By: Tomaž Kladnik
At a meeting of senior officials of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Prague on 3 and 4 July, they proposed an observation mission and the establishment of an international conference on Yugoslavia. As part of the Brioni agreement, international observers (led by Jo van der Valk) arrived in Slovenia on 11 July and began work on 17 July.
They supervised the ceasefire, the return of the YPA units to barracks, the removal of blockades and roadblocks, the deactivation of TO units and the withdrawal of the YPA units from Slovenia. They left Slovenia after the moratorium expired on 8 October 1991.
YPA units begin to retreat to the barracks
The day before the official start of the war (26 June 1991), the YPA units began to withdraw to the barracks, some of them in disarray, which was becoming more evident as the day continued. When withdrawing from border crossings, members of the federal militia robbed duty-free shops, destroyed inventory at border crossings and fled from the border to the neighbouring countries. The number of defections and surrenders of the YPA members was increasing, including pilots from air units, who, on the other hand, had carried out numerous air attacks on telecommunications transmitters only the day before, and were threatening new intervention from the territory of the Republic of Croatia. During this time, the Slovenian Defence Forces occupied the largest warehouses of weapons and ammunition of the Yugoslav People’s Army and included the seized weapons and equipment in Slovenian units; they also re-occupied and took over all border crossings.
Defence Forces of the Republic of Slovenia
The formation and disintegration of the state communities in which we lived was also significantly influenced by Slovenians in the uniforms of various armies, who at the right moment knew how to intervene in historical events and act in favour of their nation. That is why, Slovenians won their statehood and democratic order in the long national history only in 1991. In 1991, Slovenia’s independence was helped by a combination of favourable external circumstances and the maturity of the general belief in Slovenia that it was necessary to seize the historical opportunity and become independent. The united action of the leading actors of independence, who were able to establish military balance in the battles with the Yugoslav army and were able to achieve peace in hard negotiations with the European Community without sacrificing the fundamental goal, was also significant. During the war, Slovenia’s defence forces consisted of the TO, the Slovenian Army, the militia, and the police, who, with the support of civil defence and the population, and after an organised and thorough preparation that began a good year earlier, won a victory in the ten days of war involving 72 conflicts and after three ceasefire agreements.
During this time, the Slovenian Defence Forces occupied the largest warehouses of weapons and ammunition of the YPA and included the seized weapons and equipment in Slovenian units; they also re-occupied and took over all border crossings.
The militia or the police force were part of the armed forces of the new democratic state and, with their knowledge and skills, they secured the formation of the democratic institutions of the new state.
Prior to the attack on Slovenia, the Territorial Defence of the Republic of Slovenia had 85 groups for obstruction, 92 groups for anti-armour combat, 59 divisions, 240 platoons, 150 troops and 60 detachments.
Slovenian-Croatian defence agreement
During the preparations for independence, the Slovenian and Croatian representatives agreed on a joint approach against the planned military aggression of the federal authorities against the newly formed states. On 20 January 1991, the Slovenian and Croatian Ministers of Defence and the Interior, Janez Janša and Igor Bavčar, and Martin Špegelj and Josip Boljkovac met at a confidential meeting. They signed an agreement on joint military cooperation and action in the event of an attack by the Federal Yugoslav Army on Slovenia and Croatia, so that an attack on one of the countries would be considered as an attack on both countries. During the war, Slovenian authorities had frequent contacts with the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence in Zagreb, but the Croatian side limited them to reports of tank columns advancing towards Slovenia and Yugoslav Air Force raids and did not allow its defence forces to fight the YPA, which penetrated from the territory of Croatia into Slovenia. The decisive point in these relations was the message sent by Janez Janša to Zagreb on Saturday, 29 June, which was the night before the YPA ultimatum expired and before the announced bombing. In it, he proposed to Croatia to close the most important directions of tank incursions into Slovenia, to recall Croatian officers and soldiers from the YPA and to try to prevent air attacks on Slovenia from airports in Croatia. After Croatia’s passive attitude towards the war in Slovenia, contacts and telephone conversations became rare.
