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Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine |
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 Crest of Army of The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
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| Branches of service | |
| Leadership | |
| Headquarters: | Sarajevo, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Commander-in-Chief: | Alija Izetbegovic (The Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Armed Forces) |
| Minister of Defense: | Sefer Halilović |
| Secretary of Defense: | Jovan Divjak |
| Civilian authority: | Stjepan Šiber |
| Personnel | |
| Industry | |
| History | |
| Founded: | April 15, 1992 |
| Organized as current: | November 21, 1995 joined the HVO to become the Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Disbanded: | 2005 joined forces of the Army of Republika Srpska to become the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
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Operation Storm Bosnian War |
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| Ranks and insignia | |
| Military ranks and insignia of Bosnia
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The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH; Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine) was an official 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.
Contents |
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.
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.
- 1st Corps: Sarajevo (HQ), Goražde
- 2nd Corps: Tuzla (HQ), Doboj, Bijeljina, Srebrenica, 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)
- Alija Izetbegović (The Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Armed Forces)
- Hasan Efendić (First commander of the Bosnian Forces TO)
- Sefer Halilović (Supreme ARBIH commander 1992-1993)(Army chief of staff 1992-1995)
- Jovan Divjak (deputy of the ARBIH commander)(Army chief of staff 1992-1995)
- Stjepan Šiber (deputy of the ARBIH commander)(army chief of staff 1992-1995)
- Rasim Delić (Supreme ARBIH commander 1993-1995)(Army chief of staff 1993-1995)
- Enver Hadžihasanović (First commande rof the 3rd Corps)(Chief of Staff)
- Mustafa Hajrulahović Talijan (first commander of the 1st Corps)
- Atif Dudaković (second commander of the 5th Corps)
- Ramiz Dreković (first commander of the 4th Corps)
- Mehmed Alagić (first commander of the 7th Corps)
- Željko Knez (first commander of the 2nd Corps)
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.
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 wast Industrial complex (Steel and Heavy Industries) that were 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.
A renewed alliance between HVO and ARBiH was agreed, with the objective of forming a strong force that could fight the much stronger and equipped VRS. This was the time of frequent peace negotiations.
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.
- 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
- 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)