Croatia Celebrates 20th Victory & Homeland Thanksgiving & War Veteran’s Day

Croats all over Croatia, and around the world are today celebrating the 20th anniversary of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, and War Veteran’s Day, which commemorates the military victory on 5 August 1995, known as Operation Storm, when the Croatian army took over a self-proclaimed Serb entity in Croatia…

After yesterday’s anniversary military parade in the capital Zagreb, thousands of people have descended on the town of Knin where the focus of Wednesday’s celebrations will be, including a display of Croatia’s defensive force on the ground and in the air.

A 2.3 metre statute of Croatia’s first President, Franjo Tuđman, with his words from 1995 (‘We have Croatia’) in Knin inscribed on it, will be unveiled by current Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović today.

The statue being unveiled today in Knin

Operation Storm began at 5am on 4 August 1995 and in just 84 hours 10,500 square kilometres had been liberated by the 200,000 Croatian soldiers who took part in the operation. A huge Croatian flag was erected on the Knin fortress at 12:00pm on 5 August. 174 Croatian soldiers lost their lives in the operation. On 7 August it was announced that the operation was complete.

Below are highlights from the 20th anniversary parade in Zagreb yesterday.