The Croatian Army breaks the siege of the Bihać enclave in Bosnia

On the second day of Operation Storm, the Croatian Army reached the Croatian-Bosnian border and joined the Bosnian forces in Bihać, thus ending the plight of 230,000 Bosnians who spent 1201 days under siege in a UN "safe area". Bombed by the Serbs and on the verge of falling, the city was at risk of suffering the same fate as Srebrenica, just one month before. At the border, Bosnian General Atif Dudaković (right) welcomes and thanks Croatian General Marijan Mareković, who led the operations. By the end of September, the Croatian-Bosnian joint operations helped in liberating vast territories in western Bosnia, thus leading the way to the end of the war.

1995

6 August

Photo: Central Military Archives / Alem Hadžiegrić

The Croatian flag on the Knin Fortress symbolizes the end of the war

Knin, the stronghold of the Serb separatist rebellion, was liberated by the Croatian Army on 5 August, less than 30 hours after the start of Operation Storm, quickly putting the Serb forces to rout. The next day, while military operations continued inland, Croatian President Franjo Tuđman himself climbed to the top of the fortress in Knin, the medieval capital of the Kingdom of Croatia and the bastion of separatists since 1990. The strong image of the national flag flying atop the fortress symbolizes the victory and the end of the war for all Croats. But most importantly, it announced the return of 250,000 compatriots to their homes, after being uprooted from their homes in 1991, forced to flee and live as refugees.