Kalesija and Kamenica offensive

The Kalesija and Kamenica offensive was an offensive during the Bosnian war from 1st – 19 September 1992. The offensive was launched by the ARBiH to connect Kamenica enclave with Bosnian government territory, and was also ARBiH from Kamenica attack to split the road from Zvornik to Šekovići. The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina would fail to achieve this goal.

Kalesija and Kamenica offensive
Part of the Bosnian War
Date 30 July — December 1992 Location Kalesija, Kamenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina Result Army of Republika Srpska victory ARBiH fails to connect Kamenica enclave with Bosnian government territory
Belligerents
Republika Srpska	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Commanders and leaders
Ratko Mladić	Naser Orić Hajrudin Mešić †
Units involved
Zvornik Brigade	Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Timeline

ARBiH troops drawn primarily from the Cerska-Kamenica enclave launched a series of strikes to sever the Zvornik-Šekovići-Pale road during July–September. The first raid against the road came on 30 July. While Bosnian Army forces from Kalesija-Sapna made holding attacks, Muslim sabotage troops hit the corridor at a key bottleneck, some 10 kilometers northeast of Šekovići and four kilometers west of Muslim-held territory in the Cerska-Kamenica area. VRS were able to reopen the route. Late in August Bosnian Army units from Kalesija and Kamenica struck at the road from two sides in a vain attempt to link up their forces, gaining only a little ground. Sabotage units hit the route twice in September, but were beaten back. During October, ARBiH units made a major effort to link the Kalesija and Cerska-Kamenica regions, while VRS troops from both the Zvornik Brigade attempted to shrink the Cerska-Kamenica enclave. Neither side succeeded, although the VRS was able to seize a few key positions around Kamenica, and during one of the last Muslim pushes, on 30 October, they lost a veteran ARBiH brigade commander, Harjudin Mesic from the Teočak brigade. In the end ARBiH plan to connect Kalesije and Kamenica failed.

Aftermath

After the failure of the offensive, the ARBiH under the command of Naser Orić connects the enclaves of Srebrenica and Kamenica, but this did not last long after the Serbs launched Operation Cerska 93, occupying the entire Kamenica enclave and turning Srebrenica and Žepa into a UN safe zone.

Sources

Central Intelligence Agency (2002). Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict, 1990–1995. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Russian and European Analysis. ISBN 978-0-16-066472-4. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.