The day the criminal Mladić was stopped: Anniversary of the Battle for Proskok marked

(Patria) - By laying flowers and paying tribute, the anniversary of the battle, marked as a first-line defense battle where the aggressor had one goal, to cut off Sarajevo and completely encircle it, was marked today at the Proskok site on Bjelašnica.

Nearly 100 members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina were killed in the 20-day battles, and 500 were wounded, lightly and severely. After suffering losses, members of the 182nd Knightly (Foča) Light Brigade withdrew from the Proskok elevation, and the area was then occupied by the Army of Republika Srpska.

The Minister for Veterans' Affairs of Sarajevo Canton, Omer Osmanović, attended today's commemoration along with fellow soldiers and families of the fallen. According to Minister Osmanović, this was one of the most strategically important battles fought in this area.

“The fact that the operation to capture it was personally led by Hague indictee Ratko Mladić speaks volumes about the significance of this area and the cutting of the main corridor across Mount Igman. The brave members of the 182nd Knightly (Foča) Light Brigade fought for this location until their last breath, and we owe them immense gratitude. We must talk more and more often about the battles fought for this area, so that future generations remember the heroes and martyrs from the Proskok elevation. It is our obligation and duty to remember and pass on; the culture of remembrance must be stronger than the culture of forgetting,” Minister Osmanović stated on this occasion.

Igman and Sarajevo were defended during those 20 days of fierce offensive by the Serb army, in which close-quarters combat took place. Soldier Osman Đuderija managed to stop a tank battalion by destroying the first tank in the column, after which the others retreated.

There were ten Serb soldiers for every member of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, plus the heavy and light weaponry they possessed. Ratko Mladić himself sat in the second tank that charged the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, commanding the operation.

Five years ago, the authentic tank of the Serb army destroyed by Osman Đuderija was transferred to Proskok.