The Army: Time for Shame

Commemorating the Army Day on December 22, 17 officers were decorated and 40 were promoted. What were they given the decorations for this year? It concerns primarily the "22nd December" award, which was, among others, given this year to the chief-of-staff at the Armed Forces Headquarters and to the brigade commander who "has excelled in executing his duties in Eastern Slavonia and Baranja", to another brigade commander for exceptional efforts concerning mobilization and for his remarkable activities at the front and to another brigade commander who has shown great courage at the Banija and Kordun front... The meritorious ex-defence minister major general Tomislav Simovic was promoted into lieutenant-colonel.

There were appropriate speeches, telegrams with greetings were sent, but recitals were missing. The speeches, however, which would in peacetime arouse no interest have suddenly become intriguingly interesting. This is the first time in the fifty years of its existence that the Army has not only admitted that it can be wrong, but also that it has been making blunders for years. "We have to correct certain aspects concerning our war doctrine and its application which were caused by our long standing misconceptions", said major-general Blagoje Adzic at the reception (accompanied by the accords of the Yugoslav anthem "Hej Sloveni"). The general is, however promising better times: "The current international climate and the revival of the politics of force as well as our war experience should be decisive in the conception of future research programmes in science".

Giving the account of the Vukovar "liberation operations", colonel Miodrag Pavic said that "the enemy did not stand a chance against our men". According to press information, within the Tuzla Corps 39 awards were given to soldiers and their superiors who took part in the battles in Slavonia. Moreover, "the Army delegation has visited the tombs of the soldiers and senior officers who were killed, as well as the injured". It would be interesting to note that Montenegro had a low key celebration of the Army Day.

The so-called presidency and its vice-president dr Branko Kostic played a major role, as usual. Kostic said during the reception that "the Yugoslav presidency will continue with its insistence on the peaceful solution to the Yugoslav crisis" in his greeting to the armed forces he speaks of the "fascist monster and the resurrecting forces of evil against which the Army has shown great knowledge, determination and bravery".

The "22nd December" award was in the past given to the highest officers within the Army, regardless of their present allegiances.

In the official biography of Antun Tus, for example, it says that "he received many high rank decorations" (he was also a member of the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party until 1978 and a commander of the Air Forces until 1985). Today, as we all know, he is the chief of the core of the Croatian forces while enjoying Army pension. The award was also given in 1972 to the then general-major Veljko Kadijevic for his essay "On basic issues of our doctrine and the strategic armed combat".

The deserving Army officers who are following in the footsteps of the partisans can be found in the Military Encyclopedia, published in 1981. In the biography chapter we come across the name of aviation major general and pilot Antun Tus (who joined the partisans in 1944 and the Communist Party in 1947, he finished military school in USSR); general- major Martin Spegelj (joined the partisans in 1943 and the Communist Party in 1944); major-general Veljko Kadijevic (joined the partisans and the Young Communists in 1941 and the Communist Party in 1943) and the counter-admiral Bozidar Grubisic who is now an admiral and a Supreme Commander of the Croatian Navy.

Any excessive moral indignation over these matters, however, would be misplaced since there are much more serious matters that deserve it. This is only a short account of a failed military policy and of an attempt to give the legitimacy to an armed force, a presidency and a state which do not qualify for it.