storm - Hrvatski memorijalno-dokumentacijski centar Domovinskog ...

Of course, the number of Serbian suicides must also be determined accurately
because sources have shown that such cases were not rare either. 11 Another question
is the suff ering of the Serbs in the refugee columns because civilians were mixed with
soldiers, and tractors and cars with tanks. Moreover, many people not wearing uniforms
(“civilians”) were armed. Croatian soldiers remembered being shot at by civilians from
various weapons and attacked with grenades. 12 Th e same goes for the list of the torched
and plundered houses abandoned by the Serbs because sources show that some of the
property (homes, buildings) was set on fi re by the Serbs as they fl ed during Storm. 13
11 Th is is also borne out by the reporter’s interview with a Serbian refugee who fl ed Croatia:...While he [the
Serbian refugee] was telling me about the many suicides during their fl ight, babies and old people who
had died, about the lack of bread and water, his fellow refugee sternly warned us that the stuff could not be
published, that everything was alright but that it was forbidden to write anything about it. Who forbade it,
I asked, but he just shrugged and went away... An old man, seventy-three, killed himself. He just got off the
road into a maize fi eld and killed himself with a grenade... Th e bridge at Nova Grada was destroyed, and a
women killed herself there. When we got to the bridge, she just jumped into the water, poor soul (“Progoni
istočno od raja”/Persecutions East of Eden; Intervju; 367, 25 August 1995). Here is part of the moving story
of Radmila Dragičević (34): Five babies died in our column, and many old people; we left them by the road
because they told us that ambulances would collect them. Miloš Bradaš (39): A man who had no more fuel
in his tractor, probably deranged, took out a gun and killed his wife, their two children and then himself.
Th ey tried to stop him, but failed. (“Ljudi s traktora”/Th e people on the tractors; Nin, 2329, 18 August 1995,
29). An old refugee also described the chaos in the Serbian refugee columns fl eeing Croatia: In the Topusko
pocket we heard that the Muslims were slaughtering everybody at Glina. Chaos followed, people cried,
moaned, armed and drunken soldiers threatened, two men killed themselves. Th en the police from Kordun
restored order. Th ey beat people with sticks... (Milena Marković, “Kroz psovke i batine”/Th rough Curses
and Beating; Večernje novosti, 15 August 1995). Testimony of Višnja, 32: We were in the column from 5 to
10 August 1995. We just stood on the spot or moved slowly. We had food, what we had taken along, but I
could hardly eat. I lost my appetite because of everything that had happened to us. We heard that there had
been some negotiations and that we should move on. Th ey formed us into rank, set the column in order
(Croatian militia) and ordered everyone to leave their weapons because the border could not be crossed with
weapons. Th ey let people take the fuel from the remaining tanks, but not weapons. Some people could not
bear being separated from their weapons and committed suicide... (Žene Krajine - rat, egzodus i izbeglištvo/
Th e Women of Krajina - War, Exodus and Exile/, Belgrade, 1996, 287).
12 Th is is borne out by the example, amply covered by the media, of grandmother Danica Obradović (shown
on the “Krajina television” aft er the Medak Pocket operation), but also by the moving story of the widow
Marina, 27: ... Near my house [village of Kašić in the Zadar hinterland] there is a hill from which we could
see everybody approaching. We had a ‘broing’ [Browning]. I shot from it. Th at was an antiaircraft gun capable
of mowing down anything. Th e people put in the bullets and set everything up, and I handled it... I had
to think of my children. But where there were no men for the village guards, I never refused guard duty... (V.
Nikolić-Ristanović, S. Konstantinović-Vilić, N. Mrvić-Petrović, I. Stevanović, B. Knežić, Žene Krajine - rat,
egzodus i izbeglištvo/Th e Women of Krajina - War, Exodus and Exile/; Belgrade, 1996, 79). Testimonies of
other women also suggest that quite a few civilians in the so-called RSK, including women, were armed.
Th us, in the story about her tragedy and exile, Neda (born 1954) mentioned that she had taken “her weapons
along because everyone had it” (Th e Women of Krajina, 263). Faced with a similar situation, Desanka (55),
“grabbed a bag and stuff ed some bare necessities into it; I also took along a hunting gun, but no documents”
(Th e Women of Krajina, 283).
13 Th is is borne out by the statements of the Serbian refugees aft er Storm: ... According to Politika (Belgrade
daily), a soldier from Kninsko Polje, who had been given leave just before the attack to go home and clean
up, “packed” all the people in his hamlet (40) into a large trailer truck and drove them to Belgrade. Only
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