Operation Swath-10: The Croatian Armed Forces by Ivan Samardžija

Operation Swath-10: The Croatian Armed Forces Liberation Operation in Western Slavonia, Autumn 1991
by Ivan Samardžija

 Croatian War for Independence Operations || Balkan Battles Book || Textbook Study of European Military History

The topic of this paper is the military-police Operation Swath-10 of the Croatian armed forces that is, the forces of the Croatian National Guard, the Croatian police and the National Protection troops during October and November 1991. The paper begins with events in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) with the emphasis on Croatia and western Slavonia from the end of 1989 to the end of October 1991, that is, until the beginning of Operation Swath-10.

After that follows an analysis of the mentioned Operation in the Bilogora region. The paper was, as far as possible, written in chronological order. The chronological sequence is only occasionally interrupted when, in the author's opinion, this was necessary for an easier understanding of the topic. Beside the introduction and conclusion, the paper contains two thematic chapters divided into smaller units, and in the end, there is a list of sources and literature that were consulted.

Recent professional and scientific literature was used in writing the paper. The two most important books on OperationSwath-10 published at the time of writing of this paper are books by Ivica Debic and Antun (Ante) Delic, OTKOS [SWATH], and by Anđelko Mijatovic, Otkos-10 [Swath-10]. In addition to the books mentioned, Natko Martinic Jerčic's doctoral dissertation "Liberation operations of Croatian forces in western Slavonia in the fall and winter of 1991 and 1992" played an important role in writing this paper.

Beside the mentioned works, numerous scientific articles on Operation Swath-10, on preceding and following events, and some more general topics related to the SFRY and Croatia were used to form a complete picture and context in which the operation took place. For the purposes of writing the paper, archival material from the Croatian Memorial and Documentation Centre of the Homeland War (HMDCDR) documentaries, online articles, scientific-historical books and one hitherto unpublished source were also used.
A meeting with Mr. Antun (Ante) Delic, the Assistant Commander in Operation Swath-10, had an essential role in writing this paper. Antun (Ante) Delic held many important positions before and during the operation, which makes him a very relevant person for providing information regarding the situation in the area of Grubisno Polje and the Bilogora region in general, before, during and after Operation Swath-10.

Contact with him was regularly maintained during the writing of the paper, while a conversation with him took place during a visit to Grubisno Polje on 27 October 2017.

That day, we visited with him the part of the area where the operation had taken place, and many important pieces of information were obtained, some of which were probably never published before.