(Auto) What is this FIAT 600 doing on a T-55 tank?

[Askor lml]

We are living in times where the current agenda is marked by the war in Ukraine, where beyond the arguments that motivated the Russian invasion, what we can see is a strong local resistance, which will undoubtedly be remembered later. All this made me remember the photo of a very particular monument that I saw on the internet and of which I decided to investigate its history, since I feel that it represents very well the resistance of a people against an invasion.

What you can see in the image is a small FIAT 600 stepping on a huge Soviet-made T-55 tank, and this image alone has an interesting story to tell.

We are in June 25, 1991, when Croatia declared its independence from the then Yugoslavia. The extinct country (which today is divided into Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo) did not sit idly by and sent the Yugoslav People's Army to placate the independence struggle.

Just two days later, on June 27, in the city of Osijek, the T-55 tanks of the Yugoslav army impetuously crossed Vukovarska street without encountering any resistance, since at that time Croatia did not have any type of armed force. Well, almost none except for the car of Branko Breškić, who parked his Zastava 750 (the eastern version of the FIAT 600, locally called “Fićo”) in the path of the tanks, in an attempt to stop the convoy.

You can see the result of its improvised barricade in the video at the end of the note, the T-55 never slowed down and tore the small vehicle apart, crushing it under its caterpillar track and a tram. It seems that as a result of this event Breškić joined the incipient Croatian armed resistance, and ended his days as a combatant.

Twenty years after that event, on June 27, 2011, this curious monument was inaugurated in the city of Osijek, resignifying history and putting the "Fićo" above the T-55, honoring a Croatian resistance that after a while managed to defeat the invading forces, despite being in inferior conditions. Undoubtedly, this monument achieves the objective that, being so particular, people wonder about its meaning, and when learning it, value the event that gave it meaning.
News brought by http://noticias.autocosmos.com.ve/2022/03/04/que-hace-este-fiat-600-sobre-un-tanque-t-55