Recommended reading on the minor Axis nations

[Dr Eisvogel]

Zlatko Matijević: The National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in Zagreb (1918 / 1919)
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/77562
Summary
The author has reconstructed the emergence, activity and disappearance of the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (NV SHS) in Zagreb during the last months of the existence of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the first weeks of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (from March 1918 to January 1919). The basic characteristic of the National Council of SHS and its selfproclaimed state was its intentional temporariness. The aim of the National Council was not the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the creation of an independent state outside of its borders, but the hasty unification of the State of SHS with the Kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro and the creation of a wider South Slavic state community in the southeast of Europe.

Key words
National Council of Slovenes; Croats and Serbs; the State of Slovenes; Croats and Serbs; Zagreb; 1918/1919; Serbia; Yugoslavia

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Stan Granic: From Fur Money to Modern Currency: The Kuna
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/77563
Summary
The marten pelt was originally used in trade before gaining a specific constant monetary value and serving as a monetary medium during early medieval times. During this same period, the marten was adopted for the payment of levies and taxes, and became the name of the very tax being collected (marturina, kunovina). During the 13th and 14th centuries, the marten incuse appeared on silver coins struck by viceroys and kings, and the figure of the marten became an important heraldic, later official state symbol, appearing on parliamentary
documents and other important historical and cultural monuments and artifacts for over eight hundred years. The kuna name and symbol linked different regions of Croatia and spanned at least ten centuries. With the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Croatia moved to reassert its economic and political independence. The redesigned flag incorporating the Slavonian coat of arms (with kuna) and the adoption of the kuna currency were symbolic markers of this goal of national and economic sovereignity.

Key words
Kuna; Marten; Currency; Money; Croatia

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Stjepan Matković: Members of the Party of Right and the Idea of the Croat State during the First World War
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/77560
Summary
The Party of Right, through its various activities, defined Croatian political history from the Party's beginnings in the 1860s to the end of the First World War; after 1918, a newly emergent geopolitical arena brought about by the demise of Austria-Hungary, the collapse of the Habsburg dynasty, and the predominance of Stjepan Radić's peasant ideology on the Croatian political scene relegated Starčević's 'Rightism' to a second rank, rendering it unable to play a leading role in the mass mobilization of members of the Croat national community within the new Yugoslavian monarchy. However, in the late 19th century, adhering to the idea of nationhood proposed by the two founders of the Party of Right, Ante Starčević and Eugen Kvaternik, many modernists in Croatia held to the notion that it was vital to achieve greater independence on the basis of historical Croatian statehood. Considering the popularity of the ideas it proposed, the speed with which they spread, and the influence they had on various social classes, it is indisputable that the Party of Right was the most popular party among Croats during the second half of the 19th century. This is corroborated by the fact that the popularity of 'Rightism' gradually spread beyond the territory of Croatia-Slavonia to Dalmatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Istria, and even abroad.

Key words
Party of Right; Croatia; First World War

[Dr Eisvogel]

Hrvoje Čapo: Former Austro – Hungarian officers in the Army of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Yugoslavia
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/77572
Summary
The Serbian army personnel could not respond to the challenges presented in the newly founded Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. A great number of officers from the former Austro-Hungarian Army were to be admitted but with prior verifications. The treatment of accepted officers in the new army was unfavourable and they were labelled as former Austro-Hungarian officers throughout their career. Due to such a treatment and working conditions, as well as some possible personal reasons many of them had left the army. Based on the data collected from the Official army gazette this paper aims to determine the number of former Austro-Hungarian officers who were accepted to the active forces of the army of the Kingdom of SHS, as well as the number of men who left this new army, whether resignation or retirement.

