Serving a memorial service to fallen soldiers and laying wreaths in front of the memorial in the local community Brodsko polje one in Brod, the 28th anniversary of the Croatian Army’s aggression against the municipality will be marked today.
Zoran Vidić, the president of the Presidency of the municipal Veterans’ Organization, says that March 3 was recorded in the history of Brod as the day when Serbs from the territory of the then Bosanski Brod municipality were exposed to open aggression from Croatia in 1992.
– A large number of well-armed, heavily armed Croatian soldiers crossed the bridge from Slavonski Brod that day. The attack on the Serb population began on the main Brod-Derventa road, or in Stadionska Street, when Croat-Muslim military forces, together with the 108th Brigade of the National Guard Corps / ZNG /, occupied the city center – said Vidić.
He recalled that there were preserved videos about the crossing of the Croatian army across the bridge into Brod, which were included in the documentary “From Destruction to Liberty of Brod”.
A memorial service and the laying of wreaths are scheduled for 11.30 p.m.
According to statements and documents in the possession of the Brod Fighting Organization, on March 3, 1992, a meeting was held in Bosanski Brod by representatives of three nations, that is, political leaders of the parties who had councilors in the local assembly.
The purpose of the meeting was to calm tensions caused by the unilateral referendum, and then-President of the Executive Board of the Bosanski Brod Municipal Assembly Mihajlo Srijemac proposed a solution to calm the tense situation.
Upon returning home, at 4:40 pm from the area of the Mahala naval settlement, Srijemac was wounded by members of the Croat-Muslim coalition, assisted by the VOC forces from Slavonski Brod, by firing from a firearm.
Surviving witnesses at the time described the continued intimidation of the local Serb population by physical harassment, robbery and detention.
The March 3 attack on Brod was just the prelude to the most serious crimes that took place in the municipality that month.
Members of the Martić and Dujanić families were killed on March 25, 1992, in Brod, and the following day the Sijekovac massacre took place.
Members of the regular Croatian army, along with paramilitary Croat-Muslim units from BiH and Croatia, killed nine Serb civilians in Sijekovac on March 26, 1992, and in the following days, another 37 Serbs were killed from this suburban settlement.
The youngest victim was 17 and the oldest was 72 years old.
In 1992, 46 Serb civilians were killed in Sijekovac, according to documents from the Brod Veterans Organization.
The occupation of Croatian forces was terminated on October 7, 1992, when General Slavko Lisica liberated the area of the municipality of Brod with deliberate military action.
TST