Operations Krivaja '95 and Stupčanica '95

Operations Krivaja '95 and Stupčanica '95
Part of the Bosnian War
Bosnian-Serb forces' capture of Srebrenica
Date July 6, 1995 - July 25, 1995 Location Srebrenica and Žepa Result Decisive Bosnian-Serb Army victory 1995 NATO bombing campaign
Belligerents
Army of the Republika Srpska	Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Indirect participation: Netherlands Ukraine
Commanders and leaders
Ratko Mladić Radislav Krstić Milorad Pelemiš	Ramiz Bećirović Ejub Golić Avdo Palić Naser Orić Thom Karremans
Strength
9,450 soldiers 300 mercenaries 10 tanks	3,000 soldiers (Srebrenica)[citation needed] 1,500 soldiers (Žepa) 370 peacekeepers and 2 F-16s 79 peacekeepers
Casualties and losses
More than 50 dead, 150 injured 2 tanks destroyed	less than 2,000 dead 35,632 evacuated, 800 refugees[1], 750 POW in Srebrenica and 1,500 in Žepa

Operations Krivaja '95 and Stupčanica '95 (Serbian: Операције Криваја '95 и Ступчаница '95) are code names of military operations launched by the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) against Bosnian Muslims in the UN enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa. It was launched on July 6, 1995. The main rationale for the attack cited by the Serbs was the alleged presence of more than 10,000 Bosnian Army (ARBiH) troops in the area.

Background

The command of the Drina Corps decided to launch the operation ordered by Main staff of VRS, and ordered the forming of units that were to participate in this operation under the codename Operation Krivaja '95. The goal was to separate the protected zone Srebrenica from the protected zone of Žepa. The task would be relatively easy to accomplish considering that the UN named Srebrenica a "Safe Zone" and required all armed Bosnian-Muslim soldiers within the town (mainly men under the command of Brigadier Naser Orić) to hand over their weapons, thus completing the Srebrenica take over.

Operation Krivaja 95

On July 8, a Dutch YPR-765 armored vehicle took fire from VRS troops and withdrew. A group of Bosniaks demanded that the armored vehicle stay to defend them. When the Dutch refused, one angry Bosniak threw a hand grenade at the vehicle, killing soldier Raviv van Renssen.

The forces of the VRS entered the UN Safe Area in July 1995. Late on 9 July 1995, emboldened by the early successes and by the little resistance encountered from the largely demilitarized Bosniaks, as well as by the absence of any significant reaction from the international community, the President of the Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, issued a new order authorizing the VRS Drina Corps to capture the town of Srebrenica.^[2]

On the morning of July 10, 1995, the situation in Srebrenica was tense. Residents crowded the streets. The Dutch UNPROFOR troops fired warning shots over the attacking Serbs’ heads and their mortars fired flares but they never fired directly on any VRS units. Lieutenant-Colonel Karremans sent many urgent requests for NATO air support to defend the town, but no assistance was forthcoming until around 2:30PM on July 11, 1995, when 2 Dutch F-16's guided by British SAS bombed VRS tanks advancing towards the town. NATO planes also attempted to bomb VRS artillery positions overlooking the town, but had to abort the operation due to poor visibility. NATO plans to continue the air strikes were abandoned following the VRS' threats to kill Dutch troops and French hostage pilots being held deliberately in full view of NATO airplanes in the custody of the VRS. They also threatened to shell the UN Potočari compound on the outside of the town, and surrounding areas where 20,000 to 30,000 civilians had fled.^[2]

The Dutch soldiers operating under the auspices of the UN have been criticized for their part in failing to protect the Bosniak refugees in the safe haven. Lieutenant-Colonel Karremans was filmed drinking a toast with genocide suspect and Bosnian-Serb general Ratko Mladić during the bungled negotiations on the fate of the civilian population grouped in Potočari.^[3]

The massacre

On 14 July 1995, more prisoners from Bratunac were bussed northward to a school in the village of Pilica, north of Zvornik. As at other detention facilities, there was no food or water and several men died in the school gym from heat and dehydration. The men were held at the Pilica school for two nights. On 16 July 1995, following a now familiar pattern, the men were called out of the school and loaded onto buses with their hands tied behind their backs. They were then driven to the Branjevo Military Farm, where groups of 10 were lined up and shot systematically.^[4]

At this point, one of the survivors recalls:

When they opened fire, I threw myself on the ground. . . . And one man fell on my head. I think that he was killed on the spot. And I could feel the hot blood pouring over me. . . . I could hear one man crying for help. He was begging them to kill him. And they simply said “Let him suffer. We’ll kill him later.”