Key words
Former Austro-Hungarian officers; The Army of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Yugoslavia; ranks; resignations; retirements

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Nevenko Bartulin: The ideal Nordic – Dinaric racial type: Racial anthropology in the Independent State of Croatia
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/77575
Summary
This article has highlighted that a clear picture emerged of the ideal Croatian physical type in the NDH’s cultural media: the ideal Croat was of Dinaric type with a Nordic strain or ‘Nordic-Dinaric’ (i.e. tall, broad-headed with a long face and light pigmentation), descended from both the Nordic ‘Slavic-Gothic-Iranians’ of White Croatia and the predominantly Dinaric ‘Celtic-Illyrians’ of Dalmatia. The intellectual origins of the Ustasha idea of an ideal racial type can be traced to the pre-war studies of Croatian academics and writers interested in racial science. One should be cautious, however, in trying to establish a direct link between pre-war Croatian racial anthropology and the actual policies of the Ustasha regime toward non-Aryans in the NDH. On the other hand, the Ustasha regime certainly used race theory to justify racial policies. The Ustasha state was, in law and in practice, based on a racial Weltanschauung.

Key words
Nordic - Dinaric racial type; racial anthropology; The Independent State of Croatia

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Zlatko Matijević: Ivo Pilar and the Art of the Possible: Croatia between Central Europe and the Balkans
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/77569
Summary
Dr. Ivo Pilar (1874-1933), attorney, politician and specialist in geopolitics, was among the most distinguished Croatian intellectuals of the first half of the twentieth century. As a politically-engaged publicist, his works appeared in the German and Croatian languages, often under pseudonyms (Zajedničar [‘The Unionist’], L. von Südland, Florian Lichtträger). He actively participated in politics during his twenty years in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Sarajevo, Tuzla). He was one of the founders of the Croatian National Union. At the beginning of his political career he was at odds with the Sarajevo Archbishop Josip Stadler, but later, during the First World War, the two co-operated closely. In the last year of the war he became a member of the Frankist Party of the Right in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In his political activity, he sought a solution which he felt the most suitable to the existential needs of the Croatian people inside the boundaries of the Central European geopolitical space. The political leadership of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy had no understanding for the momentous results of his knowledge pertaining to potential solutions to the Croatian question within the context of the then exceptionally important “South Slav question”. In the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Pilar became a persona non grata due to his political convictions, and he was prosecuted by the courts. During the dictatorship of King Alexander, he was politically close to the leadership of the then banned Croatian Peasant Party. His violent death remains unexplained to this day.

Key words
Ivo Pilar; Croatia; Central Europe; Balkans

[Dr Eisvogel]

John Kraljic: The Croatian section of the Communist Party of the United States and the “United Front”: 1934 - 1939
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/77573
Summary
This article explores the attempt to implement "United Front" in the framework of the Croatian-American community. The Author describes the development of socialist and communist organizations in the community during the mid-1930s, and discusses the significant changes that have led to the foundation of the Croatian Section of the Communist Party USA and the relations that the Department collaborated with each other, not communist Croatian-American groups in their efforts to create a "united front".
While the Croatian-American Communists were not as present in the Communist Party USA in the 1930's, during the second half of the decade they have played a significant role within the Croatian community.

Key words
"United Front"; Croatian-American community; Communist Party of the United States; 1934 - 1939

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Jure Krišto: Communist penetration of Croatian American organisations during World War II
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/77574
Summary
It is not surprising that governments in wartime situations consider some of their citizens a danger for national security and that they watch over their activities. It is a matter for speculation as to whether the government of the United States of America would have considered Croatian Americans such a danger during WWII had it not accepted the urgings of the Yugoslav Legation in the USA to watch over its citizens of Croatian descent. Once the FBI and other government institutions accepted the possibility that Croats may represent such a danger, they applied a strict scrutiny of prominent leaders in the Croatian community, Croatian journals, and institutions, even after repeated reports suggested that accusations against Croats were the result of Serbian propaganda and that further surveillance was not necessary.

Key words
Communists; Croatian American organisations; World War II

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Zoran Grijak: Croatian - British views of the Eastern Question: The correspondence of William Ewart Gladstone and Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1876-1882)
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/77568
Summary
In the analysis of the historical context in which this correspondence emerged, the author made use of the existing literature and published and unpublished archival materials. The author endeavors to provide a response to the question as to whether and to what extent Gladestone and Strossmayer's views were relevant when it comes to the formulation of the specific political decisions of the goverment of the states in which they lived and worked. This correspondence is of great relevance form the historiografic standpoint, too. It contains many vital, and in the case of Gladestone's letters, hitherto entirely unknown facts which provide comprehensive insight into the views of one of the momentous periods in recent European history by this great Bristish statesman of the Victorian era.

