The Johovica ambush was an attack by the NOZB, when they invaded the territory of the ARBiH through the territory of the RSK and successfully occupied a good part along the border of Cazinska Krajina and Serbian Krajina.[2] They also advanced south of Velika Kladuša, but the ARBiH stopped further expansion on the southern side and stabilized the front.[1]
| Johovica ambush | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Bosnian War and Inter-Bosnian Muslim War | |||||||||
A map of the locations of the attack | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia Artillery support: Army of the Republika Srpska | Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Fikret "Babo" Abdić | Atif Dudaković | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| NOZB | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 1,500 men | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
Course of the Clashes
editAbdić's forces regained the initiative when the fighting resumed on December 4, the army received permission from the Serb Krajina army to cross their territory.[3] The National Defense of Western Bosnia passes through RSK and attacks the Bihac enclave near Ličko Petrovo Selo from the western side. Advancing from this unexpected direction, a relatively small number of 1,500 APZB soldiers managed to gain a significant foothold in the western enclave of Bihać, occupying a strip of territory several kilometers deep along the RSK border and advancing as far as 10 km from Cazin.[4] At the same time, Abdić's forces in the north managed to capture Johovica and Skokovi, two settlements for which fierce clashes were fought, and they were located a few kilometers south of Velika Kladisa. The newly appointed commander of the Bihać region, Atif Dudaković, reacted quickly, engaging the forces that were withdrawing from their southern moves, he halted the further advance of Abdić on December 8. However, the ARBiH did not succeed in retaliating against the counterattack, failed to return those territories that APZB occupied and thus protect the position of Cazin from potential attacks.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict, 1990-1995. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Russian and European Analysis. 2012. p. 415. ISBN 978-0-16-066472-4.
- ^ Fotini 2008, p. 409.
- ^ Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict, 1990-1995. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Russian and European Analysis. 2012. p. 516. ISBN 978-0-16-066472-4.
- ^ Fotini, Christia (2008). "Following the Money: Muslim versus Muslim in Bosnia's Civil War". Comparative Politics. 40 (4): 461–480. doi:10.5129/001041508X12911362383390. JSTOR 20434096.