The column of death - Breakthrough through the forest toward Tuzla

The column of death - Breakthrough through the forest toward Tuzla

11 July 1995, 23:00 - The fall of Srebrenica. 15,000 Bosniaks - mostly men (soldiers and civilians, 15-65 years old) - decide not to go to Potočari (the UN base) but instead attempt a breakthrough through the forest to Tuzla (60 km).

This would become the "column of death" - one of the bloodiest marches in modern European history. Of 15,000 people, only 3,000-4,000 managed to break through.

🗓️ Chronology of the breakthrough

11 July 1995 - Night (23:00-04:00)

The decision to break through:

• Srebrenica fell at 15:00
• Women, children, the elderly flee to Potočari (the UN base)
• The men - a dilemma: Go to Potočari or flee through the forest?
• Around 15,000 men decide: "A breakthrough through the forest is the only chance"

Composition of the column:

• 5,000-6,000 soldiers of the 28th Division of the ARBiH (poorly armed)
• 9,000-10,000 civilians (men 15-65 years old)
• A few hundred women (mostly nurses)
• Total: ~15,000 people

23:00 - Departure:

• The column sets out from Šušnjari (a village near Srebrenica)
• Goal: Tuzla (territory under the control of the ARBiH) - 60 km to the north
• Route: Through the forest (avoiding the main roads where the VRS was)
• Conditions: Darkness, rain, complete silence (danger from VRS patrols)

12 July 1995 - Day (06:00-18:00)

First contact with the VRS - the village of Kamenica:

• 06:00 - VRS ambush near the village of Kamenica (10 km from Srebrenica)
• Automatic gunfire, mortars
• The column breaks into 3-4 groups
• Hundreds dead

Budak - Second contact:

• 10:00 - VRS ambush near the village of Budak
• The column completely broken up
• People flee in all directions
• VRS artillery - shells into the forest

Afternoon - The column broken up:

• The column no longer exists as a single group
• Small groups (10-50 people) attempt the breakthrough separately
• The VRS controls the main roads
• The VRS calls out over megaphones: "Surrender, we won't kill you"

12-13 July - Captures

Mass surrender:

• Thousands of people surrender to the VRS
• Reasons: Hunger, thirst, exhaustion, artillery
• The VRS promises: "Prisoner exchange, we won't kill you"
• Reality: Buses → warehouses, schools → executions

Locations of the captures:

• Sandići meadow - 1,500+ prisoners
• Konjević Polje - 1,000+ prisoners
• Kravica - 1,000+ prisoners (later killed in the warehouse)

13-16 July - The breakthrough continues

Survivors press on:

• 5,000-6,000 still attempting the breakthrough
• Walking by night (day - hiding in the forest)
• No food, no water (drinking from streams, eating leaves)
• VRS mines on the roads
• Exhaustion - many die of heart attacks

16 July - The first arrive in Tuzla:

• The first survivors reach Tuzla (5 days of walking)
• Emotional scenes - families waiting
• Many do not find their relatives (killed or captured)

👥 Testimonies of survivors

Mevludin Orić - survivor (testified at the ICTY)

"We set out on the evening of 11 July. There were thousands of us. We heard gunfire ahead of us. A VRS ambush. People falling around me. I fled to the left, deeper into the forest. I walked for 3 days without food. I drank water from a puddle - I didn't care about disease. On the fourth day I came upon a minefield. I saw a corpse in front of me - without legs. I walked exactly in his footsteps to avoid the mines. I reached Tuzla on 16 July. I lost my brother, my father and 2 uncles. I found them in a mass grave in 2003."

Hakija Meholjić - commander of the 28th Division of the ARBiH

"The column was 10-15 km long. People held hands so as not to lose one another in the dark. The first shells fell around 6 in the morning. Panic. People fleeing in all directions. I saw a father carrying his son (maybe 12 years old) - dead, shot in the head. The father kept walking with him in his arms. I don't know what happened to him. I saw hundreds of corpses along the road. We walked over them. It was hell on earth."

Nešad Avdić - survivor, captured and escaped

"On 13 July I surrendered near Sandići. A VRS soldier said: 'Don't be afraid, you'll go home.' They put us on a bus. They drove us to Grbavci school. Hands bound. Overnight I heard shots - they were killing prisoners in the yard. On the morning of 14 July - my turn. They took us outside. They said: 'Turn around.' Automatic gunfire. I fell. I wasn't hit - I fell reflexively. I lay under the corpses until night. I escaped. I reached Tuzla after 4 days."

🪦 The numbers - The column of death

📍 The column's route and massacre locations

1. Šušnjari (departure) - 11 July, 23:00
2. Kamenica - first VRS ambush - 12 July, 06:00
3. Budak - second ambush - 12 July, 10:00
4. Sandići meadow - capture of 1,500+ - 13 July
5. Konjević Polje - capture of 1,000+ - 13 July
6. Kravica - 1,000+ captured → warehouse → massacre
7. Grbavci school - 1,000+ executed - 14 July
8. Nezuk - first territory under ARBiH control - 16 July
9. Tuzla (goal) - 16-20 July (survivors arrive)

💣 VRS strategy - Systematic destruction

Evidence that it was not spontaneous:

• The VRS knew about the breakthrough in advance (intercepting radio communications)
• Ambushes placed strategically (roads the column had to use)
• Mining the roads the day before the breakthrough
• Artillery targeting the forest precisely (NATO satellite imagery)
• Megaphones: "Surrender" (psychological warfare)

ICTY judgment:

"The VRS systematically planned the destruction of the men from Srebrenica. The column of death is not a coincidence. It was part of the plan of genocide."

🏛️ March of Peace - Annual commemoration

Since 2005 - every year in July:

• March of Peace (Nezuk → Potočari) - 100 km, 3 days
• Survivors and families of the victims retrace the column's route (in reverse)
• Thousands of participants (local and international)
• Goal: Remembrance, preventing oblivion
• Ends in Potočari on 11 July (commemoration)

2024 - March of Peace:

• 8,000+ participants
• Participants: Survivors, families, politicians (BiH, EU)
• Overnight stay in the forest (simulating the conditions of 1995)

📖 Sources

• ICTY - Prosecutor v. Ratko Mladić - Testimonies of Survivors
• Nešad Avdić - Testimony (ICTY) - "I Survived Execution"
• Mevludin Orić - Testimony (ICTY)
• Hakija Meholjić - Commander 28th Division ARBiH - Memoir
• ICMP - DNA Reports - Victims from "Column of Death"
• UN Report - "The Fall of Srebrenica" (1999)
• Human Rights Watch - "The Fall of Srebrenica" (1995)

💬 Quote

"The column of death was an attempt at survival. 15,000 people tried to escape the genocide. Only 3,000 succeeded. The rest were killed or captured and executed. That shows a systematic intent to destroy."

— Richard Goldstone, first chief prosecutor of the ICTY (1994-1996)