Kravica
Encyclopedia
Kravica is a predominantly Serb populated village in Bratunac
county near Srebrenica
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
.
In 1991 it had a population of 357, of whom 353 were declared as Serbs
, with no declared Bosniaks
, Croats
or Yugoslavs
. During the 1992-1995 Bosnian War
, the village was badly damaged in the 1993 attack, and in 1995 was place of a major killings during the Srebrenica massacre
.
Christmas day), the Bosniak forces under Naser Oric
attacked and captured Kravica, a Serb military]] stronghold at the time. An estimated 25 Army of Republika Srpska (VRS)
soldiers were killed and 36 wounded. 11 civilians were also killed and most of the houses were damaged in the battle.
As for the destruction in Kravica village the judgment in Naser Orić case states that the prosecution failed to present convincing evidence that the Bosnian forces were responsible for them, because the Serb forces used artillery
in the fighting in the surrounding villages. For instance, in the case of the village of Bjelovac, Serbs even used the warplanes.
The fall of Kravica, which in the past had always been an important symbol of Serb resolve, created a shock wave in Eastern Bosnia; the population of Bratunac panicked and the authorities had to close the bridges over the Drina
to prevent people from crossing the river en masse. For the Bosniaks, however, the victory over Kravica was a considerable boost; this conquest allowed Oric to connect with the resistance
forces in Konjevic Polje and Cerska, yielding one large Bosnian terrain from Zepa and Srebrenica almost to Zvornik
.
At around 18.00 hours, when the men were all being held in the warehouse, VRS soldiers threw in hand grenades and opened fire with various weapons, including an anti-tank gun. In the local area it is said that the mass murder
in Kravica was unplanned and started quite spontaneously when one of the warehouse doors suddenly swung open. Armed guards shot at the men who tried to climb out the windows to escape the massacre. When the shooting stopped, the shed was full of bodies. There were three survivors of the slaughter in the farm shed.
There was more killing in and around Kravica and Sandici. Even before the murders in the warehouse, some 200 or 300 men were formed up in ranks at the point of their capture near Sandici and then mown down with machine gun
s. At Kravica, it seems that the local population had a hand in the killings. Some victims were mutilated and killed with knives. The bodies were taken to Bratunac
or simply dumped in the river that runs alongside the road.
link between the executions in Kravica and the 'primary' mass grave
known as Glogova 2, in which the remains of 139 people were found. No blindfolds or restraints were found. In the 'secondary' grave known as Zeleni Jadar 5, there were 145 bodies, a number of which were charred. Pieces of brick and window frame which were found in the Glogova 1 grave that was opened later also established a link with Kravica. Here, the remains of 191 victims were found.
Precisely which Bosnian Serb units were involved in the Kravica executions cannot be stated with any certainty. There were certainly personnel of the Drina Corps
in the area at the time, and the headquarters of one of the Bratunac Brigade
battalion
s was only 400 metres from Glogova. However, there are also indications that a detachment of Military Police
could have been involved in burying the victims. One Bosnian Serb witness observed soon after the executions that both VRS and Special Police
could well have been involved. Given the proximity of the headquarters, the request for the earthmover, and the fact that military transport was making regular use of the road through Kravica, it is almost inconceivable that the Drina Corps could have been unaware of what was going on in the area.
Bratunac
Bratunac is a town and municipality located in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The easternmost point of Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in the municipality of Bratunac which lies in the Republika Srpska.-1971:26.513 total...
county near Srebrenica
Srebrenica
Srebrenica is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, the town was the site of the July 1995 massacre,...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
.
In 1991 it had a population of 357, of whom 353 were declared as Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, with no declared Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
, Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
or Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs is a national designation used by a minority of South Slavs across the countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the diaspora...
. During the 1992-1995 Bosnian War
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
, the village was badly damaged in the 1993 attack, and in 1995 was place of a major killings during the Srebrenica massacre
Srebrenica massacre
The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing, during the Bosnian War, of more than 8,000 Bosniaks , mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of...
.
January 1993 attack
On 7 January 1993 (OrthodoxEastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
Christmas day), the Bosniak forces under Naser Oric
Naser Oric
Naser Orić is a former Bosniak military officer who commanded the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina forces in the Srebrenica enclave in Eastern Bosnia surrounded by Serb forces, during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.In 2006, he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment by...
attacked and captured Kravica, a Serb military]] stronghold at the time. An estimated 25 Army of Republika Srpska (VRS)
Army of Republika Srpska
The Army of Republika Srpska ; Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian Vojska Republike Srpske ) also referred to as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of today's Republika Srpska which was then the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", a self-proclaimed state within the internationally recognized...
soldiers were killed and 36 wounded. 11 civilians were also killed and most of the houses were damaged in the battle.
