Battle of Šibenik

Overview

The Battle of Šibenik, also known as the September War, was an armed conflict fought between the Yugoslav People's Army, supported by the Croatian Serb-established Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina, and the Croatian National Guard, supported by the Croatian Police. The battle was fought to the north and west of the city of Šibenik, Croatia on 16–22 September 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence. The JNA's initial orders were to relieve Croatian siege of their barracks in the city and isolate the region of Dalmatia from the rest of Croatia. The JNA's advance was supported by the Yugoslav Air Force and the Yugoslav Navy.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Šibenik, fought in September 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence, represented a direct Yugoslav People's Army effort to relieve besieged JNA barracks in the city and sever Dalmatia from the rest of Croatia. The operation was multi-service in character, drawing on Yugoslav Air Force and Yugoslav Navy support alongside ground forces coordinated with the Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina. Cutting Dalmatia off would have fragmented Croatian territorial continuity along the Adriatic coast at an early and critical stage of the war, making Šibenik a strategically consequential objective in the broader campaign to contest Croatian independence.

Tactics

Commanders (4)