The 63rd Paratrooper and 72nd Special Brigades — The Elite on Maja Glava

When in the first days the defence of Košare lost the dominant peaks and it became necessary to halt the enemy advance, the best units of the Yugoslav Army were brought to the front. Elite paratroopers and members of the special units came to turn the course of the battle at the hardest positions.

The Arrival of the Elite

Around 19 April 1999, the 63rd Paratrooper Brigade and the 72nd Special Brigade were brought into the forces at Košare — the most elite units of the Yugoslav Army, trained for the most complex combat tasks. Their arrival marked the shift from pure defence to a more active holding of the front and attempts to retake the key positions.

Unlike the young conscript border guards, the members of these brigades were professional soldiers of the highest training, ready for hand-to-hand combat at the most exposed points.

The Fight for Maja Glava

A special task of the 63rd Paratrooper Brigade was tied to the dominant peak of Maja Glava, one of the highest and tactically most important positions in the Košare zone. Control of that peak meant control of a wider part of the battlefield. The paratroopers carried out attacks on the enemy positions on Maja Glava in the extremely difficult conditions of high-mountain warfare.

The fighting was waged at short range, sometimes only a few dozen metres between the trenches. Although the peak was not fully retaken, the enemy artillery on that axis was silenced, and the front at Maja Glava was frozen — from there the enemy could advance no further.

The Wounded Commander

The wartime commander of the 63rd Paratrooper Brigade at Košare was Colonel Vidoje Kovačević. In the fierce fighting he was gravely wounded — he lost an eye — but his brigade continued to carry out its tasks. The wounding of the commander bears witness to the fact that the officers of the elite units did not lead the fight from the rear, but from the front line, sharing the fate of their soldiers.

The Order of the People's Hero

For the exceptional heroism shown during the NATO aggression of 1999, including the fighting at Košare, both brigades were decorated with the highest honours. The 63rd Paratrooper Brigade and the 72nd Special Brigade received the Order of the People's Hero in October 1999, and afterward the Order of the War Banner as well. These were recognitions for units that, under the hardest conditions, proved themselves to be the backbone of the Serbian military elite.

The Legacy

The paratroopers and special-forces soldiers of Košare have remained in memory as units that, when it was hardest, were brought to the most dangerous axes and there halted the enemy. Their training, discipline and courage gave the defence of Košare a decisive firmness.

Together with the young border guards and the mechanized units, they formed a defence that did not break. The elite of the Yugoslav Army honourably did its part on the border of the Fatherland. Lest it be forgotten.