The Territorial Defense of the Republic of Slovenia ( (TO RS)), also known as the Territorial Defense of Slovenia (Slovenian: ''Teritorialna obramba Slovenije OS'), was the predecessor of the

Slovenian Armed Forces The Slovenian Armed Forces or Slovenian Army (SAF; ; 'SV'' are the armed forces of Slovenia. Since 2003, it is organized as a fully professional standing army. The Commander-in-Chief of the SAF is the President of the Republic of Slovenia, ...

. It was named after the Yugoslav Territorial Defense.

History

After the 1968

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The ...

, the Yugoslav leadership adopted the doctrine of General People's Defence and established the Territorial Defense. After the victory of democratic parties in the

1990 Slovenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on 8 April 1990, together with the first round of presidential elections. They were the first direct, multiparty elections held in Slovenia since World War II, and the first democratic elections he ...

, the central government in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

ordered disarmament of TO Slovenia, a decision that was effectively ignored. Many

weapons A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...

subsequently disappeared from supply depots and were later issued to the initial territorial defence units of the

Republic of Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Command

TO headquarters were established on November 20, 1968. The early development of this military command was almost exclusively in the hands of Slovenian officers. In 1990, the Territorial Defence Republic Headquarters was violently occupied by the federal army. After this incident, Slovenia designated a new

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

, who took command of the Slovenian Army. May 1991 marked the opening of the first military training centres in Ig, Ljubljana; and

Pekre Pekre () is a settlement southwest of Maribor in northeastern Slovenia. It belongs to the City Municipality of Maribor. The local landmark is the church on top of a small hill to the east of the main settlement. It is dedicated to Our Lady of the ...

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

. The first draftees were sworn in on June 2.

Organization

The command language in TO was Slovenian, and this itself was organized in the form of an ancillary impact force to the JNA. After 1990 it was organized as a separate army, which was finally formed in the months before independence, in accordance with the Slovenian Constitution, which had been adopted in 1991.

Equipment

Small arms

* Zastava M 70AB

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

* Tokarev TT-33

handgun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...

MG 34 The MG 34 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 34'', or "machine gun 34") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It introduced an entirely ...

machine gun * Fagot

anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulde ...

SKS The SKS () is a semi-automatic rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov in the 1940s. The SKS was first produced in the Soviet Union but was later widely exported and manufactured by various nations. Its disting ...

carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and ligh ...

Yugoslav version M59/66 *

Malyutka The 9M14 Malyutka (; "Little one", NATO reporting name: AT-3 Sagger) is a manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) wire-guided anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system developed in the Soviet Union. It was the first man-portable anti-tank guided mi ...

Strela 2 The 9K32 Strela-2 (; NATO reporting name SA-7 Grail) is a light-weight, shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missile or MANPADS system. It is designed to target aircraft at low altitudes with passive infrared homing, infrared-homing guidance and dest ...

MANPAD Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS or MPADS) are portable shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles. They are guided weapons and are a threat to low-flying aircraft, especially helicopters and also used against low-flying cruise missi ...

M80 Zolja The M80 Zolja (from ) is a portable one-shot disposable 64 mm unguided anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade, designed in the former Yugoslavia. The M80 Zolja is still produced in Serbia and in North Macedonia. Description Constructed from fib ...

anti-tank Anti-tank warfare refers to the military strategies, tactics, and weapon systems designed to counter and destroy enemy armored vehicles, particularly tanks. It originated during World War I following the first deployment of tanks in 1916, and ...

rocket launcher A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few i ...

MG42 The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Enteri ...

general-purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered fo ...

Yugoslav version M53 * M48

bolt-action rifle Bolt action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the turn-bolt via a bolt handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the firearm (as most users are right-handed). The majority of b ...

including sniper version *

MGV-176 The MGV-176 is a submachine gun chamber (weaponry), chambered for the .22 Long Rifle Cartridge (firearms), cartridge. It is a modernized version of the American-180. It was manufactured in Yugoslavia by Gorenje from Velenje until 1979. Product ...

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to descri ...

* M56

Yugoslav version of

MP40 The MP 40 () is a submachine gun chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge. Developed in Nazi Germany, it saw extensive service in the Axis powers , Axis forces during World War II. Designed in 1938 by Heinrich Vollmer with inspiration ...

M60 recoilless gun M6, M06, M.6, or M-6 may refer to: Military * M6 bayonet, a bayonet for the M14 rifle * M6 bomb truck, a truck used to move bombs during World War II * M6 gun motor carriage, an American World War II light truck armed with an anti-tank gun * M ...

* M72

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridge (firearms), cartridges of the same caliber as the othe ...

* M76

sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long range shooting, long-range rifle. Requirements include high accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment, and optics, for anti-personnel weapon, anti-personnel, anti-materiel rifle, anti-materiel and sur ...

