Operation Majevica

Operation Majevica was the code name of the operation and an attempt by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) to control the peaks of Stolica, Banj brdo and occupy Lopare. This battle took place in the most difficult year of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), 1995, but despite all the attacks of the ARBiH, the VRS defended the villages of Priboj, Piperi, Vakuf, Brusnica, the peaks on Majevica and the repeater.

Operation Majevica
Part of the Bosnian war
Date March – May 1995 Location Majevica and surrounding areas Result Army of Republika Srpska victory
Belligerents
Republika Srpska	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Commanders and leaders
Radovan Karadžić Ratko Mladić Milenko Živanović	Sead Delic
Units involved
Army of Republika Srpska East Bosnia Corps Garda Panteri	Army of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2nd Corps 3rd Corps
Strength
10,000	14,000
Casualties and losses
unknown	over 600 killed

Background

At the beginning of the Bosniak offensives on Vlašić, the offensives on Majevica also begin. The goal of the ARBiH offensive is to take over the repeater, the peaks of Stolica and Banj brdo on Majevica and Lopare. Brigadier General Sead Delić , commander of the 2nd Corps of the ARBiH, launched an attack along a wide front in Majevica. Under the command of its 25th Division, the 2nd Corps engaged about 6,000 assault troops from six liberation brigades and a light brigade, supported by 8,000 troops from four sectors of the 25th Division held by mountain brigades, as well as a group of tanks and artillery units.

The Battles

Unlike Vlašić, in the first days of the winter offensive on Majevica, the Muslim side suffered huge losses. Heavy fighting is taking place around the peaks of Stolica, Banj brdo, Kolevka and Mala Jelica. Fierce resistance from the Serbs and deep snow forced the ARBiH to stop the offensive. Artillery fire is also exchanged, UN observers counted 2,700 shell detonations in one day.

On March 23, the battle continues, the ARBiH rejected the Serbian fighters from the north and completely brought the top of Stolica with the repeater into the environment, where the fierce battles of the Serbian defenders with the ARBiH practically for the repeater itself. Both sides suffered dozens of deaths. On March 24, the President of the RS, Radovan Karadžić, publicly announced that a counter-offensive on Majevica would soon begin and that he would help a group of Serbian heroes who were fiercely defending the repeater in the surrounding area. The next day, UN authorities said that the ARBiH had captured about 50 square kilometers of territory around the Stolica transmitter, but the Bosnian government admitted that they had not captured the repeater itself. The VRS made a counterattack on March 25 and 26 and pounded the positions of the ARBiH with artillery.

The counterattack was carried out by the special forces Panthers from the 1st Bijeljina Brigade and the 3rd Battalion of the Military Police, who managed to break through the ring and establish a narrow corridor to the repeater. Due to the snow and intense fighting, morale weakens and the ARBiH attacks on the top of Stolica, and the 2nd Corps of the ARBiH shifts its attacks from the northwest side from the village of Lukavica to the villages of Piperi , Brusnica and Vakuf and from the southeast from the direction of Teočak . However, the Army of Republika Srpska repelled all attacks. The 2nd Corps of the ARBiH inspired by the victory of the 3rd Courps on Vlašić, on April 4, the Bosniaks again tried to surround the top of Stolica, but all attacks were repelled. On April 6, the VRS with the same elite units that established the corridor with the repeater, make a counteroffensive and liberate the occupied heights around the top of Stolica. On April 7, units of the 2nd Corps of the ARBiH retreat to their initial positions.

During April and early May, Bosniak fighters attempted several attacks on Serbian defense lines but without success. A small shift occurred on May 2, when the ARBiH approached the mountain peak of Kolevka (870 m). But the main task of conquering Stolica, the highest peak of Majevica with a repeater, remained until the end of the war an unattainable goal for the Bosniak side, who could only observe the repeater through binoculars. Again, the 2nd Corps of the ARBiH suffered terrible losses during the last attack on Stolice.

Aftermath

Exact data of killed ARBiH soldiers have not been published to this day, but according to the testimony of Bosniak, the numbers revolve around several hundred dead, wounded and frostbitten people. In the times after the battle, one of the Serbian defenders of the repeater expressed his impressions in the Slovenian magazine "Reče": "To tell you the truth, we would have lost Majevica if there had been no snow, the Turks, who were far more numerous, chained in the snow, died in the attacks like rabbits''