Vukovar was defended by around 1,800 lightly armed soldiers of the Croatian National Guard ( ZNG ) and civilian volunteers , against as many as 36,000 JNA soldiers and Serb paramilitaries equipped with heavy armour and artillery . During the battle , shells and rockets were fired into the town at a rate of up to 12,000 a day . At the time , it was the fiercest and most protracted battle seen in Europe since 1945 , and Vukovar was the first major European town to be entirely destroyed since the Second World War . When Vukovar fell on 18 November 1991 , several hundred soldiers and civilians were massacred by Serb forces and at least 20,000 inhabitants were expelled . Most of Vukovar was ethnically cleansed of its non-Serb population and became part of the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina . Several Serb military and political officials , including Milošević , were later indicted and in some cases jailed for war crimes committed during and after the battle
several hundred soldiers and civilians were massacred
Vukovar massacre
Battle of Vukovar