南疆四地州：打造丝路文化和民俗风情旅游目的地

Not to be confused with Croatian Defence Council or Armed Forces of Croatia.

百度 “勤勉，卖力，肯吃苦。

Croatian Defence Forces Hrvatske obrambene snage
Patch of the Croatian Defence Forces
Active	22 January 1991 – 5 April 1993
Disbanded	September 1991 (Croatia) 21 August 1992 (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Country	Croatia Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Allegiance	Croatian Party of Rights
Branch	Army
Size	8,000 – 24,000
Headquarters	Zagreb, Croatia Ljubu?ki, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Nickname(s)	Blacks (Crnci)
Motto(s)	Za dom spremni
Colors	Black
March	Himna HOS-a
Engagements	Battle of the Barracks Battle of Gospi? Siege of Slunj Battle of Vukovar Siege of Dubrovnik Siege of Mostar Battle of Kupres (1992) Battle of Posavina Attack on Piperi Siege of Sarajevo Siege of Kotor Varo?
Commanders
Notable commanders	Dobroslav Paraga Bla? Kraljevi?
Insignia
Flag

The Croatian Defence Forces (Croatian: Hrvatske obrambene snage or HOS) were the paramilitary arm of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) from 1991 to 1992, during the first stages of the Yugoslav wars. During the Croatian War of Independence, the HOS organised several early companies and participated in Croatia's defence. At the peak of the war in Croatia, the HOS was several battalions in size. The first HOS units were headed by Ante Parad?ik, an HSP member who was killed by Croatian police in September 1991. After the November 1991 general mobilisation in Croatia and the January 1992 cease-fire, the HOS was absorbed by the Croatian Army.

The HOS units in Bosnia and Herzegovina consisted of Croats, Bosnian Muslims and foreign volunteers led by Bla? Kraljevi?. On 9 August 1992, Kraljevi? and eight staff members were assassinated by Croatian Defence Council (HVO) soldiers under the command of Mladen Naletili?. The HOS was disbanded shortly afterwards, with its remaining military assets absorbed by the HVO and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the beginning of the Croat-Bosniak War. The last HOS unit was dissolved on 5 April 1993 in central Bosnia.

History

Croatia

Origin

The Croatian Party of Rights was reestablished in Croatia on 26 February 1990, with Dobroslav Paraga president and Ante Parad?ik vice-president. The Croatian civilian population began arming itself, and on 21 December 1990 the Serbs of Croatia rose; soon, the Yugoslav People's Army combined with the insurgent Serbs and the Croatian Party of Rights considered forming its military wing.

Although the first HOS squad was established in January, the HOS was officially founded on 25 June 1991 by Dobroslav Paraga, Ante Parad?ik, Alija ?iljak and other leaders of the HSP. Soon after establishing the HOS general staff, Parad?ik became its chief.

The HSP received donations from the Croatian diaspora and HSP branches in Australia and Canada, enabling it to buy weapons and increase its membership. However, not every HSP member supported a military wing, and secretary Kre?imir Paveli? left the party in protest. Many HOS recruits came from the diaspora, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and overseas. In addition, HOS attracted trained soldiers from abroad.

The HOS used the roman salute and wore black uniforms; its headquarters featured portraits of Usta?e leaders and its units were named after Usta?a generals. Their outward association with WWII-era fascists prompted worries to the Croatian government who feared their image would damage Croatia's international reputation. By early 1992 they were disbanded and recruited into the regular Croatian Army.

Battles

At the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence, the HOS comprised about 6,000 soldiers. Although they were members of the Croatian National Guard (ZNG), they obeyed orders from HOS officers. Because of an unwritten rule that HOS members could only be members of the HSP, the HOS was considered a party paramilitary organisation. The HOS and the ZNG were involved in the Battle of the Barracks and other minor battles in Croatia. The HOS increased in popularity within the HSP, and soon the HOS were in nearly every town where the HSP was active. On 10 September 1991, Paraga and Parad?ik organised a demonstration of a HOS company for 10,000 spectators in Jela?i? Square. Shortly after the demonstration, the company was involved in the Battle of Vukovar under Robert ?ili?.

At this time, HOS units were founded in Dalmatia. Until May 1991, Dalmatian HOS units were company-sized. In an agreement between Paraga and the Slovene Minister of Defence Janez Jan?a, the units were sent to Slovenia for training. By October 1991 the unit had grown to battalion size; it was called the 9th Battalion and was commanded by Jozo Radanovi?, president of the HSP branch in Split.

Parad?ik was shot at a police checkpoint near Zagreb on 21 September 1991, in what was described by the authorities as an accident. They justified the killing because the police "received an anonymous tip that the Marti?'s family were in the car."

Following the fall of Vukovar in November 1991, the Croatian government began a general mobilisation, and most HOS militiamen joined Croatian Army units. Paraga refused to merge his units with the forces controlled by the Croatian government, and armed HOS units took over a building in Zagreb, using it as their headquarters. Paraga and party vice-president Anto ?api? who took over the position following Parad?ik's killing, were charged with treason and planning a coup d’état but the charges were dropped. Shortly after the cease-fire in January 1992, the HOS ceased operations in Croatia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

HOS soldiers in ?apljina c.?1992

The Croatian Defence Forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina had its headquarters in Ljubu?ki and mostly operated in the southern area of the country. Their commander was Bla? Kraljevi?. At the beginning of the Bosnian War, they fought against the Serb forces together with the HVO and ARBiH. The strength of HOS forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina was estimated at up to 5000 members armed with infantry weapons. They included many Bosnian Muslims in their ranks and advocated a confederation between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, frequently using the slogan "Croatia to the Drina, Bosnia to the Adriatic". The HOS participated in breaking the JNA-VRS siege of Mostar in June 1992, when the HV and HVO forces pushed the Serb forces towards eastern Herzegovina.

