territory surrounding the city stretches from the Pelješac peninsula to the west and the Prevlaka peninsula in the east at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor on the border with Montenegro. This territory is very narrow, especially near Dubrovnik itself, and consists of a wide coastal strip of land. Prelude In mid-1991, top JNA commandersincluding Yugoslav Federal Defence Minister General Veljko Kadijević, JNA Chief of the General Staff General Blagoje Adžić and deputy defence minister Vice Admiral Stane Brovetplanned a military offensive entailing an attack on the Dubrovnik area followed by a westward JNA advance towards western Herzegovina to link up with the JNA 9th Knin Corps in northern Dalmatia once the area was secured. General Jevrem Cokić submitted the plan of the Dubrovnik offensive to Adžić for his approval. In September 1991, the JNA and the leaders of Montenegro said that Dubrovnik should be attacked and neutralized to ensure Montenegro's territorial integrity, to prevent ethnic clashes and to preserve the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović stated that Croatian borders needed be revised, attributing the existing border line to "poorly educated Bolshevik cartographers". The propaganda, compounded by JNA Colonel General Pavle Strugar's allegations that 30,000 Croatian troops and 7,000 terrorists and Kurdish mercenaries were about to attack Montenegro and seize the Bay of Kotor, led many in Montenegro to believe that Croatia had actually started an invasion. The newspaper Pobjeda was the most significant media source that contributed to the spread of the propaganda. In July 1991, high-ranking Serbian official Mihalj Kertes said at a political rally in Nikšić that a Serbian state was to be established west of Montenegro extending to the Neretva River with Dubrovnikrenamed Nikšić-at-Seaas its capital. On 16 September 1991, the JNA mobilized in Montenegro citing the deteriorating situation in Croatia. Despite a radio broadcast appeal by the JNA 2nd Titograd Corps on 17 September, considerable numbers of reservists refused to respond to the call-up. On 18 September, Đukanović threatened harsh punishment of deserters and those refusing to respond to the mobilization. The mobilization and propaganda were in contrast with assurances from the Yugoslav federal authorities in Belgrade that there would be no attack against Dubrovnik. The JNA's strategic plan to defeat Croatia included an offensive to cut off the southernmost parts of Croatia, including Dubrovnik, from the rest of the country. On 23 September, JNA artillery attacked the village