Czechoslovak solsiers prepared to defend the border, probably southern Slovakia, October 1938. Machineguns in the pic: ZB-7/24 Schwarzlose, LMG ZB-26.

Defending the border

Yugoslav ground crew wheel a trolley of 3-inch rocket projectiles past re-armed Hawker Hurricane Mark IVs of No. 351 (Yugoslav) Squadron RAF in their dispersals at Prkos, Yugoslavia (today Croatia), March-April 1945. The No. 351 was the second operational Yugoslav unit in the RAF and was formed in Libya, at Benina, on 1 July 1944, but on September moved to Southern Italy, where it became part of No.281 Wing, Balkan Air Force (alongside the first Yugoslav fighter squadron, No.352) with base at Canne and detachment at Vis, after the liberation of this Adriatic island, and Prkos as advanced bases. The unit’s main role was ground attack missions in support of Tito's partisans. The Squadron operated until the end of the war and was disbanded on 15 June 1945. Victor Sierra



Second RAF Yugoslav fighter squadron

Generalmajor Hugo Sperrle (right, in sort-of-civvies), commander of the Condor Legion, and Oberst Wolfram von Richthofen (centre), his Chief-of-Staff (both subsequently Field Marshals), Spain, 1937.  Sperrle and Richthofen were an effective command team, co-operating to solve a number of operational teething problems of the new, budding Luftwaffe during their time in Spain.  The did, however, have to endure a good deal of frustration due to the attitude of their "hosts", the Spanish Nationalist generals, who had less adventurous (and, to be fair, more practical in the circumstances) views as to the best use for aircraft and mechanised forces in the context of a civil war.  Best regards, JR.