Brnik Airport after the attack

On the second day of the war, the Yugoslav People’s Army (YPA) deployed aircraft hitting several targets with bombs and missiles: Brnik Airport, the blockade near Štrihovec, and the railway and police station in Šentilj. Missiles were also used against the Territorial Defence units blocking the barracks in Murska Sobota, the blockade of a tank convoy at Medvedjek was bombed, and missiles were fired at the Karavanke Tunnel border crossing. The television transmitters on Kum and Nanos were also bombed. In the fierce fighting for the border crossing at Gornja Radgona, which caused massive destruction in the city centre, the YPA prevailed at 2 pm. However, following heavy fighting at the Holmec border crossing near Prevalje in the Koroška region, several YPA guardhouses surrendered. Holmec was the first liberated border crossing in Slovenia. On that day many Slovenian high-ranking officers left the YPA.

Devastation in the aftermath of the battle

At the beginning of the conflict, the Territorial Defence counted around 16,000 members and by the end of the war around 35,000. It did not have any armoured vehicles or artillery. The Slovenian Police was around 10,000 strong. In the ten-day war, 31 tanks, 22 infantry armoured combat vehicles, 172 transport vehicles, six helicopters, and other equipment belonging to the YPA were destroyed or damaged. The YPA’s casualties included 45 dead and 146 wounded. The Territorial Defence units captured 4,693 members of the YPA and 139 members of the federal police. On the Slovenian side, 19 were killed and 182 wounded.

Work at the Territorial Defence Headquarters

Yugoslav People’s Army surrenders

The Republic of Slovenia declared its independence on 25 June 1991. On that day, the YPA units, including armoured formations, started armed aggression to take over the border crossings. The YPA’s mission was to cut off Slovenia from the rest of the world, disarm members of the Territorial Defence and Police, and force Slovenian leaders to abandon their already adopted plans for the establishment of an independent state. The Slovenian Territorial Defence and Police won the war against the YPA, which lasted from 26 June 1991 to 7 July 1991.

YPA troops leave Slovenia

The last unit of the occupying YPA left the independent Slovenia on 25 October 1991, which was in 2015 declared Sovereignty Day.