Operation Čapljina

The Operation Čapljina also known as Evacuation from Čapljina was a military operation in the Bosnian war by the JNA against Croat-Bosniak forces. The goal of this operation was the evacuation of 170 civilians and soldiers from the barracks near Čapljina, which had been under siege for 2 weeks. On April 23, the JNA evacuated the soldiers and civilians without any casualties.

Operation Čapljina
Part of the Bosnian War
Date 23 April 1992 Location Čapljina Result Yugoslav People's Army victory JNA evacuated 170 civilians and soldiers
Belligerents
Yugoslavia	Croatia Herzeg-Bosnia Croatian Community of Bosnian Posavina Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Commanders and leaders
Momčilo Perišić	Janko Bobetko Slobodan Praljak
Units involved
Yugoslav People's Army Yugoslav Ground Forces 63rd Parachute Brigade	Armed Forces of Croatia Croatian Army Croatian Defence Council Croatian Defence Forces Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Strength
27 63rd Parachute Brigade 25	1,000+
Casualties and losses
none	2 helicopters unknown number of killed

Background

The barracks were under siege and constant attack for 14 days by Croatian and Bosnian soldiers. That is why before the plan to evacuate 200 Serbs with helicopters, Momčilo Perišić tried to negotiate with Slobodan Praljak to deblock the barracks, but Slobodan Praljak still refused to deblock the barracks. Left with no other choice commander of the 13th Bileća Corps, General Momčilo Perišić ordered to carry out the evacuated by combat. It was planned that the evacuation of personnel, from the moment the aircraft landed, through collection and boarding, to the take-off of the last aircraft, would last 12 minutes, because it was predicted that the soldiers and civilans in the barracks would have enough time to collect the equipment and run in to the helicopters.

Flow of the operation

On 23 April 1992, six helicopters took off from the Jasenica heliport in Mostar, and three from the Ortiješa heliport. Each aircraft had a crew of two pilots and one mechanic, who volunteered for action. In addition to them, 25 paratroopers(from the 63rd Parachute Brigade) were deployed in the helicopters who had the task of securing, protecting and evacuation of civilians and soldiers from the barracks.

Fierce artillery preparation for the attack began at 16:45 and lasted until 17:00. Along with the artillery "plowing", Mi-8 helicopters took off at 16:45, because it was estimated that the flight from Mostar to Čapljina would last around 16 minutes. The command of the barracks in Čapljina was informed that they would be evacuated by helicopters only 10 minutes before landing, at a time when the helicopters were already flying towards Čapljina. All soldiers of the ARBiH and HV from Čapljina were put on high alert. Eight helicopters and 16 paratroopers landed around the barracks, picking up and extracting 170 soldiers and civilians, who were exhausted from fighting and just wanted to leave the barracks. Those 170 Serbs from the barracks were running to the helicopters with ammunition boxes and medkits, while the paratroopers guarded their backs, fire was opened on the helicopters from the buildings surrounding the barracks. A shootout broke out between the JNA and Croat-Bosniak soldiers. Croatian soldiers threw grenades at Serbs who used the barracks as a shield. Several shots hit the cabin of one helicopter, but the pilots were fortunately unharmed. In another case, the pilot opened fire from a scorpion on the enemy through the side window at the enemies approaching the barracks. The evacuation was performed in just 8 minutes, less than the estimated 12 minutes. The rescue operation lasted longer than the planned time, it ended at 17:15 when the last helicopter took off. Croat–Bosniak forces tried to shoot down JNA helicopters with anti-aircraft fire but failed. The JNA also shot down 2 enemy helicopters. In this action record for the number of people transported by one Mi-8 helicopter was broken, because 43 soldiers were on board, thus breaking all previous estimates about the possibility of transportation by this type of aircraft. They even had to throw out all the equipment, backpacks, bags and weapons from some helicopters.

Aftermath

The helicopters returned to Mostar without loss, a real miracle that no one was injured and that some aircraft was not shot down. Although one helicopter returned with only one engine, it still reached its destination and landed unharmed soldiers and civilians. About 25 soldiers remained in the barracks and were captured by Croatian paramilitary forces, packed into a bus and taken to Metković, where were tortured for 117 days until they were exchanged.

After the withdrawal of the JNA from Bosnia at the end of March 1992, the HVO and the HV launched Operation Jackal, in which they occupied about 1,800 square kilometers. The reason why it failed is because the VRS did not secure the defense position well, but later they manage to secure the rest of eastern Herzegovina in Operation Bura and prevent the further expansion of the HVO.

The commanders of both sides who participated in Operation Čapljina later ended up in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. On 6 September 2011, in a first-instance verdict, Momčilo Perišić was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the Yugoslav Wars and sentenced to 27 years of imprisonment. Slobodan Praljak was found guilty of committing violations of the laws of war, crimes against humanity, and breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the Croat–Bosniak War by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2017 and sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment. Slobodan Praljak addressed the judges, saying: "Judges, Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal. With disdain, I reject your verdict!" He then drank poison and died.