{{flag|Republic of Serbian Krajina|name=Serbian Krajina}}
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Serbian Guard | |
---|---|
Српска гарда Srpska garda | |
![]() | |
Active | 1991–1992 |
Disbanded | Yes |
Country | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Allegiance | Serbian Renewal Movement |
Type | Paramilitary |
Role | Anti-tank warfare Close-quarters combat Counterinsurgency Crowd control Force protection Guerrilla warfare HUMINT Internal security Patrolling Raiding Reconnaissance Security checkpoint Tracking Urban warfare |
Size | ~40,000 |
Garrison/HQ | Bor |
Engagements | Croatian War |
Commanders | |
Commander | Đorđe "Giška" Božović † |
The Serbian Guard (Serbian : Српска гарда, romanized: Srpska garda) was a Serbian paramilitary active in the Croatian War with close ties to the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO). Eighty percent of the guard's members were members of the SPO. [1] The paramilitary was formed by SPO official Vuk Drašković and his wife Danica Drašković, along with Đorđe Božović and Branislav Matić. [2]
The paramilitary unit's training camp was located near Bor Lake in Serbia. [2] It participated in clashes in Croatia near the town of Gospić. [3] Elements of the unit also participated in the Bosnian War. [4] Đorđe Božović was the unit's first commander, but was killed in action near Gospić. [5] Some people have alleged that Božović's death was an act of "friendly fire" orchestrated by the Republic of Serbian Krajina government. [6] The unit's chief financier Branislav Matić was gunned down on 4 August 1991 in Belgrade. [7] After the death of Božović, the unit was taken over by Branislav Lainović.
Yugoslavian colonel general Nebojša Pavković has called for Drašković to be tried for his role in the guard's formation. [8] Having a pro-opposition political stance, the guard was never favoured by the government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Yugoslav security services.
Željko Ražnatović, better known as Arkan, was a Serbian warlord, mobster and head of the Serb paramilitary force called the Serb Volunteer Guard during the Yugoslav Wars, considered one of the most feared and effective paramilitary forces during the wars. His paramilitary unit was responsible for numerous crimes in Eastern Bosnia, including murder, pillaging, rape and ethnic cleansings.
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The Serb Volunteer Guard was a Serbian volunteer paramilitary unit founded and led by Željko Ražnatović. It fought in the Croatian War and the Bosnian War during the Yugoslav Wars, and was responsible for numerous war crimes and massacres.
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The Serbian Renewal Movement is a liberal and monarchist political party in Serbia. It was founded in 1990 by writer Vuk Drašković, who served as the party's president until 2024. Aleksandar Cvetković is the incumbent leader.
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The Gospić massacre was the mass killing of 100–120 predominantly Serb civilians in Gospić, Croatia during the last two weeks of October 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence. The majority of the victims were ethnic Serbs arrested in Gospić and the nearby coastal town of Karlobag. Most of them were arrested on 16–17 October. Some of the detainees were taken to the Perušić barracks and executed in Lipova Glavica near the town, while others were shot in the Pazarište area of Gospić. The killings were ordered by the Secretary of Lika Crisis Headquarters, Tihomir Orešković, and the commander of the 118th Infantry Brigade of the Croatian National Guard, Lieutenant Colonel Mirko Norac.
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Serbia, as a constituent subject of the SFR Yugoslavia and later the FR Yugoslavia, was involved in the Yugoslav Wars, which took place between 1991 and 1999—the war in Slovenia, the Croatian War of Independence, the Bosnian War, and Kosovo. From 1991 to 1997, Slobodan Milošević was the President of Serbia. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has established that Milošević was in control of Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia during the wars which were fought there from 1991 to 1995.
The Battle of Gospić was fought in the environs of Gospić, Croatia, from 29 August until 22 September 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. The battle pitted the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), stationed in five barracks in the town, and paramilitary elements of the Serbian Guard against the Croatian National Guard (ZNG), police forces based in Gospić and police reinforcements from elsewhere in Croatia. Fighting in the eastern districts of Gospić, controlled by JNA forces with supporting artillery, was largely static but the balance shifted in favor of the Croatian forces following the capture of several JNA depots and barracks on 14 September. The remaining barracks were captured by 20 September leading to the expulsion of the JNA and Serbian Guard forces from the town.
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General elections were held in Serbia, a constituent federal unit of SFR Yugoslavia, in December 1990 to elect the president of Serbia and members of the National Assembly. The presidential election and the first round of the parliamentary elections were held on 9 December, with the second round of the parliamentary elections taking place on 23 December. The elections were scheduled after the ratification of a new constitution on 28 September, which was approved by voters in a referendum held in July. These were Serbia's first multi-party elections, and the parliamentary election was the only one to be held using a first-past-the-post, two-round voting system with single-member constituencies; all future elections used proportional representation.
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Milorad Ekmečić was a Yugoslav and Serbian historian. During World War II he became a member of the Yugoslav Partisans after the fascist Ustaše perpetrated the Prebilovci massacre, in which 78 members of his family were killed, including his father. He studied at the University of Zagreb and went on to be a professor at the University of Sarajevo, and later at the University of Belgrade. He was a member of several Yugoslav academies of sciences and arts, the author of more than a dozen historical books, and received several significant national awards. Ekmečić authored several important works in socialist Yugoslavia, including his contribution to the acclaimed History of Yugoslavia published in English in 1974, and Stvaranje Jugoslavije 1790–1918 [Creation of Yugoslavia 1790–1918] in 1989. According to his obituary in Vreme news magazine, Ekmečić was considered "a prominent representative of Serbian critical historiography".
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the establishment of the SPO's own paramilitary unit — the Serbian Guards (Srpska Garda), which attacked the Croatian town of Gospic in 1991