THE BATTLE OF ORAHOVEC
THE TURNING POINT OF THE KOSOVO WAR
THE BUILD UP
In 1998 the Kosovo War began. The KLA[Kosovo Liberation Army] wanted independence from the communist Yugoslavia. During the war the Serbs were ethnicly cleasing the Albanian population of Kosovo. The Serb Police were getting ready to attack Orahovec because Orahovec is like a station for refugees escaping the war in Kosovo.
THE ATTACK
On the morning of May 29, 1999 Serb Police convoys were heading for Orahovec. The KLA troops there were caught by suprise and with that there was a bulge in the KLA lines. It took the KLA a day to gather their forces together. The KLA knew exactly why the Serbs were attacking Orahovec, it was to masacre all the refugees there. Tahir Sinani a KLA commander took control of the KLA at Orahovec. He got the Serbs packing because 2 days after he took control the Serbs retreated. The casualties were KLA- 59 dead 119 wounded Serbs- 136 dead,247 wounded and over 120 refugees dead. But this was a turning point for the Kosovo Liberation Army. After this NATO and Bill Clinton ordered the bombing of Serbia
SOME PICTURES OF THE U.S AND NATO BOMBING
THE END OF THE KOSOVO WAR
THE END
The war dragged on for more than a month after the Battle of Orahovec. During the ground war in kosovo NATO and U.S. bombs were pounding Serbia. The bombing lasted 78 days until Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic agreed to pull Serbian forces out of Kosovo. The bombing cost hundreds of billions of U.S dollars. Then in 2008 Kosovo officially declared independence. YAY!