Key words
The Eastern Question; William Ewart Gladstone; Josip Juraj Strossmayer; 1876-1882

[Dr Eisvogel]

Krešimir Regan: The Serbian orthodox church and Croatian independence – activity in the Banate of Croatia
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/100771
Summary
The clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the most influential institution among the Serbs, split over the political solution involving establishment of the Banate of Croatia on August 26, 1939. On one side were those who endorsed the solution to the Croatian question as negotiated in the Agreement concluded by Dragiša Cvetković and Vladko Maček, followed by the establishment of the Banate of Croatia, while on the other side were those opponents of these negotiated policies whose activities were rooted in Greater Serbian ideology.

Key words
Banate of Croatia; Cvetković-Maček Agreement; Greater Serbia; Kingdom of Yugoslavia; Serbian Orthodox Church

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Tomislav Markus: The Serbian question in Croatian politics, 1848-1918
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/100788
Summary
The author analyzes the significance of the Serbian question and the status of the Serbian ethnic minority in Croatian politics from the revolution of 1848 to the fall of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1918. The most distinguished Croatian political theorists and activists during this period – Bogoslav Šulek, Ivan Kukuljević, Josip J. Strossmayer, Franjo Rački, Mihovil Pavlinović, Ante Starčević, Eugen Kvaternik, Frano Supilo, Stjepan and Antun Radić and others – advocated different variants of a Croatocentric ideology within which the South Slav or Slavic framework was sometimes entirely rejected (in Starčević’s case), but more often accepted. Starčević and some of his followers denied the existence of the Serbian minority, believing that all South Slavs, except the Bulgarians, were Croats. However, the vast majority of Croatian politicians and national activists acknowledged the existence of the Serbs and the Serbian minority in Croatia. They adhered to the concept of the “Croatian political nation,” which encompassed all citizens of the Triune Kingdom (Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia) regardless of ethnic origin. Most Serbian politicians, accepting the identification of speakers of the Shtokavian dialect as Serbs, believed that the Serbs in the Triune Kingdom were a separate nation, which had to be bearer of statehood. Over the long term, they expected that considerable portions of the Triune Kingdom – Slavonia, the Military Frontier and Dalmatia – would become part of an enlarged Serbian state after the collapse of Austria-Hungary. Croatian-Serbian relations from 1848 to 1918 passed through periods of cooperation, particularly when confronted by pressure from the seats of government in Vienna and Budapest, but also conflict due to irreconcilable pretensions to the same territories.

Key words
Austria-Hungary; Croatian-Serbian relations; Kingdom of Croatia; national ideology; Serbs in Croatia

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Philippe Gelez: Debats sur les mouvements de population en Bosnie et Herzegovine au 19e S.
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/100792
Sommaire
Les migrations humaines en Bosnie et Herzégovine au 19e s. ont un fond neutre. Si elles ont parfois eu quelques moments où les déplacements ont été forcés, ce n’est jamais par les armes directement. En revanche, elles ont été très tôt récupérées par les pouvoirs politiques dans la guerre diplomatique et nationaliste dont la Bosnie et Herzégovine a été le théâtre dès le milieu du 19e s. C’est dans ce contexte qu’il faut comprendre la migration des musulmans de Bosnie et Herzégovine en direction de l’Empire ottoman. Aucun trait n’en est commun avec ce qui a pu se passer durant les guerres du 20e s., qui cette fois-ci prêtent véritablement à une interprétation en termes de human engineering.

[marenostrum]

Dear Members,
I would like to add some new books published in Hungary about the Hungarian AFV in WWII.
Biró-Sárhidai: Foreign AFV in Hungarian service 1920-1945
Biró-Sárhidai: Hungarian made AFV in Hungarian Service 1914-1945
The books are complement each other, A/4 format, 250, 350 pages lot of photos and drawings, colour profiles.
There is a third book in English/German , Baczoni-Tóth The WWII Hungarian uniform.
Regards,
Marenostrum

[1900]

Best trilogy obout Slovak army fighting on Eastern front money can buy.
Author: Pavel Micianik
Language is Slovak, but with many pictures.
Hardback - all three of them

First part - general info about Slovak units fighting communism in soviet Union - operation Barbarossa with a lovely reproductions of ww2 published drawings of soldiers, division symbols etc.


