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Ten-Day War
Part of the Yugoslav Wars

A map of JNA combat operations during the war.
Date27 June – 7 July 1991
Location
Slovenia
Result Decisive Slovenian victory
Belligerents
 Slovenia Yugoslav People's Army, Navy and Air Force
Strength
60,000 soldiers
150 tanks		 38,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
19 soldiers killed, 182 wounded 44 killed, 146 wounded
31 tanks, 22 APCs, and 6 helicopters destroyed, captured or confiscated
16 civilians killed

Background

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The Socialist Republic of Slovenia was the most industrialized region of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and boasted the highest per capita income in Eastern Europe. It had a population of 1,966,000 in the spring of 1991, making it the fifth most populous of the country's six republics. Ethnic Slovenes numbered 1,730,068 people and accounted for 88 percent of its population, followed by 157,278 Croats (8 percent), 47,184 Serbs (2.4 percent), and 31,456 Hungarians and Italians (1.6 percent). Slovenes widely consider themselves to Central Europeans, hold the Roman Catholic faith and speak the Slovenian language, which is distinct from Serbo-Croatian.[1]

Opposing forces

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Slovenian forces

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Slovenian Territorial Defence (TOS) comprised 15,000 soldiers, 150 tanks and some artillery pieces and helicopters. Many of the tanks in Slovene possession were M-84s.[2] The M-84 was the Yugoslav version of the Soviet T-72.[3] The Slovenian TOS was quickly transformed into the Slovenian Army, and initially boasted 35,000 highly motivated and well-trained soldiers.[4] It was joined by thousands of Slovene recruits, reaching its peak strength of 60,000.[5] The army could also call upon a further 68,000 reservists, but could only afford to arm about 40,000 of them.[6]

Slovenian Territorial Defence deployments on 27 June 1991[7]
Unit Note
2 District (Lower Carniola) Stationed along the central Yugoslav border and covered the Črnomelj and Ribnica garrisons of the JNA 14 Corps and the Novo Mesto garrison of the JNA 31 Corps
3 District (Upper Carniola) Stationed along the western Austrian border and covered the Kranj, Jesenice and Škofja Loka garrisons of the JNA 14 Corps
4 District (Slovenian coast) Stationed along the southern Italian and western Yugoslav borders and the Postojna garrison of the JNA 14 Corps
5 District (Ljubljana and Central Slovenia) Covered the JNA 14 Corps garrisons in Ljubljana and Vrhnika
6 District (northwestern Slovenia) Stationed along the northern Italian border and the JNA 4 Corps garrison in Tolmin
7 District (eastern Styria) Stationed alongside the eastern Austrian, Hungarian, and eastern Yugoslav borders and covered the garrisons of the JNA 31 Corps in Maribor, Murska Sobota, Ptuj and Slovenska Bistrica
8 District (western Styria) Stationed along the central Austrian border and covered the garrisons of the JNA 31 Corps in Celje and Dravograd

Yugoslav forces

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The Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska narodna armija, JNA) enjoyed an international reputation as a powerful, well-equipped and well-trained forces prior to the political upheaval which plagued Yugoslavia throughout the 1980s. Serbs and Montenegrins traditionally dominated the JNA and the Yugoslav Air Force (Jugoslavensko ratno zrakoplovstvo, JRZ) while Croats traditionally dominated the Yugoslav Navy (Jugoslovenska ratna mornarica, JRM). By 1990, as the disintegration of Yugoslavia became more likely, most non-Serbs began refusing to report for military service.[8]

The JNA had about 38,000 active duty soldiers and reservists on the ground in Slovenia, from a total of 138,000 active duty troops throughout Yugoslavia. However, the number of JNA troops actually engaged in combat during the conflict could have been as small as 2,000.[6]

Prelude

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On 24 June, the Slovene TOS mobilized 20,115 soldiers and policemen. Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia on 26 June.[9]

Timeline

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27 June

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The JNA invaded Slovenia on 27 June, convinced that the pro-independence Slovenian government would be defeated within days.[9] Slovenian police and soldiers from the TOS 5 District subsequently barricaded the 59 roads surrounding Ljubljana. The JNA responded by sending 12 armoured vehicles from the Karlovac-based 580 Mixed Artillery Brigade towards the city. This column was ambushed by a Slovenian counter-terrorist unit at Poganci on the Slovene-Yugoslav border and then by another at Medvedjek.[10] Many Slovene soldiers serving with the JNA refused to fight, rendering many multi-ethnic units ineffective.[8]

Aftermath

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The JNA suffered losses of 44 soldiers killed and 146 wounded, while the Slovenes reported 19 soldiers killed and 182 wounded.[11] Most of the JNA soldiers killed were Serbs.[12] In total, the Slovenes captured 4,693 JNA soldiers and 252 federal police officers and captured, confiscated or destroyed 31 tanks, 22 APCs, and 6 helicopters, along with 6,787 infantry, 87 artillery and 124 air-defence weapons, according to JNA inspections. Twelve non-Slovene and non-Yugoslav citizens were also killed in the conflict.[13] Of 16 reported civilian deaths,[14] 9 were Slovenian citizens[15] and the rest were Turkish truck drivers.[14]

Notes

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  1. ^ Thomas & Mikulan 2006, p. 12.
  2. ^ Finlan 2004, p. 21.
  3. ^ Finlan 2004, p. 20.
  4. ^ LeBor 2002, p. 138.
  5. ^ Thompson 2013, p. 424.
  6. ^ a b Collins 2014, p. 100.
  7. ^ Thomas & Mikulan 2006, pp. 15–16.
  8. ^ a b Thomas & Mikulan 2006, p. 11.
  9. ^ a b Thomas & Mikulan 2006, p. 15.
  10. ^ Thomas & Mikulan 2006, p. 17.
  11. ^ Thomas & Mikulan 2006, p. 20.
  12. ^ Sremac 1999, p. 66.
  13. ^ Švajncer 2001.
  14. ^ a b Bideleux & Jeffries 2007, p. 354.
  15. ^ Štitkovac 2000, p. 160.

References

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Books
  • Bideleux, Robert; Jeffries, Ian (2007). The Balkans: A Post-Communist History. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-96911-3.
  • Collins, Bridget (2014). Power Politics and State Formation in the Twentieth Century: The Dynamics of Recognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-10704-735-8.
  • Finlan, Alastair (2004). The Collapse of Yugoslavia, 1991–1999. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-805-7.
  • LeBor, Adam (2002). Milosevic: A Biography. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-30010-317-5.
  • Sremac, Danielle S. (1999). War of Words: Washington Tackles the Yugoslav Conflict. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-96609-7.
  • Štitkovac, Ejub (2000). "Croatia: The First War". In Udovički, Jasminka; Ridgeway, James (eds.). Burn This House: The Making and Unmaking of Yugoslavia. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-2590-1.
  • Švajncer, Janez J. (2001). "War for Slovenia". Government of the Republic of Slovenia Public Relations and Media Office.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Thomas, Nigel; Mikulan, Krunoslav (2006). The Yugoslav Wars (1): Slovenia & Croatia 1991–95. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-963-9.
  • Thompson, Wayne C. (2013). Nordic, Central, and Southeastern Europe. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-47580-489-8.
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