President Milanović Receives Delegation of City of Zagreb Defence Command Homeland War Veterans’ Association

23. March 2023.
15:00

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović received a delegation of the City of Zagreb Defence Command Homeland War Veterans’ Association on the 32nd anniversary of the decision on the formation of the Command. The decision on the formation of the Defence Command was made by the City of Zagreb Assembly on 1 March 1991 and this date is observed as the Day of the Formation of the City of Zagreb Defence Command.

The Association was founded four years ago with a view to preserving the truth about the City of Zagreb Defence Command’s role and contribution in preparing, organizing and equipping Croatian defenders in the Zagreb area. Members of the Association, which brings together veterans who were active members of the Command during the Homeland War, shared their experiences from that period at the meeting with President Milanović, informing him of the important role played by the Command. After its formation, the Command was staffed with officers and non-commissioned officers, and brigades were formed as well, which were mobilized and had a major role in the Homeland War. Some 66,000 defenders were members of these brigades, 336 of whom died.

The delegation underscored that the efforts and timely actions by the Command made it impossible to cut through Croatia while Zagreb, the nation’s capital, became a strategic point where brigades could be supplied with technical equipment, weaponry, means of transport and other resources. Members of the Homeland War Veterans’ Association reminded that the logistics of the City of Zagreb Defence Command were also responsible for the planned takeover of weapons and military equipment from most of the conquered barracks. In late February 1993 the Command was restructured, becoming the Zagreb Assembly Station.

The delegation of the City of Zagreb Defence Command Homeland War Veterans’ Association (ZOZG) was composed of Association President and wartime Security and Information Service Deputy Commander of the defence of Zagreb Branko Bartolec, Association Vice President and ZOZG officer Boris Pivac, Association Supervisory Board Chairman and ZOZG technical service officer Krunoslav Ormuž, Association Executive Board member and ZOZG Security and Information Service officer Fedor Draušnik, Association Supervisory Board member and Head of the ZOZG Quartermaster Service Ivica Gusić, Association member and Head of the ZOZG Medical Service Marijan Lencur, and  Association Supervisory Board member and ZOZG Military Police Company Commander Tihomir Bošnjak.

President Milanović was accompanied at the meeting by the Special Adviser to the President of the Republic for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Mareković.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta