The attack by the 1st Guard Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council on Prika Jelovača the day before the operation caused panic and the strategic collapse of the Krajina defense, yet this episode is almost forgotten.
Six killed and 14 wounded in a single day, that was the price paid by the members of the 1st Guard Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council "Ante Bruno Bušić" on August 3, 1995, in an operation that triggered a strategic earthquake and enabled the lightning-fast breakthrough of Croatian forces. While the public commemorates yet another anniversary of "Storm," a simplified narrative of a glorious victory dominates, and the crucial episode in which Herzegovinian warriors played a decisive role remains almost entirely overlooked.
Their attack on the highly important Serbian stronghold triggered a chain reaction that, in fact, opened the door for the entire operation.
At dawn on August 3, 1995, the "Bušići" moved on the Prika Jelovača height, a position held by the elite units of the Army of Republika Srpska. Hand-to-hand combat lasted until after midnight, and the day ended as the bloodiest in the unit's wartime history. Yet, it was precisely this sacrifice that produced exactly what the Croatian command had planned: the Serbian military leadership reacted in panic and fell for the maneuver.
As a direct consequence of the battle at Prika Jelovača, around 3,000 Serbian special forces were urgently redeployed from the Krajina front to the Kupres area. Among them were notorious units, the Knindže, Arkan's Tigers, and the White Eagles.
This massive shift of forces left the southern part of Krajina practically defenseless. The areas of Knin, Obrovac, and Benkovac were left at the mercy of home guard units that no longer had the backing of professionals, while the northern and central parts, such as those around Petrinja and the Kupa River, were still strongly defended. A "domino" effect and an unstoppable stampede of retreat ensued.
Allegedly, Milošević later asked in a transcript: "Who gave the order to withdraw?"
The answer was that no one had given the order, a total collapse of the chain of command and defense had occurred.
More than 30 years later, this episode is almost entirely absent from the mainstream media narrative. The "Bušići," the Croatian Defence Council, Prika Jelovača, and the 3,000 redeployed special forces are rarely mentioned in public, as if there is no room for the truth about the Herzegovinian warriors who made a tremendous sacrifice for the liberation of Croatia.
Crodex.net emphasizes that this operation exposed a key difference in the structure of the two armies. Croatian professional units, the Tigers, Spiders, Pumas, and the "Bušići", were organized according to NATO standards and could operate independently, while the Serbian army, entrenched in the sluggish JNA model, remained inflexible and incapable of rapid responses.
"'Storm' was not merely a triumph of arms, it was a triumph of intellect, strategy, and selfless sacrifice. And among those who were the first to move, who died and bloodily opened the door to victory, were the 'Bušići'," the text concludes.
