THE 2ND OZREN LIGHT INFANTRY BRIGADE HAD STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE IN THE DEFENSE OF OZREN

PETROVO, MAY 23 /SRNA/ - The 2nd Ozren Light Infantry Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army /RSA/ is considered a symbol of resistance and had strategic importance in the defense of Mount Ozren, as it separated the Zenica and Tuzla corps of the so-called Army of BiH and opposed the "El Mujahideen" detachment, it was stated at the marking of the brigade’s day in Petrovo.

From this brigade, 421 fighters lost their lives in the defense of Ozren and Republika Srpska, and 12 are still listed as missing.

Assistant Chief of Staff of the 2nd Ozren Light Infantry Brigade, Jugoslav Stevanović, said that the brigade had a high casualty rate but also strong morale to defend their homes.

"When the enemy offensive on Ozren began, comrades, whether wounded for the first, second, or third time, would voluntarily leave treatment and return to their unit," Stevanović recalled, noting that among them were also young men who had lost parts of their bodies.

Given that all villages were in the combat zone, Stevanović said that mobilization reached up to 105 percent, as everyone made themselves available for the defense of their homes, including elderly men with their 15-year-old grandchildren, and women.

The former commander of the Fifth Battalion of the brigade, Dušan Nikić, said that he still emotionally relives the memory of the Defensive-Patriotic War, during which he was wounded three times.

He added that the war events caught him at the age of 21, with prior experience from the barracks in Tuzla.

"It was very difficult for me when our comrade, the commander of our unit, Zoran Flinta, was killed. While recovering him, I had to gather his scattered brain, and that left a deep mark on me," Nikić recalled.

The President of the Republika Srpska Veterans’ Organization, Milovan Gagić, said that members of this brigade and the population of Ozren are a symbol of resistance, and that today’s event is an opportunity to remember those who were killed during the bloody struggle for the defense of the Serbian people, their homes, and Republika Srpska.

"We must prove the truth about our war, about our centuries-long struggle to be masters of our own land, to defend ourselves from the enemy, and to show the world, which is doing the opposite, and which, like our enemies, wants to make the Serbian people into something we have never been," Gagić said.

He said he is pleased that the current leadership gives more respect, dignity, and recognition through such commemorative events, and that it seriously acknowledges the fighters and fallen comrades who, with their blood, created what the Serbian people have today.

Former member of the brigade’s intervention unit, Dragan Jokić, said he is proud of his comrades.

"War brings out either the best or the worst in people, and in our case, in our brigade, on Ozren, it brought out the best," said Jokić, who was wounded five times.

The Mayor of Petrovo, Ozren Petković, thanked the Organizing Committee for preserving the memory of this brigade, whose members came from the area that until 1995 also belonged to the municipality of Petrovo.

The 2nd Ozren Light Infantry Brigade was formed on May 23, 1992, and was an infantry unit of the RSA within the First Krajina Corps. On the day of its formation, it had 3,720 members.

On November 1, 1993, part of the brigade’s units was separated and used to form the 4th Ozren Light Infantry Brigade of the RSA.