Bulgarian pilots with a former Czech Air Force’s fighters Avia B.534 acquired by the Bulgarian Air Force after the disintegration of the Czechoslovakia made by the III Reich. In total, after the Czechoslovakia’s partition, the Bulgarian Air Force bought 78 B-534s from 1939 until March 1942. The airplane of this photo has the Bulgarian Air Force’s insignias adopted in 1941. Victor Sierra

Bulgarian fighter pilots

Andartes - "Rebels" - who maintained Greek resistance on the island of Crete following its occupation by the Germans, with considerable assistance from British Special Forces but also in the face of savage, murderous countermeasures on the part of the Occupation security services.  

The young man on the left is carrying a Lee-Enfield-type British rifle or carbine.  The elderly man (his grandfather ?) is armed with what appears to be a M1903 Mannlicher-Schoenauer "Greek Pattern" Carbine, a weapon used by the Greek Army from 1903 on that still has enthusiastic fans among vintage rifle and hunting enthusiasts.  If my identification is correct, this carbine is probably a survivor of the Greek-Turkish conflicts that affected Crete, among other locations, around the turn of the 19th/20th centuries.  Probably a better choice than the Lee-Enfield for warfare in hilly districts in particular; it was not too long, particularly light in weight, reliable and pretty accurate.  Best regards, JR.

Cretan Andartes.

Military ceremony on a snow-capped Bulgarian airport, late 1941 or early 1942, with three Bulgarian Air Force’s fighter aircraft: two Messerschmitt Bf 109E, nicknamed Lebed (Swan) by the Bulgarian pilots, and an outdated biplane Czech-made Avia B.534. At this time the Kingdom of Bulgaria’s air force had around 90 fighter aircraft of various sources, but the only modern planes was ten exemplars of the German fighter, the Bf 109’s first batch purchased by the Bulgarians. At the end of 1941 the inventory of Bulgaria’s Air Troops consisted of 609 aircraft of 40 different types. Victor Sierra