27.10.2018.
Promotion of the book “Pristina Corps 1998-1999 - Testimonies of War Commanders” at the Book Fair
At the booth of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces at the Book Fair today, the book “Pristina Corps 1998-1999 - Testimonies of War Commanders” from the “Ratnik” edition has been presented today.
Lieutenant General Vladimir Lazarević, then the Commander of Pristina Corps, thanked the President of the Republic of Serbia and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin and the Ministry of Defence, for making it possible for the “Ratnik” edition, edition of truth and unforgetting, to see the light of day.
Speaking about the book, General Lazarević emphasized that it is necessary to understand the situation in Kosovo and Metohija in 1998, explaining that the unit he commanded had already waged war against Shqiptar terrorists.- In the war year of 1999, the Pristina Corps was in a strategic trap. Then one of the most assymmetric wars in the history of warfare began, because it was the war waged against FR Yugoslavia from two continents, in which NATO used state-of-the-art weapons, strong propaganda and psychological warfare - General Lazarević said.
He pointed out that although the idea of the aggressor was to break the resistance of the Yugoslav Army in just three or four days, to kill 20,000 thousand members of the Pristina Corps, conquer Serbia and humiliate the Serb people, this did not work out.
- The tasks of the Pristina Corps were to preserve the living force and materiel from destruction, to defend and save the state border and integrity of the FRY on the 251-kilometre front, suppress the terrorist rebellion in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija and save people from the terror of the Shqiptar terrorists. Members of the Pristina Corps managed to execute those almost impossible tasks under the most difficult conditions - General Lazarević said, emphasizing that he is proud of his unit for accomplishing that, and that the enemy had efficiency only in destroying simulators and false targets, not the real materiel.
General Lazarević, along with all the attenders, including many of his comrades, passed through the hallways of memory again and passed through his war diary, referring to those days when the fiercest fighting took place, adding that our Armed Forces proved in Kosovo and Metohija that it had its soul, it preserved its reputation and did good deeds. This and such army has managed to defend the freedom of our country.
According to Lieutenant-General retired Mladen Ćirković, at that time commander of the 15th Armoured Brigade within the corps, the timely decisions of the Pristina Corps command regarding the relocation of units from the barracks, the creation of favourable formations outside the peacetime locations in areas that are significant from the point of view of domination, allowed avoiding “the Croatian scenario” for units to remain blocked in the barracks. Thanks to that, Ćirkovic emphasized, the units of the Pristina Corps were operational and mobile.- The international factor was the one that prepared the territory of Kosovo and Metohija for bombing, by returning units to the barracks and to the peacekeeping formation - General Ćirković said, and emphasized that the Pristina Corps, despite this, managed to save people and materiel by actions and procedures because the start of the bombing was received with displaced assets outside the barracks.
- Always on the move, relying on ourselves, deceiving the enemy and misleading him, we minimised the losses to a - General Ćirković said and reminded that the brigade he commanded had a large number of bulky materiel, which was well masked and thus saved.
He particularly emphasized the role, dedication and loyalty of conscripts to their state, who heroically endured all the war efforts and deserved every respect.General Ćirković stressed that the “Ratnik” edition deserves every attention and praise because it enables the truth to be heard directly from the participants of these events.
Colonel retired Goran Jeftović was on the forward command post of the Pristina Corps with the primary task of securing and defending the state border.
- The forward command post was tasked to unify the actions of all military units, to enable coordination with the MUP and to respond to all attempts by enemies that came from Albania. By team work, we designed a system of line and deep securing of the border in peace, which was extremely important for the events that followed during the 1999 aggression and the success in preserving communication and defending the border - Jeftović said.
The director of the Institute for Recent History Dr. Mile Bjelajac, a reviewer of the book, pointed out that as a historian and the man who lived through it, he is deeply convinced that the “Ratnik” edition gives an important contribution to a more complete understanding of the recent past and brings us closer to more precise knowledge, accurate chronology and many tiny contents that reveal a great rhetorical farce designed to conceal the failure of the enemy to achieve its geopolitical goals.
