Operation Spider

{{Main|Operation Tiger (1994)}}

The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) 5th corps, under Bosnian general Atif Dudaković{{cite book| last = Anthony Loyd| author-link = Anthony Loyd| title = My War Gone By, I Miss It So| date = February 1, 2001| publisher = Penguin (Non-Classics)| isbn = 0-14-029854-1| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/mywargonebyimiss00anth}} and Hamdija Abdić, conducted an offensive into the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia on August 21, 1994, and completely overrun the entire province on August 22, 1994. During this offensive, around 40,000 Muslims loyal to Fikret Abdić fled to the Republic of Serbian Krajina.{{cn|date=February 2025}} Fikret Abdić, the former president of the APZB, had already fled to Croatia (Republic of Serbian Krajina), where he stayed until his province was liberated and restored.

After Abdić’s forces had been defeated and dispersed from their “capital” in August, most of his supporters and former soldiers fled into the RSK, settling in refugee camps in UN Sector North, southeast of Karlovac. On 8 November, UN observers noted that the SVK had begun recruiting able-bodied Muslim males from among the refugees. The SVK was reforming some 4,000–5,000 of Abdić’s troops into three brigades: 1st Velika Kladuša, 2nd Cazin, and 3rd Vrnograč Brigades. On 10 November, the new formations began taking up positions along the RSK border near Velika Kladuša.{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.ba/books/edition/Balkan_Battlegrounds/Zjy5tV4Y8MQC?hl=sr&gbpv=1&dq=balkan+battleground&pg=PA8&printsec=frontcover |title=Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict |date=2002 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Russian and European Analysis |isbn=978-0-16-066472-4 |page=248 |language=en}}

In actual command of these puppet troops was a newly formed Operational Group “Pauk” (Spider) commanded by SVK Major General Mile Novaković and Serbian State Security Department (RDB) Colonel “Raja” Bozović, a veteran special operations officer. A key deputy of RDB chief Jovica Stanišić, Franko Simatović “Frenki”, oversaw Novaković and Bozović’s work. To stiffen the Abdić units—as well as allied SVK ground forces—Novaković and Božović could call on a bevy of elite Yugoslav Army, Serbian RDB and Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG) troops.”* Elements of the VJ’s 63rd Airborne Brigade/ Corps of Special Units, plus Simatovic’s “Red Beret” special operations unit, as well as elements of the SDG—probably about 500 troops combined—were to provide the spearhead for the APWB attack.{{Cite web |last=Stojanovic |first=Milica |date=2021-06-29 |title=Covert Operations: Unravelling Serbian Officials’ Links to Paramilitaries |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2021/06/29/covert-operations-unravelling-serbian-officials-links-to-paramilitaries/# |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=Balkan Insight |language=en-US}}

On 16 November, this new army attacked across the border toward Velika Kladuša. Abdić’s reconstructed force amounted to some 4,000 to 5,000 troops, bolstered by about 2,500 SVK troops in two tactical groups and some 500 Yugoslav Army and Serbian RDB/MUP special operations troops, under the command of SVK Major General Mile Novaković and Serbian RDB Colonel “Raja” Bozović. The few 5th Corps formations put up a stiff defense as the Serb/NOZB forces lapped around both ARBiH flanks on the north and south sides of Velika Kladuša in an attempt to pinch it off.{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.ba/books/edition/Balkan_Battlegrounds/Zjy5tV4Y8MQC?hl=sr&gbpv=1&dq=balkan+battleground&pg=PA8&printsec=frontcover |title=Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict |date=2002 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Russian and European Analysis |isbn=978-0-16-066472-4 |page=249 |language=en}}

During the first two weeks of December, SVK/NOZB forces led by the Serbian special operations troops hammered 5th Corps positions and inched forward against a tenacious defense. The Serb commanders’ objective remained to force the ARBiH from the town with a pincer movement rather than a frontal assault. On 15–16 December the joint Serb/NOZB units seized key high ground overlooking the main 5th Corps supply line into the town. This forced the remaining ARBIH troops to withdraw to avoid being cut off and annihilated. By 17 December Velika Kladuša was under Serb/NOZB control. Although battles were to continue throughout the enclave for over a week—until the implementation of the nationwide cease-fire negotiated by former US President Jimmy Carter—the fall of Velika Kladuša was the last major action of the campaign.{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.ba/books/edition/Balkan_Battlegrounds/Zjy5tV4Y8MQC?hl=sr&gbpv=1&dq=balkan+battleground&pg=PA8&printsec=frontcover |title=Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict |date=2002 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Russian and European Analysis |isbn=978-0-16-066472-4 |page=250 |language=en}}

The aftermath of this operation left the 5th Corps still encircled by the APZB, the Republic of Serbian Krajina, and the Republika Srpska. This encirclement continued until Operation Storm, when the Republic of Serbian Krajina—a key ally to the APZB—was defeated in August 1995, marking a huge turning point for the Bosnian War and Croatian War of Independence. The APZB had no strength to take on the Bosnian Army, and were completely overrun by the 5th Corps in just one day, with Velika Kladuša being taken when Operation Storm ended on August 7, 1995.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGM1MrB981IC&q=balkan+battlegrounds:+a+military+history+of+the+yugoslav+conflict |title=Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict, 1990-1995 |date=2002 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Russian and European Analysis |isbn=978-0-16-066472-4 |pages=541 |language=en}}

Operation Spider and Operation Storm left many towns forever destroyed and ruined, most of which were on the frontlines of the conflict. There are about 8 ruined towns in the area: 3 next to Bihać, 1–2 next to Velika Kladuša, and 2–3 in the middle of the area.{{Cite news |last=Bonner |first=Raymond |date=1995-08-09 |title=After Long Siege, Bosnians Relish 'First Day of Freedom' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/09/world/after-long-siege-bosnians-relish-first-day-of-freedom.html |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6DLi2dJfVLMC&pg=PA210 | title = Yugoslavia: a history of its demise | first = Viktor | last = Meier | publisher = Routledge | year = 1999 | isbn = 9780415185967 }}
• {{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RAvf36Hd31cC&pg=PA167 | title = Globalized Europe | first1 = Anton | last1 = Gosar | first2 = Vida | last2 = Rožac-Darovec | first3 = Miha | last3 = Staut | publisher = Univerza na Primorskem, Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče, Založba Annales | year = 2005 | isbn = 9789616033688 }}
• {{Cite book|last1=Burg|first1=Steven L.|last2=Shoup|first2=Paul S.|title=The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention|year=1999|location=Armonk, N.Y.|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-1-56324-308-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SopQbK_nAxgC}}
• {{Cite book|last = Job|first = Cvijeto|title = Yugoslavia's Ruin: The Bloody Lessons of Nationalism, a Patriot's Warning|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yH3Hz2AXonwC&pg=PA171|year = 2002|publisher = Rowman & Littlefield|isbn = 978-0-7425-1784-4}}

{{Wars and battles involving Serbs}}

{{Yugoslav wars}}

Category:Conflicts in 1994

Category:Military operations of the Bosnian War

Category:December 1994 in Europe

Category:1994 in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Category:Army of Republika Srpska

Category:Battles of the Bosnian War