In 1991, turbulent political events continued on the territory of the SR of Croatia. Aware of the intentions of the Croatian leadership, which was rushing toward the breakup of Yugoslavia and secession, the Serbs continued their intensive political organization. Thus, in \u0160idski Banovci (near Vukovar), as early as January 7, 1991, the Serbian National Council of Slavonia, Baranja, and Western Syrmia was founded. Serbian institutions advocated for remaining within Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n
At a joint session of the aforementioned council and the Executive Council of the SAO Krajina, held on February 28, the Resolution on the Disassociation of the Republic of Croatia and the SAO Krajina was adopted. It emphasized that the Serbian people in Krajina and Croatia \"have no reason whatsoever to separate from the Yugoslav state,\" but rather wish to remain \"in the state of Yugoslavia, that is, in a common state with the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as with the Serbian people in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other nations and republics that accept a common state.\"<\/p>\n
The events that followed increasingly led to war. Meanwhile, an entire chain of weapons smuggling intended for Croatian secessionists and attacks on the JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) was uncovered. For instance, on January 25, 1991, television broadcast footage clearly showing how this was organized by Martin \u0160pegelj, the Minister of Defense of the SR of Croatia. The very next day, Zvonko Ostoji\u0107, the main witness to the recorded weapons smuggling, was killed in Borovo.<\/p>\n
The first armed conflict on the soil of the former SR of Croatia occurred in Pakrac on March 2, 1991, when the Croatian police carried out an operation to regain control of the local police station, which had previously been attached to the Secretariat of Internal Affairs (SUP) of the SAO Krajina by the Serbian militia on February 28. The next significant event that led to the flaring up of the conflict took place in late March in the area of the Plitvice Lakes National Park, where Croatian police forces had attempted to establish control back in February. During the armed clashes on March 31, 1991, the first casualties fell on both sides. On the side of the SAO Krajina, militiaman Rajko Vukadinovi\u0107 was killed, and on the Croatian side, police officer Josip Jovi\u0107. This event is remembered by its ominous name, the so-called Bloody Easter at Plitvice, as it occurred at the dawn of the greatest Christian holiday\u2014Easter.<\/p>\n
A series of incidents and conflicts followed. After news spread on May 2, 1991, that a Croatian police officer had been killed near Pola\u010da, close to Benkovac, a destructive mob appeared on the streets of Zadar, leading to the so-called Zadar Kristallnacht. Shops, businesses, private homes, and other properties belonging to Zadar Serbs were smashed and vandalized. This was an increasingly clear escalation of national intolerance, which more and more frequently culminated in crimes. On that same day, a major conflict broke out in Borovo near Vukovar. During an attack by Croatian forces and the ensuing clash with local Serbs, led by the commander of the Borovo Selo Defense Staff Vuka\u0161in \"Vule\" \u0160o\u0161ko\u0107anin, 12 members of the Special Police Unit (PJP) from the Vinkovci Police Administration were killed, and 28 Croatian police officers were wounded.<\/p>\n
During anti-army demonstrations held in front of the Naval District Command in Split on May 6, 1991, a conscripted soldier, Sa\u0161o Ge\u0161ovski (an ethnic Macedonian), was killed. He was the first JNA member to die in the conflicts in the SR of Croatia amidst the collapse and dismantling of socialist Yugoslavia. Horrifying scenes from the protests, including the later strangulation of a soldier on the streets of Split, were captured by TV cameras and circulated throughout Yugoslavia in those days. Besides the Serbs in those areas, these were clear messages that JNA members had also found themselves in a highly unfavorable and hostile environment, especially in urban centers with a Croatian majority within the SR of Croatia, where significant paramilitary forces had already been organized.<\/p>\n
On August 20, 1991, the government of the SAO Krajina passed a Decision to establish a unified system of the Territorial Defense (TO) of Krajina, the Armed Forces of Krajina, as part of the unified armed forces system of the SFRY. By virtue of his position, Milan Babi\u0107 was appointed TO commander, Milan Marti\u0107 as his deputy, and Ilija \u0110uji\u0107, a retired JNA general, as the first Chief of Staff.<\/p>\n
