Taking inspiration from Boa with her ‘on this day‘ series I have a for a while been contemplating doing a ‘hero‘ series. The way this works is every so often I would put together a post relating to a personal hero of mine. The choices may well surprise some of you, the chosen ones will reflect varying lifestyles, ideoligies etc. Some of the choices will be political, some will be from the world of sports, music, film, education etc …. some will prove controversial whilst others may well find strong support.
As many of you will be aware I have always gone to great pains at not commenting over weekends, that time is sacred …. family and friends time and initially I had intended to wait till Monday to post this, however today saw the loss of a hero of mine thus it was fitting I not wait till Monday but pay tribute to him today.
Rasim Delić (born on February 4, 1949 – died April 16, 2010)
Bosnia-Herzegovina Army General Rasim Delic, who was a Commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, ABiH, during the Bosnian war, died this morning in Sarajevo.
CAREER
Rasim Delić began his military career in the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) on 1 October 1967 in the Military Academy for land forces.
- 1971 to 1985 he served in an artillery division of the JNA based in Sarajevo, 1980 to September 1984 as its commander.
- September 1984 to August 1985, Rasim served as Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of a joint artillery regiment.
- August 1985 and July 1990, except for the interruption of about 11 months in 1988/89 when he attended Command Staff School, Rasim was commander of a joint artillery regiment. On 22 December 1987 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel.
- Commander of a artillery division (15 October 1980 – 20 September 1984)
- Chief of staff and deputy commander of a mixed artillery regiment (21 September 1984 – 27 Augusta 1985)
- Commander of a mixed artillery regiment (28 Augusta 1985 – 31 Augusta 1988 and 1. Augusta 1989. – 15 July 1990). On 22 December 1987, was made colonel.
- Chief of Operations in the 4th Corps of the JNA in Sarajevo (16 July 1990 – 13 April 1992)
Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
From 16 July 1990 to 13 April 1992, Rasim Delić was Assistant Chief of the Department for Operational and Training Services in the command of the JNA 4th Corps in Sarajevo. He officially requested to leave the JNA on 13 April 1992.
Shortly after 13 April, Rasim was appointed as Head of the Training and Operations Organ of the Territorial Defence of RBiH.
On 16 April 1992, he was ordered to leave Sarajevo and on 19 April he arrived in Visoko, where he worked with a group of TO officers on the formation of units in central Bosnia. Eventually the Visoko Tactical Group was formed, headed by Rasim Delić. By 12 May he also became a member of the Main Staff and on that date was tasked officially with organizing and commanding armed combat activities in various municipalities in central Bosnia.
On 20 May 1992, the TO forces became the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 17 October 1992, Sefer Halilović, then Chief of the Main Staff, appointed Rasim Delić as Acting Head of the Department of Operations Planning and Training in the Main Staff. June 3rd, 1992 this group was named the Operation Command Visoko.
In autumn 1992, the Visoko Tactical Group group was officially named Staff of the Supreme Command – Visoko Department, directly answering to the Presidency and the President.
On 27 April 1993, General Rasim Delić was one of the four officers representing the ARBiH in the joint command of the ARBiH and the Croatian Defence Council (HVO).
On 8 June 1993 he was appointed Commander of the ARBiH Main Staff thus assuming all control of the army.
Using his experience he managed to turn a guerilla army initially armed with hunting guns into an effective defensive force, it was his dedication to his country that saw him live under constant threat of assassination.
He was the highest ranking member of the Bosnian army and extended Presidency to have been indicted for war crimes. Rather than going into hiding he chose to surrender to the jurisdiction of the court in order to prove his innocence. The charges against him were that as commander of the Army he failed to prevent the ill-treatment and execution of prisoners of war. Initially sentenced to three years, he was released pending an appeal, during this time all the charges with the exception of one were dismissed. Eventually being found guilty for failing to prevent the cruel treatment of twelve captured Serb soldiers in the village of Livade and in the Kamenica camp.
For me his hero status is deserved on the basis that rather than taking the easy and safe option he instead chose to defend his country, his people irrespective of their ‘ethnicity’ …. instead of choosing to live a life of luxury he dedicated his life to liberating his country and in peace he actively sought the reconciliation of all Bosnians. I am proud to say I had the privilege to meet this great man and afforded the honour of a handshake and a smile.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Evening Kev, is that a spelling mistake in the title?
Evening Soutie, I trust and hope you are well. Yes it was a misspelling, I noticed and amended as necessary.
