Operation Summer '95 - Aftermath

Aftermath

Gotovina assessed VRS resistance to the HV and the HVO units early on during the battle as fierce, while former RSK officers claim that the overall resistance of the VRS and the RSK battlegroup in Bosansko Grahovo area was not great. The attacking HV/HVO forces sustained a loss of 18 killed in action and 155 wounded troops. Approximately 1,600 square kilometres (620 square miles) of territory changed hands, and the Knin–Drvar road, vital to resupply of the RSK, was interdicted. The offensive displaced 12–14 thousand Serb refugees who fled towards Banja Luka.

On 30 July, the RSK declared a state of war and the RSK President Milan Martić stated that the Croatian territorial gains would soon be reversed in cooperation with the VRS. Colonel General Ratko Mladić, the supreme commander of the VRS, visited Knin the same day, also promising to restore the territory lost that month. However, the RSK military concluded that the VRS has no units in the Western Bosnia capable of the attack. Analyses of the RSK military indicated that the HV had saved the Bihać pocket for the second time and that it is preparing to attack the RSK at several points. Following the offensive, the RSK authorities reported fear and some panic among the population caused by conviction that the RSK cannot defend itself against the HV. Women and children started to evacuate to Yugoslavia, while a mobilization of the RSK military was largely completed by 3 August. Finally, on 2 August, the RSK civil defence authorities ordered preparation for evacuation of the RSK, and the RSK prime minister Milan Babić asked the government ministers to be ready to move to Donji Lapac.

Operation Summer '95 failed to achieve its declared goal of relieving Bihać by drawing off substantial forces of the RSK military and the VRS away from the city to contain the HV/HVO advance. The RSK 2nd Guards Brigade was ordered to move from Bihać to Bosansko Grahovo though, and it would remain in the area of Knin until the beginning of the following HV offensive, Operation Storm, on 4 August. Success of the HV and the HVO in capturing of Bosansko Grahovo and Glamoč and their achieving of positions very favourable to attack Knin, followed by a large-scale mobilization of the HV in preparation for Operation Storm, caused the RSK to shift its focus away from Bihać though. On 30 July, RSK civilian and military leaders, Milan Martić and General Mile Mrkšić met with Personal Representative of Secretary-General of the United Nations Yasushi Akashi and agreed upon a plan to withdraw from Bihać in order to prevent the expected Croatian offensive. Only days later, the area captured in Operation Summer '95 would be used as a staging area for the 4th and the 7th Guards Brigades' advance into Knin in Operation Storm. The VRS 2nd Krajina Corps attempted to retake Bosansko Grahovo on the night of 11–12 August. The advance from direction of Drvar broke through the HV's reserve infantry left to garrison the area and reached the outskirts of the town, only to be beaten back by two HV Guards battalions.