[ScaniaBoy]

When I posted this article from another source and with another headline (Strange bedfellows) Sherman Logan correctly noted that it would have been very strange to see the Mufti inspect SS troops in Bosnia in 1946(!) I think the photo is from the Mufti's visit in Yugoslavia in 1943.

[ScaniaBoy]

See my post #10.

[Diocletian]

It is from 1943 (the year the unit was formed). The best book on the Handzar Division is surprisingly in English and is by an American author named Lepre. "Himmler's Bosnian SS Division". The unit was the brainchild of Himmler who was fascinated by the concept of "jihad" (he was into mysticism) but was strongly opposed by the Croatian leader Pavelic who saw the formation of the unit as an attempt by Muslims to detach Bosnia from Croatia and put it under direct German rule (his fears were justified as that was the intention of the Bosnian imams who supported the formation of the unit). Pavelic interceded with Hitler by sending his point man Vrancic and Hitler sided with the Croatians over Himmler.

The Division was then staffed by German officers, and some Bosnian Imams serving as officers.