Croatian Heroine Tatjana Bačani is killed during Serbian Artillery Barrage

On 10 October 1992, Tatjana Bačani, an unknown heroine of the Homeland War laid down her life on the altar of the Homeland.

Tatjana Bačani was born on 2 January 1974 in Bremen, West Germany where she spent the first years of her life together with her older sister Ksenija and parents Milena and Juraj. Her family returned to Croatia, more precisely to Širinec near Križ, when she was 5 years old so that the children could attend a Croatian school. Bačani finished elementary school in Križ and then enrolled in the local high school.

She was a very lively and sociable girl, she always had a group of friends, her parents recalled. Bačani was 17 years old when the Homeland War began and her father Juraj recalls that she had already volunteered for the 65th Independent Battalion in Ivanić Grad but was not accepted into the army as she was a minor. When she turned 18 in the summer of 1992, Bačani enlisted with the Croatian Defense Forces (CDF). After basic training, she joined in the defense of Bosanska Posavina with a CDF company within the 156th Brigade of the Croatian Army and served there until mid-September of 1992 when most of the company returned to Dalmatia and Herzegovina. Bačani and a group of soldiers then departed for the frontline at Mostar where she laid down her life on the altar of the Homeland.

While en route to a meeting with Marinko Šunjić, company commander of the CDF in Mostar, the road came under fire of Serbian artillery and Bačani’s vehicle plunged into the Neretva River. In addition to Tatjana Bačani, Slavko Primorac from the village of Potoci near Mostar was also killed while one girl survived.

It was a Tuesday when we were told that our daughter had died and that the funeral would take place on Wednesday in Mostar. We were in complete shock. Firstly, we were shocked that our child had died and secondly that there was a funeral in Mostar the next day. It took much effort but we were able to arrange that the army transfer her body from Mostar. We buried her in our local cemetery in Križ.

Milena and Juraj Bačani

Tatjana Bačani, Croatian heroine, was 18 years old at the time of her death. She will not be forgotten.

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