Not so long ago... "Directive 7", instructed by Radovan Karadžić, stated that the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) should "...complete the physical separation of Srebrenica from Žepa as soon as possible, preventing communication between individuals in the two enclaves. By planned and well-thought out combat operations, an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival or life for the inhabitants of Srebrenica should be created...".

The specified directive was only the prelude to the military operational plan code-named "Krivaja 1995", which the Army of Republika Srpska produced in 1995 with the aim to capture the "safe havens" of the United Nations: Srebrenica and Žepa. Operation "Krivaja 1995" serves as an introduction to the that was committed by the VRS of over 8,000 men in 1995 in Potočari and the wider region in a period of a several days. Furthermore, neither women nor recently born children were spared.

Operation "Krivaja 95" was under the territorial jurisdiction of the Drina Corps of the VRS, led by Radoslav Krstić, who was later convicted of war crimes, and was also under the command of the currently most wanted war criminal Ratko Mladić during the initial phases of the attack. Assistance arrived from Serbia in the form of the Užice Corps and numerous paramilitary groups, including the notorious "Scorpions", which were connected to the military and police composition of that country.

The UN delegated the protection of the "safe haven" of Srebrenica to the Dutch Battalion (DUTCBAT) of UNPROFOR (United Nations Protection Force). DUTCHBAT 3 arrived in Srebrenica on January 18, 1995. It consisted of 600 members, half of which were support and medical staff, while the other half was composed of regular infantry. That number decreased significantly by July 1995. Furthermore, the battalion was logistically damaged by the VRS, which did not allow for supply convoys to pass towards Potočari where the headquarters, Base Charlie, were located.

The UNPROFOR mission in Srebrenica possessed two bases: Charlie, the battalion headquarters, and Bravo, a logistical base located in the "Vezionica" directly at the entrance to Srebrenica. Furthermore, UNPROFOR controlled thirteen observation posts (Alpha, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Hotel, Kilo, Mike, November, Pappa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra and Uniform) located in a 50 kilometer radius around Srebrenica. These posts were not constructed as defensive positions, from which an attack on the enclave could be repelled. They were rather points for monitoring the movements of the VRS. All of them were painted white and marked with the flag of the United Nations.

On the 3^rd of June, the VRS commenced with the initial phases of a tragedy of global proportions when it advanced towards the southern-most observation post, "Echo", in its goal to gain control of the road that connected Skelane and Milići. This action was consistent with the goal of separating Žepa and Srebrenica as specified in "Directive 7". The UN soldiers were forced to leave their observation post.

From this day onward, the offensive towards Srebrenica progressed on a daily basis. More UN observations posts were captured by VRS troops, and UNPROFOR soldiers became prisoners. Realizing that the situation had spiraled out of control, DUTCHBAT sent requests for air support on several occasions on the 10^th of July. They waited for permission according to the following chain of command: Commander of UNPROFOR, Lt. Gen. Bernard Janvier; the UN General Secretary’s personal representative to the region, Yasushi Akashi; and the UN Security Council. General Janvier hesitated to initially approve the air strikes, and as a result it was already too late.

Upon waiting for the arrival of bombers, the VRS issued an ultimatum to the UN: either cancel the air strikes, or the UN soldiers held captive by the VRS in Bratunac will be executed. The air support was cancelled. A flood of refugees hurried towards Potočari, seeking refuge in the DUTCHBAT HQ. The "Bravo" Base in Srebrenica was deserted. Sometime around 4:00pm, the VRS Drina Corps, lead by Krstić and Mladić, arrived from the southern entrance of Srebrenica.

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Srebrenica capitulated to the control of the VRS on the 11^th of July 1995 sometime around 4:00pm. Over 25,000 women, children, and older men were already in Base "Charlie" and its surroundings in the hope that UNPROFOR would protect them. Younger and men capable of combat believed that their chances for survival were greater if they attempted to escape through the forests towards the territory controlled by the 2^nd Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBIH), rather than be left in the hands of Serb soldiers in Potočari. Around midnight, 12,000-15,000 men gathered in the area between the villages of Šušnjari and Jaglići, which was near the Dutch observation post “Mike.” Located within this mass were roughly 200 women, children, and elderly people.

It is estimated that one third of the assembled crowd belonged to the poorly-equipped 28^th division of the ARBIH. The remainder were civilians who understood that their lives would soon be finished if they surrendered to the Serbian soldiers. A column was formed which aimed to break through the rugged mountainous terrain to Tuzla and Kladanj, which were under the control of the ARBIH.

On the 12^th of July 1995, around 12:30am, the column departed from the village of Šušnjari in the direction of the territories towards Tuzla and Kladanj, a journey of over 100 kilometers. Led by a group of soldiers from the 28^th Division ARBIH, whose mission was to create a corridor through which the remaineder of the column, mostly civilians, would pass towards safe territory. The front of the column, consisting of the best equipped and trained soldiers within the division, covered nearly 25 kilometers in a period of six hours and reached the Konjević Polje. Aside from sporadic fire and shelling, the VRS did not decide to attack this part of the column, one of the reasons being inaccessible terrain.

