Non-commissioned Officer Bebek shared previously unknown details about the entry of units into Knin and emphasized that the 7th and 4th Brigades did not kill anyone during the liberation of the city.
Ahead of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, Croatian Army Non-Commissioned Officer Bebek shared an emotional testimony about his participation in Operation Storm. He described to RTL the moments of anticipation, elation, and pride that overwhelmed his unit when they realized their ultimate goal was the liberation of Knin.
Bebek revealed that members of his unit were initially unaware of the operation's scale. "We set off from the direction of Bosansko Grahovo. Literally, as a non-commissioned officer in the Croatian Army, I didn't know we were going to Knin, that we were liberating Knin. I thought we were going on another operation and then we'd move on," Bebek told RTL, and congratulated all Croats on Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and Croatian Veterans Day.
He recalled that they approached to within three kilometers of Knin before the artillery preparation began in the early morning hours of August 4. "At 5:00 a.m. on August 4, the artillery preparation started. We were targeting a hill called Igla," he said. He added that last year he learned that two members of the 7th Guards Brigade had died on that hill. "They are true heroes of the Homeland War, and I am just your interviewee," he emphasized.
His unit took its position during the afternoon of the same day. "That day, around four in the afternoon as I recall, we took that hill and waited for darkness. When it got dark, we moved further toward the Croatian border," Bebek described. Although he cannot remember the name of the place where they stationed, he clearly remembers that on August 5 at 4:45 a.m., the operation began.
The entry into Knin, he recalls, evoked an unprecedented feeling among the brigade members. "There was such elation, happiness, and pride when we learned we were going to Knin. It was incomparable to anything. We would have entered even if the whole brigade had to carry us, but we would have entered," Bebek emotionally recounted. He also openly admitted personal disappointment: "I thought there would be a fight in Knin, but we didn't fight; we entered a half-empty city."
It was precisely the absence of major fighting in the city that Bebek highlighted as an extremely important detail that prevented greater losses. "If there had been more people, there would have been more casualties, and that wouldn't have been good; that's not what would have defined us. I am proud of this: the 7th and 4th Brigades, when they entered Knin, did not kill anyone," he concluded. After the liberation of Knin, a day or two later, his unit moved toward Srb. "We left a clean city," he added.