Second - about Security division on Ukraine and present day Belarus + about railway pioneers.


And third part - main subject here is a Fast Division. Reads like an "action book". Published in 2009.


Some pictures from first part.



From private to captain


From major up

[1900]

And something for basic study from Osprey. Info about Slovakia pages 25 - 28 plus some pictures of uniforms and equipment. Many reprints starting from 1983 till 2001. Love that picture of smiling Hungarian. BTW many Slovaks were fighting in hungrian army and paid very high price.

[1900]

And great book about slovak tanks afv. I believe there is same book from Kliment in english. Detailed info about Lt 35 or Pz 35. Lots of informations about romanian, magyar or bulgarian armour as well.

[1900]

Lt vz.34/40

Polish publisher - Wydavnictvo Militaria, with some english text.

Nice info about Lt vz. 40. - the only tank produced for Slovak republic only.



Lt vz. 40 from book:

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi 1900,

Where can we get Pavel Micianik's trilogy?

Cheers,

Sid

[KACKO]

Actually, 4th just came out.

And you can order it here:

http://www.martinus.sk/?uMod=list&uTyp= ... l+Micianik

[Dr Eisvogel]

Alexander Korb: "In the Shadow of the World War: Mass violence by the Ustaša against Serbs, Jews and Roma in Croatia, 1941-45" [German original: "Im Schatten des Weltkriegs. Massengewalt der Ustaša gegen Serben, Juden und Roma in Kroatien 1941-45"]



This dissertation deals with what the Germans and Italians transformed into the "Independent Croatia" governed by the fascist Ustasha movement. Croatia was one of the most multiethnic entities in Hitler’s Europe, and the Ustasha aimed to transform this space into am ethnically homogeneous nation state, soon causing a very complex ethnic civil war that involved the death of 500,000 people. The international setting further complicates the picture: Croatia was nominally an independent state, but it was divided in a German and an Italian zone of occupation.

Traditionally, there were two ways of interpreting Ustasha genocide.

On the one hand, the movement was seen a German puppet, with their agency being neglected and their violence being portrayed as the consequence of Nazi policies.

On the other hand, the movement was portrayed as monstrous, with claims that that their members took great joy in persecuting Serbs and Jews.

Both interpretations, puppets and monsters, are challenged in this dissertation, as they stop before actually trying to identify reasons why members of a nationalistic organization start using violence.

In the dissertation, I examined the violence inflicted by the Ustasha against Serbs, Jews, and Roma on a national and regional level.The study is chiefly interested in how and why mass violence evolves, when it accelerates, and how it slows down. After introducing the Ustasha, their ideology and their plans, as well as their relation to other forces in the region, namely the Germans and the Italians, the study examines three major levels of violence:
(1) Projects of ethnic homogenization,
(2) massacres as part of the civil war and
(3) mass violence within camps.

My findings lead to three major arguments.

First, the Ustasha were by no means just a German puppet, as they were very committed agents of their own interests, skilfully playing Germans and Italians off against each other, and gaining a large amount of independence by inflicting a civil war beyond outside control.

Second, the genocides committed against Serbs, Jews, and Roma were very much intertwined, and it is not possible to understand the persecution of the Jews, without analyzing the radicalization of anti-Serbian policies.

Third, it is very often the micro-regional context, local warlordism, the geography, but also other factors, for instance whether the crops were close to being harvested or not, that played a significant role.

Studying wartime Croatia helps to complicate the picture of the Holocaust because they show the local variations of what is all too often perceived as a monolithic event.

***

Link to the above abstract which was written by the author himself:
http://www.doew.at/information/2012_korb.html

Summary in German by the author himself (pp. 14-15):
http://portal.akmilitaergeschichte.de/s ... /NL_37.pdf

[Dr Eisvogel]

Davor Marijan: The June Uprising in Eastern Herzegovina
http://www.hercegbosna.org/STARO/downlo ... anjski.pdf (Map on p. 569)
Summary
When the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was formed it included the
territory Eastern Herzegovina. The establishment of a new government for the
state began at the of May, 1941, following the conclusion of the Rome Treaties
with Italy. As a region with a majority Serb population, eastern Herzegovina
became the most problematic part of the NDH due to obstruction in the surrendering
of armaments and war material. Coupled with longstanding religious
antagonisms this opened the possibility for radical action by the ustashas
and armed response on the part of the armed Serbian, and to a lesser extent,
Montenegrin, populace. Up to 24 June the ustashas committed a number of
larger and smaller atrocities in which the victims were mainly civilians. For
their part, the insurgents took over a few armed positions and systematically
interfered with lines of transportation and disrupted security. In reaction to
the German invasion of the Soviet Union, on 24 June an uprising began in
which the insurgents besieged Nevesinje, occupied Avtovac and a few smaller
armed points. While the Home Guards, with excessive effort and the help of
newly arrived forces, attempted to put down the uprising, Ustasha groups took
advantage of the disorders to commit a few more massive atrocities. With the
proclamation of a state of emergency and the arrival of vice-marshal Vladimir
Laxa, the plenipotentiary sent out by the Poglavnik (Leader of the NDH) Ante
Pavelić, the situation stabilized; by early July the insurgents were driven from
the lines of transportation and from the larger towns into the backcountry.
The conclusion of action saw the return of armed forces to points taken by
the insurgents and the establishment of guard posts along transportation
lines. The state lacked the forces penetrate the area any further. The uprising
presented the political leadership of the NDH with an opportunity to learn a
lesson for the future, but it failed in this.

Key words: Independent state of Croatia, Croatian Home Guard, Ustashe,
Serb uprising, Italian army

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Mario Jareb: A Contribution to the Discussion About the Character of the Uprising of July 27, 1941
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/114003
Summary
From 1945 to 1990 in the People’s/Socialist Republic of Croatia and in the
People’s/Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina July 27 has been celebrated
as national holiday known as the Day of the Uprising of the Peoples of
Croatia (the Day of the Uprising of the Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Communist regimes in both republics of Tito’s Yugoslavia claimed that on that
day in 1941 masses led by the Communist party initiated the uprising against
“Fascist occupation and domestic collaborators” (against the Ustasha regime
of the Independent State of Croatia, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH). Allegedly
led exclusively by the Communist Party, insurgents in Croatia initiated
the struggle on that day in the tiny town of Srb by liberating it from the NDH
authorities. Earlier that day insurgents have gathered around the town of Drvar
in southwestern Bosnia and attacked it. Events in Srb and Drvar triggered
the uprising and within few days insurgents put under their control large
territories of Lika and Northern Dalmatia in Croatia and large territories in
Sothwestern Bosnia. All of the territories were predominantly inhabited by
Serbian population which was motivated to join rebellion against the NDH.
Ustasha atrocities forced many Serbs to do anything to secure their lives and
the lives of their families, so armed uprising looked like the only way to achieve
that goal. Behavior of numerous insurgents also shows that many were determined
to fight against any Croatian state and against Croats and Muslims
as ethnic and religious groups. In the eyes of many insurgents all Croats and
Muslims were collectively guilty for Ustasha crimes. Before 1990 official propaganda
claimed that the Communist Party of Yugoslavia/Croatia had been
the sole organizer and leader of the uprising. Indeed numerous insurgents’
leaders were communists. Communists desired to lead massive uprising all
over Croatia, which could become possible only if wider layers of Croatian
population would join in. However, the behavior of numerous insurgents was
totally opposed to that element of Communist policy and Croatian and Muslim
populations on territories under their control were exposed to the reign
of terror and mass extermination. It is more than obvious that the Party could
not control many of the insurgents. It is also clear that the composition
of insurgents’ ranks was more complex than the propaganda would ever be
ready to admit. It is also obvious how there were other influential groups and
individuals among them. Many of those later became the Chetniks of Draza
Mihailovich. However, in the summer of 1941 it was still not possible to consider
insurgents in the above-mentioned regions either as partisans or Chetniks.
They referred to themselves simply as insurgents (ustanici) or Guerilla fighters
(gerilci). Their units and detachments appeared in public as Guerilla units. The
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia adopted the name
partisan for its fighters already at the end of June 1941. It would be natural
that the organizers of the uprising in the aforementioned regions would adopt
the same name for insurgents if claims how the Party was the sole organizer
are based on facts. It is known that they adopted the name Guerilla fighter.
They continued to use that name by fall 1941, and only in late September the
first unit under the partisan name and whose members wore communist red
stars on their caps was founded. Such move was met by many insurgents with
dissatisfaction, especially the fact that they wore communist stars. Most of
insurgents were also not ready to fight against Italians, although they were,
as communists used to point out, “fascist occupiers” against whom the Party
and all patriots should fight using all means possible. Instead of fighting those
fascists, many insurgents chose either not to attack them or even to openly collaborate
with them. When at the beginning of September 1941 Italians troops
invaded the territories controlled by insurgents and mostly met no resistance.
They were instead well accepted by many insurgents. At that time differences
and tensions among communists and non-communists within the leadership
of the Uprising were growing. That process was the result of struggle between
these two groups for the leadership of the insurgents. As tensions have continued
to grow, both sides were using all means available to win. They did not
even hesitate to assassin their opponents, so both Chetniks and communists
lost some of their people. Violence and assassinations showed how differences
could not be prevailed, and they even endangered the growth and survival of
insurgents. It is not surprising then that during the fall of 1941 the process of
division within their ranks contributed to the foundation of separate Chetnik
and partisan units.

