The Yugoslav People’s Army in the Socialist Republic of Croatia 1959–1969

U tekstu koji slijedi dat ćemo pregled organizacijskoga razvoja Jugoslavenske narodne armije u Narodnoj/Socijalističkoj Republici Hrvatskoj tijekom 60-ih godina. U tom periodu provedeno je nekoliko reorganizacija Armije. Cijelo desetljeće počinje reorganizacijom „Drvar” u drugoj polovini 1959., na bazi uvođenja koncepcije takozvane općenarodne obrane i očekivanoga nuklearnog rata, preko nekoliko reorganizacija između 1964. i 1968., pa do vremena nakon agresije snaga Varšavskoga pakta na Čehoslovačku. Članak je nastao na bazi arhivske građe koja se čuva u Upravi za organizaciju, Vojnom arhivu i Muzeju Jugoslovenskoga ratnog vazduhoplovstva, sve u sastavu Ministarstva odbrane Republike Srbije u Beogradu, te dvaju prethodno objavljenih autorovih radova koji se bave istom tematikom, ali u širem vremenskom kontekstu.The article provides an overview of the organisational development of the Yugoslav People’s Army (YPA) in the Socialist Republic of Croatia (SRC) during the 1960s. The organisational development of YPA units in the SRC was generally almost identical to that of YPA units in the other Yugoslav republics. The development of the Navy, however, was different. There were several organisational changes that affected the YPA units in the SRC in this period. The first of these was the plan ‘Drvar’ in 1959, which introduced many new organisational forms inspired by experiences from Yugoslav Partisan warfare in World War II and by war in expected nuclear conditions. Due to some radical solutions that actually burdened the functioning of the YPA, a new organisational plan, ‘Drvar II’, was introduced in 1964 to amend this. It was followed by further reorganisations: one in 1965, which adjusted the names and traditions of the Partisan units and existing YPA units, another in 1966–1968, entitled ‘Snaga’ (Power), which led to the downsizing of the YPA following the notion in the highest Yugoslav military circles that foreign aggression was only possible from the NATO side. The sudden Warsaw Pact aggression on Czechoslovakia in August 1968 brought change in the Yugoslav perception of possible aggressors, which now included the neighbouring communist countries. This led to another organisational change entitled ‘Snaga II’. Looking from a distance, it seems that organisational changes in the YPA during the 1960s were endless. The article also notes the YPA turn to the Soviet Union for the purchasing of the modern military equipment, ranging from main battle tanks to supersonic fighters. It was written on the basis of the still-restricted sources of the Yugoslav General Staff that are kept in the Organisational Department of the Republic of Serbia’s Ministry of Defence