[30 YEARS OF INDEPENDENT SLOVENIA] War for Slovenia DAY 8; TOGETHER THEY BROUGHT THE ARMY TO ITS KNEES

By: Tomaž Kladnik

The eighth day of the war for the defence of Slovenian sovereignty was marked by the withdrawal of the YPA units, which were retreating to the barracks under the control of and accompanied by the TO and the militia. Water and electricity were reconnected in the barracks. Regular work had been established at most border crossings. 

The Slovenian Defence Forces were being consolidated, re-equipped and supplemented with weapons and equipment. They expected a political decision about the end of the war. 

During the fighting, one of the key roles in the defence of sovereignty was also played by the 1st MORiS Special Brigade, while in intelligence and security, the security-information and criminal services played an important role. Of course, the civil defence also played an extremely important role in the period before the independence, during the war for Slovenia and after it. 

During the war for Slovenia, the MORiS Special Brigade, together with the police, also guarded facilities of special importance, including the presidency and the government. 

In early July 1991, the MORiS Brigade was given the task of initiating training for professional soldiers. 

1st  MORiS special brigade 

At the beginning of October 1990, the head of the MSNZ, Tone Krkovič, handed over the structure of the MSNZ to the reorganised TO. He was given a new task; he became the commander of the TO Protection Brigade. The professional system of the brigade was called the 30th Development Group, which at that time had 14 professional members. They were soon joined by individual professional TO members from other units. The unit was given the task of preparing a training program for members of the military composition of the TO Protection Brigade. In addition, it had to provide accommodation, food, weapons, ammunition and equipment for TO members who came for training every week. This took place in two parts. In the first week, members of the TO were trained in military skills on Medvednjak, and at the end they performed personal weapons training. In the second week, they performed the task of protecting important facilities in Ljubljana, namely the Secretariat for Defense on Župančičeva, the RŠTO command in Tacen and the brigade command. Some of the units were ready for immediate military intervention. The training took place continuously from October 1990 to April 1991. From October 1990 to April 1991, 1,250 members of the brigade were trained. On 17 December 1990, the first ceremonial formation of the unit was held in Kočevska Reka. The keynote speaker Lojze Peterle then uttered these famous words: “Today, for the first time, it wafted like the Slovenian army.” For the first time, the unit also showed the public weapons that were not used by the YPA, especially SAR-80 rifles and Armburst anti-tank weapons, and in the nearby village of Koče they demonstrated the unit’s impressive skills. The formation of the unit and the intensity of the training proved that a special brigade of the Slovenian Army was being formed in the former closed and mysterious area, which was later named MORiS. In the spring of 1991, the YPA threats escalated, so the national coordination group decided to move the brigade command to Ljubljana with part of the units. The brigade was thus given additional tasks, and together with the militia it guarded facilities of special importance (presidency, government, RTV, post office, etc.). For this purpose, two more reserve detachments were mobilised in Ljubljana at the beginning of July, and another detachment in the area of Kočevje and Ribnica. The brigade’s police platoon also took part in the “CANAL”, “OAK” and “DOBOVA” actions. On the first day of the war, 27 June, a few minutes before 3 a.m., the brigade command gathered and took measures for the highest combat readiness. The brigade was ready for immediate combat intervention in the shortest possible time. During the war, its members carried out a number of combat operations including: the first confiscated YPA tank in Moste pri Komendi on 27 June; the shooting down of a YPA helicopter on 27 June; the capture of the YPA warehouse in Borovnica on 28 June; the attack on the YPA warehouse in Ortnek on 28 June; the attack on the YPA barracks in Ribnica on 28 June; protection of the TO Ig and Pekre training centres, which withdrew to the wider area of Kočevska Reka, and defence against air and artillery attacks on Kočevska Reka on 28 June, 2 July and 3 July. The characteristics of the brigade’s operation were careful selection of the target of combat operations, accuracy in planning actions and disciplined implementation. At the same time, part of the unit constantly protected the holders of political and military power in the Republic of Slovenia. In early July 1991, the MORiS Brigade was given the task of initiating training for professional soldiers. Candidates for professional soldiers first had to complete a one-week training, mainly by checking psychophysical characteristics, which signalled the beginning of the professionalization of the TO / Slovenian Army. 

