Elsewhere in Srebrenica, the evening the enclave fell, another 15,000 people or more, the majority men (and less than half of them soldiers), fearing the worst, had decided to attempt a breakout. Men and women were separated by the VRS, and amid frightful scenes, 25,000 women and children were deported by bus to Kladanj (or rather, as far as the front, followed by a 7 km walk). The next day, after a walkabout by Mladić during which he reassured the Muslims that nothing would happen to them, sporadic atrocities started, including rape and murder, under the noses, and sometimes in view of the peacekeepers. After the town was occupied by the VRS that evening, large numbers of people, exhausted by three years of unrelenting violence and deprivation, sought refuge in vain at Potočari (up to 4,000 inside the base, and 24,000 outside, mainly women and children). The peacekeepers were instructed by their political masters in The Hague to abandon their posts, and promptly did so, withdrawing to the UNPROFOR base at a disused factory in Potočari, 5 km north of the town, where they remained until 21 July.
On 10 July, the peacekeepers requested air strikes, and on the afternoon of 11 July there was an air strike against VRS tanks approaching the town, but further planned strikes were called off due to poor visibility and after Mladić threatened to kill hostages and shell crowds of IDPs.
UNPROFOR observation points were overrun and over 50 of the 300 Dutch peacekeepers taken hostage. The VRS offensive against Srebrenica, with the enclave’s commanders kept in Tuzla (see above), started on 6 July.
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