On this day in 1995, Operation Storm began, the most significant action of Croatian military forces in the Homeland War, which liberated a fifth of Croatia's territory in just 84 hours.
On this day, August 4, 1995, at five in the morning, the military-police operation Storm began, the most renowned and crucial action of Croatian military forces in the Homeland War. In just 84 hours, according to Večernji list, over 10,000 square kilometers of previously occupied territory were liberated, while Index.hr cites a more precise figure of 10,400 square kilometers. This effectively brought an end to the para-state of the Republic of Serbian Krajina.
Before Storm, a third of Croatian territory was occupied, and 600,000 Croats and non-Serbs had been expelled from it. The war began with the bloody Easter of 1991 and lasted four years. The Croatian political and military leadership had assessed as early as autumn 1994 that the Croatian Army had achieved full operational capability to liberate the occupied parts of the country, but the international community did not give the green light for a final military-liberation operation at that time. The turning point came due to fears that Serbian military commander Ratko Mladić, after the horrific massacre in Srebrenica, would repeat the same scenario in Bihać against 40,000 people.
Storm began with intense artillery and rocket fire on Serbian positions along a frontline estimated, depending on the source, at over 600 to 630 kilometers. It was the longest frontline in Europe since the end of World War II. For comparison, as Večernji list notes, the Ardennes frontline was five times shorter.
The operation was organized by HV commander Zvonimir Červenko and generals Miljenko Crnjac, Petar Stipetić, Luka Džanko, Mirko Norac, and Ante Gotovina. Determination and morale were exceptionally high. "They had to be 'kept on a leash' so they wouldn't immediately launch into Storm," recalled retired general Marijan Mareković after Operation Flash. The motivation is confirmed by numbers: 72 percent of the reserve component responded out of the total number of call-ups, or 99 percent of the plan for filling the combat structure.
Already the next day, August 5, members of the 4th and 7th Guards Brigades liberated Knin, and at exactly noon, the Croatian flag flew over the Knin fortress. According to Index.hr, Lovinac, Gračac, Drniš, Benkovac, Obrovac, and many other settlements were also liberated. On August 6, Petrinja, Glina, Slunj, and Korenica were liberated, and at Tržačke Raštela on the border at the Korana River, units of the Croatian Army under Major General Marijan Mareković met with the 5th Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina under General Atif Dudaković.
On August 7 at 6 p.m., Defense Minister Gojko Šušak announced the end of the operation, and the broadcast was listened to by more than two million people via radio and television. The next day, August 8, Colonel Čedomir Bulat, commander of the 21st Corps of the "Serbian Army of Krajina," surrendered in Topusko, marking the end of the operational phase of Storm. Croatian forces entered Vrginmost and Dvor na Uni on August 9 and reached the internationally recognized border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Storm also ended the Serbian siege of Bihać, which had lasted 1,201 days. The operation enabled the continuation of offensive operations by the HV, HVO, and the Army of BiH, which, under pressure from the international community, resulted in the signing of the Dayton Agreement on November 21, 1995, and its formal signing in Paris on December 14, 1995. By October 15, 1995, Croatian forces had advanced to within 23 kilometers of Banja Luka. The war in Croatia ended, and Eastern Slavonia was peacefully reintegrated by 1998.
According to Večernji list, nearly 200,000 Croatian soldiers were engaged in the operation. 243 Croatian soldiers and police officers were killed, and over a thousand were wounded. After Storm, around 200,000 Serbs left Croatia. Since 2002, August 5 has been celebrated as Victory Day and Croatian Veterans' Day. Symbolically, Storm ended in November 2012 when generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač returned from The Hague, and the indictment against Croatia for joint criminal enterprise was dismissed.
