Operation Summer '95

Battle context

Operation Summer '95 was a joint HV/HVO offensive conducted between 25 and 29 July 1995 north-west of Livanjsko Polje and around Bosansko Grahovo and Glamoč in western Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite meeting strong initial resistance from the VRS 2nd Krajina Corps, the Croatian-led force captured approximately 1,600 square kilometres of territory and severed the Knin-Drvar road, a critical supply artery for the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina. The operation fell short of its stated primary objective — drawing VRS forces away from the besieged city of Bihać — but its territorial and logistical consequences proved decisive at the operational level. By cutting the Knin-Drvar road and positioning HV units in the approaches to the RSK's capital, Summer '95 directly set the conditions for Operation Storm, launched days later, which would collapse the RSK entirely. The battle is thus best understood not as a self-contained success but as the preparatory maneuver that made the broader Croatian offensive of summer 1995 viable.