Operation Corridor

Operation Corridor
Part of Bosnian War
Date June 14, 1992 - July 1992 Location Bosanska Posavina Result Decisive Bosnian Serb victory
Belligerents
Republika Srpska Republic of Serbian Krajina	Herzeg-Bosnia Croatia
Commanders and leaders
Ratko Mladić Momir Talić Novica Simić Miko Škorić	Anton Tus Petar Stipetić Slobodan Praljak
Strength
40,800 - 54,660 soldiers	20,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
293 killed 1,129 wounded	1,224 killed 6,240 wounded

Operation Corridor (Serbian: Операција Коридор, Operacija Koridor) was an operation conducted by the Army of the Republika Srpska against the joint forces of the Croatian Defence Council and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) that started in June 1992 and ended in July of the same year. The goal of the operation was the creation of the Brčko Corridor that would connect the two parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina that were already under the control of the Republika Srpska. The operation resulted in success for the Bosnian-Serbs while the Croatian and Bosnian Croat forces suffered heavy casualties. Although the battleground was on BiH territory, the army of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not participate in the battle.

The operation was part of the wider escalation of war and capture of the region of Bosanska Posavina by the Bosnian-Serb forces. They committed numerous war crimes that were later examined by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

Background

In the summer of 1992, during the Bosnian War, the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) was in control of much of the western regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and much of the eastern part of the country, but the two parts of Republika Srpska were disconnected by a crucial corridor in the northeast of the country. There, the forces loyal to the government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH), maintained control over most of the region of Bosanska Posavina, which is the name of the Bosnian part of the region that is the lowland by the right bank of the river Sava.

To the north of Bosnian Posavina, the Croatian parts of Posavina in Slavonia (on the left bank of the Sava) were mostly controlled by the Croatian Army forces (except for SAO Western Slavonia). According to data published by General Martin Špegelj,^{[citation needed]} there were eight HVO brigades and fifteen Croatian Army brigades in Bosanska Posavina, most of the brigades were present during the whole operation. Some of the brigades were backed up with artillery and tanks. In March 1992, before the Bosnian War was in full swing, the Sijekovac killings happened south of Bosanski Brod. On 17 April 1992, Bosanski Šamac was seized by the military forces of the Republika Srpska. In April, Bosnian-Serb forces started the Doboj massacre and Bijeljina massacre in the towns of Doboj and Bijeljina, respectively. On 7 May 1992, the town of Brčko came under the control of the Republika Srpska. In the beginning of May 1992, all of the west-east roads that connected the two parts of the Republika Srpska were cut. The last road between the two parts was cut on 15 May 1992. In May, twelve newborn babies in the Banja Luka hospital died due to the lack of oxygen caused by the blockade. On 15 May 1992, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) evacuated its barracks in Tuzla and engaged in a battle with ARBiH. On 20 May 1992, United Nations Security Council Resolution 755 was passed, whereby the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was admitted to the UN. A number of other resolutions related to the war and extending UNPROFOR mandate were passed around the same time, but the attention was mostly on the Siege of Sarajevo. JNA were to withdraw all officers and troops that are not from Bosnia, but in practice these forces largely morphed into the VRS, and were able to take over at least 60 per cent of the country.

Offensive

In the middle of June 1992, general Momir Talić, the commander of the VRS 1st Krajina Corps, gave Novica Simić the order to break the corridor across Trebava until June 28 (Vidovdan).

Territories of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia controlled by Serb forces, after the Operation Corridor.

Operation Corridor started on 14 June 1992 when members of the VRS 16th Motorized Brigade under the command of Milan Čekeletić started attacking the Southern part of Derventa front. The clashes intensified on 24 June when all of the heavy artillery that the Serbs had amassed led the ARBiH to believe that the VRS was trying to capture the city of Tuzla. The ARBiH then mobilized 16 brigades, five motorized and eleven infantry, to engage them.

On 26 June, soldiers from the VRS 1st Krajina corpus and the Eastern Bosnian Corpus met in the villages of Kornica and Čardak, located between Modriča and Šamac, thereby connecting the two parts of the Republika Srpska. Fighting continued in July 1992 as the VRS captured Modriča (June 28), Derventa (July 7), and Odžak (July 13).

Aftermath

See also: Brčko corridor

Three months later, on 6 October 1992, the VRS captured Bosanski Brod. During the operation, according to official data 293 VRS and RSK soldiers were killed and 1,129 were wounded and according to unchecked sources 1,224 Croatian soldiers were killed and 6,240 were wounded for the period from April to October 1992.

In Prosecutor v. Simić et al, the ICTY prosecution alleged Blagoje Simić, Miroslav Tadić and Simo Zarić were responsible for a number of war crimes committed against the non-Serb population in Bosanski Šamac. The prosecution's specific claim of ethnic cleansing of was not confirmed by the Trial Chamber.

In the initial indictment of Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić, the ICTY prosecution alleged that the two were responsible for the destruction of various towns and villages in the area, including but not limited to Derventa, Bosanski Brod and Odžak.

Sources

• "Judgment: Simić et al. (IT-95-9) "Bosanski Šamac"". ICTY. 2003-10-17. Retrieved 2011-10-29. 
• "Initial Indictment: Prosecutor v. Karadžić and Mladić (IT-95-5-I)". ICTY. July 1995. Retrieved 2011-10-29. 
• ICTY: Simić et al. (IT-95-9) "Bosanski Šamac"