Security information service 

One of the key conflicts at the time of Slovenia’s independence was the conflict between the intelligence services or, in other words, the conflict over obtaining information about the enemy. This conflict was all the more complicated as the Federal and Republican State Security Services (SDV) as well as the military counterintelligence service were, until recently, a single institution for “defending the gains of the communist revolution”, primarily to fight the internal and external enemy – “the fifth and sixth columns” −, as a result, Igor Bavčar, the new Minister of the Interior, could not trust the previous SDV, so it was dissolved or transformed. Part of the intelligence and counter-intelligence work of the SDV was taken over by the security body at the Secretariat for Defence, and in May 1991 the Security Information Service was established, headed by Miha Brejc. Its main task was to protect and obtain information on the basis of which the republican leadership could make strategic decisions regarding the independence of the country and then the conduct of armed conflicts. Thus, before the beginning of the conflict, the VIS held more than 200 intelligence positions in the YPA throughout Slovenia, in Zagreb and in Belgrade, as well as elsewhere, and during the war several thousand operationally important messages were sent to the republican coordination. 

Criminal investigation service 

Due to the reduction of classic criminal offenses, the Slovenian criminal investigation service focused on securing the independence process during the war activities on the territory of Slovenia. Thus, criminal investigators in the collection centre for prisoners of war in Dol near Hrastnik and in the Dob prison (where high-ranking YPA officers were imprisoned) performed identification and interviews with prisoners of war. The members of the YPA, KOS, the Federal State Security Service, the Federal Secretariat of the Interior and the Federal Customs were looking for perpetrators of military and civilian crimes. Criminal investigators also inspected the aerial bombing of Kočevska Reka and Gotenica, in which cluster bombs were used. They monitored the YPA units and its activities related to the activities of criminal investigation services, especially the “Montenegrin and Serbian mafia”, whose members carried out intelligence activities for the YPA. Abroad, they helped with the escape of Slovenian soldiers from the YPA units. 

Civil defense 

Civil defence is part of the defence and protection activities of society and the state, which on one hand, protect the population in the event of a crisis or war, while on the other, they also support its armed forces. These activities range from protecting the individual and their property by means of protecting institutions and the economy, to maintaining the continuity of state power. 

In the preparations for independence and during the independence of the Republic of Slovenia, Civil Defence developed across new foundations, which foresaw an internal threat to security. 

Organization of Slovenian Civil Defence 

The activities of the Civil Defence were organised and occurred in several stages, the first lasting from 23 May to 26 June 1991, from the events in Pekre until the declaration of an independent state; the second covered the events from 27 June to 18 July, from the beginning of the armed conflict between the YPA and the Slovene Armed Forces until the day when the Presidency of the SFRY adopted a decision to withdraw the YPA from Slovenia; in the third, from 19 July to 26 October 1991, when the YPA withdrew from Slovenia. At the beginning of 1991, the Republican Secretary of National Defence appointed coordinators of defence preparations, who coordinated the preparations of organizations and socio-political communities in the provinces in the field of hospital and health care, broadcasting and regional newsletters, the electricity system, the republic’s commodity reserves, rail and road transport, industry, material and health care of the armed forces and the population. By May 1991, seven coordinators had been appointed. After the formation of operational coordination subgroups in the provinces, the coordinators of defence preparations became their members, and in some cases, they also led these subgroups. At the municipal level, based on the guidelines of the Republic Secretariat for People’s Defence, special attention was paid to the planning of material and health care of the territorial defence and the population. 

In preparation for and during the war 

In the preparations for independence and during the independence of the Republic of Slovenia, Civil Defence developed across new foundations, which foresaw an internal threat to security. The Republic of Slovenia was threatened by the former common state with the federal authorities and the YPA, but not by an external enemy, so they drew up new defence plans that took this change into account. Coordinating resistance was a new priority. Military and Civil Defence were organised on the basis of the guidelines of the Presidency of the Republic of Slovenia and through a special operational coordinating body for emergencies – the national coordination group at the state level and coordination subgroups in the provinces, which coordinated territorial defence, militia, civil defence and civil protection. Defence plans provided for defence measures in all areas where Slovenia had an advantage over the YPA; in those where it did not have it, instead of an armed struggle, other, mainly non-military measures were envisaged by the civil defence. The aim of these was to neutralise the dynamics and firepower of the enemy. These included blockades of barracks and communications, roadblocks, disconnections of infrastructure for the needs of the YPA and interruptions in supplies. With them, they effectively supported the armed struggle of the territorial defence and the militia and prevented the YPA from operating effectively. The YPA was prevented from using armaments, and on the other hand, the Civil Defence was allowed to use all the non-military infrastructure it had at its disposal. Civil Defence measures in the field of material and medical care of territorial defence, militia and population were also key to effective military defence. They were carried out in a timely manner, so the supply of territorial defence units, militia and population were not hindered during the war, which was reflected in the high combat readiness of the military defence. On the other hand, the YPA was left without quartermaster and medical care after the civil defence measures were taken; to a limited extent, it was supplied only by air. Last but not least, the Slovenian side also dominated in the information space, which strengthened Slovenian defence and security structures and made it impossible for the enemy to operate.