Croatian Defence Council

Not to be confused with Croatian Defence Forces.

Croatian Defence Council Hrvatsko vijeće obrane
Emblem of Croatian Defence Council
Founded	April 8, 1992
Disbanded	2005
Headquarters	Mostar, Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	Milivoj Petković
Minister of Defense	Jadranko Prlić
Industry
Domestic suppliers	Croatia
Foreign suppliers	Croatia
Related articles
History	Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia Bosnian War Croat-Bosniak War Operation Storm

The Croatian Defence Council (Croatian: Hrvatsko vijeće obrane, HVO) was a military formation of the self-proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia during the Bosnian War.

History

The HVO (Croatian Defence Council) was established on April 8, 1992 in Grude by the political leadership of Croats, mainly members of Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica) as a military formation of Herzeg-Bosnia.

Organization

HVO was divided into four operational zones: South-Eastern and North-Western Herzegovina, Central Bosnia and Posavina. While first three zones were grouped more or less together, Posavina was completely isolated in northern Bosnia on right bank of Sava river around Orašje and was entirely dependent on support from Croatia.

Guard brigades

• 1. Guard Brigade "Bruno Bušić"
• 2. Guard Brigade
• 3. Guard Brigade "Hawks"
• 4. Guard Brigade "Sons of Posavina"
• 5. Guard Brigade. The Guards brigades were the sections of the H.V.O which handled the militia's heavy weapons. The H.V.O had around 50 tanks, 400 artillery pieces, and 200 armored troop carriers.

References

External links

• HVO - Hrvatsko vijeće obrane (Croatian)