On that August 12, more than 2,000 projectiles were fired at the area from Ston to Prevlaka, and thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes in one of the heaviest wartime days for the Dubrovnik region.
On this day, August 12, 1995, the political and military leadership of the Republika Srpska decided to launch a new attack on the Dubrovnik area. The forces of the Bileća and Trebinje Brigades of the Herzegovina Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) launched an offensive aimed at breaking through the Croatian Army's defensive lines and reaching the coast near Plat, followed by taking control of the Konavle region.
As Varina Jurica Turk wrote in a post on the Facebook page of the Homeland War Museum, the goal of this operation was to secure an outlet to the sea for Republika Srpska, which would strengthen its position in the final phase of peace negotiations. This day remains remembered as one of the hardest for the residents of southern Croatia.
The offensive began with a heavy artillery preparation. On that single day, more than 2,000 projectiles were fired at the area from Ston to Prevlaka. Simultaneously, infantry attacks were launched on multiple axes, including toward the villages of Ljubovo, Slivnica, Zagradinje, Zgonjevo, Glavska, and toward Ivanov križ.
The main burden of the defense was borne by the 163rd Dubrovnik Brigade of the Croatian Army, commanded by Brigadier Željko Topolovec. In the zone of responsibility of the 1st Battalion, led by Mladen Jurković, a direct infantry clash occurred. A battle group of 75 members of the Trebinje Brigade briefly managed to seize the strongpoint at elevation 497 above the village of Zagradinje.
However, a swift reaction by intervention groups and brigade scouts, supported by heavy artillery fire coordinated by Ivica Sentić, brought that point back under control. In these clashes, eight members of the 163rd Brigade were wounded.
To carry out the planned operation, the Trebinje Brigade was significantly reinforced. It was augmented with 300 to 400 soldiers from the Nevesinje, Gacko, and Foča Brigades. By August 14, they were joined by about 150 members of the reconnaissance-sabotage unit "Beli vukovi," 320 soldiers from the Drina Corps, and one company of the Special Police Brigade. The total engaged forces of the Herzegovina Corps of the VRS on the Southern Front numbered around 5,000 soldiers.
Opposing them, on a well-fortified front line stretching from the village of Ravno in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Prevlaka, the Southern Front Command had forces of 10,000 to 12,000 troops. Despite the Croatian Army's numerical superiority, the enemy decided to launch an offensive.
The shelling of the entire Dubrovnik area caused four major fires. In attacks on civilian targets, about 120 artillery projectiles were fired, damaging numerous houses, farm buildings, and infrastructure. Thousands of residents from the wider area were forced to seek shelter in the city of Dubrovnik itself, which was not a direct target this time.
Combat operations ended after a powerful counterattack by the Southern Front's artillery, which fired about 4,500 projectiles at VRS positions. Although the attacks ceased that day, the aggressor's daily but unsuccessful attempts to break through the defense continued until September 1, 1995.
"Therefore, August 12 remains recorded as one of the heaviest wartime days in the Dubrovnik area, and the aggressor's daily unsuccessful attacks continued until September 1, 1995," reads the post by author Varina Jurica Turk on the Homeland War Museum's page.
