THE OPERATION "MAESTRAL": THE AGGRESSION OF THE CROATIAN ARMY AGAINST THE MUNICIPALITY OF SIPOVO, SEPTEMBER 9th-12th, 1995

Abstract

The paper deals with the fateful and most difficult days of the town of Sipovo and its population and army in our modern history. In just a few days, with the aggression of the joint forces of the Croatian regular army and the Croatian Defense Council in the Operation "Maestral", the entire population of the municipality of Sipovo was expelled and the entire territory of the municipality was occupied.Out of the 104 fighters of the municipality of Sipovo, 22 lost their lives in these difficult September days. The occupation of the city and the surrounding villages also resulted in the death of a certain number of civilians and the material damage of the Municipality of Sipovo. The operation ”Maestral” itself was carried out and lasted from the 8^th to the 17^th September, 1995 and was a continuation to "The Storm" with the identical goals: the destruction and persecution of the Serbian population of this region from its homeland which is there for centuries. The goal of the joint Croatian-Muslim forces was to capture the towns of Sipovo, Jajce, Drvar, Bosanski Petrovac, Bosanska Krupa and Kljuc and they completely succeeded in doing that. The ultimate goal was to break out in front of Banja Luka and capture it, which would probably lead to the disappearance of the Republic of Srpska itself. Fortunately, with the Dayton Peace Agreement, the entire municipality of Sipovo was returned to the Republic of Srpska after six months of the occupation by the aggressor Croatian army.