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| caption = Croatia: , , Bosnia and Herzegovina: HV- or HVO-controlled since , , , , | date = 29 November – 24 December 1994 | place = Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina | result = HV and HVO victory | combatant1 = * HVO | combatant2 = | commander1 = Tihomir Blaškić Janko Bobetko Ante Gotovina | commander2 = Ratko Mladić Radivoje Tomanić | strength1 = 3,000–4,000 soldiers (HV) 2,000–3,000 soldiers (HVO) | strength2 = 3,500 soldiers | casualties1 = 29 soldiers killed 58 soldiers wounded 3 soldiers missing | casualties2 = Unknown }} Operation Winter '94 ((クロアチア語:Operacija Zima '94)) was a joint military offensive of the Croatian Army (HV) and the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) fought in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina between 29 November and 24 December 1994. The operation formed part of the Croatian War of Independence and the Bosnian War fought between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and two unrecognized para-states proclaimed by Croatian Serbs and Bosnian Serbs. Both para-states were supported by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and Serbia. The JNA pulled out in 1992, but transferred much of its equipment to the Bosnian Serb and Croatian Serb forces as it withdrew. Operation Winter '94 was the first in a series of successful advances made by the HV and the HVO in or near the Livanjsko field, an elongated flat-bottomed valley surrounded by hills. The region was formally controlled by the HVO, but the HV contributed a substantial force, including commanding officers. The attacks were primarily designed to draw the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) away from the besieged city of Bihać. The secondary objective was threatening the single direct supply route between Drvar in the Bosnian Serb Republika Srpska and Knin, the capital of the Croatian Serb Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK). Operation Winter '94 pushed back the front line of the VRS by about , capturing much of the Livanjsko field. The attack failed to achieve its primary objective but it brought the Croatian forces within striking distance of the Drvar–Knin road. Operation Winter '94 was followed by Operation Leap 1 (''Operacija Skok 1'') on 7 April 1995, which improved HV positions on Mount Dinara on the southern rim of the field, dominating the area around the RSK capital. The Croatian forces renewed their advance with Operation Leap 2 between 4 and 10 June, allowing them to directly threaten Bosansko Grahovo on the Drvar–Knin road, and to secure the remainder of the valley. The improved Croatian dispositions around Livanjsko field provided a springboard for further offensive action on this front during Operation Summer '95. ==Background== Following the 1990 electoral defeat of the government of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, ethnic tensions grew. The Yugoslav People's Army (''Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija'' – JNA) confiscated Croatia's Territorial Defence (''Teritorijalna obrana'') weapons to minimize resistance. On 17 August, the tensions escalated into an open revolt by Croatian Serbs, centred on the predominantly Serb-populated areas of the Dalmatian hinterland around Knin, parts of the Lika, Kordun, Banovina and eastern Croatia. This was followed by two unsuccessful attempts by Serbia, supported by Montenegro and Serbia's provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo to obtain the Yugoslav Presidency's approval of a JNA operation to disarm Croatian security forces in January 1991. After a bloodless skirmish between Serb insurgents and Croatian special police in March, the JNA, supported by Serbia and its allies, asked the federal Presidency declare a state of emergency and grant the JNA wartime powers. The request was denied on 15 March, and the JNA came under control of Serbian President Slobodan Milošević. Milošević, preferring a campaign to expand Serbia rather than preservation of Yugoslavia, publicly threatened to replace the JNA with a Serbian army and declared that he no longer recognized the authority of the federal Presidency. By the end of March, the conflict had escalated into the Croatian War of Independence. The JNA stepped in, increasingly supporting the Croatian Serb insurgents and preventing Croatian police from intervening.〔 In early April, the leaders of the Croatian Serb revolt declared their intention to integrate the area under their control with Serbia. The Government of Croatia viewed this declaration as an attempt to secede. In May, the Croatian government responded by forming the Croatian National Guard (''Zbor narodne garde'' – ZNG), but its development was hampered by a United Nations (UN) arms embargo introduced in September. On 8 October, Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, and a month later the ZNG was renamed the Croatian Army (''Hrvatska vojska'' - HV).〔 Late 1991 saw the fiercest fighting of the Croatian War of Independence, culminating in the Siege of Dubrovnik and the Battle of Vukovar. A campaign of ethnic cleansing then began in the RSK, and most non-Serbs were expelled. In January 1992, an agreement to implement the peace plan negotiated by UN special envoy Cyrus Vance was signed by Croatia, the JNA and the UN. As a result, the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) deployed to maintain the ceasefire, and the JNA was scheduled to retreat to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where further conflict was anticipated.〔 Despite the peace arrangement requiring an immediate withdrawal of JNA personnel and equipment from Croatia, it remained on Croatian territory for seven to eight months. When its troops eventually withdrew, the JNA left its equipment to the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina (ARSK). The January ceasefire also allowed the JNA to maintain its positions in East and West Slavonia that were on the brink of military collapse following a Croatian counteroffensive, which reclaimed 60% of the JNA-held territory in West Slavonia by the time the ceasefire went into effect. However, Serbia continued to support the RSK. The HV restored small areas around Dubrovnik to Croatian control and during Operation Maslenica it recaptured some areas of Lika and northern Dalmatia. Croatian population centres continued to be intermittently targeted by artillery, missiles and air raids throughout the war.〔 On 9 January 1992, a Bosnian Serb state was declared, ahead of the 29 February1 March referendum on the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovinalater cited as a pretext for the Bosnian War). The Bosnian Serb state was later renamed Republika Srpska. As the JNA withdrew from Croatia it started to transform into a Bosnian Serb army,〔 handing over its weapons, equipment and 55,000 troops. The process was completed in May, when the Bosnian Serb army became the Army of Republika Srpska (''Vojska Republike Srpske'' – VRS). It was faced by the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), established in April, and the Bosnia and Herzegovina TOrenamed the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (''Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine'' – ARBiH) in May.〔 Formal establishment of these forces was preceded by the first armed clashes in the country as the Bosnian Serbs set up barricades in Sarajevo and elsewhere on 1 March and the situation rapidly escalated. Bosnian Serb artillery began shelling Bosanski Brod by the end of March, and Sarajevo was first shelled on 4 April.〔 By the end of 1992, the VRS held 70% of Bosnia and Herzegovina, following a large-scale campaign of conquest and ethnic cleansing backed by military and financial support from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Bosnian War gradually evolved into a three-sided conflict. The initial ARBiH–HVO alliance soon deteriorated as the forces became rivals for control of parts of the country. Ethnic tensions escalated from apparently insignificant harassment in July,〔 to an open Croat–Bosniak War by October 1992.〔 The Bosnian Croat authorities, organized in the Herzeg-Bosnia territory, were intent on attaching the region to Croatia.〔 This was incompatible with Bosniak aspirations for a unitary state. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operation Winter '94」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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