" Finding historical pictures or descriptions of graffiti is not easy. Most historical pictures were taken too far away from weapons to tell if they had graffiti. Historical accounts usually make little detailed mention of weapons, let alone their decoration.
There are some exceptions. The above pictures both depict WWI-era Serbians on the march. The first, colorized by Histoire de Couleurs, shows a Mauser carbine with a large golden coat of arms on the stock. That type of carbine, to my knowledge, was not officially issued by Serbia. The two Serbians also have Berthier rifles supplied from France.
The second picture, from somewhere online, is a portrait showing the word "војник" (meaning "soldier") and names written on 1891-type Mauser rifles. Again these were not originally standard Serbian issue, and perhaps captured from Ottoman forces. The picture looks like pre-WWI era.
The last photo is from WWII. It appeared in a publication called "Dolenjski List" on 15.6.1967. The picture dates to 8th November 1941, and shows slain Chetniks with a Partisan rifle. The rifle has a Partisan globe with hammer and sickle, and another hammer and sickle in a star. (Note this is the "smoking gun" picture showing Partisan use of these symbols on their weapons during WWII. However there are also many examples of historical graffiti in the Belgrade military museum.)
The rifle stock says in Serbian "Smrt fašizmu - svobodo narodu!" which means "Death to Fascism - Freedom to the Motherland," and in Spanish "No pasaran fasistas" or "Fascists will not pass." Some Yugoslavian pre-WWII Communists did fight in the Spanish Civil War, though the efforts to reach Spain were prevented by the government. One cover story mentioned by Milovan Djilas was to go to the World Fair in France, and then cross the border into Spain.
There are some exceptions. The above pictures both depict WWI-era Serbians on the march. The first, colorized by Histoire de Couleurs, shows a Mauser carbine with a large golden coat of arms on the stock. That type of carbine, to my knowledge, was not officially issued by Serbia. The two Serbians also have Berthier rifles supplied from France.
The second picture, from somewhere online, is a portrait showing the word "војник" (meaning "soldier") and names written on 1891-type Mauser rifles. Again these were not originally standard Serbian issue, and perhaps captured from Ottoman forces. The picture looks like pre-WWI era.
The last photo is from WWII. It appeared in a publication called "Dolenjski List" on 15.6.1967. The picture dates to 8th November 1941, and shows slain Chetniks with a Partisan rifle. The rifle has a Partisan globe with hammer and sickle, and another hammer and sickle in a star. (Note this is the "smoking gun" picture showing Partisan use of these symbols on their weapons during WWII. However there are also many examples of historical graffiti in the Belgrade military museum.)
The rifle stock says in Serbian "Smrt fašizmu - svobodo narodu!" which means "Death to Fascism - Freedom to the Motherland," and in Spanish "No pasaran fasistas" or "Fascists will not pass." Some Yugoslavian pre-WWII Communists did fight in the Spanish Civil War, though the efforts to reach Spain were prevented by the government. One cover story mentioned by Milovan Djilas was to go to the World Fair in France, and then cross the border into Spain.