Relations between the HVO and HOS eventually worsened, though HOS did not function integrally throughout the country. In the area of Novi Travnik it was closer to the HVO, while in the Mostar area, there were increasingly tense relations between the HOS and the HVO. On 9 August Kraljevi? was killed in unclear circumstances at a police checkpoint in the village of Kru?evo, along with eight of his staff members by HVO soldiers under the command of Mladen Naletili?. On 23 August 1992 HVO and HOS leaders in Herzegovina agreed to incorporate the HOS into the HVO. The remaining HOS forces were later recognised by the Sarajevo government as part of the ARBiH. The HOS forces in central Bosnia merged with the HVO in April 1993. Most of the Bosniaks that were members of the HOS joined the Muslim Armed Forces (MOS).

Symbols

The HOS had a black flag with its emblem in the centre: a circle of triple wattle containing a chequered shield (with white first square) over a four-sided blue-and-white triple-wattle symbol; above, the inscription "HOS"; below, "HSP, Za dom spremni", which was the Usta?e salute during WW2 in the Independent State of Croatia. HOS symbols have become a contentious issue in recent years as the popularity of its flag with the Za Dom Spremni slogan has grown with right-wing fans at sporting events and HOS veterans continue to use HOS and Usta?e insignia at public events.

Units

Name	Symbol	Headquarters	Commander
1st Battalion Ivan Vitez Brdar (1. bojna Ivan Vitez Brdar)		Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Mate ?ukan
2nd Battalion Stojan Vujnovi? "The Serb" (2. bojna Stojan Vujnovi? Srbin)		Domaljevac, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Stojan Vujnovi?
4th HOS Battalion (4. bojna HOS-a)
6th Battalion Marijan Baoti? (6. bojna Marijan Baoti?)		Vinkovci, Croatia	Ivica Zupkovi? Ivan Zoraja
9th Battalion Rafael Vitez Boban (9. bojna Rafael vitez Boban)		Split, Croatia	Jozo Radanovi? Marko Skejo
1st Company Ante Parad?ik (1. satnija Ante Parad?ik)		Jasenovac, Croatia	Miroslav Martinovski
Vukovar HOS Company (Vukovarska satnija HOS-a)		Vukovar, Croatia	Robert ?ili?
13th Battalion Jure Vitez Franceti? (13. bojna Jure vitez Franceti?)		Tomislavgrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Ivan Mami?
The Knights (Vitezovi)		Vitez, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Darko Kraljevic
101st Battalion To Drina (101. bojna Do Drine)		Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Mate Matasin
19th Battalion Vitez Jure Franceti? (19. bojna Vitez Jure Franceti?)		Gospi?, Croatia	Valentin Rajkovi?
Black Wolves (Crni vukovi)		Kalesija, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Refik Fiko Br?anovi?
Marked Ones (?igosani)		Novi Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hunter Company (Satnija Lovci)		Ljubu?ki, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Independent Security Company (Samostalna satnija osiguranja)		Zagreb, Croatia
Mostar HOS Battalion (Mostarska bojna HOS-a)		Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ljubu?ki HOS Company (Ljubu?ka satnija HOS-a)		Ljubu?ki, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Zenica HOS Company (Zeni?ka satnija HOS-a)		Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tuzla HOS Company (Tuzlanska satnija HOS-a)		Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
?apljina HOS Company (?apljinska satnija HOS-a)		?apljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Gallery

• 
  Standard HOS patch
• 
  Patch of HOS 9th battalion, 114th brigade
• 
  Croatian flag used by HOS soldiers
• 
  Patch of HOS 9th battalion, 4th brigade
• 
  Rare HOS patch from Herzegovina
• 
  HOS soldiers after the war
• 
  HOS-a patch from Prozor-Rama
• 
  HOS patch for Muslims
• 
  Patch used by some HOS soldiers in Bosnia and Herzegovina

See also

• Bla? Kraljevi?
• Croatian Party of Rights

References

• Hewitt, Dawn M. (1998). From Ottawa to Sarajevo: Canadian Peacekeepers in the Balkans. Kingston, Ontario: Centre for International Relations, Queen's University. ISBN 978-0-88911-788-4.
• Marijan, Davor (2004). "Expert Opinion: On the War Connections of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991–1995)". Journal of Contemporary History. 36. Zagreb, Croatia: Croatian Institute of History: 249–289.
• Ramet, Sabrina P. (2006). The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918–2005. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34656-8.
• Shrader, Charles R. (2003). The Muslim-Croat Civil War in Central Bosnia: A Military History, 1992–1994. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-1-58544-261-4.
• Veselinovi?, Velimir (2014). "Obnavljanje i djelovanje Hrvatske stranke prava, 1990-1992" [Renewal and political activism of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), 1990-1992]. Croatian Political Science Review. 51 (2). Zagreb, Croatia: Fakultet politi?kih znanosti Sveu?ili?ta u Zagrebu: 55–87. Retrieved 7 January 2019.