August 4 – 7, 1995 · Krajina, Croatia Theater
August 4 – 7, 1995
Operation Storm was the largest European land offensive since World War II — a 200,000-strong Croatian military assault on the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina that retook the entire enclave in just 84 hours. The Croatian army, trained and equipped with US assistance, shattered Serbian defenses with coordinated artillery, infantry, and special forces operations across a 630-kilometer front. Knin, the Krajina's capital, fell within hours of the assault's opening. The collapse was so complete that the Serbian government in Belgrade, distracted by its own negotiations, abandoned the Krajina Serbs entirely. The military victory was total; the humanitarian aftermath was contested — an estimated 200,000 Serb civilians fled or were expelled, and hundreds of elderly Serbs who remained were killed in the weeks after the operation.
Commanders