Evening TTM:
“The tribunal convicted Delic of cruelty to Bosnian Serb prisoners during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. Judges found that Islamic volunteers under Delic’s command had beaten and otherwise mistreated captured Bosnian Serbs and that, although Delic never ordered the abuses, he failed to prevent them or punish the perpetrators.”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iuoz-3Ky_y2qz5mNujwqnmm7CeJwD9F463O81
Just did a quick Google and only a couple of mentions of his death. How did you come to meet him?
Oops, sorry, Kevmart. Please feel free to edit my comment!
Ara, don’t worry. I’ve been called worse …. TTM is quite refreshing in comparison.
It was in 2000, I was visiting a friend in Sarajevo who was in turn visited by Gen. Delic on a personal matter.
I would say that my knowledge of this war is sketchy but General Delic’s “crime” pales when compared leaders of the Bosnian Serbs who were indicted for far far worse.
RIP General Delic, and have a good weekend with your family, Kevmart.
Ara, wishing you a good weekend also.
Interesting Kev. Like Araminta, my knowledge of this war is also sketchy. I had the causes ‘explained’ to me by a Slovenian friend, but I never really understood it. She seemed to think that the establishment of Yugoslavia was a conflict waiting to happen.
I can’t comment on Delic’s status as a hero, but he stayed to prove his innocence, and it would seem that his faith in justice was vindicated.
Look forward to the next in the series!
Boa, thanks. The causes are complex precipitated by both external and internal factors mixed with a good deal of history. Internally it was Milosevic and his determination to extend the borders of Serbia at the expense of the other constituent nations.
“Although tensions in Yugoslavia had been mounting since the early 1980s, it was 1990 that proved the decisive year in which war became more likely. In the midst of economic hardship, the country was facing rising nationalism amongst its various ethnic groups. At the last 14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in January 1990, the Serbian-dominated assembly agreed to abolish the single-party system, however Slobodan Milošević, the head of the Serbian Party branch (League of Communists of Serbia) used his influence to block and vote-down all other proposals from the Croatian and Slovene party delegates. This prompted the Croatian and Slovene delegations to walk out and thus the break-up of the party,[4] a symbolic event representing the end of “brotherhood and unity” (wiki)
CUT A LONG STORY SHORT –
The war was in three phases
1) Secession of Slovenia from the federation on 25 June 1991. (known as 10 day war)
2) Following Croatia secession, Serbs in Croatia with Serbian support announced their secession from Croatia and the formation. Croatia was hampered by the UN imposed arms embargo whilst the Serbs in Croatia had at their disposal the arms and support of the JNA.
3) Bosnian War, whilst the Croats and Serbs were fighting deadly battles in Croatia the Presidents of these two nations (Tudjman/Croatia & Milosevic/Serbia) met in secret – known as Karađorđevo agreement, whereby they decided on the carve of Bosnia without taking into account the wishes of the majority population (the Bosniaks).
Bosnia’s gov’t decided to hold a referendum, the Bosnian Croats and the Bosnian Muslims vote for independence, the Serbs in turn boycotted the referendum. Bosnia declared its independence, the Bosnian Serbs in turn as they had in Croatia announced the areas they were the majority in would in retaliation secede from Bosnia. As in Croatia the arms embargo hindered the gov’t of Bosnia which contrary to belief was always composed of loyal Bosniaks, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs, the breakaway Serb Republic on the other hand had at their disposal the arms and support of the JNA.
I realise this is a very simplistic overview that gives little in to the ‘hows and whys’ however that is not the purpose of this blog.
General Delic, trained in the JNA and with his extensive Serbian contacts could have taken the easy option and sat out the war however the prospect of his country and his people being invaded and occupied by a ‘foreign army’ (the Serb Republic was a proxy army of Serbia at this stage, later at least on paper this was not the case) and so he and Gen. Halilovic quickly put together a Defensive Territorial Army and trained these mostly raw recruits. In record time they raised and trained an army.
Whilst his indictment was seen as a farce, Gen. Delic was determined to clear his name and thus voluntarily surrendered himself. The fact that all charges except one – that charge being a result of ‘chain of command’, basically he was the chief of the Army and although he was not aware of what had happened he was still in charge – sets him apart from many of the other major players in this conflict.
Thanks Kev… I’m glad you cut the story short! It certainly jogged my memory of what my friend told me. She had little good to say about the Serbs…
Boa, thanks. I did cut it short and in doing so omitted many of the intricate yet important details that contributed towards this war. After Tito’s death the break up of Yugoslavia was inevitable especially when one takes into account the nationalism espoused by the likes of Milosevic and Tudjman. In stark contrast Bosnia was and remains a multi cultural state. However as stated the point of this post was not to explore the issues leading to the wars in the Balkans.
On Monday the great General was laid to rest.
General Rasim Delic … RIP