of the 4th Guards and the 7th Guards Brigades, the 1st Croatian Guards Brigade (1. hrvatski gardijski zdrug – 1st HGZ) of the HV, while the second group was spearheaded by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Guards Brigades of the HVO, and included the 126th Home Guard Regiment of the HV. The VRS units facing the combined HV/HVO force were elements of Operational Group-2 and the 30th Division, under the command of Colonel Milenko Lazić. They were deployed around Mrkonjić Grad, and comprised the 7th Motorised, 3rd Serbian and 11th Mrkonjić Light Infantry brigades. The three brigades, numbering approximately 5,500 troops, were tasked to cover the rear of the VRS force counterattacking the ARBiH force in Ključ. Timeline Operation Southern Move was to be carried out in two stages. The first stage involved the capture of Mrkonjić Grad and the surrounding Podrašnica Valley. In the second phase of the operation, the force would seize the last significant source of electricity in the VRS-controlled part of western Bosnia and Herzegovina—the Bočac Hydroelectric Power Station. The whole operation was planned to take four days, immediately preceding a country-wide ceasefire scheduled to take effect on the morning of 12 October 1995. According to Brigadier Ante Kotromanović, then commander of the 126th Home Guard Regiment, the offensive was approved by the United States, and U.S. warplanes attacked VRS positions near Banja Luka in preparation of the offensive. Phase one: 8–9 October The offensive began on 8 October with an attack launched by the HV 126th Home Guard Regiment and the HVO 1st Guards Brigade from a starting line west of Mrkonjić Grad, against positions held by the 11th Mrkonjić Light Infantry Brigade. This effort was intended as a diversion aimed at misleading the VRS defences regarding the main axis of the offensive. It was hampered by poor weather which prevented the effective use of artillery fire. The main HV force committed to the offensive, comprising the 4th Guards and the 7th Guards brigades and the 1st HGZ, began their advance on 9 October. Poor weather and heavy fog forced the HV to postpone the attack from 6:00 until 8:50. The advance was supported by strong artillery fire support and two Mil Mi-24s of the Croatian Air Force. The HV 7th Guards Brigade struggled to advance against the VRS positions southeast of Mrkonjić Grad around the villages of Liskovica, Bjelajci and Šehovci, manned by the