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FLAK38 Vierling gun from 1.35th TAMIYA model kit, built straight from the box, gun barrels hollowed out with XACTO knife and model drill. Gunner and loader wear German infantry uniforms, while commander has armored personnel tunic and pants (this figure came from 1.35th TAMIYA SdKfz 250  armor halftrack kit, hence modeler's artist license in portraying WW2 Axis personnel wearing any available uniform at that time).
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Anti-aircraft gun designation was 2cm Flakvierling 38, meaning 2cm cannon caliber (US preferred Millimeter units, hence 20mm designation), FLAK 38 was anti-aircraft gun designed in 1938, and Vierling literally meant Four-ish or Four items. Hence, weapon was four FLAK38 guns mounted onto single platform. Flak 38 anti-aircraft cannon - www.sproe.com/f/flak38.html
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Inset 1 : Clip from American movie "Saving Private Ryan" showing trailer-hitched FLAK38 being man-handled by SS Grenadieren into firing position. In late war years, its gun shields were usually removed for better concealment and field-of-fire. In quick close-quarter combat, FLAK gun would not be unhitched, but rather crewmen would manually level its platform for gunner to "fire on the run". Against personnel targets, direct hit from 2cm shell was devastating and gruesome for its explosive impact would literally blow a person apart into body parts. Saving Private Ryan Online Encyclopedia - www.sproe.com
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FLAK38 developed from FLAK30 version which was originally designed in 1934 as anti-aircraft defense to replace MG-C30 machine gun, but during 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War the German dispatched its Condor Legion to assist Fascist-regime Spanish Nationalist forces (matching Soviet arms support for Communist-aligned Spanish Republican forces). German field-test various weapon systems during this campaign. One innovation discovered at Battle of Bilabao was FLAK gun use against ground personnel and  armor targets (note, 2cm high-explosive shell was sufficient to destroy most armored cars and tanks of 1930s era). FLAK30 fired about 280 rounds per minute, hence German military requested higher firing rate to put more shells on target during brief ground-to-air engagements. 2 cm FlaK 30 - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_cm_FlaK_30
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German armaments firm Mauser (maker of famed Kar98 rifles) designed FLAK38 with upgraded firing rate to 420 rounds per minute, they also began mounting multiple barrels (2 barrels, 4 barrels, 8 barrels) to increase saturation rate. Four-barrel configuration was deemed most optimal, placing 1,680 shells per minute in the air. But this rate was physically impossible since FLAK38 was box magazine fed (each box holding 20 rounds), hence it was a mad-dash man-handling task for multiple personnel to even load 100 rounds, not to mention barrel overheating long before it reached its maximum firing rate. Mauser - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauser
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Inset 2 : Close-up of Sahovnica (White-Red Chessboard) national shield worn by Croatian-based Flakhelfer, Heere (German army), and Waffen-SS personnel, title KROATIEN is German for Croatian. As previously noted, Babelfish Online Translator - babelfish.altavista.com
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Rollover : FLAK38 Vierling gun control station, gunner sat on seat with tall armor head rest for high angle aiming. Gun swing and elevation controlled by two rotary dials, linked by rod to gun sight. Some FLAK38 guns had rectangular electric computing sight, but it was cumbersome to maintain in the field, thus most used simple circular cross-hair sight as depicted in this model. Industrial FLAK stations usually operated in group clusters, directed by a single air defense control center (linked to radar stations, high altitude noise detectors, range finders, powerful search lights). Thus their defensive fire was quite deadly for low altitude enemy aircrafts below 6,500 feet. Lone Sentry | German Anti-Aircraft Defenses - www.lonesentry.com/manuals/tme30/ch10sec3.html
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Inset 3 : One WW2 phenomenon was mass enlistment of non-German volunteers into German armed forces (ex. Waffen-SS had 900,000 members past through its ranks, about a third were non-Germans). Hence to slant Croatia as so-called singular collaborationist regime would be not be accurate. Various arguments abound concerning this situation, some joined German cause for a New Europe due to corruption scandals within parliamentary democracies (ex. French volunteers), others joined for crusade against atheist Soviet Union (ex. catholic Walloon volunteers), still others joined due to German political patronage in their  occupied countries (ex. Scandinavian volunteers). Croatia (likes it Baltic counterparts in Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania) leveraged geopolitical events to seize full independence. Foreign Volunteers in the German Wehrmacht in WW2 - www.feldgrau.com/foreign.html
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German shoulder patches below show wide variety of non-German volunteers units (top) Lion of St. George (British volunteers), Norway flag, French shield. (Bottom) Latvia shield, Wallonie (ethnic-French Belgian volunteers), Estonia shield. Some units were recruited into German Heere (army) such as French contingent, while others were recruited into Waffen-SS such as Norwegian contingent. By 1944 (after attempted assassination of German Chancellor Hitler by German army members), all foreign volunteer units were transferred to Waffen-SS jurisdiction. Waffen-SS: Foreign Volunteers - www.germanwarmachine.com/waffenss/foreignvolunteers.htm
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