Operation Orkan 91

Operation Hurricane-91
Part of the Croatian War of Independence
Pakrac Novska Nova Gradiška Western Slavonian towns on the map of Croatia. JNA-held area in late December 1991 is highlighted red.
Date 29 October 1991 – 3 January 1992 Location western Slavonia, Croatia Result General ceasefire implemented Operation objectives not met
Belligerents
Croatia	Yugoslav People's Army SAO Western Slavonia
Commanders and leaders
Rudi Stipčić	Nikola Uzelac
Strength
14,758 troops	c. 13,500 troops
Casualties and losses
184 killed 595 wounded 1 MIA 25 POWs	516 killed 516 wounded 17 tanks, 3 APCs, 20 artillery pieces, 1 aircraft destroyed

Operation Hurricane-91 (Croatian: Operacija Orkan-91) was a military offensive undertaken by the Croatian Army (Hrvatska vojska – HV) against the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija – JNA) and SAO Western Slavonia Territorial Defense Forces in the Sava River valley, in the region of Western Slavonia during the Croatian War of Independence. The operation began on 29 October 1991 and ended on 3 January 1992 when a nationwide ceasefire was signed to implement the Vance plan. The offensive was aimed at recapturing the region, in conjunction with two other HV offensives launched against SAO Western Slavonia in the north of the region within days.

Even though the offensive captured a portion of the targeted area, including the town of Lipik as the first of the larger settlements captured by the HV during the war, the mission objectives were not met before the ceasefire took effect. SAO Western Slavonia retained control of the town of Okučani and its surroundings, including a short section of the Zagreb–Slavonski Brod motorway. The halting of Operation Hurricane-91 due to the ceasefire of 3 January 1992 led to opposing assessments on the possible outcomes of the offensive had there been no ceasefire. Assessments range from claims that the JNA was on the brink of defeat in the area, to estimates that the HV was too exhausted and its ammunition stocks too low to permit a successful conclusion of the offensive. The three HV offensives launched in Western Slavonia in late-1991 led to the displacement of approximately 20,000 Croatian Serb refugees who were later settled in the JNA-held Baranja region in eastern Croatia.

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