Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
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| Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) |
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 Crest of Army of The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
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| Founded | April 15, 1992 |
| Disbanded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Leadership | |
| Commander-in-Chief | Alija Izetbegović (The Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Armed Forces) |
| Chief of staff | Rasim Delić |
| Related articles | |
| History | Operation Storm Bosnian War |
| Ranks | Military ranks and insignia of Bosnia |
The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH; Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine) was a military force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina established by the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 following the outbreak of the Bosnian War. Following the end of the war, and the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995, it was transformed into Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Under the State Defense Reform Law the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina were unified in to a single structure OSBiH making entity armies defunct.
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[edit] Creation and Composition
The Army of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was formed on April 15, 1992 during the early days of the Bosnian War. Before the ARBiH was officially created, a number of paramilitary and civil defense groups. The Patriotic League (PL) and the local Territorial Defence (TO) were the official army while groups such as the Zelene Beretke (Green Berets) and Crni Labudovi (Black Swans) units has been founded. Other irregular groups included criminal groups, as well as collections of police and former Yugoslav People's Army soldiers.
The army was formed in poor circumstances, and suffered from a very limited supply of arms. Critical deficiencies included tanks and other heavy weaponry. The first commander of the army was Sefer Halilović.
[edit] Corps and Generals
The army was divided into Corps, each stationed in a particular territory. In 1993, most brigades were renamed as Mountain troops given that the lack of heavy weapons made it organizationally pointless to list them as infantry or motorized. In addition, Bosnian terrain favored light infantry over armored and mechanized formations.
[edit] Corps
- 1st Corps: Sarajevo (HQ), Goražde
- 2nd Corps: Tuzla (HQ), Doboj, Bijeljina, Srebrenica, Žepa, Zvornik
- 3rd Corps: Zenica (HQ), Tešanj, Gornji Vakuf, Vitez, Visoko and Lašva Valley
- 4th Corps: Mainly Mostar (HQ) but also consisting of Livno, Tomislavgrad and Trebinje
- 5th Corps: Bihać (HQ), Bužim, and Bosanska Krajina
- 6th Corps: Konjic (HQ)
- 7th Corps: Jajce and Travnik (HQ)
[edit] Generals
- Alija Izetbegović (The Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Armed Forces)
- Hasan Efendić (First commander of the Bosnian Forces TO)
- Sefer Halilović (Commander of Main Staff of the Bosnian Army 1992-1993)
- Rasim Delić (Commander of Main Staff of the Bosnian army 1993-1995)
- Jovan Divjak (deputy of the ARBIH commander 1992-1995)
- Stjepan Šiber (deputy of the ARBIH commander 1992-1995)
[edit] Corps commanders
- Mustafa Hajrulahović Talijan (first commander of the 1st Corps)
- Vahid Karavelić (second commander of the 1st Corps)
- Nedžad Ajnadžić(third commander of the 1st Corps)
- Željko Knez (first commander of the 2nd Corps)
- Hazim Šadić (second commander of the 2nd Corps)
- Sead Delić (third commander of the 2nd Corps)
- Enver Hadžihasanović (first commander of the 3rd Corps)
- Mehmed Alagić (second commander of the 3rd Corps, first commander of the 7th corps)
- Kadir Jusić (third commander of the 3rd Corps)
- Sakib Mahmuljin (fourth commander of the 3rd Corps)
- Arif Pašalić (first commander of the 4th Corps)
- Sulejman Budaković "Tetak" (second commander of the 4th Corps)
- Ramiz Dreković (first commander of the 5th Corps, third commander of the 4th corps)
- Atif Dudaković (second commander of the 5th Corps)
- Salko Gušić (first commander of the 6th Corps)
- Galib Hodžić (second commander of the 6th Corps)
- Blaž Kraljević (Commander of HOS and member of the Bosnian Army Chiefs of Staff)
[edit] Bosnian War
[edit] 1992
In 1992, 70% of Bosnia was under JNA (Yugoslav People's Army), and then later VRS (Bosnian Serb Army), control. Sarajevo was under siege. The ARBiH had defended Sarajevo with light weaponry. The army was surrounded and the transfer of supplies was hard, if not impossible.
[edit] 1993
1993 saw no major changes in the front lines against Serbs. Instead, this year marked the start of the Croat-Bosniak war in Central Bosnia and in Herzegovina, notably the Mostar region. Pressured and contained by heavily armed Serb forces in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia, Croat forces - HVO (Croatian Defence Council) shifted their focus from defending their parts of Bosnia from Serbs to trying to capture remaining territory held by Bosnian Army. It is widely believed that this was due to the Karađorđevo agreement reached between presidents Slobodan Miloševi and Franjo Tuđman to split Bosnia between Croatia and Serbia. In order to accomplish this Croatian forces would have to defeat the Bosnian Army, since the territory that they wanted was under Bosnian government control. HVO with great engagement from the Military of Republic of Croatia and material support from Serbs, attacked Bosniak civilian population in Herzegovina and in central Bosnia starting an ethnic cleansing of Bosniak populated territories (e.g. Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing). Vastly underequipped Bosnian forces, fighting on two fronts, were able to repel Croats and gain territory against them on every front. At this time, due to its geographic position, Bosnia was surrounded by Croat and Serb forces from all sides. There was no way to Import weapons or food. What saved Bosnia at this time was its vast Industrial complex (Steel and Heavy Industries) that was able to switch to military hardware production. After a short but bloody war and once Croats realized that their partnership with Serbs will not bring them any territorial gains they agreed to the US leadership's "Washington treaty" peace agreement. From that point on, Croat and Bosnian government forces continued to fight as allies against Serbs.
[edit] 1994
A renewed alliance between HVO and ARBiH was agreed, with the objective of forming a strong force that could fight the much stronger and better equipped VRS. This was the time of frequent peace negotiations.
[edit] 1995
Despite the loss of several enclaves, notably Srebrenica, 1995 was marked by HVO and ARBiH offensives and later by NATO intervention. The Croatian army, with cooperation from ARBiH and HVO, launched a series of operations: Flash, Summer '95, Storm and Mistral. In conjunction, Bosnian forces launched operations Sana and Una '95. Bosnian and Croat armies were on the offensive in this phase, captured entire western Bosnia, and the Serb capital Banja Luka was seriously threatened, until peace negotiations stopped further bloodshed.
In the period of August-December 1995, Serb forces were defeated and driven out of the majority of Croatia and western Bosnia, and the ethnic Serb population fled from these parts.
Following the second Markale massacre, NATO intervention was launched, which destroyed much of the VRS infrastructure in just a few days (Operation Deliberate Force). The war ended with the signing of the Dayton Accord.
[edit] Further reading
- Hoare, Marko Attila, How Bosnia Armed, London: Saqi, 2004
- Magas, Branka and Ivo Zanic, The War in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1991-1995, London: Frank Cass, 2001
- Divjak, Jovan, Sarajevo, Mon Amour, Paris: Buchet Chastel, 2004
[edit] External links
- Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian & English)
- Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian & English)
- Blogs of former soldiers and their stories
- Bore oko očiju (Bosnian, English, & French)
- Ponor (Bosnian)
- Umor (Bosnian)
- Za Tebe (Bosnian)
