33RD ANNIVERSARY OF THE CORRIDOR BREAKTHROUGH AND RESCUE OF 7,500 SERBS FROM THE SMOLUĆA DEATH CAMP COMMEMORATED

BIJELJINA, AUGUST 30 /SRNA/ - In a heroic operation by the Republika Srpska Army on this day in 1992, 7,500 Serbs from Smoluća, Tinja, and Potpeć were rescued from the Smoluća death camp, after spending four months under enemy siege and being exposed to daily attacks by Muslim-Croat paramilitary forces under the banner of the so-called Army of BiH.

Sixty-four locals were killed, including 13 civilians and 51 soldiers, and among the civilian victims were five residents of Smoluća who were killed after the Serb exodus, it was said today in Bijeljina during the commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the corridor breakthrough. During the enemy siege, 161 Serbs were wounded, including 25 civilians. On the monument dedicated to the fallen soldiers and civilian victims from Smoluća, Tinja, and Potpeć at the Pučile city cemetery, 128 soldiers’ names and 20 civilian victims’ names are engraved, honoring those who laid down their lives in the Defense-Patriotic War as part of the foundation of Republika Srpska. The president of the Veterans’ Organization of Republika Srpska, Radan Ostojić, described the Smoluća operation as a magnificent mission carried out by the Republika Srpska Army in coordination with units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and local people from the encircled area. “The path of the Serb soldier is a path of sacrifice and suffering, but also of heroism and glory, on which Republika Srpska was reborn,” Ostojić said, calling on the Serb people to unite in preserving Republika Srpska. He condemned the judiciary in BiH, calling it an anomaly, pointing out the absurdity that those who survived in an enemy-encircled area and defended their ancestral lands are prosecuted, while those who held them under siege and attacked them daily remain unpunished. Smoluća resident Ljuban Ilić, who has lived in Brčko since the war, told reporters that more than 850 Serbian houses in the area were looted and burned, and that there has been no return of Serbs to Smoluća even 33 years after the war. War commander General Budimir Gavrić stated that 600 soldiers took part in the “Smoluća” military operation. Delegations from organizations originating from the war, city authorities, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Third Infantry Regiment of Republika Srpska laid wreaths and flowers at the monument to the fallen soldiers and civilian victims from Smoluća, Tinja, and Potpeć.