They Left Everything Behind and Set Out Across Velebit to Save Their Lives

On September 24, 1991, around a thousand residents of the Lovinac area set out on foot across the Velebit mountains to save their lives from Greater Serbian aggression. However, seventeen immobile civilians—the oldest being 90 years old—were not among them. Experienced mountaineers from Zagreb undertook the task of rescuing them from the besieged area under fire and in the dead of night.

For months, the residents of Lovinac, Ličko Cerje, Ričice, Sveti Rok, and surrounding hamlets had lived under the threat of attack. The Lovinac region had been a target since August 1990, after rebel Serbs seized weapons from the police station in Gračac. In early August 1991, five civilians employed by the railway were killed.

The police unit in Lovinac was subsequently reinforced by several members of the ATJ Lučko special police, and the small Lika enclave withstood attacks that became almost daily occurrences starting in early September.

Following a failed attempt to capture Gospić, Serbian forces and the JNA launched an operation to seize control of the strategically important Lovinac area and to break the blockade of a large JNA depot in Sveti Rok.

A variety of assets were used in the attacks, including aircraft and an armored train.

The pressure became unbearable. On September 24, 1991, the residents of Lovinac, Ličko Cerje, Ričice, Sveti Rok, and other hamlets were forced to abandon their homes. Around a thousand people set out to save their lives by crossing the Velebit mountain range.

They could not use the road over Mali Alan because the mountain pass was held by rebel forces. Their only escape route led from the Dušice area, along a mountain trail via Libinje, all the way to Starigrad.

It was an arduous and dangerous journey across the mountain for people leaving behind their homes and almost everything they owned.

The most dramatic phase of the ordeal unfolded when it became clear that not everyone could make the crossing. Seventeen immobile civilians were left behind; the oldest among them was 90 years old.

Experienced mountaineers from Zagreb were brought in to carry out the rescue operation.

Under the command of Jerko Kirigin, members of the Velebit Mountain Company located the civilians, who were hiding in the hamlet of Kneževići. Despite coming under fire and navigating the terrain at night, they managed to transport the group across Velebit and bring them to safety in Starigrad.

After the withdrawal, about a hundred people—mostly the elderly—remained in Lovinac. According to the existing records Serb forces killed or burned alive 45 of them.

September 24, 1991, remains one of the darkest days in the history of the Lovinac region—a day when residents were forced to abandon their homes and head across Velebit into an uncertain future to save their lives.

Source: HRT