IN JUST FIVE DAYS, ALL SERBS WERE EXPELLED FROM GLAMOČ AND GRAHOVO, AND EVERYTHING BELONGING TO THEM WAS DESTROYED

BELGRADE, JULY 31 /SRNA/ - In the days before the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the criminal Storm, Serbs should remember that the aggression and the exodus of Serbs from the Republic of Serbian Krajina were preceded by an HVO and regular Croatian army's attack on Glamoč and Grahovo and that in only five days, all Serbs were expelled from these municipalities and everything belonging to them was destroyed, said Ranka Srdić-Milić, president of the Alliance of Krajina Associations.

She pointed out that from July 25 to 30, in the operation known as Summer '95, the centuries-old Serb territories, then part of Republika Srpska, were ethnically cleansed. After the Croatian aggressor captured Šator, the highest peak of the Dinara range, it became clear that the Serbs were in danger and that hell was coming their way. "Grahovo fell first, followed by Glamoč, after which convoys of refugees, mostly with wagons and livestock, began moving toward Ključ and Drvar, which were still free at the time," said Srdić-Milić. On their journey toward the unknown and freedom, the refugees were subjected to heavy shelling and were practically a clear target for Croatian forces the entire way. "They could have counted us as we moved south. The thunder of their tanks was unbearable, and the shell blasts were so powerful that young calves, dazed by the shockwaves, collapsed onto the asphalt," Srdić-Milić recalled. She set off with her closest relatives along the road toward Drvar, as her parents were afraid to let her go through the forest toward Ključ, fearing that the Croats might capture her. "There was confusion, chaos. Glamoč had fallen. Panic, despair; from all sides, we heard, `The Ustashas will slaughter us.` We fled in a blind rush. There was no reason, only turmoil. Parents were parting from us, younger ones, telling us, `Run toward Drvar before the road is cut off,`" Srdić-Milić said. Near Drvar, under a rain of shells, the relative who was driving the small truck in which Srdić-Milić was traveling swerved to avoid a collision and plunged down a slope. "A tree stopped us. My aunt, Draginja Srdić, was killed instantly. A branch pierced her frontal bone, and her brain spilled onto me. That’s a trauma that will never go away," Srdić-Milić recounted. In the accident, everyone except Srdić-Milić was injured and received medical assistance. She, along with several men, returned to an empty village near the occupied Glamoč to bury her aunt. "We couldn't bury her in the village cemetery, so we buried her in the garden in front of the house, and moved her remains three years later. My aunt Draginja, a noble and quiet woman. We all carry that sorrow and that cross with us," said Srdić-Milić. In those two days before the feast of Fiery Mary, fighting for bare survival and overwhelmed with grief, Srdić-Milić lost around ten kilograms and became unrecognizable. By the feast of St. Elijah, August 2, she was already in Novi Sad, visiting her injured relatives in the hospital every day. "We were just starting to recover when the news came that our Knin had fallen. That's when I mentally collapsed and withered every day, but I kept getting up and decided that I would never allow anyone to call my people aggressors. That's when I began, and continue, to fight for the remembrance of every victim, every Serb hamlet, every region," emphasized Srdić-Milić, who actively works as president of the Alliance to strengthen the culture of remembrance. The criminal operation Summer '95 by the regular Croatian Army and HVO lasted from July 25 to 30, 1995. During this period, the Serb population was expelled from Grahovo, Glamoč, and surrounding Serb villages; numerous crimes were committed against the civilian population for which no one has been held accountable, and Serb property was destroyed and burned.