the biggest battle in Europe after WW2

[frankie1988]

Operation Storm (Croatian, Bosnian: Operacija Oluja, Serbian: O?e?a??ja O??ja, Operacija Oluja) is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early 1991.[8]

The operation, which took 84 hours, was documented as the largest European land offensive since World War II.[9] It began shortly before dawn on 4 August 1995 and ended with a complete victory for the Croatian forces four days later.

These forces had received instruction by a U.S.-based firm, Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI), headed by retired general Carl Vuono, which provided (along with French Foreign Legion organized training camp in Šepurine near Zadar) mainly the commissioned-officers training, but had no significant intelligence activities or professional influence on senior Croatian military strategy and tactics.[10] Its engagement was approved by the U.S. government.[11]

Former President Bill Clinton wrote in his memoirs that he believed the Serbs could only be brought to the negotiating table if they sustained major losses on the ground.[12] The negotiations produced the Dayton Peace Agreement which ended the war in the Balkans.

Former US peace negotiator Richard Holbrooke said "he realised how much the Croatian offensive in the Krajina profoundly changed the nature of the Balkan game and thus this diplomatic offensive."[13] Retired four-star General Wesley Clark, Director, Strategic Plans and Policy (J5) for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and later Supreme Allied Commander Europe simply called it a turning point.[citation needed]

After the Srebrenica Massacre, there were concerns over the recurrence of the massacre in the Biha? pocket area, where the population of Bosniaks was four times larger than in Srebrenica and which was surrounded and under attack by Bosnian Serb and Croatian Serb forces.

Approximately 150,000 to 200,000[14] Serbs fled approaching Croat forces to Serb-held parts of Bosnia and Serbia. The European Union Special Envoy to the Former Yugoslavia Carl Bildt called it on 7 August 1995, "the most efficient ethnic cleansing we've seen in the Balkans."[15] The Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Bildt's assessment was "unfounded."[16] German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel released a statement expressing "regret" about the offensive but added, "We can't forget that the years of Serb aggression ... have sorely tried Croatia's patience."[17] The United States government called for "restraint," but said the military operation had been "provoked initially by a Krajina Serb attack on the Muslim enclave of Biha?."[17] The military operations by the army continued in Bosnia-Herzegovina under Operation Mistral.

Three Croatian generals, Ante Gotovina, Ivan ?ermak and Mladen Marka?, alleged to have been involved in the planning and execution of Operation Storm, were indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and are on trial in the Hague on charges of operating a joint criminal enterprise for the purpose of permanently removing the Serb population from the Krajina by force and of crimes against humanity[18]

The Croatian government maintained the operation was justified on the grounds that a sovereign state has the right to be in control of its own territory. The government also insisted that Croatian Serbs not involved in "war crimes" would be able to return to the area.[19]

In Croatia, the 5th of August is celebrated as a national holiday, Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving and the day of Croatian Defenders.

Croatian forces and allies

Croatian Army (HV):

* 130,000 strong

o 80,000 soldiers in brigades, 70,000 in home guard regiments (domobranske pukovnije)

o 2nd echelon, 50,000

o 3rd echelon, 25 brigades

* 280 T-55 and 80 M-84 tanks

* 800 heavy artillery pieces

* 45-50 rocket launchers

* 18 MiG-21 "Fishbed" fighter jets

* 5 Mi-8 "Hip" transport helicopters

* 12 Mi-24D "Hind" attack helicopters

Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH):

* 5th Corps (Biha? pocket forces — five Mountain Infantry brigades)

* 25,000 soldiers est.

* 15 T-55 tanks

* 80 heavy artillery pieces

[edit] Serbian forces and allies

Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina (VRSK)

* 40,000 strong

o 20,000 1st echelon

o 10,000 2nd echelon

o 10,000 3rd echelon

* 400 tanks (30 M-84, 2 T-72 MBT's, +200 T-55 + some T-34/85 tanks)

* 160 APC's and IFV's (M-60P, M-80A, BTR-50, BRDM-2 and BOV APC)

* 560 artillery pieces

* 28 Multi-rocket launchers (M-63 Plamen, M-77 Oganj and M-87 Orkan)

* 18 Soko Gazelle and Mi-8 helicopters

* 360 air defence weapons (SA-2, SA-7, SA-9, ZSU-57-2, BOV-3, Bofors L/70)

* 25 aircraft (G-2 Galeb, J-21 Jastreb, J-20 Kraguj and Utva 66)

Army of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia

* 10,000 strong (?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oIY8jEjn3o

[BASTIAN]

i think a discussion is to meany. how old you are to talk over this?

[frankie1988]

i think a discussion is to meany. how old you are to talk over this?

why would it be meany, it is a part of history,.. no one can said it isnt, and today is the anniversary of that operation so it is convinient,...

I am old enough to gradute philosophy historic college, and to start teaching on fax