Lieutenant General Slavko Barić, ahead of the 31st anniversary of Operation Storm, discusses the importance of passing on experience to young people and the key moments in the liberation of the country.
Ahead of the commemoration of the 31st anniversary of the military-police operation Storm, Lieutenant General Slavko Barić, then deputy commander of the front in eastern Croatia, shared his memories and reflections on that crucial action. He placed special emphasis on the need to convey the spirit of the time and the sacrifice of the defenders to younger generations in a modern and engaging way.
"We must accept that younger generations want quick information and as many sources as possible," General Barić told Novi list, adding that we must ask ourselves whether we are doing enough to bring these historical events closer to them in a quality manner.
Operation Storm began on August 4, 1995, at 5 a.m. and ended in the evening hours of August 7, 1995. During those four days, 10,400 square kilometers were liberated, or 18.4 percent of Croatia's total area. This brought an end to four years of occupation and established the constitutional-legal order over the largest part of the state territory.
The last attempt at a peaceful solution failed a day earlier, on August 3, 1995, when the delegation of rebel Serbs in Genthod near Geneva rejected the Croatian side's proposal for the peaceful reintegration of the occupied areas. With that political obstacle removed, the path to liberation was open.
The key city of Knin was liberated as early as August 5, 1995, which is now celebrated as Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian Defenders. In the days that followed, Petrinja, Glina, Slunj, Gračac, Drniš, Benkovac, Obrovac, and many other places were liberated. Croatian forces linked up with the 5th Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, thereby lifting the siege of Bihać.
In this victorious operation, 245 Croatian defenders were killed or went missing. Although the international community was reserved, the operation was carried out quickly and without mass destruction.
General Barić recalled the tension that prevailed on the eastern part of the front line, where his forces secured the area from Baranja to Osijek. "No one knew what Serbia's reaction to Storm would be, whether they would try to relieve their forces in Storm by potentially activating this front line," he said. He emphasized that they were placed on the highest level of combat readiness, ready to respond to any attempt by the then Yugoslav army to engage.
"Extracting only certain sequences simply does not give the complete picture of what our entire society was doing at the time, and what the Croatian defenders were doing on the ground," Barić stressed, warning of the importance of viewing historical events in their entirety.
One of the most striking scenes of the operation took place in the Banovina region. Around 5,000 soldiers from the besieged 21st Kordun Corps, under the command of Colonel Čedo Bulat, laid down their arms before the Croatian Army forces commanded by Petar Stipetić. "The sight of their surrender is one of those images that truly never fades from your memory," Barić said.
General Barić believes that it is crucial to step out of the classroom and go into the field. "I think what we neglect is that we often confine lectures to offices and classrooms, while it is common practice to go out into the field, to the area where it happened," he said. "Because it is not the same to explain the Battle of Vukovar on the banks of the Danube or in any other part of Croatia."
In his view, young people need to experience those places and hear the stories of their parents and grandparents. "We can do even more to make it more interesting and faithful for them and to make them active participants in everything, so that we get a true picture of the contribution of one generation of Croatian citizens to how we live today," he concluded.
"It is that something that is the culmination, something magnificent, into which every one of our defenders invested themselves, their knowledge, skills, and sweat."
Barić reminded that Storm was not an isolated event but the culmination of years of efforts by the entire Croatian society since 1991. The operation created the conditions for the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region, which began in January 1996.
