Croatian FLAKhelferen in FLAK38 Vierling via static defense position, note gun platform mount bolted onto concrete pedestal, cinder block walls surround gunners for defense against enemy strafing runs. Crew wearing dark blue German Luftwaffe uniforms. Multiple FLAK guns were clustered and coordinated into batteries for maximum all-around low-altitude AAA defense. German Anti-Aircraft Defenses - www.junobeach.org/e/4/can-tac-air-bom-ger-e.htm

Gunner looking through his box apparatus electronic sight, while loaders on both sides switching out box magazines. Spare box magazine slots immediately below their feet, but no spares had been loaded yet in this exercise. Croatian Sahovnica national shield on left loader and standing personnel, with German instructor (one with no national sleeve shield) giving pointers to the crew. All personnel wearing German M40 helmets with Luftwaffe Eagle insignia. German Anti-aircraft Flak - www.constable.ca/flak.htm

Inset 1 : Close-up on FLAK38 Vierling foldable front shields protecting crew from light caliber enemy fire. German crew of Deutsches Afrika Korps emptying spent shell cartridges container in North Africa desert, circa 1941-1942. Afrika Korps (German) - www.afrika-korps.de

Trailer version required entire gun to dismount to level the turntable. Unlike its single barrel FLAK38, the 4-barrel FLAK Vierling was too heavy to manhandle into level firing position. Given urgency of fire support during air/ground engagements, Germans decided to mount FLAK38 directly onto vehicle platforms when possible hence towed versions of FLAK38 Vierling were few by 1943. German 88 MM in the Libyan Battle - www.lonesentry.com/tacticalstudy/

Rollover : Towed FLAK38 Vierling crew in either Ukraine, Balkans, or Mediterranean regions based on their German tropical tan uniforms (climate in those regions are similar during summer season). Unhitched trailer in background, three crewmen have camouflage fabric wrapped around their helmets, for both concealment and to reflect sunlight. Some veterans have stated that sunlight shone on bare metal helmet could make a soldier feel like his head was being cooked. German Militaria Steel Helmets - aboutww2militaria.com/index.html?ger_steel_helmets.htm

Inset 2 : With Soviet domination of eastern Europe and Balkans at end of WW2, pro-Soviet puppet regimes were created. For Yugoslavia, Croatia lost Bosnia-Herzegovina region, but regained Dalmatia on Adriatic coast along with eastern Italian regions (ex. port city of Fiume). Yugoslav kingdom was abolished and replaced with Socialist Republic, her original territory integrity more or less re-established by Allied powers. Its been asserted that left-wing totalitarian regimes and its proletariat rule negated right-wing ultra-nationalistic fervor in eastern European countries. However, after five decades of socialist rule, resulting 1990s state autonomy and constitutional crisis cast Yugoslavia into full-scale civil war, with Serbia insisting on centralized federal republic, while Slovenia - Croatia - Bosnia & Herzegovina declared independence. Yugoslav wars - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_wars

As one British diplomat remarked, it was a war among pigmies for no one state could completed overwhelm the other via shear military force. Yugoslav civil dragged on for most of 1990s, tenuous peace now enforced by UN/NATO peacekeepers in eastern Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, and Kosovo region of southern Serbia. The Yugoslav Civil War - www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/kosovo/Sowardslect25.htm

Inset 3 : Interesting aspect of 1990s Yugoslav civil wars was international volunteers in Croatian, Bosnian, Serbia armed forces, along with Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) insurgency force. These "reverse" volunteers (contrasted with WW2-era foreign volunteers in German service) came for various reasons, some were expatriates (ex. Croatians living aboard), others kinsmen (ex. ethnic-Albanians from Serbia's Kosovo province), still others came for adventure (ex. British and Russian personnel). Linguistic note, Serbia's southern province Kosovo (under direct UN rule) title based on romanized Serbian cyrillic name, while Kosova title based regional ethnic-Albanian dialect. On international stage there is a tug-of-war on over which official term to use, even though the title differs by only one letter. United Nations Mission in Kosovo - www.unmikonline.org

They operated in paramilitary organizations with respective home armies, in which all sides participated in atrocities of various degrees, hence no one party was absolutely absolved of any battlefield excesses pertaining to ethnic cleansing, mass rapes, looting, and pillage. Croatian Forces International Volunteers Association - www.cfiva.org/cfiva/home/index.cfm