The 1st Guards Brigade “Tigers” was founded as a special unit of the Ministry of the Interior in Rakitje on 5 November 1990 and acted in the capacity of a military unit after the formation on the stadium of the football club “Zagreb” on 28 May 1991. At that point, this first military unit receives its official name: "1st Brigade of the Croatian National Guard" and was comprised of six infantry units (battalions), with names according to base and code name: 1st battalion in Vrapče (Scops Owls), 2nd battalion in Rakitje (Blackbirds), 3rd battalion in Pionirac (Woodpeckers), 4th battalion in Kumrovec and then Petruševac (Ravens), 5th battalion in Vinica near Varaždin (Clouds) and 6th battalion in Tomislavac (Eagles). The entire brigade received the name "Tigers".
The Tigers' warpath started in 1991 in Pakrac and Plitvice Lakes, and immediately after that, in Eastern Slavonia, Western Slavonia, Banija and Kordun, as well as Lika. From April 1992 to April 1993, the Brigade acted to free the south of Croatia, from Bistrina Bay and Rujnica, all the way to Prevlaka and Point Oštra. It achieved particular success in planning and impeccably conducting the naval landing operation at Cavtat and Konavle.
On 3 January 1993, the Brigade was transferred to the front line near Karlovac and Ogulin, while a part of the Brigade remained on the front line near Dubrovnik, and immediately after the start of Operation Maslenica, a part of the Brigade was transferred to Maslenica and Velebit area, where it participated in combat and in ensuring the achieved operation success, all the way to the middle of April 1994. Simultaneously, the Brigade was transformed into a unit with three infantry battalions with all other combat units and support units, with intense training during each free moment.
During 1994, a part of the Brigade secures positions on Kapela, another part in Maslenica and Velebit, polices the area of Lika, and simultaneously conducts intense training and participates in the large-scale military exercise near Lonja in 1994, with the tactical aim to cross the river, using the Brigade’s manpower and combat technique.
The year 1995 was marked by intense combat operations: Operation Flash, Jump 2, and Summer ‘95, the famous Operation Storm, all the way to Operation Una. All of the power and might of the Brigade was aptly demonstrated in these complex operations.
In all combat operations, from the start of the unit, all the way to the end of the War of Independence, the 1st Guards brigade “Tigers” had 367 KIA and 6 MIA, and during combat, 1711 soldiers were wounded, of which 28 of the Tigers have 100% disability. Two hundred and one members of the Brigade suffered torture by the enemy camp. In commemoration to all of the deceased members of the 1st Guards Brigade “Tigers”, a statue unveiling ceremony was held in the Barracks “Croatia” in Zagreb on 4 November 1994.
After the war, the Brigade was on the forefront of complex combat training, training for international military operations, as well as training according to NATO’s standards. The Brigade was dissolved on 28 April 2008, and its members and assets were displaced to other units, particularly to the newly-formed Mechanised Guards brigade of the Croatian Army. As part of this new brigade, the 1st Mechanised Battalion “Tigers” continues the famous tradition of the 1st Guards Brigade by successfully training and participating in international military operations within NATO. More than 11 thousand members passed through the Brigade. On 30 July 2018, there was a ceremony for renaming the barracks “Croatia” into the Barracks of the 1st Guards Brigade “Tigers”.
More than 10 years ago, the Association of War Veterans of the 1st GB “Tigers” was founded to keep memory of the glorious Tigers, to care for the families of the killed and missing, and to regularly commemorate all the important dates from the Brigade’s history.
Eduard Butjer
member of the presidency of URV 1. gbr. „Tigrovi“
