Club of Wartime Commanders presents president with monograph of 5th Brigade "Falcons"

On Tuesday, President of the Republic Zoran Milanović received a delegation from the Club of Wartime Commanders and senior officers of the Veterans' Association of the 5th Guards Brigade of the Croatian Army "Falcons", who presented him with a Monograph of the "Falcons" Brigade, which describes the war path of the brigade.

This is the last in a series of monographs by the Ministry of Defense published as part of the Edition of Monographs of Military and Police Units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia from the Homeland War 1991-1996.

“This monograph is a permanent record of the time of Croatian pride and glory, it is a thank you to all the Slavonian Falcons, my comrades, sisters and brothers in arms, for their contribution to the construction of the 5th Guards Brigade and the defense and liberation of our Homeland. The monograph is a memorial to the contribution and sacrifice of my generation, but also a reminder to all future generations to continue to defend and build our beautiful country with the same zeal,” said retired Major General and Commander of the 5th Guards Brigade Ivan Kapular, presenting the monograph to President Milanović.

Among other things, he pointed out that the war path of the Slavonian Falcons was "clean as a tear: honorable, proud and dignified, military according to international conventions".

“Let this monograph not only be a collection of memories, but a guide for new generations on how to preserve tradition and unity with pride and patriotism. May it never be forgotten who the Slavonian Falcons were and may their victorious war path in the Homeland War remain forever recorded,” said the editor-in-chief and head of the Expert Team that prepared the monograph, Brigadier Mijo Kožić.

The monograph covers the period from the establishment of the Vukovar Veterans Brigade on February 16, 1992, until the end of the Homeland War. It describes the brigade's war journey from missions at Kupres, through the departure to the Southern Front to participation in all the operations to liberate Croatia: Flash, Wall, Summer of 95, Fenix and Storm.

The monograph has 732 pages and contains a list of all 6,202 wartime members of the "Falcons", and also contains 713 photographs.

“We reviewed more than ten thousand documents and declassified archival material for about 650 documents. We created military-topographic maps for each operation. We have unified all the decorations, awards and insignia of the Brigade,” explained Kožić.

Formed on October 5, 1992 in Vinkovci, the 5th Guards Brigade "Falcons" was composed mostly of units from Slavonia, mostly members of the 204th Vukovar Brigade, 108th Brod Brigade, 109th Vinkovci Brigade, 3rd Company (Novograd), 122nd Đakovo Brigade, 123rd Požega Brigade, 132nd Našice Brigade and members of the 3rd Guards Brigade and other Guards units.

During the Homeland War, 89 members were killed and more than 300 were wounded.

A film about the "Falcons" was also shown during the presentation of the monograph.

Source: HRT