VRS-Military competents or incompetents?

[killerkai2]

Hello,

I know its risky discussing the VRS military in Bosnia but they are questions about it that have long interested me and maybe we can get some answers (!) or some fiery debate about them. Did the VRS really lose the war in 1995? Was General Mladic any kind of quality general? I really would like to know about the state of its forces in 1995 as the Muslim-Croat Offences hit them, Did they actually collapse or did once NATO airpower was taken out of it did they manage to hold onto more land as I have read than many people actually think? The big one of course is could the Bosnian Serbs have won the war earlier by focusing on rolling up the Eastern encalves and shortening their supply lines (Why did they not take Goradze in 1994) Let's keep it civil and clean. I know this thread will trigger emotions, no politics just military anaylsis.
Killerkai

[sergentdarmes]

Having served 2 times in Bosnia with UN (the first time) and NATO, I would say that VRS had a core of formally educated, professional officers from the Federal Army and some mech units ans artillery that were proficient enough. It is very difficult to says if the VRS would have won a campaign against the federation forces. How long could that take ? What kind of support would they have had from Serbia ? What kind of support would the other side would have had from the US and NATO ? From the muslim countries ? From fundamentalists ?

[zg18]

Did the VRS really lose the war in 1995?


De-facto yes,de-iure not.

[127th Knights]

It can be argued that the VRS did not lose the war in Bosnia, but rather the politicians did. When General Mladic was asked "Why don't you take Sarajevo?" he responded "And what shall I do with those people in there? Someone has to feed them and we aren't able to do so." There were feelings of "let-george handle it" among the serbs as well. Many Serbs did not want to fight in areas not immediately adjacent (and sometimes even then) to their villages, towns, or municipalities. There is no doubt that the VRS had weapons superiority over Federation and Croatian elements in Bosnia. As for Mladic's competency... He was applauded by western military officials for not getting himself baited into WWI style warfare of bold charges and trenches. He preferred artillery bombardments, with mixed forces attacks of mechanization and infantry. Hope this helps a little.

[sergentdarmes]

VRS lost against CNN and Fox news, and ultimately that made the political defeat of the serbs of Bosnia.
Most of the Serbian farmers who took up arms would fight for their villages, period

[INAT]

There is a very well researched book about Gerneral Ratko Mladic called

RATKO MALDIC TRAGIC HERO BY MILO YELESIYEVICH

This will give you more info than anyone here can it is about 700 pages
and talks about his ability as a general.

There is one part I found funny it said "Clark to the Hague Mladic to west point.

[cinoeye]

I agree 100% with segantdames, ZG18 and 127thKnights.