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STANKO PRIMORAC - ANE

Ljubuki

November 2005

The interview is recorded and registered under the following label

cane32,5 MB

duration 01:41:52 cane2

4,86 MB duration 13:12

cane314,2 MB

duration 44:34

The interview was conducted in Ljubuki

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Dictaphone is switched on. I will kindly ask you to introduce yourself first by

telling me your name, surname and place of birth.

My name is Stanko Primorac, called ane. I was born on January 15, 1969 in Ljubuki. I

graduated from elementary and secondary school in Ljubuki and completed my military

service in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). Immediately after completion of my military

service, the war in Slovenia and Croatia started and later spread on to Bosnia and Herzegovina

(BiH). I as well as majority of other normal people realised that the war would spread

throughout the entire territory of Croatia and BiH. In September 1991 I entered the Croatian

Army (HV) self-willingly. I joined 4th Brigade within the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS),

which was then a part of the Croatian National Guard (ZNG) and the 4th HV brigade. Jozo

Radanovi was my commander. After completing military training we were sent to the south

front. The front line included terrains from the bay of Bistrina towards Peljeac peninsula. Most

of our military missions were conducted there. We were on a mission in Kruevo in Zadar once.

When Kruevo fell we spent couple of days in Split military barracks and were deployed in various

terrains as needed. At the end of February 1992, the JNA embarked on a full-scale aggression on

BiH. It started even earlier. I was in the vicinity of the village of Ravno, today the municipality of

Ravno, when Ravno fell. Well that was the first municipality attacked by the JNA. They didnt stop

at that. They continued by attacking Stolac and Popovo polje aiming to capture Ploe harbour and

the Metkovi line alongside the river Neretva. They planned to partition south Croatia and BiH and

create Great Serbia according to some imagined grand scheme in their heads. I came to Ljubuki at

the beginning of March joined by other guys from the towns of Stolac, apljina, Ljubuki,

Tomislavgrad and Livno. All those guys who self-willingly enlisted into the HV received an

honourable discharge from the HV in case they wanted to return to their native towns and help in

defence against the JNA aggression. That is how I came as well. I came as a member of a platoon

formed by some 30-35 guys from 9th HOS Corps. We immediately put ourselves under the

command of the late general Bla Kraljevi. There had already existed some kind of military

structure. The HOS headquarters were situated in Ljubuki. At the beginning of March we were sent

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to the area of ava and Pobre, Stolovi, high-plains in front of the village Ravno which belonged to

the territory of BiH. Practically the entire line from Stolac in direction of Bistrina and Ploe was

defended at the time. On April 10 Stolac fell, the 606 elevation, the most dominant elevation in the

area. Stolovi fell as well and as a result the line in eljevo, Draevo and Drenovac was directly

endangered. A part of that line had fallen already. On April 11, our units were regrouped and defence

line was strengthened to a certain extent. Additional units came from itluk and apljina and we

finally got our leave after very long fifteen days. I returned to apljina then. On April 12 we were

allotted a building at the apljina tobacco station by apljina municipal headquarters which we used

for our own purposes. We had three organised platoons already and were named the independent

HOS company and our men had already gained some experience after fighting for the HV. It was not

to be compared with the HV military formation but taking into account the circumstances in apljina

and Ljubuki at the time it was a well organised military formation. There was no civil authority, the

army was self-organised to some extent, many things were improvised, there was no electricity,

water and there was a general chaos on. We arrived to apljina on April 12 and I met general Praljak

that same day. I realised that he was the man at the top of chain of command structure, that he was

the man who organised defence of apljina. There was a specific situation in apljina at the time.

The JNA was still holding the barracks and was shooting at the civilians and flats in apljina. Across

the barracks to the east run the river Neretva and east of the river you had other heavily fortified JNA

artillery troops. It was our duty in apljina to defend ourselves from the JNA units shooting from the

barracks. They attempted to enter the city, cross over the bridge and create additional chaos. We held

two lines. We had to hold the barracks and defend the line which had already connected Mostar,

Orlovac, over Buna, south part of Meugorje, Dretelj and the city of apljina and so on to the south

to Gabela. Bellow Gabela the line went across the river Neretva. The south part was defended in the

villages of eljevo, Klepcirna on the border line of Klepac and eljevo, Gnjilita over Crno brdo up

to Drenovac and Stolovi. That was a rather large area to cover which is perhaps impossible for the

military analysts to understand. In any case we were inferior to the JNA and Chetnik paramilitary

troops. They had already controlled all dominant positions during peace. Well let me go back to the

meeting with Praljak. First thing that I noticed was his negative attitude towards me, better to say

towards HOS. When we got to know each other better he told me that he had had rather negative

experiences with the HOS units all over Croatian battle grounds in the past. He claimed that we were

one nation and that we should have a single army and a unified chain of command. Although we

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have never had any problems in apljina, general Praljak had certain problems with the HOS units

on other front lines in BiH. Taking into account his earlier negative experience perhaps he thought

that all HOS members were the same. However he changed his mind later. A day or two after we

were first introduced, he came to inspect my men and I formed them into ranks. As an experienced

soldier he understood that those were all quite normal guys from wider area of BiH which had

already been occupied at that time. Nobody forced those guys to join the HOS, they were all

volunteers. Since the situation in apljina was rather chaotic we told general Praljak that we would

put our forces at his disposal and under his command and that we would carry out his orders and

behave as a real and organised army. After that moment we did not have any problems. There were

some individual incidents and fights caused by drunken soldiers and animosity between HOS and

HVO soldiers which provoked his stormy reactions. The HOS members thought highly of

themselves because they enlisted in the army self-willingly and they resented some HV soldiers.

They all volunteered and were part of the 1st company of the HOS 1st corps. It could be said that it

was one of the most elite units among HOS in that part of the battlefield in particular. And my

humble self was the commander of that company. That company was well organised and resembled

real army taking into account the existing circumstances. We carried out almost all orders by general

Praljak regardless of whether the orders referred to taking over the JNA barracks or holding the line

on the east part of the battle ground in apljina and defending it from the enemies on the east side of

the river Neretva. Let me tell you how we captured the JNA barracks in apljina. Throughout the

period from April 12 to April 20-22 when the barracks were finally captured, I cannot remember the

exact date, we were ordered to control east auxiliary exit to the barracks which seemed as the most

logical exit for the reservists and JNA soldiers. The main entrance was too wide and would drive

them out into the open making them an easy target there. Throughout these days apljina was under

a heavy shelling and a few air-raids, by both planes and helicopters meaning that it was hit by all

sorts of weapons. Naturally, they did not select the targets, the flats were hit, women, children and

elderly people were killed. Soldiers were killed as well. Chaos reigned and the only place that you

could turn to for help were the headquarters for defence of apljina headed by general Praljak. The

HQ was located at the J&B hotel, I think it was called like that. General Praljak and a few of his

associates were in command there. A mayor, a president of the municipality of apljina or a vicar

would appear from time to time there. Civilian authority structure did not exist at the time and thus

each small or serious problem had to be dealt by general Praljak and J&B HQ. The commanders of

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all units deployed in the territory of apljina municipality went there for a daily briefing with general

Praljak. All kinds of topics were discussed there: recent enemy movements as well as the most banal

or basic problems. For example there was a woman wit