Storm Veteran on Entering Knin
Ivan Mikulić, a member of the 3rd Battalion of the 4th Guards Brigade, recalled for Net.hr the key moments of Operation Storm on its 31st anniversary.
Ivan Mikulić, a member of the 3rd Battalion of the 4th Guards Brigade, recalled for Net.hr the key moments of Operation Storm on its 31st anniversary.
Exactly 31 years after the start of the military-police operation Storm, the memories of its participants remain vivid and emotional. In Knin, Ivan Mikulić, a veteran of the 3rd Battalion of the 4th Guards Brigade, spoke to Net.hr about how his unit received the order to begin the operation and what it was like entering the liberated city.
Mikulić recalled the days just before the operation began. His unit was stationed in Kazanci Donji, on the Livno-Grahovo axis. "On August 3rd, we were moved to Pržine, towards Grahovo, to the peat factory. That's when we figured the operation might start in the morning, even though we knew nothing about Storm. But as soon as we were moved there, we knew we were moving out in the morning," he said.
Among the fighters, he says, there was excitement and anticipation. "There was already talk among us that we were definitely moving out in the morning. When the artillery barrage started around five o'clock, there was great joy. We even raised a toast or two," the Homeland War veteran recalled.
After the breakthrough, the unit headed towards the Knin fortress, but the entry did not go as expected. "We couldn't get in right away because the guard had already been posted ahead of us. There were some minor delays because some units had problems along the way. We reached the fortress and stopped there. We sat on the wall. People started treating us. Beer had already arrived-Karlovačko had already made it to the fortress. However, we couldn't get into the fortress because the guard was already in place," Mikulić described.
The Croatian flag was not yet flying over the fortress at that moment, but access to it was already blocked. And while many expected fierce resistance, the reality was different. "We expected a fight, but there wasn't one because they had scattered. It was total chaos. There were civilians in the city, but overall, everything went well," he said.
Still, the operation was not without losses for his brigade. "The 4th Guards Brigade lost four men in Knin itself," Mikulić emphasized.
Reflecting on his entire wartime journey, Mikulić does not hide his grief over fallen comrades. "From Kruševo, via Zadar and Dubrovnik, all the way to Mostar, I fought on nearly all fronts. I lost many friends, and that cannot be forgotten. It wasn't that long ago," concluded the veteran of the 3rd Battalion of the 4th Guards Brigade in an interview with Net.hr.
