204th Vukovar Brigade The 204th Vukovar Brigade ( ) of the Croatian Army was a military unit of the Republic of Croatia that led the defence of the city of Vukovar during the 1991 Battle of Vukovar , in the Croatian War of Independence . The first Croatian National Guard ( " Zbor narodne garde " , ZNG ) units that were active in Vukovar included elements of the 109th Brigade that was first mobilized in late June 1991 , a part of the 1st " A " Brigade in July , and the 4th Battalion of the 3rd " A " Brigade formed in the city in August 1991 . By the end of September , elements of the 109th stationed in Vukovar started to form the local 204th brigade . The 204th brigade was formed on September 25 , 1991 , after having been promulgated by the September 23 , 1991 order of general Karl Gorinšek , at the time the commander of the Osijek sector . At the time of its founding , the brigade roster included 1 , 803 men . It was assigned to cover the area of the former municipality of Vukovar , that included the city of Vukovar , Ilok as well as numerous surrounding villages . The command was also sent to the General Staff in Zagreb , which made some amendments , notably renaming it to the 124th Brigade , that were signed into an order of the Minister of Defence on September 26 . The brigade was not a trained military formation , but it included some trained soldiers and was led by trained officers , first by Mile Dedaković , nicknamed " Jastreb " ( " hawk " ) , who was previously a lieutenant colonel of the Yugoslav People ' s Army . A notable commander was Blago Zadro who commanded the 3rd Battalion that defended the city from the northwest on the Trpinja road . Zadro was killed in combat on October 16 , 1991 . Also in mid - October , Dedaković was reassigned to Vinkovci and the command passed on to Branko Borković , nicknamed " Mladi Jastreb " ( " young hawk " ) , who previously had the rank of captain . At its peak it was composed of around 2 , 200 men , of which around 770 in active combat . A total of 921 soldiers died , 457 went missing in action , 770 were wounded , and 1527 were captured . A total of 5 , 497 soldiers were part of the brigade over the course of the entire war . After the fall of Vukovar in late November 1991 , the leftovers of the brigade moved to Vinkovci and elsewhere . The brigade commanders never signed an official surrender . The brigade was , however , officially disbanded on June 5 , 1992 , but its remaining personnel soon moved into the newly formed 5th Guards Brigade , founded on October 25 , 1992 . The two surviving commanders , Dedaković and Borković , were never promoted , and many of its members were never credited for their valor in combat . Only Blago Zadro was posthumously promoted to Major general . The verification of the brigade rosters in the Ministry of Defence was delayed until long after the war was over , to the dismay of the brigade ' s former commanders . The first lineup of the brigade survivors after the war happened on September 23 , 2001 , sponsored by a former member and then - Minister of Croatian Defenders Ivica Pančić , as well as the Ministry of Defence under Jozo Radoš . In November 2005 , the Ministry of Defence under Berislav Rončević finally confirmed that the official records were consolidated , which cleared the way for the official recognition of the brigade . On September 25 , 2006 , the whole of the brigade was officially lined up at a ceremony in Vukovar under the brigade ' s now - official banners and before the Commander - in - Chief President of Croatia Stjepan Mesić . The raw data of the Croatian Defender Registry ( " Registar hrvatskih branitelja " ) that was leaked in 2010 lists the names of over 3 , 300 soldiers from the 204th brigade over the course of the whole war .