Milica or police
The militia was a body within the republican secretariat for internal affairs. Its tasks were the following: direct protection of lives and personal freedom of citizens and social and personal property, maintenance of public order and peace, prevention of the destruction of social and state order, and detection of criminal offenses and their perpetrators. The militia performed its work in uniforms and was especially armed and equipped for its work. It was organised into organizational-formation units such as police departments, stations, platoons, troops, battalions, detachments and brigades. In peacetime, it cooperated with the YPA and its military police in the field of defence, and during the war it was envisaged to be an integral part of the TO. The basic education and training of militiamen was carried out at the Secondary School for Militiamen in Tacen, and further education was provided mainly at the Military Academy of the Terrestrial Army YPA in Belgrade and at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana. During the democratic changes in the Republic of Slovenia, together with the Secretariat / Ministry of the Interior, the militia was also transformed. With the depoliticization or departyzation, the protection of human rights came to the fore. The militia as an organization and its members as individuals played a decisive role in the preparations and in the war for the defence of sovereignty. It was part of the armed forces of the new democratic state and, with its knowledge and skills, ensured the emergence of the democratic institutions of the new state. It was an equal part of the newly emerging armed forces in the structure of the MSNZ and it represented a strong professionally armed formation, which in 1991 comprised around 4,400 uniformed militiamen and 440 criminal investigators. During the war, militia units operated with flexibility and a high degree of dynamism and autonomy in decision-making. Thus, they responded as quickly as possible to the development of the situation on the ground. In their activities, they paid special attention to the activities and movements of the YPA through observation and patrol, took care of the blockade of military facilities, prevented the supply of its units, strengthened work in the security district and provided operational coverage.
Territorial defense of the Republic of Slovenia
With the adoption of a package of constitutional amendments by which the Slovenian Assembly abolished the validity of federal documents that were in conflict with the national constitution − among other things, that military service and the Slovenian territorial defence are the exclusive competence of the republic −, the formal legal conditions for regaining command of the entire Territorial Defence of the Republic of Slovenia were met, and Janez Slapar was appointed its acting chief. By occupying the seat of the republican staff, the Army had clearly shown that it would not respect the decisions of the Slovenian authorities, and so there had been two republican headquarters for territorial defence in Slovenia. However, the headquarters occupied by the Army was a command without an army and thus pointless, as all communications between it and its subordinate units and headquarters of territorial defence had been severed since October. Immediately after its establishment, the working groups of the Republic Coordination as an operational coordination body began preparing versions of measures in case the YPA used force, and the TO began an experimental mobilization of units in individual provinces. Practical tests of TO operation was the exercise Shift ’91, in which the TO successfully tested the operation across the entire state territory. At the same time, they drew up mobilization plans for individual provinces and issued orders to begin the mobilization of individual TO military units. Thus, on 24 June 1991, all TO headquarters and staff units were mobilised − 2,251 members were called up, and 1,983 (88 percent) arrived − and units for the protection of facilities of special importance − 9,689 members were called up, of which 7,013 arrived (72 percent). On 25 June 1991, units were mobilised to establish reception centres and security tasks − 792 members were called up, and 644 (81 percent) arrived. On the next day, 20,115 members were called up at the provincial headquarters, of whom 15,707 responded, or 78 percent. Prior to the attack on Slovenia, the Territorial Defence of the Republic of Slovenia had 85 groups for obstruction, 92 groups for anti-armour combat, 59 divisions, 240 platoons, 150 troops and 60 detachments. The Territorial Defence had 39,000 infantry weapons, 17,000,000 rounds of ammunition for infantry weapons, 1,100 anti-armour weapons with 2,750 rounds of ammunition, 200 support weapons and 100 anti-aircraft missiles. The TO did not have tanks or other armoured vehicles, planes and helicopters.