NATO Aggression on Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

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Yugoslav Armed Forces in March 1999

Vojska Jugoslavije ( Army of Yugoslavia) have around 100 000 members, 40 percent of which were conscripted soldiers.

VJ (YA) is organized in three major services:

Kopnena Vojska (Army)
Ratno Vazduhoplovstvo i Protiv Vazdusna Odbrana (Air Force and Air Defence )
Ratna Mornarica (Navy)

As of 1998 the the Armed Forces were aligned into three Armies and one Corps:

The 1st Army is oriented toward the north and Croatia.
The 2nd Army is oriented toward Bosnia-Herzegovina
The 3rd Army is oriented toward the south and southwest - Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia.

Army Equipment:

630 tanks (230 modern M-84's and the remaining 400 T-55's)
634 armored personnel carriers and infantry armored vehicles
38 BRDM-2 armored reconnaissance vehicles
474 105mm and 122mm guns and howitzers
180 130mm guns
75 122mm self-propelled howitzers
132 152mm and 155mm howitzers

Typicaly Motorized Infantry Brigade consisteed of:

1. Infantry Battalion
2. Infantry Battalion
3. Infantry Battalion
Artillery (Howitzer) Battalion
Armoured Battalion
Military Police Company
Reconnaissance Company
Air defense Battery

Mixed Artilery Brigade consited of:

Comand-Reconnaissance Battery
Howitzer Battalion
Guns Battalion
MRL Battalion
Support Battalion

With UN Arms Embargo from 1991 VJ was cut off from international military market so only source of new weapons was modification of existing systems and local production. The other problem facing modernization was bad economy with military budget below 1 billion USD in last years (during years under economic sanctions budget hit rock bottom with only 600 millions USD) .

The primary goal for upgrading was Air Defense system. Yugoslavia marketed improvement packages for the SA-2, SA-3 and SA-6 which includes a thermal imager and laser rangefinder, both boresighted with the TV tracker to allow range measurement with passive tracking at night and in poor weather.

At the beginning of 1998 Ministarstvo Unutrasnjih Poslova (Ministry of Interior) police forces were primarily responsible for internal security operations against the KLA in Kosovo, while the army was primarily responsible for border security. Most frequently used were Specijalna Antiterosticka Jedinica (Special Antiterrorist Unit) and Special Police Units.

Defence War

The 3rd Army, headquartered in Nis, was under the command of Col Gen Nebojsa Pavkovic and during the war NATO aggression had around 120 000 men. , and the Pristina Corp, responsible for Kosovo and Metohija wass under the command of Gen Major Vladimir Lazarevic. Pristina Corp consisted of:

125. Motorized Infantry Brigade - recipient of National Hero Medal, the highest military medal for their exceptional service during the war
549. Motorized Infantry Brigade - recipient of National Hero Medal, the highest military medal for their exceptional service during the war
37. Motorized Infantry Brigade - recipient of National Hero Medal, the highest military medal for their exceptional service during the war. This unit is originally in 2nd Army and was sent on Kosovo and Metohija province as reinforcement
78. Motorized Infantry Brigade
15. Armoured Brigade
211. Armoured Brigade
252. Armoured Brigade
7. Infantry Brigade
58. Light Infantry Brigade
175. Infantry Birgade
354. Infantry Brigade
52. Air Defence Brigade
243. Mechanized Brigade
52. Mixed Artilery Brigade
192. Engineering Regiment
elements of a 1st Army/16. Mixed Artilery Brigade was added as reinforcement
elements of the 63. Paratropers Brigade and 72. Special brigade
number of units from other armies, namely reconnaissance and Military Police
525. Technical Depot

On March 20th OSCE monitoring mission pulled out from Kosovo and Metohija.

On March 24th with NATO bombardment KLA forces attacked expected that VJ (YA) would cave under bombs and abandoned their weapons running for cover. In the next few day with Pristina Corp with MUP (Ministry of Intereor) units destroyed all KLA stronghold and forced remaining KLA fighters to abandoned their weapons, thus securing front background.

The rest of war was marked with heroic actions to keep KLA forces entering Yugoslavian Territory. KLA, with NATO assistance, armed refugees and with regular Albanian Army made fierce full attack on VJ border positions, backed by NATO aircraft.

125. and 549. Inf. Bde, even under bombardment with strategic bombers (B-1B and B-52H), didn't allowed enemy to occupy even a smallest part of FRY territory.

VJ forces used camouflage and deception very extensively. They built many models weapons - of which NATO destroyed 80% by direct hits.

Yugoslav Third Army (responsible for south-east part of FRY incuding Kosovo and Metohija) losses:

161 killed in combat

299 wounded

13 T-55 tanks destroyed ( 7 by NATO, 6 by KLA)

6 APC

8 artilery pieces

19 AA guns

Yugoslav Army losses:

524 killed in combat

33 mising in action

21 succumbed to one's wounds

18 tanks destroyed

10 APC/IFV

13 artilery pieces

Last Modified: 20.02.03 12:53