# Petrinja Fighting

The Fighting in Petrinja refers to a set of combat activities undertaken by Croatian forces at the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence to defend town of Petrinja. Due to the weak armament of Croatian forces, the still unfavorable international environment, the great superiority in technology and manpower of Serb forces, the strong fifth column, and the numerous rebellions, the city fell into the hands of rebel Serb forces.

## The Fight

After the ethnic cleansing of the surrounding area and the creation of a strategically cleared area on the other side of the river, the paramilitary units of the insurgent Serbs, and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), which was controlled by the Serbs, attacked Petrinja.
Fighting broke out on September 2. Petrinja was attacked by the JNA from its tank garrison under the command of Tarbuka, before the September peace conference on Yugoslavia, the battles for the barracks and the expiration of the moratorium on Croatian independence.
Tanks and armored vehicles came out of the barracks in Petrinja and entered the center of the city, which was followed by firing from them and demolition of everything they encountered. The Croatian authorities mobilized all men between the ages of 18 and 50 to join the ZNG reserve in order to strengthen the defense. The Croatian defenders resisted the most at Taborište, Pecki and other points that were the approach to the city.
Lieutenant Colonel Tarbuk threatened the Croatian forces at 12.18 pm and ordered the firing of five to six grenades towards the villa "Gavrilović". With this, the JNA committed an open attack on the city and the inhabitants of Petrinja, during which the city suffered one of the greatest destructions in its history. The fighting lasted until 19:50. Tank missiles. were destroyed dj. kindergarten, church of St. Lovre, secondary school center, municipal court, Municipality building, several commercial buildings, among which "Slavijatrans" workshop, "Gavrilovića" food silo, shoe factory, hospital building, and several residential and commercial buildings. 11 civilians and three ZNG members were brought to the hospital in Sisak; Nikola Lokner and Stjepan Bučar died. Serbian attacks on the city continued. The next day, September 3, fighting took place in the positions around the village of Pecki, which is defended by the Croatian Guard, and the attacks come from Luščan and Bačuga. More than 40 mines were fired in the mortar attack; six Croatian fighters were wounded. Hope for the success of the defense was provided by the news that the 57th battalion of the Sisak National Guard Corps, under the command of Antun Bobetko, conquered the military-storage area of the JNA called Barutana in nearby Sisak, which was the first conquered JNA barracks in Croatia. On September 7, Serbian forces attacked a strategically important settlement in the immediate vicinity of Petrinja from the south, Taborište . The ZNG troops were forced to withdraw from the position there. On September 8, from the "V. Gaćeša" barracks, 10 tanks went to positions towards Kotar forest (Kotar-Stari gaj), immediately southeast of Petrinja. During the day, JNA attacks on positions of Croatian forces in Hrastovica and Pecko became more frequent. On September 9, around 100 Serbian reservists gathered near an inn in Mali Šušnjar and set off on foot towards Hrastovica, a place south of the city, west of Taborište. Immediately after arriving at the positions around the railway station not far from Hrastovica, they opened rapid fire on the place. On the same day, a ZNG and MUP patrol was ambushed in the village of Križu . On that occasion, Andrija Barić, a member of the MUP reserve, was killed, and one member was seriously wounded.
Not long after, an infantry attack on Križ and Hrastovica followed (it was a coordinated action by Serbian troops and the JNA). Across Kupa, in Sisak, the situation worsened, so increased security measures had to be implemented. A curfew was introduced from 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM; blackout measures also came into effect. Together with the local Serbs whom it previously armed, it was occupied by the JNA on September 12entered Hrvatska Kostajnica, and on September 13, a large part of the Croatian forces there naively surrendered (relying on promises, school friendships and family ties), but a part decided to break through the encirclement towards free territory. On September 13, members of the JNA entered the facilities of the "Kodričevo" work unit of the "Gavrilović" factory in Petrinja. Some hope was offered by the news that Croatian defenders had captured JNA Major General Milan Aksentijević and several JNA officers in the vicinity of Karlovac. On September 14, Serbian forces attacked Croatian forces in Topusko. The JNA uses various weapons to fire at Petrinja, and around 5:30 p.m. it hits the "Gavrilović" silo and the tower of the church of St. Kate. Hrvatska Kostajnica fell to the end in the hands of the JNA. Serbs in Petrinja captured and shot 14 members of the MUP and ZNG.
The attack on September 16, 1991, which was ordered by Slobodan Tarbuk, is notorious. They captured 17 Croatian soldiers and killed them at Villa Gavrilović; other sources state September 18, 1991 as the date of the execution, the place of execution is the position around the new hospital, and they say that ZNG members were massacred. On September 16, a mortar attack on Petrinja, Brest and Mošćenica began from the direction of the barracks "V. Gaćeša". The infantry of the JNA entered the city from the direction of the same barracks, and at the same time around the bypass in Petrinja, Češki Selo and Drenčina, the Croatian defenders are retaliating against the superior enemy. During the fighting, the Serbian forces destroyed the toxic ammonia tank in "Gavrilović", which contains 87 tons of ammonia. On the same day, the JNA entered the business circle of "Gavrilović" and destroyed it. With six shells, they also hit the " Finel " wood industry, and the shells also fell on Mošćenica and Praćno, settlements east of Petrinja, and to the west near Sisak; several family houses were affected. The fire trucks of the special unit from Zagreb arrive in Brest, but the JNA does not allow the fire in " Gavrilović " to be extinguished. About forty wounded guardsmen and civilians from Petrinja, Brest and Mošćanica were brought to the hospital in Sisak; ZNG members Stjepan and Zlatko Žugaj were killed. A member of the units Jugoslav Vidić singled out Stjepan Komes from a group of workers in the MI "Gavrilović" circle (he shook hands with President Tuđman during the President's visit to Petrinja) and cut off his hand with a butcher's knife; Stjepan Komes died from his wound. On this terrible day, the good news for the defenders of Petrinja was that the Croatian army destroyed the radar system in the Sašin Greda military-missile base near Sisak, and conquered that base, which was held by JNA soldiers.
Soon the Serbs occupied Hrvatska Dubica and all the Croatian villages around them.
Although Petrinja fell on September 21, Croatian forces from the area did not surrender. The village of Nova Drenčina, to which Petrinja continues to the north, is essentially merged with that city and represents the northern quarter. On October 6, Serbs attacked Nova Drenčina. Then they killed Nikola Jelekovac and ZNG member Mirko Vidović in the attack, and destroyed and set fire to a large number of residential and commercial buildings.

## Aftermath

After all the exiles who had to leave Petrinja and their homes due to the occupation in 1991 were listed, this figure was reached: 10,535 citizens, of which 9,352 were Croats, 215 Muslims, 790 Serbs and 178 others. During the battle for the city and the occupation of Petrinja, Petrinja suffered great damage to commercial buildings. More than 3,350 residential buildings were damaged and destroyed, of which 1,579 apartments and houses were completely demolished and burned, if there was no possibility of repairing these homes. Because of this, most of the returnees were left without any property with which they could continue their lives. During the occupation, more than 300 Croat Civilians were killed in Petrinja. The military casualties of the Croatian forces, whose place of residence and life belonged to the former municipality of Petrinja, by the end of the Homeland War were as follows: 224 veterans were killed and missing.