The Galipoli of Serbia

The scene we are about to describe is just an excerpt from the Slavonian front. At the beginning of last week in one of the attacks of the "combined" army of the Serbian volunteers and the federal Army, in the vicinity of Vukovar, a certain "volunteer" unit - well prepared and skilful- has started taking the buildings one by one. One of the buildings used to be a disco before the war. After adroitly taking three houses, the "volunteers" have then started taking out the loot (the electronic equipment etc.). At that moment about three hundred meters on the South the Army tank appeared and fired a few shells of 100 mm calibre into the "liberated" houses. A few volunteers get killed on the spot; others conduct a group retreat and the scandal is soon to erupt along the Army front line: "volunteers" are looking for the responsible officer to kill him. The issue is resolved when the two sides realize that the command inefficiency is at stake here: the tanks'crew have had a clear target, but nobody informed them that the allies are already there. "Volunteers" then returned home determined not to fight alongside such dilettantes. They kept the loot.

This is just an excerpt from the Vukovar front, which was named "the Serbian Galipoli" after the infamous slaughter house in the first World war (Asia Minor). For the past eighty days the Army, its reservists and various irregulars have been trying to take Vukovar with enormous military arsenal. The so called "liberators" have lost so much in this conflict and have gained so little that one can ask what the whole point of the Vukovar operation really is. The city has almost no strategic importance within the political context of the Serbo-Croatian war. Vukovar is only important as the town where the initial congress of the Yugoslav Communist Party in 1919 was held and because of the shoe factory "Borovo". There is no bridge connecting Vukovar with Backa (region in Vojvodina) which would make it strategically important. Vukovar has 84.024 inhabitants: of these 37.4% are Serbs and 43.7% are Croatians. The city is surrounded by the villages which alternatively have the Serbian or the Croatian majority. Between Borovo Selo and Vukovar there is Borovo Naselje (the Croatian majority), to the north and to the north-west we have the Serbian villages of Trpinja, Bobota and Pacetin, to the west we have Brsadin (the Serbian village) and a few Croatian villages. The infamous role of Vukovar as a psychological and symbolic bone of contention in this war is a product of inertia and the victim of circumstance. As we know, the war erupted on May 1 with the massacre in Borovo Selo. Vukovar was the closest city and presented a front line between Borovo Selo and Borovo Naselje in the Bana Jelacica street. In the normal warfare, the Vukovar front would be of marginal importance. But this war is neither normal, nor regular.

Namely, one look at the map of Slavonia and Posavina (regions in Croatia with the fiercest clashes) leaves one utterly confused: what seems to be the strategic aim of the Army and the Serbian irregulars? Had there been a carefully outlined strategic plan of action which implies the political justification and the clearly defined war aim, it would have revealed itself in two months. In such a case the Army and its allies would have made concentrated effort towards securing their war targets. They would have gone to Zagreb, had they wanted to defeat the "ustashi regime". They would have gone along the Sava valley had they wanted to physically link the Serbian regions with the mainland. In any case Vukovar would have been circumvented, besieged and left to fall by itself. The military studies inform us that in the 20 century the cities in the rear standing on the river should not be besieged: they are surrounded and left to fall of themselves. Everything else is a pure waste of time, money and manpower. Why then Vukovar? Why is such a small city costing thousands of lives and the reputation of the Federal Army being tarnished? Eighty days of unsuccessful siege with all the military force of the Army is bound to end in defeat. There are a few theories which are concerned with the question why Vukovar was chosen. The Croatian side considers that the Serbian ambition is to draw a new border along the river of Bosut, beside Vinkovci and Osijek towards the natural triangle whose sides are represented by the river Drava, the river Danube and the Hungarian border. In that case Vukovar would be the main inhabited area. Ethnically speaking, this theory is flimsy since the river Drava could be reached only by passing through Croatian regions.

All the theories of this kind, including this one are in the sphere of make believe. Since the course of this war is making any kind of coexistence between the Serbs and the Croatians impossible within such borders, we are faced with an issue of moving the people out or their physical elimination (both of these issues are being taken care of).

