Arhiva oznaka: ZNG

STIPO PILIĆ: JEDAN POGLED NA BITKU ZA VUKOVAR 1991.

Ovih dana hrvatski građani obilježavaju 26. obljetnicu okupacije grada Vukovara i zločina nad tamošnjim stanovnicima i braniteljima. Stoga naše čitatelje podsjećamo na raniji tekst našeg člana Stipe Pilića, profesora povijesti i hrvatskog branitelja čiji su članovi obitelji također sudjelovali u obrani Vukovara. Nastavi čitati STIPO PILIĆ: JEDAN POGLED NA BITKU ZA VUKOVAR 1991.

JEDAN POGLED NA BITKU ZA VUKOVAR 1991.

Piše: Stipo Pilić, prof. povijesti i geografije

Autor posvećuje ovaj rad svim vukovarskim braniteljima

U ovom ću radu dati svoje viđenje bitke za Vukovar kroz dosadašnju literaturu i memoarske radove. Cilj ovog rada nije znanstveni, nego više jedna vrsta pregleda, ali ovo je poticaj za budućnost i jedan ozbiljniji i kvalitetniji rad.

 Uvod 

Bitku za Vukovar se od početka nastojalo relativizirati i instrumentalizirati za privatne, grupne, državne i razne političke ciljeve. To nije čudno, jer središtima „većih“ i „manjih“ moći svaka pojava sile i moći izvan njihova dosega i nadzora ugrožava, slabi i uništava njihovu moć. U tom smislu odnos prema toj bitki, kao uostalom prema svim događajima većeg značenja do danas stalno se pokušava relativizirati, instrumentalizirati, politizirati i na tim osnovama ideologizirati. Zato nije slučajno da su ti pokušaji od početka išli ne samo od političkih struktura, njihovih obavještajnih poluga i središta, nego i od znanstvenih ustanova i to hrvatskih, a na žalost i od hrvatskih povjesničara koji kotiraju visoko kao Hrvati u znanstvenim i društveno-političkim krugovima Hrvatske. To samo po sebi govori kako i koliko je povijest „službena“, a kako i koliko doista polazi od izvora, dokumenata i činjenica i na njima razvija priču i dolazi do spoznaja i zaključaka.

Nema sumnje da je bitka za Vukovar ključna i najznačajnija bitka Domovinskog oslobodilačkog rata od 1991.-1995., iako je u Hrvatskoj te 1991. bilo još značajnih i znamenitih bitki koje su imale važno i značajno mjesto kao što je bitka za Dubrovnik, Šibenik, Gospić, Karlovac, Sisak, Pakrac ili Osijek. Sve su one na svoj način vrijedne i važne, sva su ta mjesta također geopolitički važna i značajna, ali na vrhu prije i poslije svih je bitka za Vukovar. Dapače, osobno smatram da je to najvažnija i najznačajnija bitka koju je hrvatska nacija vodila u cijeloj novovjekovnoj povijesti od XVI. st. do danas. Nastavi čitati JEDAN POGLED NA BITKU ZA VUKOVAR 1991.

The Battle of Nuštar: The First and Last Line of Defence of the City of Vinkovci

By dr. Peter Anthony Ercegovac, PhD

Autor posvećuje ovaj rad svim pripadnicima HOS-a iz Vinkovaca i Nuštra koji su branili Nuštar, a time Vinkovce i Hrvatsku

Nuštar from the very beginning of the war found itself in an awkward strategic position, being a Croatian village surrounded by villages with majority ethnic Serbian populations. Already as hostilities began in July 1991 throughout Eastern Slavonia and Baranja local authorities began to reorganise civil defence along military lines. Volunteers were sought from the local community to man guard posts along major traffic routes and the periphery of the town in order to scout the activities of the JNA[1]. Most were young people in their late teens and early twenties. Though young they came from many forms of life: students, agricultural workers, labourers as well as doctors and schoolteachers. Whilst the first initial defence positions were established the population of the village slowly withered away as families and elderly people left to more secure Croatian cities behind the front lines.

With the front lines between ethnically divided villages solidifying the rebel Serbs with assistance of the JNA began 24 hour bombing of the village in July. This followed the classic tactics of the JNA based on the Ottoman-Turkish concept of Akrim or scorched earth policy. First, the JNA would surround a town, then evacuate as many members of Serbian ethnicity as possible, once it was established that all “friendlies” had left then they would proceed with grid based artillery (both heavy and light) carpet bombing of a town until it was left as rubble. All this was designed to lay waste to defensive positions of enemy combatants in order to allow for open space for a full frontal ground force attack accompanied by tanks.

Why Nuštar was of strategic importance for the JNA was that it was a strategic logistics point for the ZNG[2] to replenish supplies in manpower, food and medicines for the city of Vukovar, which was one of the more important goals of JNA strategists. Essentially, JNA strategists believed that if the ethnically mixed city of Vukovar along the Danube would quickly fall then JNA forces would have open tank land before them all the way to Osijek, the regional capital of Slavonia and eventually Zagreb the Croatian capital. Much of these plans were based upon the routes of the Srijem Front, which the Soviet Red Army followed in its conquest of the German and her allied armies whilst retreating through the former Yugoslavia from 1944 to 1945. In fact during the 1980s many war games had been played by the JNA using the very same lines of attack in case of a foreign incursion from the West by NATO forces. All aggressive defensive strategies played out during these war games were done so from east to west- from the Socialist Republic of Serbia through the SR Croatia and SR Slovenia to the Austrian and Italian borders. Nastavi čitati The Battle of Nuštar: The First and Last Line of Defence of the City of Vinkovci