Written by Amir Kliko for Oslobodjenje.ba
From the mid-eighties of the 20th century until the multi-party elections in Yugoslavia in 1990, the Federal Secretariat for National Defense carried out a series of reforms of the armed forces through which - by reducing the number of personnel, assigning the republican Territorial Defense headquarters to its command and confiscating their weapons - it significantly weakened the strength of the republican territorial defense. Veljko Kadijević - Federal Secretary for National Defense of Yugoslavia from May 15, 1991 to January 8, 1992 - in his memoir "Protivudar, moje viđenje raspade Yugoslavia", confirmed that the goal of those reforms was to prevent the republics from forming their armies and oppose the Yugoslav People's Army.
It was the first, and most important, peacetime military preparation of Belgrade for aggression against Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The republican leadership of the SRBiH, elected in multi-party elections in 1990, did not have effective control over its TO due to these reforms, and its weapons were kept by the JNA in its warehouses. The conditions for preparing the defense of the Republic were very difficult.
BOSNIAN COAT OF ARMS
They were additionally complicated by the international embargo on the import of weapons and military equipment to all Yugoslav republics, which was imposed by the United Nations at the end of July 1991 due to the aggression of the JNA against Croatia. Only with the acquisition of independence, in the spring of 1992, did the state leadership of Bosnia and Herzegovina meet the conditions to form its own armed forces, which it did in the midst of the Great Serbian aggression and genocide against the Bosniak and Croat population. The embargo on the acquisition of weapons and military equipment remained in force until the end of the aggression and represented a major problem.
The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided on April 4, 1992 to mobilize TO units of all municipalities and the city of Sarajevo. It again demanded the JNA to return the weapons, military equipment and other material and technical means it had taken from the TO. It also ordered the mobilization of the entire reserve composition of the militia, as well as the Civil Protection in accordance with its own assessments. At the session on April 9, it adopted the Decision on the unification of all armed forces on the territory of the Republic that operated under various symbols and symbols, except for the JNA and MUP forces. It ordered all armed forces to report to the competent headquarters of the TO in order to be placed under a single command and to receive unique insignia.
The application deadline was April 15, 1992, which is why that date is taken as the day of formation of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The hallmark of all members of TORBiH was "the old shield-shaped Bosnian coat of arms, blue in color, crossed by a white diagonal with three golden-yellow lilies in each field and with the inscription TOBiH". The Territorial Defense was tasked by the Presidency of the State to, "in cooperation with the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, defend the sovereignty, independence and integrity of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and protect the entire population, regardless of nationality, with the aim of ensuring as soon as possible the conditions for the further common life of all of citizens in the unified Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina".
On June 23, 1992, the Presidency issued an order on changing the name of TORBiH to ARBiH and organizing the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On July 17, the General Staff of the OSRBiH ordered the formation of several brigades and regiments in central Bosnia. These were the beginnings of the creation of the 3rd Corps, i.e. the later 7th Corps, which arose from part of its units. At the beginning of July 1992, two units of Krajina volunteers came to central Bosnia, composed mainly of workers employed abroad: the 1st Krajina Battalion and the 7th Brigade. By the end of the summer, the main headquarters of the OSRBiH was renamed the Supreme Command Headquarters.
Based on the Decision of the Presidency, the ŠVK repeated on November 9 the order to form units of the 3rd Corps from the personnel of the former Zenica District Defense Headquarters, refugees from the area of Bosnian Krajina and remobilization on the ground among the resident population. Enver Hadžihasanović was appointed as the corps commander, and Zenica was appointed as the command post. From November 1992 to April 1993, all corps units were formed.
The commander of the 7th brigade, Fikret Ćuskić, established contact and cooperation with Mehmed Alagić in mid-October 1992. On January 13, 1993, Alagić arrived in Travnik. In the meantime, the 1st Krajina Brigade and the 7th Brigade were merged into the 17th Krajina Mountain Brigade. The former commander of the 7th Brigade was appointed as its commander. He appointed Alagić, upon his arrival in Travnik, as his representative in the position of brigade commander and barracks commander. While waiting for the appropriate decision from the command of the 3rd corps about his appointment, appropriately belonging to the rank, Alagić made a huge effort in training the senior staff of the 17th kbbr.
The commander of the 3rd Corps met Alagić in Visoko, during a tour of the units of the 17th Army Corps, at the end of the same month. He talked with him and Ćuskić about the formation of the Bosnian Krajina Operative Group. Until mid-February, the three of them worked together on the formation and planning of its future activities.
On February 8, Hadžihasanović ordered the formation of the operational groups Bosanska krajina, Zapad, Istok, Lašva and Bosna. OG Bosanska krajina - according to the order on its formation - included the 17th kbr, 7th Muslim brigade and 305th kbr. (Eggs). Due to the unexpected need for engagement in various parts of the Central Bosnian battlefield, the 305th Bbr. it never really entered the composition of OG Bosanska krajina.
