KELEČEVIĆ: BATTLE FOR THE CORRIDOR WAS STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL OF SERB PEOPLE

BANJA LUKA, JUNE 17 /SRNA/ – The breakthrough of the Posavina Corridor in 1992 was one of the most important operations carried out by Serb forces during the Homeland-Defense War because, without that victory, Republika Srpska would not exist today, retired Army of Republika Srpska /RSA/ Lieutenant General Boško Kelečević told SRNA.

Kelečević reminded that the Army of Republika Srpska conducted Operation Corridor in a professional military manner, swiftly and with minimal losses.

"The morale of all Serb fighters was very high because there was a strong desire among the Serb people for freedom and for restoring links with Serbia", Kelečević said ahead of the commemoration marking the 34th anniversary of military operation Corridor 92, also known as the Battle for Life.

He emphasized that the battle for the corridor was a purely military operation and, in practical terms, a struggle for the survival of the Serb people in these areas, often referred to at the time as the "lifeline".

Kelečević noted that by pushing enemy forces back across the Sava River, Republika Srpska effectively survived, having previously been cut off and surrounded by hostile forces.

According to him, the corridor was opened thanks to a sound decision by the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska and the effective deployment of RSA forces in coordination with all other units involved in the operation.

Kelečević, who served as wartime Chief of Staff of the First Krajina Corps of the RSA, pointed out that Operation Corridor 92 effectively represented a breakout from operational encirclement, as Republika Srpska was surrounded on all sides and cut off from the RSA Main Staff, Krajina and Serbia.

He said Croat-Muslim forces had advanced to within 10 kilometers of Doboj, posing the threat of severing Republika Srpska at another point through the Ozren area.

"It was also the time when babies were dying at the Banja Luka Clinical Center due to a lack of oxygen, while serious shortages of medicine, food and ammunition affected both civilians and the military", Kelečević stressed.

He said the RSA chose the best and shortest route of attack through Trebava, catching the enemy by surprise, as it had expected the assault to come through Modriča, Orašje and the Sava River area.

Kelečević reminded that an order issued by First Krajina Corps Commander Gen. Momir Talić stated that the corridor had to be opened by Vidovdan at any cost, securing at least a "goat path".

"Two days before the deadline, the forces of the First Krajina Corps and the East Bosnia Corps linked up in the wider Pelagićevo area and the northern part of Modriča", he said.

Military operation Corridor 92 lasted from June 14 to June 28, 1992, in the Posavina region. It was carried out by forces of the First Krajina Corps, the East Bosnia Corps, and the police of the Republic of Serbian Krajina under the command of Gen. Momir Talić.

According to the Republika Srpska Center for Research of War, War Crimes and Missing Persons, 877 members of the Army of Republika Srpska, 15 members of the Republika Srpska Interior Ministry and 17 members of the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Srpska Krajina were killed during Operation Corridor 92.

The immediate trigger for the military operation, regarded as one of the brightest and most humanitarian wartime achievements of the Army of Republika Srpska, was the death of 12 newborn babies at the Banja Luka maternity hospital due to a lack of oxygen.