Siege of Dubrovnik - Order of Battle

Order of Battle

The JNA tasked the 2nd Titograd Corps and the 9th Boka Kotorska Military-Maritime Sector (VPS)—both of them elements of the 2nd Operational Group—with cutting off and capturing the Dubrovnik area. The 2nd Titograd Corps deployed the 1st Nikšić Brigade, while the 9th Boka Kotorska VPS employed 5th and the 472nd Motorized Brigades. The Corps boundary was set, running north–south near Dubrovnik. The 2nd Operational Group also commanded the 16th Border Patrol Detachment and 107th Coastal Artillery Group, and mobilised Territorial Defence units from Herceg-Novi, Kotor, Tivat, Budva, Bar, Mojkovac, Bijelo Polje and Trebinje. Strugar was in overall command of the 2nd Operative Group, while the 9th Boka Kotorska VPS was commanded by Vice Admiral Miodrag Jokić. Jokić replaced Admiral Krsto Đurović, who had died in unclear circumstances hours before the offensive against Dubrovnik began. Major General Nojko Marinović, once commanding the 472nd Motorized Brigade and subordinate of Đurović, claimed that the JNA had killed the admiral because he opposed the offensive. Marinović resigned his post on 17 September and joined the Croatian ZNG. The JNA 2nd Operational Group initially deployed 7,000 troops in the offensive, and it maintained similar troop levels throughout the offensive.

The defences of Dubrovnik were next to none—at the outset of hostilities, there were 480 troops in the city area, out of which merely 50 had some training. The only regular military unit was a platoon armed with light infantry weapons that was stationed in the Napoleonic era Fort Imperial atop the Srđ Hill overlooking Dubrovnik. The rest of the troops in the area were poorly armed, as the Croatian Territorial Defence was disarmed by the JNA in 1989. Unlike elsewhere in Croatia, there had been no JNA garrisons or storage depots in Dubrovnik since 1972. As a consequence, very few arms and munitions captured during the September Battle of the Barracks were available to defend Dubrovnik. On 26 September, 200 rifles and four artillery pieces captured from the JNA on the island of Korčula were sent to reinforce the city. The guns were a mix of 76 mm and 85 mm Soviet World War II-era divisional guns. In addition, an improvised armoured vehicle was supplied to the city. Dubrovnik also received additional HV, police, and Croatian Defence Forces troops from other parts of Croatia. This brought the number of Croatian troops in Dubrovnik to 600–1,000 by November. On 19 September, Marinović was appointed as commanding officer of the defences in Dubrovnik, at which time he assessed them as inadequate. The troops, initially organized as the Territorial Defence of Dubrovnik, were reorganized into the HV 75th Independent Battalion on 28 December 1991, and later reinforced with elements of the 116th Infantry Brigade to form the 163rd Infantry Brigade on 13 February 1992. The Armed Boats Squadron Dubrovnik, a volunteer military unit of the Croatian Navy, was established on 23 September to counter the Yugoslav Navy blockade. The unit consisted of 23 vessels of various sizes and 117 volunteers.