The Battle of Vukovar began on August 25 and lasted for nearly three months. It became clear that things had gone too far and that Croatia and Yugoslavia had become the battleground of a bloody civil war. In the massive, months-long battles for Vukovar, it became a ruined city and a graveyard for a large number of both Serbs and Croats. War crimes were also committed by both sides there. Because fierce resistance was offered in the city at the confluence of the Vuka and the Danube, the Armed Forces of the SFRY struck Vukovar on a very significant scale, involving 11 brigades. The organized defense by Croatian forces in Vukovar ceased on the night between November 16 and 17, and Yugoslav troops took control of the center of Vukovar on November 18, 1991.<\/p>\n
On the political front, a major series of events and decisions also took place. On June 25, 1992 , Croatia and Slovenia unilaterally declared state independence. Serbs continued with organizing efforts that would enable their survival within Yugoslavia and disassociation from Croatia. For example, on August 12, 1991, a decision was made to form the Serbian Autonomous Province of Western Slavonia, even though the annexation to the SAO Krajina had been declared a few months earlier in Pakrac and Daruvar. The Croatian side continued with intensive political steps toward a split, and at a joint session of all councils of the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia, held on October 8, 1991, the Decision on the Severance of State and Legal Ties was adopted, based on which it had, together with other republics and provinces, formed the former SFRY.<\/p>\n
During the autumn, Croatian authorities and military structures organized the cutoff of all utility services and other supplies to barracks and other JNA facilities in urban areas. Active and passive blockades of barracks and warehouses were also organized, as well as of all routes used by the Yugoslav army. This marked the so-called Battle of the Barracks. Surrounded facilities were subjected to daily active infantry and artillery attacks. The consequence of such events was a number of murders and crimes, one of which occurred on the Korana bridge near Karlovac, when 13 JNA soldiers of Serbian nationality were massacred on September 21, 1991. These major offensive actions, constant pressure on soldiers, officers, and their families, accompanied by crimes and the withdrawal of the JNA from encirclement in an effort to preserve personnel, resulted in the capture of a large number of barracks, weapons, and other resources, and their transfer into the hands of Croatian forces. During September and October, battles began around Dubrovnik and in the Dubrovnik hinterland on the border with the SR of BiH.<\/p>\n
The decision on the complete evacuation of the Yugoslav People's Army from the territory of the Republic of Croatia was made at a meeting of the previously initiated Peace Conference on Yugoslavia, held on October 18, 1991, in The Hague. At that time, the Croatian side promised to lift the blockade of all JNA facilities, while the federal state promised the withdrawal of all military forces from the territory of that republic. Since the agreement from The Hague was not respected and fighting intensified\u2014especially around Vukovar\u2014several new agreements concerning the withdrawal of parts of the JNA from Croatia were signed over the next few days.<\/p>\n
In the autumn of 1991, through a series of operations, Croatian forces advanced into territories where Serbs lived. Thus, in operations codenamed Orkan '91, Otkos 10, and Papuk '91, a vast territory encompassing the municipalities of Grubi\u0161no Polje, Virovitica, Slavonska Po\u017eega, and Orahovica, as well as parts of the territories of Daruvar, Pakrac, Novska, and Nova Gradi\u0161ka, was ethnically cleansed. According to historians, the largest crimes against Serbs at that time were committed on December 10, 1991, when members of the Croatian Army killed at least 36 villagers, including 20 women, in villages near Slavonska Po\u017eega (\u010ce\u010dava\u010dki Vu\u010djak, \u0160njegavi\u0107, Ru\u0161evac, and Jeminovac), and on December 13, when 24 villagers were killed in villages near Podravska Slatina (Sekulinci, Gornji Meljani, Vo\u0107in, \u0110uri\u010di\u0107, Bokane, Hum, and Macute).<\/p>\n