Operation Winter '94 - Aftermath

Aftermath

Gotovina expressed his opinion that although Operations Winter '94, Leap 1 and Leap 2 were planned and executed as three distinct operations, they represent a unified military action. Operation Winter '94 ostensibly failed to achieve its primary objective (relieving pressure on the Bihać pocket by drawing off VRS and ARSK forces to contain the attack); however, that was due to a decision by Chief of VRS General Staff General Ratko Mladić and not to mistakes in planning or execution. Faced with a choice between pressing on with the attack on Bihać and blocking the advance from the Livanjsko field, the VRS opted not to shift its forces, but Bihać was successfully defended by the 5th Corps of the ARBiH. The secondary objective of Operation Winter '94 was achieved more easily; the Croatian forces approached the Knin-Drvar road and directly threatened the main supply route between the Republika Srpska and the RSK capital. Operations Leap 1 and 2 built on the achievements of Operation Winter '94, threatened Bosansko Grahovo and created conditions to isolate Knin in Operation Summer '95 executed the following month. The advance was strategically significant; as Mladić's decision not to react to Operation Winter '94 was a gamble which would ultimately cost the Republika Srpska territory extending to Jajce, Mrkonjić Grad and Drvar and bring about the destruction of the RSK, as the advances of the Croatian forces paved the way for Operation Storm.