Blaž Kraljević

In 1996, at the insistence of Šušak, Tuđman posthumously awarded Kraljević the Order of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan.

On 3 January 1992, Dobroslav Paraga, leader of the HSP, appointed Kraljević as leader of the HOS in Bosnia and Herzegovina and established its main headquarters in Ljubuški. It "supported Bosnian territorial integrity much more consistently and sincerely than the HVO" which supported a partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was more accepting of Bosniaks in its ranks than the HVO and consisted of 5,000 volunteers that included Bosnian Croats, Bosniaks, and foreign volunteers.

In April 1992, the siege of Sarajevo began, by which time the Bosnian Serb-formed Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) controlled 70% of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 8 April, Bosnian Croats were organized into the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). A sizable number of Bosniaks also joined. On 15 April 1992, the multi-ethnic Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) was formed, with slightly over two-thirds of troops consisting of Bosniaks and almost one-third of Croats and Serbs. In the winter Bosniaks began leaving the HVO and joining the ARBiH which also began receiving supplies from Croatia. In May, HVO Major General Ante Roso declared that the only "legal military force" in HZ-HB was the HVO and that "all orders from the TO [Territorial Defense] command [of Bosnia and Herzegovina] are invalid, and are to be considered illegal on this territory".

On 9 May 1992, Boban, Josip Manolić, Tuđman's aide and previously the Croatian Prime Minister, and Radovan Karadžić, president of the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska, secretly met in Graz and formed an agreement on the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Graz agreement. Kraljević denounced the agreement stating "we implore all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially Croats and Bosniaks, not to take into account any statements or agreements between Mate Boban and Radovan Karadžić. Neither speaks in the name of Croats and Bosniaks. They do not represent what the Croats and Bosniaks want. ... HOS and the TO are defending, and will defend, Bosnia and Herzegovina." Kraljević commented on the internal divisions of Croats and closed stating "We will get rid of the people with a dark past and suspicious present. [...] We will send them home but need to keep an eye on them as our destiny is at stake. We have a chance, but just this one."

Since the outset of the Bosnian War, HOS and HVO competed for power and influence. HOS played an important role in the liberation of Mostar, Čapljina, Neum and Stolac. By the end of July 1992, within one day about 700 HVO members joined the ranks of HOS in Čapljina. Similar crossings occurred in Tomislavgrad, Livno and Mostar. In the summer of 1992, the HVO started to purge its Bosniak members. At the same time armed incidents started to occur among Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina between the HVO and the HOS. The HOS was loyal to the Bosnian government and accepted subordination to the Staff of the ARBiH of which Kraljević was appointed a member.

On 9 August 1992, Kraljević and eight of his staff were assassinated by HVO soldiers under the command of Mladen Naletilić, who supported a split between Croats and Bosniaks, after Kraljević's HOS attacked the VRS near Trebinje. According to Manolić the order to kill Kraljević was given by Šušak and approved by Tuđman. Božidar Vučurević, the war-time mayor of Trebinje, stated he safeguarded records showing it was a "task" to be carried out by SDS and HDZ figures. The HOS's advance into eastern Herzegovina and occupation of Trebinje angered Boban who had affirmed to Karadžić that Croat forces were uninterested in the region.

In June 1991, the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) was formed in Croatia by the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP). From July 1991 to January 1992, the JNA and Serb paramilitaries used Bosnian territory to wage attacks on Croatia. In November 1991, the autonomous Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia (HZ-HB) was established, it claimed that it did not aim to secede and that it would serve a "legal basis for local self-administration" within the framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but not Yugoslavia. In December, Tuđman, in a conversation with Bosnian Croat leaders, said that "from the perspective of sovereignty, Bosnia-Herzegovina has no prospects" and recommended that Croatian policy "support for the sovereignty [of Bosnia and Herzegovina] until such time as it no longer suits Croatia." That same month HOS was disbanded by the Croatian government.

Kraljević remained in Australia until 1990 when he returned to Yugoslavia to help fight for Croatian independence. In 1990 and 1991, Serb militias in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, armed by and acting in concert with the well-equipped Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), seized large territories. The Croatian government began arming Croats in the Herzegovina region in 1991 and in the start of 1992, expecting that the Serbs would spread the war into Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also helped arm the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) community.

Blaž Nikola Kraljević (19 September 1947 – 9 August 1992) was a Bosnian Croat paramilitary leader who commanded the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) during the Bosnian War. An immigrant to Australia, Kraljević joined the Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood (HRB) upon his arrival there in 1967. During his return to Yugoslavia in January 1992 he was appointed by Dobroslav Paraga, leader of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), as leader of the HOS in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Blaž Kraljević was born on 19 September 1947 in the village of Lisice in the municipality of Ljubuški, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1967, at the age of 19, he migrated to Australia where he was recruited by Srećko Rover into the Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood (HRB), a pro-Ustaše group established in the mid-1950s.