ĆURGUZ: GLORIOUS BATTLE FOUGHT 34 YEARS AGO IN JUNE, IT WAS CORRIDOR OF LIFE BATTLE

DUGA NJIVA, JUNE 21 /SRNA/ – The glorious battle for the Corridor of Life was fought during the June days of 1992 and was the most humane, best organised, and largest operation of the Republika Srpska Army, said today General Pantelija Ćurguz, one of the wartime commanders who took part in the Corridor Breakthrough operation.

"It was a matter of life and death, and we knew it," Ćurguz said during the commemoration marking 34 years since the corridor breakthrough. He emphasized that four towns and numerous villages were brought under control during the operation and that a land corridor connecting Republika Srpska with Serbia was established. "After the corridor was opened, confidence in the Republika Srpska Army and in Republika Srpska itself increased," Ćurguz stated. Recalling his participation in the operation, he described how he submitted a report to General Momir Talić confirming that the mission had been fully accomplished, after which general told him that he had upheld the honour of Kozara people. "There are many heroes whose names deserve to be mentioned today. They created the conditions necessary for the start of the operation, which was later brought to a triumphant conclusion. The sons of Republika Srpska Krajina also fought heroically," Ćurguz noted. He stressed that fighters from Ozren, Trebava, Posavina, and Krajina participated in the breakthrough and that the operation began under extremely difficult circumstances for the Serb people. “At that time, the Serbs of Krajina were left almost entirely on their own. Nearly one and a half million people were surrounded and deprived of the basic necessities,” Ćurguz said. Ćurguz recalled that the operation effectively began on June 8, 1992, when joint forces pushed aggressor out of Johovac and Kotorsko, pointing out that those gathered today would not have been there had Croatian forces linked up with the Army of BiH at Lipa. Ćurguz emphasized that the state must repay its debt to those who participated in the Corridor Breakthrough and to all who defended Republika Srpska, because they earned that recognition. Addressing those present, Jovica Radulović, Mayor of Modriča, said that the Serb people is proud of the operation, which has entered Serb military history, as well as of all who took part in it. "We must not forget the families of fallen soldiers, nor the veterans who wove their lives into the foundations of Republika Srpska. We want Republika Srpska to continue developing and improving precisely because of those who built its foundations with their lives," Radulović said.