Operation Storm timeline

Operation Storm timeline

August 4

Storm begins

Operation Strom started on August 4, at 4 a.m. The Croatian army and police took only four days to achieve total victory. The operation started with attacks against the so-called Sectors North and South on a front 700 kilometers long. Croatian forces broke through the first Serb line of defense in 30 tactical directions in the regions of Bjelovar, Zagreb, Karlovac, Gospić and Split. Croatian air force attacked and knocked off the air the Ćelavac transmitter, Krajina’s main communications center. The depth of the Croatian army penetration was at the time already 5 to 15 kilometers.

The taking of St Roko was recorded as the operation’s first day’s great success. Knin was already surrounded, and Croatian forces were several kilometers away from the town. Serbs respond by attacking Sisak, Šibenik, Otočac, Gospić, Ogulin.

August 5

Knin falls

Around noon the news broke: Croatian forces have entered Knin! A huge Croatian flag was flying on Knin’s mediaeval fortress. Surrounding tows were taken as well: Vrlika, Kijevo, Drniš, Žitnić, Benkovac, Gračac, Lovinac, Ljubovo, ali i Plaški, Primišlje and Hrvatska Dubica. By evening, 80 per cent of the plans were achieved, while Serb civilians left the areas through Srb and Dvor. Bosnian Serbs launch rocket attacks on Županja, from eastern Slavonia on Osijek, Vinkovci, Nuštar, from Kordun on Kalrovac, and from Herzegovina on the Dubrovnik area.

August 6

Krajina defeated

Croatian forces met with the Croatian council of defense (Bosnian Croat army) and the Bosnian Army 5th Corps on the border with Bosnia, on the Korana river near Tržački Rašteli. This way the strategically vital supply route Knin-Bihać was cut for the Serbs. Croatian president Franjo Tuđman arrived in Knin in the afternoon.

Krajina is defeated. Petrinja, Slunj, Kostajnica, Plitvička lakes, Obrovac all fell. The Serb Krajina Army are in disarray on the third day of the operation: 21st Kordun corps, which surrendered on August 8, was surrounded, while the 15th Lički and 39th  Corps were about to surrender.

The Croatian forces entered Petrinja on Sunday morning and Glina around 11 p.m.

August 7

The end

On the last day of Operation Storm the Croatian army took Turanj and Tušilović, and then Vojnić, Topusko, Gornji and Donji Lapac... At 6 p.m. Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Šušak announced that as far as the military was concerned, the Storm was over. Croatian forces had completed the taking of the territory up to the internationally recognized Croatian borders.

Epilogue

138 000 Croatian army, MUP and Croatian Council of Defense members took part in Operation Storm. According to the Croatian sources, 31 000 Serbs stood up to those forces. Almost the entire Serb population of Croatia left the region as a consequence of the operation. Refugee convoys on tractors and other vehicles left the Bosnian Serb-controlled territory in western and northern Bosnia and headed toward Serbia, exposed to numerous attacks by the Croatian forces. The Serbian media almost completely ignored the fall of Krajina, and the Serbian authorities redirected the convoys to the refugee centers away from Belgrade, including toward Kosovo, where Albanians constituted a majority.

After Operation Storm ended, the Croatian authorities closed off the area of the former Serb Krajina. Only the military and police forces were allowed in, as well as Croatian refugees from that region. That is when the thorough destruction of the empty and abandoned Serb houses took place.

UN Civilian Police commander in the Knin area, General Alan Goran, wrote at the end of his mandate in his report that the UN police came across 128 killed Serb civilians and that 73 per cent of structures were destroyed after the arrival of the Croatian forces.

According to some data (there is no precise data yet), 1805 persons went missing during Operation Storm, and the Croatian Helsinki Committee claims that 700 civilians died. The Committee has accused Croatian forces on numerous occasions of committing crimes against the Serbs. Over 20 000 Serb houses were burned, and many were robbed.

Documentation and information center “Veritas” has the names of 1960 killed and missing Serbs in their records, 1205 civilians, among them 522 women and 12 children.