Mile Dedaković

Originally from the village of Nijemci in Syrmia in eastern Croatia, Dedaković had graduated from the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) Air Force Academy and its Officer Academy before the events which led to the breakup of Yugoslavia began to unfold in 1990.{{cite news|url=http://arhiva.nacional.hr/clanak/13668/general-rahim-ademi-medu-deset-najvecih-hrvata |title=General Rahim Ademi među deset najvećih Hrvata |last=Bajruši |first=Robert |date=9 December 2003 |work=Nacional |language=Croatian |access-date=14 September 2011 |trans-title=General Rahim Ademi among the ten greatest Croats |archive-date=12 June 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612030907/http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/13668/general-rahim-ademi-medu-deset-najvecih-hrvata }} Formerly a lieutenant colonel in command of a JNA military airbase near Zagreb, he joined the newly formed Croatian National Guard (ZNG) in the summer of 1991. Due to a lack of schooled officers available to the Croatian military at the time, Dedaković, an air force officer, was immediately posted to command the ZNG's brigade stationed in Vukovar, a town in eastern Croatia in his native region,{{cite news|url=http://www.jutarnji.hr/mile-dedakovic-jastreb--vukovar-nije-dobio-oruzje-placeno-s-tajnih-racuna/162591/|title=Mile Dedaković Jastreb: Vukovar nije dobio oružje plaćeno s tajnih računa|last=Vurušić|first=Vlado|date=18 November 2006|work=Jutarnji list|language=Croatian|access-date=14 September 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127214403/http://www.jutarnji.hr/mile-dedakovic-jastreb--vukovar-nije-dobio-oruzje-placeno-s-tajnih-racuna/162591|archive-date=27 November 2011}} which soon fell under a full-scale attack of the JNA and Serbian nationalist paramilitaries.{{fact|date=July 2012}}

He assumed command of the 204th Vukovar Brigade upon its formation in September 1991. At the time of its founding, the brigade roster included 1,803 men,{{cite news | url = http://www.hrvatski-vojnik.hr/hrvatski-vojnik/1052006/vukovar.asp | language = Croatian | newspaper = Hrvatski vojnik | publisher = Ministry of Defence (Croatia) | title = U Vukovaru svečano obilježena 15. obljetnica 204. brigade HV-a - Prvi put službeno postrojeni i odlikovani vukovarski branitelji | date = September 2006 | access-date = 2011-01-04 | issn = 1333-9036 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110108042500/http://www.hrvatski-vojnik.hr/hrvatski-vojnik/1052006/vukovar.asp | archive-date = 2011-01-08 }} and was assigned to cover the area of the former municipality of Vukovar, which included the cities of Vukovar and Ilok as well as numerous surrounding villages.{{cite news | url = http://www.vjesnik.hr/Pdf/2005%5C11%5C09%5C09A9.PDF | newspaper = Vjesnik | language = Croatian | title = Riješen status 204. brigade | date = 2005-11-09 | access-date = 2011-01-04 }}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Dedaković commanded the brigade during the first phase of the siege of Vukovar until early October when he was reassigned to nearby Vinkovci and the command passed on to Branko Borković.{{cite web|url=http://www.vecernji.hr/biografije/mile-dedakovic-114|title=Mile Dedaković|work=vecernji.hr|language=hr|access-date=8 November 2016}}

In mid-October Dedaković was put in charge of a breakthrough operation to relieve the Vukovar which was in the meantime cut off from the rest of the Croatian-held territory. Although initially successful, the counter-offensive was called off by Croatian President Franjo Tuđman, reportedly under pressure from the European Community for a ceasefire. This enabled the JNA to retake the ground that it had lost and from then on the town was completely surrounded until it eventually fell on 18 November 1991.{{fact|date=July 2012}}

Both Mile Dedaković and Branko Borković survived the battle and spoke out publicly against the Croatian Government's actions. In an apparent attempt to silence them, both men were briefly detained by Croatian military police,{{harvnb|Central Intelligence Agency Office of Russian and European Analysis|2000|page=100}} and the Croatian government suppressed an issue of the newspaper Slobodni tjednik that published a transcript of a telephone call from Vukovar, in which Dedaković had pleaded with an evasive Tuđman for military assistance. The revelations caused public outrage and reinforced perceptions that the defenders had been betrayed.{{harvnb|Malović|Selnow|2001|page=134}}

Dedaković was charged together with the leaders of the Croatian Party of Rights for an alleged preparation to attack Banski dvori, but the case was rejected at the Croatian Supreme Court.{{cite news|url=http://arhiva.nacional.hr/clanak/76462/ljudi-koje-je-90-ih-trebalo-ukloniti |language=Croatian |title=Ljudi koje je 90-ih trebalo ukloniti |trans-title=People who had to be dealt with in the 1990s |newspaper=Nacional |issue=741 |date=2010-01-26 |access-date=2011-11-19 |author=Orhidea Gaura |archive-date=15 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815180534/http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/76462/ljudi-koje-je-90-ih-trebalo-ukloniti }}

In 1996, he published a book Bitka za Vukovar ("Battle of Vukovar"), co-authored with Radio Vukovar journalist Alenka Mirković Nađ.{{cite news|url=http://www.vjesnik.hr/Article.aspx?ID=15872324-4953-4989-B509-9FC4DFDE131E |newspaper=Vjesnik |language=Croatian |title=Istina i pamćenje pisaca čuvaju Grad uz Dunav i Vuku |date=2011-11-17 |access-date=2011-11-19 |trans-title=Truth and memory of writers preserve the city by the Danube and the Vuka |author=Helena Sablić Tomić |archive-date=19 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119034644/http://www.vjesnik.hr/Article.aspx?ID=15872324-4953-4989-B509-9FC4DFDE131E |url-status=dead }}

In November 2005, Dedaković worked with the Ministry of Defence under Berislav Rončević to consolidate official records of the 204th Brigade.{{cite news | url = http://www.hrvatski-vojnik.hr/hrvatski-vojnik/0592005/vijesti.asp | newspaper = Hrvatski vojnik | publisher = Ministry of Defence (Croatia) | issn = 1333-9036 | language = Croatian | title = Pripreme za obilježavanje Dana sjećanja na žrtve Vukovara | date = November 2005 | access-date = 2011-11-19 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101028090032/http://www.hrvatski-vojnik.hr/hrvatski-vojnik/0592005/vijesti.asp | archive-date = 2010-10-28 | url-status = dead }} On September 25, 2006, Dedaković ceremonially reported in Vukovar, under the brigade's now-official banners, before the Commander-in-Chief President of Croatia Stjepan Mesić.

• {{cite book | title = Bitka za Vukovar | isbn = 953-6708-06-X | first1 = Mile | last1 = Dedaković-Jastreb | first2 = Alenka | last2 = Mirković-Nađ | first3 = Davor | last3 = Runtić | edition = 2nd | location = Vinkovci, Croatia | publisher = Neobična naklada | year = 2000 }}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Central Intelligence Agency Office of Russian and European Analysis|title=Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict, 1990–1995: Volume 1|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|year=2000|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=978-0-16-066472-4}}
• {{cite book|last1=Malović | first1=Stjepan|last2=Selnow | first2=Gary W. | title=The People, Press, and Politics of Croatia | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group | location=Westport, Connecticut| year=2001 | isbn=978-0-275-96543-3}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dedakovic, Mile}}

Category:1951 births

Category:Croatian army officers

Category:Military personnel of the Croatian War of Independence

Category:Living people

Category:Officers of the Yugoslav People's Army