True, Diocletian, and it's good to have you back, BTW! In the south, around Knin, nearly all simply fled over the hills in those directions. And the HV/HVO offensive up through the Livno Valley during the week or so prior did leave an opening for the Krajina Serbs to flee from the Knin area as you said. I remember watching the HV/HVO troop movements there on the maps about a week before Storm and realising this was what they were doing. And if dumb little civvie me could figure it out, anybody could. Nearly all of the 800 IDPs in the Knin compound were elderly, infirm and/or handicapped. They couldn’t easily flee and wound up sheltering in the compound. Also, some had been wounded in the shelling.
But, for everyone in northern Lika (from north of Korenica), and in all of Kordun and Banija, there was only one way out: the Vojnic-Vrginmost-Glina-Dvor route to Bos. Novi -- a long and circuitous route as you well know.
And we all know that route was cut and then the fleeing Serbs backed up into a huge pool around Topusko (there were at last 30,000 in Topusko proper – not a square inch without a person or tractor on it). And all along the road from about Maja down to Dvor, it was a bloody mess. That route was no more by sometime on 6 August (I no longer remember the hour). It was a true mess by 7 August. The Terms of Surrender negotiated on 8 August included the “Op Safe Passage” of 10-12 August through Glina-Moscenica-Sisak and on to Lipovac because that was the only way out left.
Much of the mess on the Glina-Dvor road was the work of ABiH’s 5th Corps. Remember the pile of dead sheep at Zirovac we talked about? That was 5th Corps of course. And they slaughtered a number of elderly Serbs there – I’d guess over 100 in Zirovac and its surrounding hamlets. Ostojici Hamlet was really a disaster. Chopped off some heads, too.
But the Croats did their share, what with the MiGs strafing the “refugee” column and so forth. Certain HV elements acted with extreme heroism and humanity, for example those who actually directed “refugees” out of the killing zone on that road to safety in the village of Pedalj on the “HV side” of the road. There were some ZNG elements who did not act at all honourably on that road, however. And yes, I know, atrocities happen in all wars, no matter who is fighting them, and even moreso in civil wars.
Op Storm was planned and organised as a massive ethnic cleansing, not a mass slaughter. You are right. I couldn’t agree more. And there was a deal between Milosevic and Tudjman. True. And the RSK leadership sold out their own people. It was still ethnic cleansing, though.
And speaking of 5th Corps, what I really, really don’t get is why no one has ever gone after Dudakovic. You Croats could deflect a lot of criticism for Op Storm onto him. And possibly solve the Santic mystery into the bargain?
I spent two days in Bihac last summer, and no one dared speak about Vlado Santic.
The 5th ABiH are the most ungrateful bunch of SOB's around.
Pritchard should go and testify what he knows not only at the trials of the Croats but also at the Milosevic trial (here is Pritchard's Toronto Sun article). To avoid being branded "Milosevic apologist", he should request to testify as "court witness" instead of "witness for the defense" (just as Lord David Owen did, refusing to testify as "prosecution witness"). He perfectly understands the attachment of the Krajina Serbs to their ancestral land and their fear for their lives in the hands of some Croat fanatics. He surely also understands, and should testify so, that the aforementioned reasons were, as far as he can tell, adequate for the creation of RSK and that he never got the impression that Serbs wanted to stay in Krajina because they were somehow convinced or forced by Milosevic to do so for the sake of "Greater Serbia".
The outcome of the Milosevic trial is mainly not about the fate of a flawed politician but about the attempt to grossly distort the historical record . ICTY's primary goal is to absolve Clinton and NATO leaders from their criminal responsibility in the bloody dissolution of Yugoslavia and to ensure that Serbia (essentially the nation as a whole except the DS party and its supporters) is assigned 90% of the blame (10% going to the other local actors). A Milosevic conviction is critical for this gross distortion of history to succeed. The Orwellian "Greater Serbia" absurdity is the core of the indictment. Honest witnesses like Pritchard, Scott Taylor, Gen. MacKenzie, Maj. Gen. Forand and you, wonders, can do a lot to expose it.
All of those soldiers were killed holding open the fork. D.K was killed for the people and not for Martic nor Slobo, but died as an example of honor.
Few years later, the local Croatian rep wrote an unauthorized letter here recalling that fight. DK's Garde recieved a military funeral by the Croatians for their heroism. They gained their respect and others as well.
Martic was feeding the Serbian population the theory how Slobo would rescue them if attacked. In turn, the day-day readiness was non-existant. The VRS sent trooops in to slow the advance til they regrouped. Even Arkans boys raced in, but they deviated from their orders when the slaughter was becoming overkill. They turned-to Rescue Force by holding open roads, corridors and bridges so civilians can pass. They did so against orders for the most part.
People may say what they want about Arkan but if people want to believe the media hype about how "bad" he was, so be it.
He did alot of good for the Serbian Church and people. Bad had to occur for the good to be realized. Unfortunately, alot of the truth is suppressed about the Serbian Krajina being occupied and other events.
As Tropo and I have stated, Knin was pre-arranged to fall along with many other sectors of the RSK.
Truth to be told, when the pre-established lines were breached by the Federation forces, the VRS reversed those grounds and began doling out punishment to the muslims. The Croats stopped where they were supposed to. The muslims got greedy and were smacked down and being wacked good with Croatians providing arty for the advancing Serbs.
When the Serbs were assured by NATO (who were amazed the VRS were able to amount such a formidable counter-attack after the air attacks) the muslims were behaving. Then the Serbs began falling back to the lines pre-arranged.