Drežnica Battalion's Reaction to the Video 'Animated Map of HVO'

HVO veterans, in coordination with the Croatian National Assembly (HNS), released a video titled 'Animated Map of HVO' on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the HVO's formation.

Due to disagreements with parts of the content of this video material, which relates to wartime events in Herzegovina, the Drežnica Battalion of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina has reacted sharply.

- Without intending to establish the identity of the commissioner, nor the way they will mark and cherish the traditions of the units and events in which they participated, we, the members of the Drežnica Battalion, first within the Territorial Defense of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, hereby send a reaction to parts of the content of the mentioned material relating to the territory of Herzegovina, where we live and which we defended and liberated.

We remind the commissioners of this video work, especially the HVO Veterans and the President of the HNS Organizing Committee for the 25th Anniversary of the HVO, Mr. Mladen Begić, one of the former commanders of the Posušje Brigade:

– The Drežnica Battalion of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina never organizationally or territorially belonged to the falsified depiction of the territory (blue color) as you stated in the published animated map.

Although it is generally known that the mentioned territory did not belong, nor does it belong to the blue-marked HVO area, for the sake of refreshing memory and reminding, we will provide you with:

– A map from March and April 1993, of the complete blockade of Drežnica, with your checkpoints, lines, and HVO units, from Rakitno, Vrd, Salakovac, and Grabovica,

– A copy of the 'Order' for the HVO attack on Drežnica, signed by Ilija Vrljić, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the HVO Mostar, dated April 16, 1993, WHY AN ATTACK?

– A copy of the personal documents of members of the third battalion from the Mostar settlement of Cim, the commander of one of the attack directions on Drežnica on May 9, 1993, whose body, along with others, we duly handed over to you in accordance with all wartime regulations.

– A copy of the ID card and other personal documents of a lieutenant of the Croatian Army from Virovitica, who on August 6, 1993, led the attack of the HVO and HV from the direction of Posušje on Drežnica. We note that, in accordance with wartime regulations, we handed over the body of the said person to you. As proof of the aforementioned fact is the name of a local school in Virovitica – Republic of Croatia, where the said person is buried.

– Documentation on the capture of four of your 'saboteurs' from the Rafael Boban Posušje Brigade, whom we exchanged for five civilians you picked up from their apartments in Mostar,

– We will also provide you with recordings of dozens of night bombings of populated areas from an aircraft that flew in from the direction of Blidinje, municipalities of Posušje and Tomislavgrad.

– We will also provide you with recordings of dozens of exploded and unexploded steel balls that you dropped, filled with over two hundred kilograms of explosives, from the area of responsibility of the aforementioned Begić onto our westernmost settlement, Draga.

– We will provide you with copies of minutes and recordings of Bosniak prisoners or detainees from Maglaj who fled to Drežnica from your HVO positions in Vrd, where they served you as labor and human shields.

– We will also provide you with lists of civilians whom you, unable to control the territory, cowardly killed with shells, and also destroyed schools, clinics, houses, and mosques.

– We will also provide you with recordings of thousands of civilians from Stolac and Čapljina whom you, in the summer of 1993, on several occasions, after the ethnic cleansing of the southern part of Herzegovina, after months of detention in camps, brought to Vrd and expelled towards the free territory of Drežnica, which you persistently mark in your HVO blue color throughout the entire presentation. Nonsensical, isn't it?

– Copies of documents of your greatest military defeat in December 1993 in the Batačke Lazine area.

– Čvrsnica, when you carried out an unprecedented multi-day offensive against our fighters, members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with thousands of shells fired at populated areas of Drežnica. You surely weren't bombing the territory you claim in your entire presentation.

– We will provide you, and you surely have them, with recordings of monuments and anniversaries of fallen members of the HVO brigades from Mostar, Posušje, Grude, and Široki Brijeg, which operated towards the area of responsibility of the 'Drežnica Battalion'.

Although all of the above is well known to you, you do not hesitate to continue to treat the area of Drežnica (over 320 km² of territory), which our battalion managed to defend from the attacks of four HVO brigades (Posušje, Grude, Široki Brijeg, and the 2nd Brigade HVO Mostar) and with the help of HV units, as your 'defended', 'conquered', or we don't know what else in your displayed 'animated map'.

If this was not your intention, which we justifiably doubt given so many facts, we demand that you correct the 'oversight'! If it is about the desired 'map', forget about it, because the fighters and people of Drežnica, after the heroic defense of this area, have no intention of leaving their age-old homes and martyrs' graves, nor of handing them over to para-state creations!!!

Any well-intentioned person crossing from M17, the bridge 'DEFENDERS OF DREŽNICA', can head into the Drežnica canyon, over 20 kilometers long, driving on the road named 'ALIJA IZETBEGOVIĆ', as it has been called for full seventeen years, and we suggest that you, as the 'commissioners', register and correct the major mistakes in the displayed 'animated map about HVO' from April 8, 2017 – it is stated in the statement of the Drežnica Battalion.