.

Over the next two days, scattered Serbian detachments continued to resist, fighting their way into the territory of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Republic of Serbian Krajina fell.

"Germany shares the joy of military success"

In the occupied territories, the Croats began ethnic cleansing. Fleeing from persecution, up to 200,000 people fled to the Republika Srpska and Yugoslavia. Refugees often became victims of attacks and shelling by the Croats. Several hundred Serbs who were unable to leave were killed. Serbian houses and even entire villages were burned.

Directly military losses during the operation "Storm" were relatively small. The Croatian army reported 196 dead and 1,430 wounded. Serbian units lost 730 people killed, about 2500 were wounded.

During Operation Storm, 1,042 Serb civilians were killed or went missing.

The reaction of the world community to the destruction of the Serbian Krajina was ambiguous. Russia protested at the UN, and the State Duma at an extraordinary meeting adopted the laws "On Russia's withdrawal from the regime of sanctions against Yugoslavia" and "On Russia's measures to prevent the genocide of the Serbian population in Krajina." These laws, however, were vetoed President Boris Yeltsin.

US Secretary of State Warren Christopher placed the blame for the Croatian invasion on the Serbs, who he believed had provoked the Croats with their advance on Bihac. A spokesman for the German embassy in Croatia stated: "Germany shares the joy of military success with you and commends you for this war."

Milosevic's concessions ended in death in prison

The European Union condemned the seizure of Serbian Krajina, but did not take serious measures. Only made a harsh statement Swedish diplomat Carl Bildt, who was an EU mediator in negotiations between Croatia and Serbian Krajina. Bildt directly blamed Croatian President Franjo Tudjman for the incident, saying: "I heard from Croatian ministers that they plan to oust 99 percent of Serbs from Serbian Krajina."

A separate conversation about the position of Yugoslavia. The republic was connected with the Serbian Krajina by an agreement on military assistance, but did not intervene in the events. Such a decision President Slobodan Milosevic caused by pressure from the United States. As a reward for Yugoslav restraint, an easing of economic sanctions was promised.

Slobodan Milosevic's policy of concessions did not help Yugoslavia. A few years later, the United States and NATO will be torn away from Serbia by Kosovo with the help of military aggression, and Milosevic himself will be overthrown during the “Bulldozer Revolution”, accused of war crimes and killed in the prison of the International Tribunal in The Hague.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

According to the old scheme

The success of Operation Tempest convinced strategists in Washington that the method could be applied elsewhere in the world. 13 years later, in August 2008, the Georgian army will attempt a blitzkrieg in South Ossetia according to a plan very reminiscent of The Storm. The preparation of the Georgian military for the operation will be carried out by the same specialists that previously trained the Croats.

But this time the scheme will misfire. Unlike Yugoslavia, Russia will not remain an indifferent observer, but will intervene in the conflict, preventing it from doing to the Ossetians what they did to the Serbs in Serbian Krajina.

Despite this, it is likely that the Storm Plan still remains on the desks of American military strategists. The peace plans that are proposed by the Lugansk and Donetsk people's republics, are not too different from those offered to Serbian Krajina in early 1995.

In December 1998, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, speaking at the opening of a military school in Zagreb, said: “We have decided the Serbian issue, there will not be more than 12% of Serbs or 9% of Yugoslavs, as it was. And 3%, how many there will be, will no longer threaten the Croatian state.”

Therefore, when speaking about the world, one must remember the Tempest. Remember that the tragedy experienced by the Croatian Serbs should not be repeated in the east of Ukraine.