Battle of Travnik (1993)

The Battle of Travnik (Croatian: Bitka za Travnik) was a battle between the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH).

Background
On 18 November 1990, the first multi-party parliamentary elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a second round on 25 November. They resulted in a national assembly dominated by three ethnically based parties, which had formed a loose coalition to oust the communists from power. A significant split soon developed on the issue of whether to stay with the Yugoslav federation (overwhelmingly favoured among Serbs) or to seek independence (overwhelmingly favoured among Bosniaks and Croats).

The Serbs established the RAM Plan, developed by the State Security Administration (SDB or SDS) and a group of selected Serb officers of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) with the purpose of organizing Serbs outside Serbia, consolidating control of the fledgling SDP, and the prepositioning of arms and ammunition.

Alarmed, the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia on 15 October 1991, shortly followed by the establishment of the Serbian National Assembly by Bosnian Serbs.

War broke out between Herzeg-Bosnia, supported by Croatia, and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, supported by the Bosnian Mujahideen and the Croatian Defence Forces. It lasted from 18 October 1992 to 23 February 1994, and is considered often as a "war within a war" as it was a part of the much larger Bosnian War. Fighting soon spread to Central Bosnia and soon Herzegovina, where most of the fighting would take place in those regions.

Between 1992 and 1993, many massacres and killings would take place, such as the Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing, Trusina massacre, Ahmići massacre, Sovići and Doljani killings, Vitez massacre, Mokronoge massacre, Grabovica massacre, Uzdol massacre, Stupni Do massacre, Križančevo selo killings, Zenica massacre, Gornji Vakuf shelling, Busovača massacre, and the Stari Vitez terrorist attack. Battles, operations, and sieges were also common during that time period, as the battle of Žepče, Bugojno, Siege of Mostar, and Operation Neretva '93.

Battle
The ARBiH transported soldiers to the Travnik region by buses in a way that they would not be spotted by the HVO. When they were spotted, the ARBiH claimed that they were replacement forces, but it was noticed that the buses were leaving empty. They hid the units in Muslim villages or in small groups in houses in Croatian villages. In April, the number reached eight to ten thousand people. They were commanded by Mehmed Alagić, and the units were called the Bosnian Region Operative Group of the Third Corps of the ARBiH, later renamed the 7th Corps. At the beginning of April, the Muslims brought in more forces. Before the aggression against the Croats, on June 5, they dragged another eight hundred soldiers.

By this time, the Croatian forces were stretched on the lines towards the Serbs, holding two-thirds of the front line, although they were many times less than the Muslims. The ARBiH controlled Travnik, and the HVO had its headquarters and several other locations in Travnik. On June 6, the commander of the 3rd ARBiH Corps, Enver Hadžihasanović, told the UNPROFOR commander that civil war and military action were their only solution. The attack followed on the same day. The HVO was numerically superior, and Hadžihasanović could not engage in house-to-house defensive battles. There was no possibility of bringing in reinforcements, help or supplies. The fighting lasted for several days. The command post of the HVO Zvijezda in Travnik was surrounded by the ARBiH. The other brigades attacked towards Guča Gora, Pokrajčići and in the rear the HVO, which was holding positions towards the Serbs. A fierce attack was carried on June 8, in which 24 HVO soldiers and 68 Croatian civilians died. The HVO had to surrender or was pushed across the demarcation line with the Serbs. Those who broke through the Serbian lines were followed by a column of Croatian civilians. On that day, ARBiH forces committed mass war crimes in Čukla were they killed 21 people and Krpeljići, killing 7 people. On June 8, they expelled twenty thousand Croats from the Muslim unit. On June 10, ARBiH troops were ordered to stop their advance.

Serbian role
In the area of Galica on Vlašić, Serbian forces committed war crimes against captured HVO soldiers on May 15, 1992. There was later a point where Serbian weapons and ammunition were supplied to the ARBiH for petrodollars. After June 1993 and the general aggression of the ARBiH on the Croatian areas of central Bosnia, Galica fell silent and not a single bullet was fired from it.

Aftermath
On June 16, 1993, the HVO issued a proclamation on general public mobilization due to frequent attacks by ARBiH forces in the area of Herzeg-Bosnia. 1759 Croatian prisoners were sent through 22 camps under the ARBiH, while 572 HVO soldiers died in the fighting, and 114 civilians were killed, 32 Croatian villages were burned to the ground. In order to hide the crimes committed two years after the fall of Travnik, Enver Hadžihasanović banned international organizations and cameras from entering the 32 burned Croatian villages in Travnik.

In addition to killing Croatian civilians, they also killed Serbian civilians. The Serbs who remained surrendered their weapons to the HVO and declared their loyalty to the HVO. In exchange for the captured four members of the El Mujahid unit, the Egyptian Mujahideen took a group of Travnik civilians and took them to the Mujahideen camp in the village of Orašac, where he tortured, abused and inflicted severe physical injuries on them. He received the list of persons to be kidnapped from Halid Genjca, the then president of the Travnica SDA committee.

The battle of Travnik was one of the worst battles for Herzeg-Bosnia since the conflicts lasted, as it emerges from the documents of the HVO Central Bosnia Operative Zone. HVO knight brigade commander Mario Čerkez appealed that "Travnik is Bosnian Vukovar", while HVO headquarters, intellectuals of Central Bosnia, and the Catholic church, sent more than 50 appeals, pleas and calls for help to Central Bosnia in three days.