Germany's leaders are seeking to maintain public support for the German army's first military operation on foreign soil since the end of the World War II.

The nation's political leaders secured political support for a Kosovo peacekeeping contingent of 8,500 soldiers after an uneasy public struggle over whether Germany should even be involved in the conflict.

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is already facing his first potential test of leadership after German troops shot dead a Serb gunman and injured another in a firefight in Prizren.

Both events are dominating the domestic news agenda with television news showing footage of the German soldiers gunning down the Serbs - the kind of incident many people dreaded.

A contingent of around 1,200 German troops with some Dutch soldiers entered Prizren on Sunday afternoon and immediately had to break-up a reported a confrontation between ethnic Albanians and retreating Serb militiamen.

Three German journalists have also been shot dead in two separate incidents.

While German troops are preparing for the return of the refugees, they will also have to protect a number of key sites of cultural and religious importance to the Serbs - many of whom have not forgotten the wartime brutality of the Nazis.

Divided nation

Germany has been arguably more divided over its role in the Balkans crisis than any other Nato member.

Historic arrival: German tanks in action on foreign soil

Public opinion has swayed back and forth as both politicians and many ordinary people have struggled with the moral justification of military intervention in the Balkans.

Germany's politicians eventually voted overwhelmingly in favour of providing a peacekeeping force subject to the appropriate United Nations Security Council resolution.

But as the conflict wore on, polls tended to show a majority moving against bombing - and no appetite at all for ground forces.

While in the UK the media have focused on the robust pro-intervention Prime Minister Tony Blair, German public attention has scrutinised the fractured Social Democrat-Green coalition.

Hard times: Mr Schröder (seated) and Mr Fischer

In the days before international envoys secured a peace deal, the liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper likened the atmosphere within the coalition to the inside of a steam kettle.

"Outside everything is peaceful," wrote the newspaper.

"But inside the pressure is rising and the danger of an explosion is growing."

Die Welt newspaper said that there was "palpable relief" within the coalition as the peace deal emerged, knowing that it meant both sides could avoid a showdown with their own supporters over a ground invasion.

Coping with the past

Germany's preoccupation over Kosovo is predominantly linked to one word, "Vergangensheitbewältigung" - meaning "coping with the past".

Changed world: The UK's Sun newspaper praises German involvement

More than 50 years may have passed since the defeat of Nazism, but Germany still harbours great concerns over its contemporary role in the international community.

It is this coping with the past and the moral justification for armed conflict that has informed Chancellor Schröder's delicate balancing act of supporting limited intervention.

"We Germans are duty bound by our history to stand up for peace and security against oppression and the use of force," he said.

While he justified air strikes, he stated that ground troops were "out of the question".

Mr Schröder's coalition partner and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has battled to keep the Green party together and save the government from collapse.

Scenes of relief: A German soldier is cheered in Prizren

Facing personal abuse and even a physical attack at a special party conference, Mr Fischer faced down a potential full-scale revolt by speaking eloquently of Germany's modern role as a defender of human rights.

He admitted he had initially opposed intervention but went on to appeal to leftwingers to stop regarding the conflict as a rerun of political battles fought in 1968.

"We are not talking about great powers carving things up," he said.

"We are talking about integration into Europe on the basis of democracy, human rights and social justice."

One of the most forceful statements backing the action came from the outgoing president, Roman Herzog.

Mr Herzog told his audience at a Reichstag ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the federal republic that Germany had a duty to fight for human rights.

Learning process

Despite the government's attempts to present a mature modern European response, Die Zeit newspaper wrote that the conflict has been a "difficult and bitter learning process" for both the nation's leading politicians.

One commentator in the newspaper, Gunter Hofmann, wrote that the Chancellor's behaviour towards European Union envoy Martti Ahtisaari was instructive.

Describing how Mr Schröder had hugged the Finnish president as if "he had brought a gift from heaven from Belgrade", Mr Hoffman commentated: "One sensed the burden Mr Schröder was carrying".