who are these folks??

[Thälmannpionier]

Hi
just got a interesting photo yesterday and wonder if someone can id the soldiers on the image? Looks like some Balkan Folks...?
he whole photo is pretty "brutal"....if we can id them I show the whole image as reward

btw the guys with the x over the head are not really soldiers i guess but forced to wear the uniform for the picture.

as it is a photo I hope its the right forum section here for it....but its WW1 from 1918..maybe i link it to the imperial section as well...
Thanks
Andreas

[Elmar Lang]

Hello,

they look like being Russian soldiers...

Best wishes,

E.L.

[Larrister]

Bulgarians?


Cheers,
Larry

[Thälmannpionier]

thanks gents.
after looking at some russian visor hats of that period i think Elmar could be correct..or serbian? bulgarian? looks all quite similar
here is the whole image and backside writing...
maybe im wrong but i have the feeling that it maybe a german propaganda "staged" photo and except the guy with bajo all others are of a other descent. The vertical line of his beart looks painted on when zoomed in or its just shadow and i am reading just to much in that image. But it comes from a german houshold and i think has german süterlin text on the backside what has made me thinking about it...opinions welcome

[Thälmannpionier]

anyone can read it?

[Gerdan]

" Pz 102 - am 15.3.18 "

Gerdan

[Valter Gorenc]

Most likely Bulgarian. It's definitely not Serbian uniform. The woman in native costume can be Macedonian, or Turkish/Albanian so options are Macedonia (then part of Kingdom of Serbia), southern Serbia/Kosovo or Albania and Bulgarians are practically only possibility there. For 100% proof post on international forum.

[Montgomery Burns]

looks like the 3 in the middle are guarded ..

arrested or so,,,,



regards kay

[byterock]

I think Macedonian would be correct.

The three look like Roma and i think their legs are tied together.

I think Monty is right the future was not very bright for these three.

[Thälmannpionier]

Thanks for the infosthumbsu
the guy with the knife just looked to me like he has a different ethnical background than the others.
But Bulgarians were on the german side during ww1...so it cannot be the case then.

[Askold]

99.9% its Bulgarian

[enorepap]

It is certainly not a nice photograph. Perhaps deserters or despoilers of corpses destined to the gallows. The only faint traces could be the badge on the woman's visor band, left to the national cockade. I believe that only a member very experienced with the Balkan armies of World War I (I think Bulgarians) could answer this question.

[Lightfoot]

It´s bulgarians

Those soldiers are bulgarians and they were on the german side. When Austrohungarians and germans attacked Serbia from the west the bulgarians attacked the serbs from the east. And it´s probably gypsys that are being harrased. The bulgarians tried to de-serbian all of the serbian population by changing their surnames from example Mladenovic to Mladenov. Also they made a lot of attrocities to the civilians by crucifiying people, hanging people and execute them. You can read the book "Land of Death" by the american journalist John Reed. He was in Serbia during WW1 when the germans occupied Serbia. At one point he saw a chain with skulls of 10 women and children that had been cut off by the bulgarians.

[Theodor]

Ah, those bad Bulgarians... According to some sources, sometimes in cold blood they killed up to 20 000 people /in town of not more than 2-3 000 total population?!/ Reed just passed through the region, his observations are interesting, but lots are quite questionable. Atrocities were made by just every army in every war, sure the Bulgarian army did some in WW1, but it is not the systematic huge atrocities, invented by certain "thinktanks", but rather insulated cases, probably not just a handful, but by no means any more than any other army. And for sure much less than some other armies.

And as probably you know, there was significant Bulgarian population in these territories. And the territories had been part of the Bulgarian Kingdoms for centuries. You say they turned Mladenovic into Mladenov, but are you sure he had not been Mladenov earlier, before Mladenovic? The region was a dangerous mix of different nations and this led to heavy problems during the 20th century and lots of civilian casualties from all sides. And especially on the Bulgarian side. The fact is, that Bulgaria is the only of the Balkan states, which has for neighbors... itself. I mean, it is surrounded by its former territories, in which nothing good happened to the Bulgarian population.

Back to the photo: these are Bulgarians for sure, ordinary soldiers. Gypsies? Not. These old photos make people look dark. Real gypsies look almost like black Africans in such photos. The hat on the woman's head is ordinary officer's hat, the badge is a patriotic one, there were several types, often seen pinned on the hats. The legs of the people are not tied, that's some thread or scratch on the negative. Yes it is possible that they were arrested. Either deserters, or have stolen food from the army. That was the usual cause for arrest and sentence in these last months of the war. At that time the country was econimicaly exhausted, the supplies were difficult.