a combat brigade there in support of the operation and to extend their control into Gorski kotar. The airlift was cancelled after the Yugoslav Air Force refused to follow the orders. That month, the JNA captured the village of Lipovača, east of Saborsko, and turned it over to Serb paramilitaries. Most of the Croat civilians fled, although at least seven civilians were killed and the village looted and torched. Three more Croat civilians were killed in the nearby village of Vukovići. The Croatian police and the ZNG, including the forces based in Saborsko, launched a failed attempt to capture the JNA base in Lička Jasenica on 4–8 November resulting in the deaths of a number of Serb civilians. During an attack on the 7 November, a force commanded by JNA officers and including the 63rd Parachute Battalion troops killed ten more Croat civilians in a massacre in the villages of Poljanak and Vukovići, near Saborsko on 7 November. Timeline In early November, the JNA and the SAO Krajina TO intensified their offensive aimed at capturing Saborsko and the Slunj pocket. The main axes of the advance radiated north and northwest from the Plitvice Lakes—towards Slunj and Saborsko respectively. The JNA force assigned to the offensive was organised as the Tactical Group 2 (TG-2), under the command of Colonel Čedomir Bulat. The TG-2, whose bulk consisted of a reinforced motorised battalion detached from the 236th Motorised Brigade and a D-30 howitzer battalion, was supported by the 5th Partisan Brigade, both subordinated to the 13th JNA Corps as well as a police unit and a SAO Krajina TO brigade drawn from Plaški. The attacking force, supported by the Yugoslav Air Force, artillery and tanks, approached the village from three directions on the morning of 12 November, while the main force advancing towards Slunj reached Rakovica. According to SAO Krajina sources, the air strikes commenced at 9 a.m. and lasted for fifteen minutes. They were followed by a 30-minute artillery bombardment before ground forces were ordered to attack. The defences of Saborsko were first breached at noon, and the attacking force reached the centre of the village at 3:30 p.m. According to SAO Krajina sources, resistance was light, with the defending force estimated to consist of only 150 armed troops. The village was secured by 5 p.m. with tanks attached to the attacking force withdrawn by 6 p.m. The assault resulted in the