Yugoslavia M59/85 Steel Helmet with Red Star

This helmet has a stencilled red star and second pattern liner, modelled closely on the Riddel system. These helmets remained in use right through the 1990's during the Balkans' Civil Wars.

The shell shape has been modified slightly at the base, this is now angled slightly upward toward the rear whereas it used to be straight on the first pattern M59

the rifle is a early 1960's Chinese made Type 56 SKS rifle, many of these rifles were exported to Yugoslavia from China.

Yugoslavian soldiers sit in battle-scarred Erdut during the Yugoslavian Civil War. In June of 1991, the territories Croatia and Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia, sparking years of violent civil war that killed over 200,000 people and displaced nearly two million.