"The last defence" line

by Aleksandar Ciric

Shortly after signing the Brioni Declaration, the Army has, unexpectedly, decided to retreat from Slovenia. Leaving behind over a hundred tanks, other heavy artillery and lorries, fourteen "Slovenian" garrisons were, by the end of October, moved to Serbia (Sabac, Obrenovac, Jakovo, Koceljeva, Valjevo, Gornji Milanovac, Cacak, Raska and Novi Pazar), to Montenegro (Titograd) and to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bihac, Banja Luka, Mrkonjic-Grad, Travnik, Zenica, Sarajevo, Mostar, Trebinje, Doboj, Tuzla and Brcko).

Croatians have seized most of the garrisons on their territory, along with huge quantities of heavy artillery. One part of that was abandoned by the Army and, after long and drawn out negotiations with the Croatian authorities, the garrison Pleso near Zagreb has been evacuated, as well as one of the biggest - in Pula (Istria). The evacuation of the Sibenik, Divulja, Split and Ploce garrisons is under way (some arms and equipment have already been transported to Lastovo, Vis /Dalmatian islands/ and Mostar / Herzegovina/). A part of Sibenik garrison and the army airport in Zemunik (near Sibenik) was transported to Knin and Benkovac (SAO Krajina). Key concentration areas in Croatia are transferred to Bosnia and Herzegovina and, partly, to Montenegro (Titograd and Niksic). B&H is increasingly becoming a dangerous spot, not only because of the concentration of the army, but primarily because of the fact that the war industry located there is of vital importance to the Army.

In accordance with the above mentioned facts and the estimation of the VREME reporters, the last area of the Army defence is indicated on the map. It does not follow the vision of the "Yugo-Serbian" cartographers and it leaves the relatively big "Serbian territories" open for negotiations - to the Blue Helmets or to Croatia.