Bugojno group

The Bugojno group (Croatian: Bugojanska skupina) was the name of a Croatian terrorist paramilitary formation which was infiltrated into Yugoslavia on June 20, 1972 to raise a rebellion against the socialist Yugoslav government.

The Bugojno group was organized by the Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood (Hrvatsko revolucionarno bratstvo or HRB). The HRB was formed in Australia in 1961 and was active in Europe and the USA. The founding principle of the HRB was separation of Croatia from Yugoslavia, and reestablishment of Independent State of Croatia through terrorist actions.

After the suppression of the Croatian Spring movement the HRB believed that there existed in Croatia a climate which would support the beginning of an armed rebellion. After short preparations, the HRB organized their personnel, weapons and funding to support an initial group to start a rebellion. Most of the fighters and money came from Australia while the armed training was done in Germany. After a short preparation in Austria, the 19-member group traveled through Dravograd into Yugoslavia by truck (the driver of which later reported them to police), on June 20, 1972. By June 25–26 the group came into their first conflict with police, and then the Yugoslav territorial defense units, who soon began a massive search to find them.

The group was named after the Bosnian town of Bugojno, as their goal was to reach the mountain of Raduša south of the town.

The Yugoslav Army had no special forces at its disposal, and relied exclusively on some 30,000 poorly trained conscript soldiers and reservists units for the search.^[1] An early clash with the Yugoslav military and police resulted in fatalities on both sides and caused the group to disperse.^[1] With the help of an informer the Bugojno group was caught by the security forces by July 24 of that same year, unsuccessful in their mission.

The Yugoslav losses were 13 killed in action and 14 wounded. Of 19 members of the group, 15 were killed, 10 in action, whilst 5 were summarily executed after having surrendered. The last four members of the group were captured, tried and sentenced on December 21, 1972. Ludvig Pavlović, who was a minor, was sentenced to 20 years in prison,^[1] and the remaining three were executed by firing squad on March 17, 1973. Pavlović was released from prison in 1990 and died in combat in Yugoslav Wars in 1991.

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