Battle of Foča

The Battle of Foča

Battle of Foča
Part of the Bosnian War
Foča Location of Foča in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Date 8–17 April 1992 Location Foča and surroundings Result Police of Republika Srpska victory Territorial Defence Force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina fails to capture Foča Start of the Foča ethnic cleansing
Belligerents
Bosnian Serbs Support by: Yugoslavia	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Commanders and leaders
Vojislav Šešelj	Unknown
Units involved
Police of Republika Srpska Yugoslav People's Army Yugoslav Ground Forces 37th Užice Corps White Eagles	Territorial Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Strength
c. 1,400	c. 1,000

The Battle of Foča took place from April 8 to 17 in 1992, when Bosnian Serbs and Serb volunteers from Montenegro invaded Foča and fought with the Territorial Defence Force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (TO BiH). It was the site of one of the first battles in this war, along with the Siege of Sarajevo, Operation Višegrad, the Battle of Zvornik and the Battle of Kupres.

Located 20 km southwest of Goražde, Foča is located on an important strategic road that leads from north to south through the entire Drina valley. There were major escalations of inter-ethnic contradictions here, as well as throughout Bosnia in March. After a series of incidents, on March 23, the SDS local crisis headquarters announced a "state of readiness". This step was primarily caused by the news about the growing pressure on the Serbian minority in Goražde.

Strength of the parties

Serbian side

The Police of Republika Srpska was formed on April 4 of 1992. The Serbian forces in Foča and its surroundings consisted mainly of Territorial Defense fighters (about 1,000 people) including volunteer detachments from Montenegro and neighboring municipalities and 200 local policemen who recently joined the newly formed Bosnian Serb police. After that, in the last phase of the fight for the city, volunteers from the "Serbian Movement" Vojislav Šešelj joined. Limited support was provided by units of the 37th Užice Corps of the JNA.

Bosniak side

The Bosniak forces in Foca numbered several hundred soldiers, just under a thousand. They were the most organized and well-armed Bosniak forces in eastern Bosnia. Unlike Bijeljina, Zvornik and Višegrad, where the Serbs established their control in one or two days, the fighting for Foča lasted three weeks.

Course of the clashes

When Bosnia and Herzegovina formally declared independence on April 6, on the same day the Serbs from Foča took control of the main municipal buildings, including the police service, and declared their affiliation to Bosnia and Herzegovina and their independence from the government in Sarajevo. The battles that started in the city, in the evening of April 8, moved to the area of the hydroelectric plant on April 9, as well as in Zvornik, the Serbs issued an ultimatum demanding the Bosniaks to "lay down their weapons". The Bosniaks ignored this ultimatum, as previous instances of cooperating had let to them being massacred. In the evening of the same day, Serbian fighters began bombarding the city with howitzers. The fight was fought in the suburbs near the majority of the Bosnian population (Donji Polje, Aladža). In the next few days, Serbian fighters took over the suburbs of Foča. Here the Bosnian Muslims fought skillfully and desperately. Most of the city in the afternoon seems dead (many locals have already fled).

Complete control over Foča came on April 14, when the Serbian forces manage to drive the Muslim snipers out buildings (from which the Muslim snipers controlled the entire city) with concentrated artillery fire. After the fall of the settlement of Donje Polje, where the strongest resistance was offered, the Muslim defenses began to collapse, and by April 17, most of the Muslim forces had left the city, including a large part of the peaceful population.

The capture of Foča was a great success for the Serbs in their offensive in Podrinje, but they still had to contend with sabotage by several Muslim groups scattered throughout the city. Only at the end of July did Serbian fighters manage to fully secure this area. In the following days, two VRS tactical groups were formed in Visegrad and Foča. Which actively participated in the battles for the Trnovo - Goražde corridor (including "Lukavac '93"), which the Muslims were trying to establish. The fighting in Podrinje in 1992 spread to the triangle between Rogatica, Višegrad and Goražde, along both banks of the Drina.

Aftermath

Main articles: Foča ethnic cleansing and Gornja Jošanica massacre

Following the capture of Foča, Bosnian Serb forces began systematically ethnically cleansing the town and municipality of its non-Serb population, primarily Bosniaks. A multitude of Bosniak villages were massacred and/or destroyed, resulting in the death of more than 2,000 people. Muslim religious sites such as the Aladža Mosque were demolished. The town and municipality was renamed to "Srbinje", meaning "place of the Serbs" in 1994. However, this was reverted in 2004 after the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared the renaming unconstitutional. The planned atrocities led to the municipality losing its Muslim majority and becoming mostly Serbian.

On December 19, 1992, which is Saint Nicholas Day, Bosniak forces attacked the hamlet of Gornja Jošanica, killing 56 Serb civilians, including women and children. In addition, ten other hamlets of Jošanica village were wiped out.

References

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