CONFLICT WITH HVO
The backbone of this operational group was the 17th kbbr. which, by its previous combat results, has confirmed itself as a brigade fully capable of conducting combat operations anywhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From the 7th mbr, only its first battalion operated as part of OG Bosanska krajina, which with the number of personnel was filled with less than 50% of the formation. On July 16, 1993, he also left OG Bosanska krajina. At the end of the winter of 1994, that battalion was returned to its organic composition as the 37th Muslim Light Brigade.
On February 16, 1993, the commander of the 3rd Corps appointed Mehmed Alagić as the commander of OG Bosanska krajina. Travnik was designated as her command post.
In the composition of OG Zapad, under the command of Selma Cikotić, were the 306th Bbr. (Travnik), 307. mtbr. (Bugojno), 308. bbr. (Novi Travnik), 312. mtbr. (Travnik) and 317th Bbr. (Gornji Vakuf). Busovačka 333. bbr. and Vitežanska 325. bbr. they were part of OG Lašva. Bugojno was designated as the command post of OG Zapad.
In April 1994, the numbered units of the operational groups Bosanska krajina, Zapad and Lašva became part of the 7th Corps.
Alagić, with the selfless help of Fikret Ćuskić, persistently worked on the military and political affirmation of OG Bosanska krajina. It was conceived as a backbone for realizing the possibility of a military return to the Bosnian Krajina, which the two of them pushed for as much as possible. Due to the outbreak of the HVO-ARBiH armed conflict in Travnik and Novi Travnik, at the beginning of June 1993, the local units (312. mtbr, 306. bbr. and 308. bbr), which until then were part of OG Zapad, lost communication with their superior command in Bugojno. They were subordinated to Mehmed Alagić, as the oldest officer by rank in Travnik. The Bosnian Krajina Operational Group has become significantly stronger militarily. By July 1993, the 325th Bbr, and later the 333rd Bbr, transferred to its composition from OG Lašva.
The idea to form the 7th Corps appeared as early as August 1993. It was created due to military and political necessity, i.e. the desire to unite the Krajina combat element in central Bosnia in a separate corps, whose focus of action would be towards the Bosnian Krajina. The Third Corps had a large area of responsibility and a high numerical strength. For this reason, the commander of the 3rd corps proposed at the consultation of the chiefs of the Main Staff and corps commanders in Zenica on 21-22. in August 1993, the separation of part of his units into a separate corps.
On the first day of November 1993, Mehmed Alagić was appointed as the commander of the 3rd Corps.
At the beginning of January 1994, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina passed the Decision on the formation of the 7th Corps from part of the units of the 3rd Corps. The military and political circumstances at the time did not allow the implementation of the Decision, so the formation of the 7th Corps had to wait until the end of the conflict with the HVO. The Seventh Corps began its work on April 7, 1994, making the ARBiH its youngest corps. The Bosnian Krajina and Zapad operational groups were disbanded, and all their units became part of the 7th Corps. The 27th Bbr, 37th mlbr also entered the formation composition of that corps. and 370. bbr. (Donji Vakuf), which were formed a few months earlier. By order of the State Presidency, Mehmed Alagić was appointed corps commander, and Fikret Ćuskić as his deputy. The command staff of the Bosnian Krajina and Zapad operational groups transferred to the command of the 7th Corps, which was also filled with staff from its brigades.
Although it was known immediately after the formation of the corps that its future direction of action was the Bosnian Krajina - both by the composition of the command and the assigned zone of responsibility, and by the refugee units that were included in it (17. kbbr, 27. bbr, 37. mlbr, 305 .bbr. and 370. bbr) – regarding that fact, there was no dissatisfaction of the fighters in the domicile units.
FROM KUPRES TO VLAŠIĆ
Peace with the HVO and the unblocking of the supply routes caused an increase in morale and an improvement in overall conditions in all units of the 7th Corps. From the spring to the fall of 1994, they were logistically recovered and trained to perform the most complex combat actions. After a series of tactical successes – throughout its area of responsibility from Kupres to Vlašić – in late October and early November, the 7th Corps successfully liberated the strategically important Kupres. The liberation of Kupres enabled the creation of conditions for successful future cooperation with the Croatian Army, which continued to advance from Kupres towards Knin, which it liberated in its successful Operation Storm.
The Seventh Corps began successful combat operations in 1995 by liberating all dominant heights on Vlašić in the most extreme winter and terrain conditions. It was the most brilliant victory of the ARBiH in the entire defense-liberation war of 1992-1995. In the same year, the 7th Corps participated in the unblocking of Sarajevo, as well as combat operations in its area of responsibility. With the King of Summer, he liberated Donji Vakuf, Babanovac and other parts of Vlašić, all the occupied Travnica villages, part of the municipality of Jajce and joined the 5th Corps in its successful combat operations in the area of Ključ, Mrkonjić-Grad and Sanski Most. For the entire time of its existence, the 7th Corps did not lose an inch of territory. He firmly defended the free and persistently liberated the occupied territory until the last days of aggression.