Prelude
Further information: Propaganda in the Yugoslav WarsIn the summer of 1991, top JNA commanders, including Yugoslav Federal Defence Minister General Veljko Kadijević, JNA Chief of the General Staff General Blagoje Adžić and deputy defence minister Vice Admiral Stane Brovet, planned a military offensive entailing an attack against the Dubrovnik area, followed by a westward JNA advance, once the area was secured, towards western Herzegovina in order to link up with the JNA 9th Knin Corps in northern Dalmatia. General Jevrem Cokić submitted the plan of the offensive targeting Dubrovnik to Adžić for his approval.
In the early autumn of 1991, the JNA and the leaders of Montenegro publicly claimed that Dubrovnik should be attacked and neutralized in order to ensure territorial integrity of Montenegro, prevent ethnic clashes and preserve the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In addition, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović stated that Croatian borders needed be revised, attributing the existing border line to "poorly educated Bolshevik cartographers". The propaganda, compounded by JNA Colonel General Pavle Strugar's allegations that 30,000 Croatian troops and seven thousand terrorists and Kurdish mercenaries were about to attack Montenegro and seize the Bay of Kotor, led many in Montenegro to believe that Croatia had actually started an invasion. The newspaper Pobjeda was the most significant media source contributing to the spread of the propaganda. In July 1991, Mihalj Kertes, a high ranking Serbian official, declared at a political rally in Nikšić that a Serbian state was to be established west of Montenegro, extending to the Neretva River, with Dubrovnik as its capital—renamed Nikšić-at-Sea.
On 16 September 1991, the JNA mobilized in Montenegro, citing the deteriorating overall situation in Croatia. Despite a radio-broadcast appeal by the JNA 2nd Titograd Corps on 17 September, considerable numbers of reservists refused to respond to the call-up. On 18 September, Đukanović threatened harsh punishment of all deserters and those refusing to respond to the mobilization. The mobilization and the propaganda were contrasted by assurances from Yugoslav federal authorities in Belgrade that there would be no attack against Dubrovnik. Still, the JNA's strategic plan, aimed at defeating Croatia, included an offensive to cut off the southernmost parts of Croatia, including Dubrovnik, from the rest of the country.
On 23 September, JNA artillery attacked the village of Vitaljina in the eastern part of Konavle, and Brgat to the east of Dubrovnik. Two days later, the Yugoslav Navy blockaded maritime routes to the city. On 26 September, the JNA renamed its Eastern Herzegovina Operational Group as the 2nd Operational Group, and subordinated it directly to the Federal Ministry of Defence and the JNA General Staff. Cokić was appointed as the first commanding officer of the 2nd Operational Group, only to be replaced by General Mile Ružinovski on 5 October, following the shooting down of Cokić's helicopter. Strugar replaced Ružinovski on 12 October.
Read more about this topic: Siege Of Dubrovnik
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