" However, the less adequately equipped soldiers and civilians which followed did not have such luck as the Serbian trap quickly closed in. In the very beginning, they allowed people to pass without any major incident, knowing that it would be difficult to chase and capture people in the thick forests. But at some point, the Muslims would have to pass either the road Bratunac-Konjevići, north of the enclave, or Konjevići-Milići, west of the enclave. That is where the Serbs waited. Supported by armored vehicles and anti-aircraft machine guns, the soldiers were spread alongside the length of the road in gaps of 10-20 meters. All that the Serbs had to do was patiently wait for the Muslims to appear. During the early morning hours, Serb soldiers north of the hamlet of Kamenica noticed the approach of a large number of people. In order to force them out in the open, artillery, mortars, and anti-aircraft cannons opened fire on the woods alongside the road. "    » ( Srebrenica: Record of a War Crime | Jan Willem Hoing, Norbert Both, Sarajevo : Ljiljan, 1997. )

Around 10:00am on the same day, in the locality known as Hajdučko Groblje, the VRS directly shelled the column causing the first casualties. Somewhere around 30 individuals were killed, and 100 injured. The shelling of the column continued around the locality of Kamenica, and in Kameničko Brdo large casualties were suffered as the VRS intensified their attacks on the column.

In the afternoon hours, the VRS captured around 1000 people from the rear of the column around Ravni Buljim. They confiscated the personal belongings of the prisoners, and some were executed on the spot. During the same day, at around 8:00pm, the column was split in the region of Krajinovački Potok. The VRS were already familiar with the possible routes to be taken by the column. Therefore, they placed mines in the fields and open areas along possible routes. Fear and panic led many of the column members directly into these fields.

"On 07/13/1995 between 01:00 and 06:00 the group of refugees from Srebrenica were crossing the asphalt road Konjevic Polje-Nova Kasaba. Around 06:00, the VRS split the column and captured at least 6,000 men. The majority of the prisoners were taken away to collection points in Nova Kasaba in Vlasenica municipality, and Sandići in Bratunac municipality. General Mladić visited the prisoners in both locations.

The prisoners in Nova Kasaba and Konjević Polje were killed along the banks of the Jadar River, next to Nova Kasaba. During the same day, the VRS brought three buses full of prisoners for execution in Cerska, Vlasenica municipality. Prior to that, the prisoners’ hands were bound in wires.

During the late afternoon of 07/13/1995, the VRS drove the prisoners in the Sanići to Kravica where they were imprisoned in the warehouse of the agricultural cooperative "Kravica". Around 18:00 on the same day, the VRS executed those prisoners in the warehouse by means of rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, and small arms fire. It is estimated that more than 1,000 people were executed. "   » ( Genocide in Srebrenica | Nijaz Mašić, prof. )

A group of 5,000 people of the now fractured column gathered on Udrč mountain. However, they were soon spotted by the VRS which opened intense artillery fire on them. There are many accounts of hallucinations after the shelling, which suggests that the VRS used chemical weapons in the attack. After that, it was necessary to head towards the village of Kamenica in order to reach Tuzla. Meanwhile, the VRS organized a large-scale ambush forcing the column to stop in the village of Glodi.

" Those detained in Bratunac on 07.14.1995 were taken by the VRS to various locations within Zvornik municipality (Grbavci, Petkovic, Pilica, Branjevo…) and executed. General Ratko Mladić personally supervised the executions. "

Somewhere in the vicinity of Snagovo, Zvornik municipality, the VRS organized a powerful ambush consisting tanks and transport carriers supported by the Ministry of Interior with the intent to destroy all of the refugees from Srebrenica. Zoran Janković, from Modriča, who commanded a special forces unit of the VRS was captured in that confrontation. Sometime around 16:00 hours, 14.07.1995, the Serb army opened artillery fire from the locations of Velja Glava and Kula Grad, above Zvornik. The captured Janković contacted the commander of the Zvornik brigade negotiating a ceasefire that allowed the column to continue moving towards Križevačke Njive.

After a cessation in the attacks, the column, now consisting of more than 4,000 people, crossed the road Zvornik-Tuzla in the Crni Vrh region on the night of the 14^th of July. On the night of the 15^th of July, the column safely crossed the Križevačke Njive – Baljkovica road where it hid alongside a creek to wait for the end of a battle in Baljkovica. The participants in the battle included the VRS and a combination of equipped members of the column and reinforcements from Tuzla under the command of Naser Orić. On 15.07.1995 a radio connection was made between the 2^nd Corps of the ARBIH and the column of Srebrenica.

Within 14:00 and 17:00 hours on 16.07.1995, the column, whittled down to 3,500 people, reached the free territory in the village of Nezuk, Sapna municipality.

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Of the estimated 15,000 people who embarked on the "March of Death" as a means of saving their lives, only a little over one fifth were able to break through to Nezuk. A combination of fear, exhaustion, narrowed consciousness, poor knowledge of the terrain, lack of food, weapons, or morale, in addition to many other reasons all contributed to the death of the majority of the people initially present when the column was formed in between Jaglići i Šušnjari 11.07.1995. Some were killed in ambushes and raids on the column, but the vast majority of the refugees were killed upon surrendering to the VRS. They were imprisoned and then brutally murdered on farms, in closed schools, cooperatives, and so on. The gear that the VRS stole from UNPROFOR troops served as bait. Thus, many surrendered to "UN troops" without knowing in whose hands they were really falling into.

