During the late 1980s, the former Socialist Federal Republic of
Jugoslavia (SFRJ) - a country dominating the Balkans - experienced
a period of major crisis. Led by the Communist Party, the nation's
leadership failed to understand the depth of political changes all
over Eastern Europe, and then split along ethic lines. In
1988-1989, ethnic Albanians in the autonomous province of Kosovo
began demanding independence: the authorities of the SFRJ reacted
by suppressing the resulting demonstrations. In the Federal
Republic of Serbia, public opinion slid into nationalism, which the
local communist leadership exploited to maintain itself in power.
By 1990, nationalistic leaders rose to power in Slovenia and
Croatia, and publicly announced their intention to secede these
federal republics. Under the heavy shadow of growing war-mongering,
politicians from all three sides met to reach settlements on the
division of their and their emerging nation's interests. The last
few influential supporters of the preservation of a federal state
were quickly pushed aside, and the powerful military of the SRFJ -
the Yugoslav Popular Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija, JNA) -
became an instrument of political games. The Slovenian and Croatian
proclamations of independence, in June 1991, proved to be the drop
that over spilled the barrel. Already split by deep rifts within
their top political and military leaders, the federal authorities
launched a rather confused attempt to recover control over the
external borders of the SRFJ. The nascent Slovenian military
resisted, causing a series of bloody clashes with the JNA. Tasked
with the transport and protection of federal employees, the
Yugoslav Air Force and Air Defence (JRViPVO) found itself in the
thick of combat from day one of this conflict, when the Slovenes
shot down two of its helicopters. In return, the JRViPVO began
flying attack sorties, which ended only through a political
agreement of 2 July 1991, and the decision for Yugoslav authorities
to withdraw from Slovenia. Hard on the heels of this drama, the
conflict between Croats and Serbs in Croatia reached boiling point,
in the summer of 1991. Slowly at first, a major war erupted, which
caught the JRViPVO in a paradoxical situation as part of it was
still undergoing training, while another part had to fly shows of
power, and undertake reconnaissance, transport and then the first
combat operations. By September 1991, the conflict turned into an
ugly slugging match: Croatian forces had blocked numerous military
bases and major storage depots while the JNA received orders to
lift the sieges of its surrounded units. Amid the following civil
war, the JRViPVO often found itself forced to take drastic
decisions, like when one of its units was relocated from the
Federal Republic of Macedonia to Pula in Croatia, to fly combat
sorties over the local battlefields. For the JRViPVO, the war in
Croatia ended through a political settlement and a cease-fire of 3
January 1992. However, only weeks later the force was to see its
final action in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where it flew combat
operations against local separatists. While another political
agreement resulted in a withdrawal of all federal forces from this
part of the former Yugoslavia on 19 Mary 1992, and the loss (and
destruction) of the major air base outside Bihac, this was also the
swan song of the once proud Yugoslav air force. Based on the
author's unique approach to local archives and first-hand sources,
and illustrated by over 120 photographs and colour profiles, the
'JRVIPVO in Yugoslav War' is the first ever authoritative account
of combat operations of the former Yugoslav Air Force in the
conflict that shaped the modern-day southern Europe, and an
indispensable source of reference on contemporary military history
of this part of the World.
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