President Milanović Takes Part in Column of Remembrance and Operation Baranja Commemoration
“Operation Baranja is among the operations that the Croatian public knows less about. It didn’t end as planned and fifteen of our men died, but some lessons were learned for later and future victories were built on them,” said the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanović, who participated today in a ceremony commemorating the 32nd anniversary of Operation Baranja.
“This was the first more ambitious operation after the Sarajevo Armistice in 1992, after which Croatian victories followed. This operation, unfortunately, was not a victory, but it is worth remembering and worth talking about more. There are events from the Homeland War that have been unfairly pushed aside. Operation Baranja is one of them, and that is why I am here today,” added President Milanović after laying a wreath at the Memorial to the fallen members of the 107th Croatian Army Brigade in Baranja.
Operation Baranja was a military and police operation of the Croatian Army in April 1992. Its goal was the liberation of Baranja, which was then under the control of the Yugoslav People’s Army and rebel Croatian Serbs. In the operation, which 32 years ago attempted to liberate the so-called Baranja triangle, the 107th Croatian Army Brigade fought its biggest battle. About 1,800 Croatian defenders participated in the operation to return the occupied territory to the constitutional legal order of the Republic of Croatia. Fifteen members of the brigade were killed and 85 were wounded.
Earlier, the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces took part in the traditional solemn procession commemorating the 32nd anniversary of Operation Baranja, the largest military and police operation of the 107th Croatian Army Brigade. The procession moved from the 107th Croatian Army Brigade Bridge in Belišće to the Memorial to the fallen members of the 107th Croatian Army Brigade in Baranja.
After the procession, at the Memorial to the fallen members of the 107th Croatian Army Brigade on the left bank of the Drava River, the President of the Republic, delegations from the Government, Parliament, Osijek-Baranja County, the army and police, municipalities and towns, and Homeland War associations, laid wreaths and lit candles in memory of the fallen members of the brigade. President Milanović was accompanied by Marijan Mareković, Special Adviser to the President of the Republic for Homeland War Veterans.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan