Author Topic: Trench Art  (Read 1559 times)

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Offline Larry D.

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Trench Art
« on: November 22, 2019, 02:45:02 PM »
Below is some really good information about trench art.
The info comes from a man who live through the wars that were fought over what we might consider petty differences. Given the we, as Americans, generally enjoy a secure, peaceful existence, I find this area hold great interest for me.
I know that trench art has existed pretty much as long as soldiers themselves have had free time, but we will confine this discussion to the trench art most of us are familiar with....the Yugo stuff.

As stated above, this is from a guy that was an officer in one of the armies (JNA), and is re-posted here with his express permission.

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"I never said that Serbian troops never defaced their weapons. It seems to me that some Americans have a trouble distinguishing between Serbian paramilitaries (and there were FOUR factions of them, to include "Serbian Volunteers" from Serbia proper, Bosnian Serbs, Krajina Serbs.....etc), JNA, HVO (Bosnian Croats), HOS (Croatian paramilitaries), ZNG (Croatian military in the making), Bosnian Muslim forces (Mujahidin)...etc.

JNA (while it lasted) was a WELL disciplined force, and fought valiantly until it was renamed into "JA" (about the time when only Serbia, and Montenegro still called themselves "Yugoslavia"). No weapon defacing EVER happened in JNA (there were cases of initials written inside of some equipment, suspenders, belts, boots, etc. that was not immediately visible to the officers/NCOs).

Serbian paramilitaries (to include Captain Dragan's "Knindje" from Krajina) carved crucifixes, royal crests, St.Sava, and various other royal, and religious themes.
 
Croats "decorated" their weapons with 90210 stickers! For two reasons,....stickers were included in the pack of chewing gum that was distributed to them, and by "decorating" their weapons in such way, they were actually proclaiming to be "Western" in every possible way ("Western" attitude, fighting for "democracy", "freedom"....all the buzz words that stupid kids gobble up, when served by crooked politicians!!)
The third (speculative) reason was probably a dream that we all had (on all sides) about not being stuck in the mud, rain, snow, blood, and guts, but on the sunny CA beaches, with gorgeous chicks around.

There is also a large number of Croatian weapons "decorated" with Swastikas, SS lightning bolts, and other symbols of Nazism (to learn why, you will need to read about history!).

Muslim weapons were decorated (not defaced) mostly with green ribbons, with gold Arabic letters (which we never bothered to translate, but "Allahu Akbar" was the most prominent one!). Rarely, they had crescent moon, and a star carved in the wood, or scratched into metal (symbols of Turkey, and the rest of Islam).

As JNA perished (and "JA" was created), discipline went bye bye, and soldier's initials, dates, full names, and such appeared carved into the wood.

Newly formed armies of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, etc. are equipped with Western weaponry, discipline is back where it should be, and there is ABSOLUTELY no defacing of the weapons."

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So there you have it.
Straight from a guy that was there.
We can all sort of get the idea of who used the stuff we now own.


 
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Offline Bob_The_Student

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Re: Trench Art
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2019, 03:14:16 PM »
Good stuff Larry, thanks for the post!

Offline Larry D.

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Re: Trench Art
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2019, 05:10:41 PM »
Glad you liked it, Bob.
I waited 3 weeks for him to get back to me. He's more or less quit the board where he originally posted this, but he was cool enough to OK the re-post for me.

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Offline Phosphorus32

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Re: Trench Art
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2019, 06:31:46 PM »
Definitely some interesting first hand info. That provides useful context for determining if trench art on Yugoslavian SKSs is likely to be: real, or a US owner's fantasy piece, and if real, possibly the ethnicity of the artist. Thanks for sharing  thumb1

Offline Larry D.

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Re: Trench Art
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2019, 11:07:13 PM »
That provides useful context for determining if trench art on Yugoslavian SKSs is likely to be: real, or a US owner's fantasy piece

I hadn't though of that detail.
For instance, a crescent moon and star, coupled with a royal crest would be a fake.
Η ΤΑΝ Η ΕΠΙ ΤΑΣ
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Thou shalt not test me.
Mood 24:7