Fatal night
- In general, the decision was made to go anyway, so as it turns out, it was also said to carry as little equipment as possible. –
When it became clear that there were no more combat assets, and that it was only a matter of days and hours when the defense of the already few defenders would be broken, on November 14, 1991, Damir Krsnik decided that he and his comrades would break through. Turns out that was a mistake. Zlatan Bašić recalled the fateful night:
– On November 14, 1991, around 6-7 in the afternoon, Damir Krsnik Tigar, Zoran Janković, Marović Ante - Bokser and I came from Trpinjska cesta to the three-story building to negotiate a breakthrough. About twenty of us, Tigers, policemen from Varaždin and guys from Našice met there. There were no locals, apart from Janković and Marović, or I don't remember. We talked a lot and agreed how, where and how many people. As one of them came back to us last night and said that they were ambushed on the road along the railway over Bršadin and they were all killed, although in fact they were not, four of them were killed, and 50 of them passed, which we did not know then, we did not want to go there but we wanted to try another direction. To the team from the three-story building, that direction along the railway line seemed the best, and it probably would have been if he hadn't returned the night before and said they were waiting for us, they would have gone that way.
After long discussions, it was decided, and the four of us were most in favor of it, to go over the three-story building towards Crepulja, behind Lička Street, Slavonska Street, Hercegovačka Street, Orlovača na Lipovača, between Bršadin and Pačetin, and then to Nuštar. We somehow thought that it was longer, but we thought that the Chetniks would be more careful in front of them than behind them. Around two o'clock after midnight, the rain stopped and it started to clear up. Some guys were against going because you can see it in the moonlight. In general, the decision was made to go anyway, so as it turns out, it was also said to carry as little equipment as possible. Body armor and helmets were also removed.
As Nedjeljko Husnjak laid our mines, he went first. We went through the orchard, the vines, the fields and came to the corn. We must have walked more than 300 meters. At one point I thought I heard voices, a story. Somehow it seemed to me that the tank was behind the corn. Krsnik decided to go ahead to Husnjak to see what was happening and where we were.
They came across a wire that they were passing to each other and then, boom, light, grunt, flash, then they started shooting at us, in fact, according to the direction of the explosion, they didn't see us. We were lying down, someone called Husnjak, Krsnik, nothing, so Zlodi answered. Sobs and grunts were heard, but there was no answer. We also started shooting at them, so they quieted down, hid. The situation calmed down a bit and we had to go back. I don't know how long we went back, the Tigers were helping the wounded. When we got to the three-story building, I heard that Husnjak, Krsnik and Vusić were killed, and there were also wounded.
That column and that minefield was not just Damir's decision. But it was to go second behind Husnjak, through whose mines we went first. I was caught in the second part of the column with Zoran Janković and boxer Marović from the home team, the others were the Tigers, policemen from Varaždin and Zagorje and part of the defenders from Našice. We ran into mines, guys were killed, some were wounded. War, fate, God, bad luck. To this day, that night is difficult for me. –