Another pragmatic theory says that Vukovar has become the centre of the conflict by accident. The war has continued in the atmosphere it was started in, whereas the Army has never concerned itself with the strategic aims, particularly not in the long run. That is how it found itself in the Vukovar mud, as a victim of the spontaneous developments and its own strategic confusion. The overall strategic behaviour of the Army in Croatia presents an argument in favour of this theory. Just as the Army had lost a considerable part of its vast military arsenal owing to slow thinking, so it has started besieging Vukovar for the want of a better strategic concept. Since in the view of the present developments nothing concerning the Army can surprise us any more, this theory is for now bearing up well. The question of motivation of the warring parties is at stake here. Vukovar is much more important to the Croatians than to the Serbs and the Army, since it represents the symbol of their presence on the Croatian land. For the Serbs and the Army it represents yet another Croatian city which they have failed to take. On the tactical level, using all the advantages of defence, the Croatians in Vukovar have shown that they are apt warriors. First of all, the defenders of Vukovar have been stationed in one place during the entire siege whereas the Army forces are changing place. This is what has made a prestigious fighters out of the defenders of Vukovar (that is, of the ones who survived). The defenders of Vukovar have nowhere to go: they will either defend the city or die to the last, since in this war no one is obeying the rules concerning the prisoners of war. Naturally, the Croatian defenders of Vukovar have dug in underground in the cellars and the sewerage system. The city is lying on at least two tunnel labyrinths. This renders street fights void: as soon as the Army takes a house or a street, the defenders appear from the rear. The use of artillery and the air raids have no effect. The legends which are being recounted by the reservists talk about "three separate subway systems", about the "sewerage collectors where the trucks pass" etc. There is no one to confirm these stories. Vukovar with its remaining thirteen thousand inhabitants has been living underground for the past eighty days. According to certain Croatian sources two thousand children are left in the city. They drink rainwater, they eat the August supplies when the trouble was sensed, washing is sparse. The people do not take off their shoes for weeks or change their clothes. Everyone is armed, and the general feeling is that it is a "win or die" option. Serbs and Croatians are in it together. The city area has been thoroughly destroyed: the castle of count Eltz is no more, the same goes for the museum, there are no more hospitals, schools, buildings. The majority of Vukovar citizens have left. Out of 45,000 inhabitants only 13.000 have stayed, and at least five thousand mines, bombs and grenades have fell on each square mile. Dr Franjo Tudjman (the leader of the Croatian democratic Party) has said, clumsily as usual, that Vukovar represents a Croatian Stalingrad.

The Vukovar hospital which was moved into cellars, is working owing to the devoted staff, without much needed drugs. Doctors get a five minute nap between the operations. And so it drags on for weeks. The defence of the city is shifting from one position to another. Its commander Mile Dedakovic the "Hawk" has last week bitterly denounced Zagreb for sacrificing Vukovar and for plotting to kill him. The latest news from Vukovar (Friday, November 7, 13 h) is that the "information blockade" will be introduced and that there will be no news from this city.

By some strange miracle Vukovar is still getting the staples, ammunition and drugs. It is still a puzzle to the besieging troops, although some soldiers claim that the food is reaching the city in knapsacks during the night. The Army troops, the reservists and the Serbian irregulars (the territorials and the "volunteers") will find it very difficult to close the impenetrable ring around Vukovar. They are paying a high price: if the price is being measured by the number of units which were put out of action, then Vukovar is a very expensive city. Generally the army advance follows the serious preparation of the artillery, whose efficiency is dubious: as soon as the grenade serenade stops, the defenders of Vukovar come out and start firing. The futility of these attempts has given rise to numerous mutinies and desertions. The reservists complain about the conspicuous absence of active officer staff in the front lines, except for a few notable exceptions (younger lieutenants and captains), but they have a short length of duration at the front. The higher officer staff will explain to you that "someone has to plan the operations", which means to sit in the headquarters outside the reach of the Croatian mortar shells. The media hype such as "Vukovar is about to fall" and "The finishing operations" are of no use. Reservists are increasingly resorting to digging in and waiting for the trouble to pass. This front has already produced gifted artists in all walks of wartime life: adroit looters, tradesmen even caterers who are holding exclusive restaurants with hot baths and excellent food at a "low price". These are all people who have found their purpose in this ludicrous war. Thus the siege of Vukovar goes on, which is being carried out in the 16. century fashion when the cities were being besieged for months.