— Witness Q ^[4]

Dražen Erdemović — who confessed to killing at least 70 Bosniaks — was a member of the VRS 10th Sabotage Detachment (a Main Staff subordinate unit) and participated in the mass execution. Erdemović appeared as a prosecution witness and testified: "The men in front of us were ordered to turn their backs. When those men turned their backs to us, we shot at them. We were given orders to shoot."^[4]

Erdemović said that all but one of the victims wore civilian clothes and that, except for one person who tried to escape, they offered no resistance before being shot. Sometimes the executioners were particularly cruel. When some of the soldiers recognised acquaintances from Srebrenica, they beat and humiliated them before killing them. Erdemović had to persuade his fellow soldiers to stop using a machine gun for the killings; while it mortally wounded the prisoners it did not cause death immediately and prolonged their suffering.^[4] Between 1,000 and 1,200 men were killed in the course of that day at this execution site.^[4]

Aerial photographs, taken on 17 July 1995, of an area around the Branjevo Military Farm, show a large number of bodies lying in the field near the farm, as well as traces of the excavator that collected the bodies from the field.^[4]

Erdemović testified that, at around 15:00 hours on 16 July 1995, after he and his fellow soldiers from the 10th Sabotage Detachment had finished executing the prisoners at the Branjevo Military Farm, they were told that there was a group of 500 Bosniak prisoners from Srebrenica trying to break out of a nearby Dom Kultura club. Erdemović and the other members of his unit refused to carry out any more killings. They were then told to attend a meeting with a Lieutenant Colonel at a café in Pilica. Erdemović and his fellow-soldiers travelled to the café as requested and, as they waited, they could hear shots and grenades being detonated. The sounds lasted for approximately 15–20 minutes after which a soldier from Bratunac entered the café to inform those present that "everything was over".^[4]

There were no survivors to explain exactly what had happened in the Dom Kultura.^[4] However, it is remarkable that this was no execution at some remote spot, but one in the centre of town on the main road from Zvornik to Bijeljina.^{[citation needed]} Over a year later, it was still possible to find physical evidence of this atrocity. As in Kravica, many traces of blood, hair and body tissue were found in the building, with cartridges and shells littered throughout the two storeys.^[4] It could also be established that explosives and machine guns had been used. Human remains and personal possessions were found under the stage, where blood had dripped down through the floorboards.

It is noteworthy that two of the three survivors of the executions at the Branjevo Military Farm were arrested by local Bosnian-Serb police on 25 July and sent to the prisoner of war compound at Batkovici. One had been a member of the group separated from the women in Potočari on 13 July. The prisoners who were taken to Batkovici survived the ordeal and were later able to testify before the Tribunal.^{[citation needed]}

Čančari Road 12 was the site of the re-interment of at least 174 bodies, moved here from the mass grave at the Branjevo Military Farm.^[4] Only 43 were complete sets of remains, most of which established that death had taken place as there result of rifle fire. Of the 313 various body parts found, 145 displayed gunshot wounds of a severity likely to prove fatal.^[5]

Operation Stupčanica 95

After the fall of Srebrenica Ratko Mladić and Radislav Krstić assembled the commanders from several brigades present in the area that would be contributing some or all of their forces to the Žepa attack (now codenamed Stupčanica '95), including the 1st Zvornik Infantry Brigade, the Bratunac Light Infantry Brigade, the Birač Infantry Brigade, the 2nd Romanija Motorised Brigade, the 1st Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade, the 5th Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade, the 1st Milici Light Infantry Brigade, the 1st Vlasenica Light Infantry Brigade, and the 5th Mixed Artillery Regiment. In Viogora they assembled the Bratunac Brigade, the Milici Brigade, and the Independent Skelani Battalion, marched southward, and arrived at the wider assembly area of Podravanje, Rupovo Brdo, and Bracan.^[4] They would be attacking along the line of Podravanje-Orlov Kamen, Zlovrh and on to Žepa.

On July 13 there was a flurry of preparatory measures involving scouring the terrain for remaining members of the 28th Division, organizing mine groups to detect minefields and conduct demining operations, removing obstacles on roads within the protected area as well as roads between units and the staging area for the Žepa operation.

Despite losing some of their forces in a transfer to augment operations in the Alibegovac and Kak areas, on the morning of July 17, the march on Žepa commenced, with the attack building to full swing a few days later. The attack was initially slowed down due to terrain features along the attack axes. Žepa fell to the VRS on July 25.

References

v t e Bosnian War Timeline 1991 Karađorđevo agreement · SAO Bosanska Krajina · SAO Herzegovina · SAO North-Eastern Bosnia · SAO Romanija · Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia 1992 Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina · Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina · Siege of Sarajevo · Siege of Bihać · Graz agreement · Croat–Bosniak War · Operation Vrbas '92 · Operation Corridor 1993 Kravica attack · Siege of Gornji Vakuf · Siege of Mostar · Operation Neretva '93 · Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia · Operation Deny Flight 1994 Operation Bøllebank · Operation Amanda · Banja Luka incident · Washington Agreement · Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina · Operation Tiger · Operation Spider 1995 Mrkonjić Grad incident · Operations Krivaja '95 and Stupčanica '95 · Operation Summer '95 · Operation Storm · 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina · Operation Mistral · Operation Sana · Dayton Agreement · Bosnia and Herzegovina War Crimes Ethnic cleansing Ahatovići · Ahmići · Bijeljina · Čemerno  · Doboj · Dobrinja · Doljani · Duša · Foča · Glogova · Grabovica · Korićani Cliffs · Kravica · Lašva Valley · Markale · Mokronoge · Prijedor · Srebrenica · Stupni Do · Štrpci · Tuzla · Višegrad (Barimo, Bosanska Jagodina, Paklenik, Sjeverin) · Zaklopača · Zvornik War Rape Rape in the Bosnian War Camps Čelebići · Dretelj · Gabela · Heliodrom · Keraterm · Luka · Manjača · Omarska · Sušica · Trnopolje · Uzamnica · Vilina Vlas · Vojno Cases Sarajevo · Sijekovac · Trusina · Tuzla · Križančevo selo · Srebrenica Children Massacre