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Under the pressure of Croatian attacks, the Krajina Serbs prepared in February 1995 a
new plan for the commitment of their armed forces called Gvozd. Th ey anticipated Croatian
attacks to come in segments and believed that the HV did not have the strength for the radical
option - attack on the entire occupied area - and that it would attack instead the edges of the
Krajina, northern Dalmatia and Western Slavonia in order to crush the North Dalmatian
and Western Slavonian Corps. Only then, aft er it had demonstrated its superiority, the
Croatian army would attack the Lika and Kordun corps in cooperation with the ARBiH 5 th
Corps. Th e SVK intended to apply decisive defence, followed by “off ensive operations, also in
cooperation with forces of the VJ and the VRS, focused on crushing ustashi forces along the
lines of attack in Eastern Slavonia, Dalmatia and Gorski Kotar, thus creating conditions for
subsequent off ensive actions in order to establish control and prevent the communication
and supply of the Croatian armed forces and population in Gorski Kotar and Dalmatia”. In
their anticipated counterattack the Krajina Serbs saw an opportunity to seize the Spačva
Forest in Eastern Slavonia and advance to the coast between Šibenik and Biograd. 153
Specijalne Special snage MUP MUP-a RH RH forces na
on Mount Velebitu Velebit
153 VSA MORH: Directive for the commitment of the Serb Army of the Krajina; Op. no. 1, “GVOZD”, February
1995. Annex to the plan of SVK commitment, ˝GVOZD”.
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