As for the destruction in Kravica village the judgment in Naser Orić case states that the prosecution failed to present convincing evidence that the Bosnian forces were responsible for them, because the Serb forces used artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
in the fighting in the surrounding villages. For instance, in the case of the village of Bjelovac, Serbs even used the warplanes.
The fall of Kravica, which in the past had always been an important symbol of Serb resolve, created a shock wave in Eastern Bosnia; the population of Bratunac panicked and the authorities had to close the bridges over the Drina
Drina
The Drina is a 346 kilometer long river, which forms most of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps which belongs to the Danube river watershed...
to prevent people from crossing the river en masse. For the Bosniaks, however, the victory over Kravica was a considerable boost; this conquest allowed Oric to connect with the resistance
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
forces in Konjevic Polje and Cerska, yielding one large Bosnian terrain from Zepa and Srebrenica almost to Zvornik
Zvornik
Zvornik is a city on the Drina river in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, located south of the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The town Mali Zvornik lies directly across the river in Serbia, and not far north is Loznica.-History:Zvornik is first mentioned in 1410, although it was...
.
July 1995 massacre
On 13 July 1995, executions were conducted in the largest of four warehouses (farm sheds) owned by the Agricultural Cooperative in Kravica. Between 1,000 and 1,500 Bosniak males trying to escape Srebrenica had been captured in fields near Sandici and detained in Sandici Meadow. The captives, both civilians and prisoners of war, were brought to Kravica, either by bus or on foot, the distance being approximately one kilometre. A witness recalls seeing around 200 men, stripped to the waist and with their hands in the air, being forced to run in the direction of Kravica. An aerial photograph taken at 14.00 hours that afternoon shows two buses standing in front of the sheds.At around 18.00 hours, when the men were all being held in the warehouse, VRS soldiers threw in hand grenades and opened fire with various weapons, including an anti-tank gun. In the local area it is said that the mass murder
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
in Kravica was unplanned and started quite spontaneously when one of the warehouse doors suddenly swung open. Armed guards shot at the men who tried to climb out the windows to escape the massacre. When the shooting stopped, the shed was full of bodies. There were three survivors of the slaughter in the farm shed.
There was more killing in and around Kravica and Sandici. Even before the murders in the warehouse, some 200 or 300 men were formed up in ranks at the point of their capture near Sandici and then mown down with machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s. At Kravica, it seems that the local population had a hand in the killings. Some victims were mutilated and killed with knives. The bodies were taken to Bratunac
Bratunac
Bratunac is a town and municipality located in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The easternmost point of Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in the municipality of Bratunac which lies in the Republika Srpska.-1971:26.513 total...
or simply dumped in the river that runs alongside the road.
Evidence and responsibility
Analysis of hair, blood and explosives residue, collected at the Kravica Warehouse, provide strong evidence of the killings. Experts determined the presence of bullet strikes, explosives residue, bullets and shell cases, as well as human blood, bones and tissue adhering to the walls and floors of the building. Forensic evidence presented by the ICTY ProsecutorProsecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
link between the executions in Kravica and the 'primary' mass grave
Mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...
known as Glogova 2, in which the remains of 139 people were found. No blindfolds or restraints were found. In the 'secondary' grave known as Zeleni Jadar 5, there were 145 bodies, a number of which were charred. Pieces of brick and window frame which were found in the Glogova 1 grave that was opened later also established a link with Kravica. Here, the remains of 191 victims were found.
Precisely which Bosnian Serb units were involved in the Kravica executions cannot be stated with any certainty. There were certainly personnel of the Drina Corps
Corps
A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
in the area at the time, and the headquarters of one of the Bratunac Brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
s was only 400 metres from Glogova. However, there are also indications that a detachment of Military Police
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
could have been involved in burying the victims. One Bosnian Serb witness observed soon after the executions that both VRS and Special Police
Special police
Special Police does not have a consistent international meaning. In many cases it will describe a police force or a unit within a police force whose duties and responsibilities are significantly different from other forces in the same country or significantly different from other police in the same...
could well have been involved. Given the proximity of the headquarters, the request for the earthmover, and the fact that military transport was making regular use of the road through Kravica, it is almost inconceivable that the Drina Corps could have been unaware of what was going on in the area.
External links
- Serbs Subvert Srebrenica Commemoration (Institute for War and Peace ReportingInstitute for War and Peace ReportingInstitute for War & Peace Reporting is an international media development charity, established in 1991. It runs major programmes in Afghanistan, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Iran, Iraq, the Balkans, Congo DRC, Tunisia and Uganda...
)