page_title: Škabrnja massacre
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Škabrnja massacre / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Hrvatski: Spomenik zrtvama pokolja u Skabrnji English: Memorial to the victims of the Skabrnja massacre Deutsch: Gedenktafel für die Opfer des Massakers von Skabrnja
context_page_description: The Škabrnja massacre was the killing of 62 Croatian civilians and five prisoners of war by Serbian Autonomous Oblast Krajina Territorial Defence troops and the Yugoslav People's Army in the villages of Škabrnja and Nadin northeast of Zadar on 18–19 November 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence. The massacre occurred shortly after an agreement to evacuate Zadar's JNA garrison following an increase in fighting between the Croatian National Guard and the JNA.
  Most of the killings were committed by SAO Krajina troops which followed the leading armoured JNA units fighting their way into Škabrnja on 18 November. During the initial attack, the attacking force employed a human shield of captured civilians forced to walk in front of armoured vehicles. Most of the civilian population fled the village and about 120–130 were captured by the JNA and detained in the village school and kindergarten. However, others who took shelter in basements were killed in or just outside their homes. A portion of those killed in the massacre were buried in a mass grave in Škabrnja, while dozens of bodies were turned over to Croatian authorities.
context_section_description: The events of 18 November prompted the 9th Corps commander Major General Vladimir Vuković to observe that there had been "numerous omissions in leadership and command ... preparation and execution of combat activities, combat discipline expenditure of materiel, and unified control in combat zone ... adversely affecting the combat morale and reputation of members of the armed forces". Vuković ordered commanders of subordinate units to inform their troops that they were fighting to preserve the Serb nation and its right to live in Yugoslavia, and to save the besieged JNA garrisons. Vuković also stated that the enemies of Yugoslavia were supported by German and Austrian neo-Nazism and that the objectives of the war were not to be questioned. Finally, he instructed his subordinates to bring older weapons such as World War II-era T-34s back into service due to a shortage of modern ammunition in the JNA. Nonetheless, about 200 Serbian reservists who had spent two months in the area held a public protest in Belgrade  after completing their service with the JNA. They protested against atrocities committed by Croatian Serb forces who "pillaged, raped and even massacred" once the JNA captured Croatian villages. This echoed Ristić's recommendation to the commander of the 180th Motorised Brigade on 23 November, in which he demanded that the SAO Krajina TO not be deployed because it "only embarrassed the JNA by committing crimes while under the protection of JNA tanks". 
  On 23 November 1991, the JNA turned over the bodies of 35 victims to the Zadar municipality Civil Defence. By 5 December, a further 13 sets of remains of those killed in Škabrnja and Nadin were released by the JNA to the Croatian authorities. The captured Croatian troops were released in prisoner exchanges on 28 February and 30 May 1992. Despite the killings, a number of civilians remained in Škabrnja. Eighteen were killed by the JNA, SAO Krajina TO and Serbian paramilitary units by 11 March 1992. Destruction of property continued until the end of the war in 1995. By that time all the houses in Škabrnja and Nadin were destroyed. St. Luke's church, built in the 13th century, as well as St. Mary's church, were severely damaged. The mass grave was investigated in 1995, after Croatia recaptured the area during Operation Storm. Twenty-seven bodies were recovered at the site.
caption: Monument dedicated to those killed in Škabrnja erected in the village cemetery
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