Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

TheArmy of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina(Bosnian:Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine;Cyrillic:Армија Републике Босне и Херцеговине;ARBiH), often referred to asBosnian Army, was the military force of theRepublic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was established by the government of theRepublic of Bosnia and Herzegovinain 1992 following the outbreak of theBosnian War.
Following the end of the war, and the signing of theDayton Peace Agreementin 1995, it was transformed into theArmy of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ARBiH was the only military force on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina recognised as legal by other governments. Under the State Defense Reform Law theArmed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovinawere unified into a single structure, theArmed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina(OSBiH), making entity armies defunct.
The Army of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was formed on 15 April 1992 during the early days of theBosnian War.Before the ARBiH was officially created, a number ofparamilitaryandcivil defensegroups were established. ThePatriotic League(PL) and the localTerritorial Defence Force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina(TORBiH) were the official army while paramilitaries such as theZelene Beretke(Green Berets) andCrni Labudovi(Black Swans) units were also active. Other irregular groups includedBosnian mafiagroups, as well as collections ofpoliceand formerYugoslav People's Armysoldiers.
The army was formed in poor circumstances and suffered from a very limited supply of arms. Critical deficiencies includedtanksand other heavy weaponry. The first commander of the army wasSefer Halilović.
In 1992, the ARBiH was losing most of the battles and consequently, 70% ofBosnia and Herzegovinawas underYugoslav People's Army(JNA), and laterBosnian Serb army(VRS) control, with Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina,besieged. The ARBiH had defended Sarajevo with light weaponry, most of them captured from hostile forces or bought off the black market. The army was surrounded and the transfer of supplies was hard, if not impossible. However, ARBiH forces within the Bosanska Krajina (Bihać pocket) region were steadily defending the territory despite being surrounded by hostile forces.
1993 saw no major changes in the front lines against Serbs. Instead, this year marked the start of theCroat–Bosniak Warin Central Bosnia and inHerzegovina, notably theMostarregion. Pressured and contained by heavily armed Serb forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, the ethnic Croat militia forces – the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) – shifted their focus from defending their parts of Bosnia from Serbs to trying to capture remaining territory held by the Bosnian Army. It is widely believed that this was due to the 1991Milošević–Tuđman Karađorđevo meetingwhere presidents Slobodan Milošević and Franjo Tuđman discussed partitioning Bosnia between Croatia andSerbia. In order to accomplish this, the Croatian forces would have to defeat the Bosnian Army, since the territory that they wanted was under the Bosnian government control. The HVO with great engagement from the military of the Republic of Croatia and material support from Serbs, attacked Bosniak civilian population in Herzegovina and in central Bosnia, starting ethnic cleansing of Bosniak-populated territories, such as theLašva Valley ethnic cleansing.
Vastly under-equipped Bosnian forces, fighting on two fronts, were able to repel Croats and gain territory against them on every front. At this time, due to its geographic position, Bosnia was surrounded by Croat and Serb forces from all sides. There was no way to import weapons or food. What saved Bosnia at this time was its vast industrial complex (steel and other heavy industry), which was able to switch to military production. After a short but bloody war, and once Croats realized that their partnership with Serbs would not bring them any territorial gains, they agreed to the U.S. leadership's  "Washington Treaty" peace agreement. From that point on, Croat and Bosnian government forces fought as allies against Serbs.
A renewed alliance between the HVO and the ARBiH was agreed upon, with the objective of forming a strong force that could fight the much stronger and better equipped VRS. This was the time of frequent peace negotiations.
Despite the loss of severalenclaves,notably Srebrenica, 1995 was marked by HVO and ARBiH offensives and later byNATOintervention. Following theSplit Agreement, the Croatian Army, with cooperation from the ARBiH and the HVO, launched a series of operations:Flash,Summer '95,StormandMistral 2. In conjunction, Bosnian forces launched operations likeSana. Bosnian and Croat armies were on the offensive in this phase.
From August to December 1995, Serb forces were defeated and driven out of the majority of Croatia and western Bosnia, and the ethnicSerbpopulation fled from these parts.
Following thesecond Markale massacre, a NATO intervention was launched, which destroyed much of the VRS' infrastructure in just a few days throughOperation Deliberate Force.The war ended with the signing of theDayton Accord.
The Political leadership in Sarajevo had met inMehuricito decide alternatives ifSloveniaandCroatiashould follow their stated plans to declare independence. After this board meetingHasan Cengicmet withRusmir Mahmutcehajicto propose the formation of a paramilitary that would be an adjunct ofSDA. Once approved byAlija Izetbegovicthe first defense organization known as the "patriotic league" was formed. Another paramilitary known as the "green berets" would be formed from the people to help places where there where no defense organized by the local authority. As Bosnia declared independence the "territorial defense" was established as the state's official army and the patriotic league integrated a month later. The existence of other armed groups would lead the government to request the unification of all armed entities into one formation creating one official armed forces. This reform request would not last long as all other entities except theseparatistones would join finally establishing a centralized army. The newly reformed army would still be known as the "territorial defense" until July where the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was officially established.
The new army was divided intocorps, each stationed in a particular territory. In 1993, mostbrigadeswere renamed as Mountain troops given that the lack of heavy weapons made it organizationally pointless to list them asinfantryormotorized. In addition, Bosnian terrain favoredlight infantryoverarmoredandmechanizedformations. The special forces alongside the military police were controlled directly by the general staff of the army but that still didn't deny the formations of smaller spec-ops units and military police battalions to be formed in the corps independently or brigades specifically.