History of the Army of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

This section is about the history of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina that existed from 1992 to 1996, then it was formed into two armies of the two entities from 1998 to 2005 and finally transformed into the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (OSBIH).

In 1988 The Yugoslav Army had placed the Bosnian provincial Territorial Defence Force under 1 Military District (Belgrade), and reduced its strength two-thirds to 86,362 in December 1991. The Bosnian TO was gained control by the Bosnian-Serb SDS in the coalition government. On 19 December 1990 Alija Izetbegović and the SDA party alarmed by the SDS's secessionists attitudes discussed forming an independent Bosnian army later Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In March 1991 Sefer Halilović formed the Patriotic League (Patriotska Liga - PL) as an independent Bosnian army, with the same territorial organization as the TO.

On 1 November 1991 the JNA, Bosnian-Serb and Serbian paramilitary militias began attacking Bosnian-Muslim and Bosnian-Croat towns and villages the first ones being Sarajevo by the JNA and Bijeljina by paramilitary forces. On 4 April, Alija Izetbegović ordered general mobilization: and on 8 April he transformed the Sarajevo TO command into GHQ of the Teritorijalna Odbrana Republike Bosne i Hercegovine (Territorial Defence Force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina) (TORBIH), appointing the Bosnian-Muslim Colonel Hasan Efendić as commander of the army, Colonel Stjepan Šiber, a Bosnian-Croat, became chief-of-staff, and Colonel Jovan Divjak, a Bosnian-Serb, his deputy. The TO was formally established on 15 April when all Patriotic League units joined the force. On 20 May 1992 the TORBIH, PL, and other militias and the Bosnian-Croat HVO and HOS were officially united as Armed Forces of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina (Oruzane Snage Republike Bosne i Hercegovine). On 23 May Colonel Efendić was replaced as commander by Sefer Halilović.

...
Wikipedia