M79 Osa The M79 Osa (from ) is a Yugoslav-made portable 90 mm anti-tank weapon made of fibre-reinforced plastics. It resembles the French portable anti-tank launcher 89 mm LRAC F1. It consists of the launcher, a CN-6 sighting piece, rocket an ...

anti-tank rocket Anti-tank warfare refers to the military strategies, tactics, and weapon systems designed to counter and destroy enemy armored vehicles, particularly tanks. It originated during World War I following the first deployment of tanks in 1916, and ...

launcher * M84 machine gun * M49

Yugoslav

PPSh-41 The PPSh-41 () is a selective-fire, open-bolt, blowback submachine gun that fires the 7.62×25mm Tokarev round. It was designed by Georgy Shpagin of the Soviet Union to be a cheaper and simplified alternative to the PPD-40. The PPSh-41 saw ...

* RB M57 *

SAR 80 The SAR 80 (Singapore Assault Rifle 80) is an assault rifle from Singapore. History and development In the late 1960s, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) adopted the AR-15 as their main service rifle. Due to difficulties in obtaining the rifles fr ...

3M6 Shmel The 3M6 (; ) is an MCLOS wire-guided anti-tank missile of the Soviet Union. Its GRAU designation is "3M6" and its NATO reporting name is AT-1 Snapper. Too large to be manportable, it was typically deployed from specialised vehicles or helicopt ...

anti-tank missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a missile guidance, guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy armoured fighting vehicle, heavily armored military v ...

Vehicles

M-84 The M-84 is a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav main battle tank based on the Soviet T-72. It is still in service with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Kuwait. Development and production Development The ...

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

* M-36

tank destroyer A tank destroyer, tank hunter or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, predominantly intended for anti-tank duties. They are typically armed with a direct fire anti-tank gun, artillery gun, also known as a self-propelled anti-ta ...

T-54/55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet medium tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944–2 ...

T-34/85 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank from World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was more powerful than many of its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. ...

medium tank A medium tank is a classification of tanks, particularly prevalent during World War II, which represented a compromise between the mobility oriented light tanks and the armour and armament oriented heavy tanks. A medium tank's classification ...

BTR-50 The BTR-50 (BTR stands for ''Bronetransporter'' (), literally "armored transporter") is a Soviet Union, Soviet tracked Amphibious vehicle, amphibious armored personnel carrier (APC) based on the PT-76 light tank chassis. The BTR-50 was developed ...

armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

PU version *

2S1 Gvozdika The 2S1 ''Gvozdika'' (, "Dianthus caryophyllus, Carnation") is a Soviet Self-propelled artillery, self-propelled howitzer introduced in 1972 and is in service in Russia and other countries . It is based on the MT-LBu multi-purpose chassis, mount ...

self-propelled howitzer Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mo ...

* BOV APC *

BRDM-2 The BRDM-2 (''Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina'', Боевая Разведывательная Дозорная Машина, literally "Combat Reconnaissance/Patrol Vehicle") is an amphibious armoured scout car designed and developed ...

armored car *

BVP M-80 The BVP M-80 (), is a tracked Yugoslav-made infantry fighting vehicle, produced from the 1980s until the country's collapse in the 1990s. Development Early research and development of the M-80 began in 1969, with testing of the first completed ...

IFV * TAM 5000

military truck A military vehicle is any vehicle for land-based military transport and activity, including combat vehicles, both specifically designed for or significantly used by military. Most military vehicles require off-road capabilities and/or vehicle a ...

* Puch G

utility vehicle A utility vehicle (UV) is a vehicle, generally motorized, that is designed to carry out a specific task with more efficacy than a passenger vehicle. It sometimes refers to a small truck with low sides. Types of utility vehicles Military ...

* TAM-110

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

Artillery

* M75

20mm 20 mm caliber is a specific size of popular autocannon ammunition. The dividing line between smaller-caliber weapons, commonly called "guns", from larger-caliber "cannons" (e.g. machine gun vs. autocannon), is conventionally taken to be the 20 m ...

AAG *

M-63 Plamen M-63 Plamen (from ) is a 128mm multiple rocket launcher developed in 1963 in Yugoslavia for use in the Yugoslav People's Army. Development Serbian Prof. Obrad Vučurović, mechanical engineer at the Military Technical Institute was project mana ...

multiple rocket launcher A multiple rocket launcher (MRL) or multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) is a type of rocket artillery system that contains multiple rocket launcher, launchers which are fixed to a single weapons platform, platform, and shoots its rocket (weapon ...

* BOV-3

SPAAG An anti-aircraft vehicle, also known as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) or self-propelled air defense system (SPAD), is a mobile vehicle with a dedicated anti-aircraft capability. Specific weapon systems used include machine guns, ...

ZSU-57-2 The ZSU-57-2 Ob'yekt 500 is a Soviet Union, Soviet self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), armed with two 57 mm autocannons. 'ZSU' stands for ''Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka'' (), meaning "anti-aircraft self-propelled mount", '57' stand ...

* M53/59 Praga *

9K31 Strela-1 The 9K31 ''Strela-1'' (; ) is a highly mobile, short-range, low altitude infra-red guided surface-to-air missile system. Originally developed by the Soviet Union under the GRAU designation 9K31, it is commonly known by its NATO reporting name, ...

SAM

Aircraft

References

{{Reflist