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Croatia in the diffi cult circumstances imposed by the Serbian rebellion and the allegedly
neutral and actually pro-Serbian actions of the JNA. Its fi rst task was the defence of the
Republic of Croatia, and aft er 1992 its strategic mission became the reintegration of the
rebel-controlled and occupied regions into the constitutional system of the Republic of
Croatia. Th e Croatian Army had no clear-cut or offi cial strategy during the war, although
the matter was being studied by the Ministry of Defence. 13 Croatian intentions were
also hampered by the demanding character of the territory of the Republic of Croatia
under the control of legal authorities from the standpoint of military considerations, i.e.,
defence and engagement of forces. Th e Serbian claim that “in today’s Europe there is no
country comparable with Croatia in terms of the unfavourable set-up of its territory”
was not far from the truth. 14
By the second half of 1994 the structuring of the Croatian Army was fi nally completed,
and with minor changes the setup was maintained until the end of the war. It comprised
the various command, institutions and units. Th e umbrella command body was the
HV General Staff , which controlled six corps districts (ZPs) and one war theatre, units
directly subordinated to the General Staff , the Croatian Air Force and Air Defence
and the Croatian Navy. Th e corps district was an operational group with a standing
structure including HV reserve units and Home Guard units. In principle it consisted
of various commands, a motorized Guards brigade, 3 to 6 HV infantry brigades, 3 to 6
Home Guard regiments, a logistic base, artillery support battalions, anti-armour and
air defence units, and a number of smaller units. Some corps districts (ZP Zagreb, Split
and Gospić) included one Guards brigade, ZP Osijek had two Guards brigades, and
ZP Karlovac and Bjelovar none. Th e last two corps districts were also smaller than the
others. Th e units directly subordinated to the HV General Staff included the 1 st and
7 th Guards Motorized Brigade, the 15 th Anti-armour Artillery-rocket Brigade, the 16 th
Artillery-rocket Brigade, the 33 rd Engineer Brigade, the 40 th Communications Regiment
and several smaller branch units. 15 Th e main HV forces were the seven Guards brigades,
while reserve units includes 28 infantry brigades and 38 Home Guard regiments. 16 Th e
organic HV structure did not include the 1 st Croatian Guards Corps which included
a combat unit, the 1 st Croatian Guards Brigade. 17 In December 1994 the HV had 320
artillery support 105 to 203 mm pieces - 52.81% of its organic requirements. 18 Aft er
Operation Flash the army had 393 armoured vehicles, out of which 232 tanks. 19
13 Cf., e.g., «Hrvatska strategija obrane» (Croatian Defence Strategy), Centar za strateška istraživanja (Centre for
Strategic Studies), MORH, Zagreb, 1995.
14 Radovan Radinović, «Realna pretnja na delu» (Real Th reat at Work), Vojska Krajine, 4-5, July-August 1993, 7.
15 Central Military Archives of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia (SVA MORH), holdings of the
Political Directorate: GSHV, cl. 8/93-02/04; reg. no. 512-96-05-93-28 of 4 February 1993; Decision on the division of
RH into Corps Districts; SVA MORH, holdings of the Cabinet of the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Croatia
(KMORH): MORH, cl. str. conf. 801-01/93-02/02, reg. no. 512-01-93-320 of 16 February 1993; mobilization and
deployment of the RH armed forces in peacetime conditions.
16 SVA MORH, GSHV: GSHV, HV combat readiness report, December 1994.
17 SVA MORH, GSHV: RH, the President, no. PA7-61/1-94 of 31 March 1994; Decision; SVA MORH, GSHV: MORH,
cl. SP 801-01/94-03, reg. no. 512-01-94-1259 of 29 March 1994; Amendments to the mobilization, deployment and
organic OS RH structure.
18 SVA MORH, GSHV: Materiel Report - Support Artillery, 15 December 1994.
19 SVA MORH, GSHV: cl. 512-06-04/5-95, reg. no. 813-07/95-02/10 of 5 July 1995; Report on HV armoured forces.
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