Croatia is celebrating Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, War Veterans Day and the 27th anniversary of Operation Storm, a joint military and police operation that ended a Serb armed rebellion in August 1995, and restored Croatian sovereignty over occupied central and southern parts of the country.

The offensive was launched at 5am on August 4, along the line running from Bosansko Grahovo to the south to Jasenovac to the east, the front line being more than 630 kilometres long. Within the following 84 hours slightly less than 10,500 square kilometres of territory, almost a fifth of the country, was liberated.

The operation culminated on August 5, when the Croatian Army’s 4th and 7th Guard Brigades liberated the town of Knin, the heart of the Serb rebellion, displaying a 20-metre-long Croatian flag on the town’s fortress at noon.

About 200,000 Croatian soldiers and police took part in the biggest operation of the Homeland War.

Operation Storm marked the end of the war in Croatia, created conditions for the peaceful reintegration of the eastern Danube River region, helped break the siege of the northwestern Bosnian town of Bihac, and enabled the return of refugees and displaced persons.

This year’s central commemoration will be held in Knin, and the event will be addressed by retired general Mladen Markac, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic and President and Commander-in-Chief Zoran Milanovic.