Keywords: Uprising, July 27, 1941, Guerilla Fighters, Insurgents, Communist
Party, Partisans, Chetniks

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Davor Marijan: "Livno must fall": The battle between the elements of the Ustaša Vth Active Service Brigade and the IInd Proletarian Division for Livno in December 1942
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/62411
Summary
On the basis of published and unpublished documents and scholarly literature
the author reviews the battle for Livno in December 1942. An attack
was carried out according to the orders of the Partisan High Command on 25
November 1942, but it took the Partisan II Proletarian Division twenty days
to complete the task. Livno was defended by a force which during the battle
rose to no more than 1200 in strength. The attacker was at least three times
greater in number and possessed better weaponry. The defenders’ only advantage
was that they were fighting in a relatively well-fortified settlement. The
battle showed that the Partisans were better organized and more willing to
accept casualties than the defending Ustaša. Both sides suffered heavy losses,
but the brunt of Ustaša casualties occurred during a disorganized retreat. An
unknown number of civilians died during the battle, and after taking the town
the Partisans unjustifiably shot a number of civilians from Croat villages who
had fled to the town ahead of the Partisans. This was a war crime that went
unacknowledged for over fifty years until in 1989 a document was issued in
which the crime was admitted and presented as a “great error”.

Key words: Second World War, Livno, Partisans, Ustaša, war crime

[Dr Eisvogel]

Zdravko Dizdar: The Bjelovar uprising of 7-10 April 1941
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/29738
Summary
The author discusses political conditions in the Bjelovar region immediately
before and at the beginning of the Second World War, and following that,
the uprising of Croatian soldiers of the 108 Regiment of the Royal Yugoslav
Army on the evening of 7th and 8th April, 1941, in Veliki Grđevac by Grubišno
Polje. It continues on with a discussion of the spread of the uprising and its
growth into a general insurrection, which led to the taking over of Bjelovar by
the insurgents on 8 April, their assumption of local power and their proclamation
of a Croatian state, until the arrival of the Germans in the city two days
later. The work also talks about the war crime perpetrated against Croatian
civilians in Donji Mosti which was committed by Chetniks and the
Yugoslav army on 10 April.

Key words: Bjelovar, April War 1941, Ustaše, Independent State of Croatia

[Rivet]

A few short reads on the topic:

The Royal Hungarian Army in World War II, by. Nigel Thomas
Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941-45, by. Nigel Thomas
Germany's Eastern Front Allies 1941-45, by. Peter Abbott and Mike Chappell
Germany's Eastern Front Allies (2): Baltic Forces (v. 2), by. Nigel Thomas
Blue Division Soldier 1941-45: Spanish Volunteer on the Eastern Front, by. Carlos Caballero Jurado and Ramiro Bujeiro (tangentially related, but still interesting).

It was mentioned earlier in the thread, but plus one to Germany and the Axis Powers: From Coalition to Collapse, by. Richard L. DiNardo. Its an excellent read.