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of access to Benkovac. 177 Along the Miranje - Vukšić - Parčić line the 134 th Home Guard
Regiment (minus one battalion) made no progress. 178 Th e 7 th Home Guard Regiment
was able to achieve some advances in the area of Zemunik Gornji: in the morning it
seized the line it had held before the signing of the Zagreb Agreement, then liberated
the hamlets of Goleš and Banići and almost reached Potkosa. 179 In the Paljuv - Smiljčić
sector the HV 112 th Brigade achieved a breakthrough at the village of Pridraga. 180
Th e forces on the Velebit range - the 2 nd Battalion of the 9 th Guards Brigade, reinforced
with a company of the 7 th Home Guard Regiment and the 2 nd Battalion of the 134 th Home
Guard Regiment - attacked along the lines Gornja Bukva - Modrići and Bukovo Pleće -
Tulove Grede - Bužanjkin Vrh. Aft er stiff Serbian resistance the battalion seized the area
Dulibe - Tulove Grede thus facilitating the use of the communication Obrovac - Mali
Alan - Sveti Rok. 181
In the night of August 4 there was no further movement of Croatian forces towards
Knin, in which the political and military leadership of the RSK was considering decisions
of fateful importance for the survival of their para-state. In order to stop the Croatian
attack towards Knin from Bosansko Grahovo one battalion of the 75 th Motorized
Brigade was to be committed in the morning of 5 August. Th e Supreme Council decided
to evacuate the population from Dalmatia and the southern part of Lika. As it soon
turned out, it meant the withdrawal of the entire population and RSK troops, leading to
direct collapse. Late in the night of 4 August the SVK General Staff abandoned Knin and
moved to the village of Srb. 182 Th e next day, on 5 August, the North Dalmatian Corps
almost ceased to exist, the fi rst of the SVK operational formations to be eliminated. Th e
fate of the Corps and of its operations were described best in the assessment of the HV
6 th Home Guard Regiment, which states that “hostile forces no longer exist and are not
active; remnants of hostile forces in the form of individuals or more or less organized
groups are no longer present as a collective enemy”. 183
Th e assault of Croatian forces continued in the morning on 5 August. For the second
time in less than ten days the Split Corps repeated the successful model applied in
the fi ghting for Bosansko Grahovo, seized by the parallel action of the HV 4 th and 7 th
Brigades. Th e route towards Strmica was blocked by the Th ird Tactical Group of the SVK
North Dalmatian Corps which had begun to crumble the night before. Th e 4 th Guards
177 M. Sekulić, “Knin je pao u Beogradu” (Knin Fell in Belgrade), 196-197, 201.
178 SVA MORH, ZP Split Command, IZM Zadar, cl. 81/95-01/12, reg. no. 1080-01-95-267 of 4 August 1995;
Report. SVA MORH, GSHV: ZP Split, cl. 81/95/01/19, reg. no. 1080/5-01-95-35 of 4 August 1995; Report by
1200 hours; SVA MORH, ZP Split Command: ZP Split, cl.81/95/01/16, reg. no. 1080-01-95-226 of 4 August
1995; Daily report.
179 MORH, GSHV: APO 8312 Zadar, cl. str. conf. 81/95-01/01, reg. no. 8312-01-95-443 of 4 August 1995;
Report. MORH, GSHV: APO 8312 Zadar, cl. str. conf. 81/95t-01/12, reg. no. 8312-01-95-03 of 4 August
1995; Report.
180 SVA MORH, ZTP Split Command: APO 3178/9 Zadar, cl. 818-04/95-01/18, reg. no. 3178/9-31-95-29 of
11 August 1995; Report.
181 SVA MORH, ZP Split Command: APO 3178/9 Zadar, cl. 818-04/95-01-01/18, reg. no. 3178/9-31-95-29
of 11 August 1995; Report.
182 M. Sekulić, «Knin je pao u Beogradu» (Knin Fell in Belgrade), 178-182.
183 MORH, GSHV: APO 8311 Split, cl. 81/95-01/01, reg. no. 8311-01-01/95-464 of 5 August 1995; Regular
daily report.
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