The women and children who were transported from Potočari towards Kladanj were witnesses to the lining up of hundreds of captured men in football stadiums, fields, and along the roads. Many testified that they the roads were littered with bodies, and that the buses used for the transport of the women and children drove over them.

The men that the VRS initially separated in Potočari, and an additional group captured from the "March of Death", were taken to Bratunac where they were tortured to the brink of exhaustion while the others were executed on the spot. The two most infamous execution venues were located around Zvornik. Men were loaded onto trucks with their hands tied behind their backs and blindfolded. They were then taken to Karakaj or to a farm in Pilice, where thousands were executed and buried by bulldozers. Dutch soldiers bore witness to somewhere in between 500 to 700 people executed at the football stadium in Nova Kasaba.

" They [military police] boasted that they were killing people and raping women. They were proud of what they were doing. I did not have the feeling that they were doing that out of rage or revenge, but more so as a form of entertainment. They appeared satisfied with themselves in a professional and calm manner. I believed what they were saying because they looked more than capable of doing what they claimed to be doing. Every one of them had a German Shepherd, pistol, handcuffs, and a horrifying knife with a twenty centimeter blade. "  » ( Johan Bos UNPROFOR Sergeant | The Independent. )

There were some who while struggling for their own life were ready to do anything to be next to their loved ones, despite the horror in which they found themselves in. Persistence, patience, and the mercy of God led them to that goal. How long some waited for their moments of joy is evidenced by the following case:

" In the first days of the exodus from Srebrenica I saw many massacred and wounded people from Buljim to Udrč. People were surrendering to the Chetniks because they were out of strength. I went with a two men towards Udrč. There we found around twenty young men, who like us did not know the path to Tuzla. Nevertheless, we headed towards Snagovo. Along the way we found our people who did not succeed in making it through. They were massacred beyond the point of recognition, so much so that they almost did not resemble humans anymore. We came approached the front line in Baljkovici. There were a lot of bodies there as well, but you could not really believe what you were seeing. You could not recognize your own brother. We scouted the terrain to see how we could reach the free territory, but nothing came of it. A Chetnik patrol passed by. We were really nervous and panic engulfed us. The Chetniks started shooting at us, and we ran backwards. Some were wounded, and some were killed. We returned the way we came from. On Udrč we found another one hundred or so people. It was the 20th of July. In order to survive we ate snails, mushrooms, and fruits we could find. We did not have any other food. We stayed there for another month. The Chetniks noticed us and surrounded Udrč. We retreated deeper into the woods and up the mountain. There was a raid. As far as I could see, two were killed and seven were captured. We separated from the rest of the group. Some went in the direction of Tuzla, and others went to the other side. I linked up with five people. They were mostly younger people.

We returned towards Kamenica, where the first ambush was and where the most people died. Rotting bodies were scattered all over that place. We did not have any food, so we took salt and sugar from the dead. You could not walk without stepping on those bodies. One of the guys came up with the idea that we count the bodies. We separated, but not too far. We counted around 500 bodies. We found clothes without bodies and scattered documents. There we decided to return to Srebrenica. The villages around Srebrenica were still burning. We could see the Chetniks as they were looting the houses. We skirted that area, hiding from the patrols.

Winter was already coming and we decided to go make a small camp in the village of Sućeska so that we could survive. We went to the other villages searching for food and flour. We found a small generator and a radio in one village. We fixed the radio and began listening to the news. That is how we oriented ourselves during the days and months. It helped us a lot. We listened to the news and heard about the Dayton agreement. We were still fearful. We were hesitant and did not know whether we could head to Tuzla. A little food still remained. It was winter and our shoes were of poor quality. Around the first of March, the Chetniks noticed us. We need to escape those little camps. They destroyed everything and threw away all of the food that we hadgathered. We retreated about five kilometers to the village of Lehovići where we suffered due to a lack of food. We hardly ever showered. We ate unsalted corn and potatoes. In those second encampments we remained for about twenty days. When we were discovered again, we decided to go to Tuzla. We departed on the 26^th of March in 1996, completely exhausted and without food. The weather was bad, it rained and snowed. We moved slowly and the journey took 11 days.

We came close to the free territory and we saw the IFOR solders. We heard about them on the radio. We decided to surrender to them, but at the same time were afraid to. Two of our men went to survey who those soldiers were. We did not trust anybody anymore, because in Srebrenica we already had problems with UNPROFOR. Our civilian police accepted our two guys, but we began to run when they came towards us. On the other side was a mine field. We stopped, and the police then walked up to us. Only then did we realize that we were saved. "

 » ( Statement Nr. 10 | K. S. from Tegare village, Bratunac Municipality, born in 1980 | "Samrtno srebreničko ljeto '95", UG "Žene Srebrenice", Tuzla, 1998. )