At the end of 1942, the Bulgarians, anxious about the supply of weapons from Germany to Turkey (56 Pzkpfw. III Ausf. J and 15 Pzkpfw. IV Ausf. G were delivered to the Turks), their traditional enemy, turned to the Germans with a request for help in rearming the army … According to the plan approved by the Ministry of War of Bulgaria and the High Command of the Wehrmacht, on January 5, 1943, it was supposed to arm 10 infantry divisions, a cavalry division and two tank brigades with German weapons. Almost immediately, the Bulgarians and the Germans disagreed on the concept of a "tank brigade". The Germans insisted that the brigade should have one tank regiment with one tank battalion. The Bulgarians believed that the regiment should be two-battalion.
The parties did not agree on the volume of supplies of equipment. Initially, the Germans wanted to transfer 12 Pz. Kpfw. IV and 20 assault guns 20 StuG. III. This was not enough even to re-equip one already existing tank brigade. In turn, the Bulgarian side ordered 90 Pz. IV tanks from Germany (later the order was increased to 95 vehicles), 55 self-propelled guns, 25 Pz. I training tanks and 10 Pz. III tanks.
In February 1943. The first five StuG 40 Ausf G self-propelled guns, armed with 75 mm (7, 5 Stuk L / 43) cannons, were delivered to Bulgaria. The Bulgarians called them SO-75 ("self-propelled lord"). Until mid-December, the German side as a whole fulfilled the order. The 1st and 2nd batteries of self-propelled guns were specially created. The first battalion was stationed in Sofia, the second in the southeastern city of Haskovo. The structure of the battalion was as follows: headquarters, three assault batteries. The assault battery consisted of three platoons, two vehicles each and one command vehicle. In total, the battalion had 27 assault guns.
Assault gun StuG 40 Ausf G at the National Museum of Military History of Bulgaria in Sofia
On April 12, 1943, 41 Bulgarian officers and 37 sergeants went to study at the German tank school in Wunsdorf and for special courses for Pz. Kpfw. IV and StuG. III in the Serbian city of Nis.
3rd September 1943 the first 46 Pz. IVG tanks arrived in Bulgaria, which were called "Maybach T-IV" by the Bulgarians.
By order of the Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria No. 37 of September 29, 1943, instead of a tank regiment, a Tank brigade ("Bronirana brigade") was created on October 1, 1943, which included battalions of self-propelled guns.
The arrival of German tanks allowed the outdated French Renault R-35s to be removed from the tank brigade - in the future they were planned to be used against the partisans. All vehicles were in the city of Sliven, 10 tanks were then attached to the 29th Infantry Division with headquarters in the city of Vrana in Serbia, in the Bulgarian occupation zone. The armored vehicles were planned to be used against the communist partisans of Josip Broz Tito. Obsolete English Vickers Mark E Type B were transferred to training units, where they were used to train driver mechanics.
However, the German side informed the Bulgarian that it would not supply Pz. I and Pz. III tanks. Instead of 10 Pz. III tanks - 10 PzKpfw 38 (t) Ausf G.
PzKpfw 38 (t) Ausf G of the Bulgarian Army
But instead of 25 Pz. I tanks, 19 Hotchkiss H-39 tanks and 7 Somua S-35 tanks were offered. The Bulgarians did not agree with this proposal and strongly objected. Still, the German side forced the Bulgarian to agree to their proposal and delivered the French tanks, which the Bulgarians decided to transfer to the police and border forces.
French light tank Hotchkiss H-39
French medium tank Somua S-35
True, as compensation, the Germans additionally supplied the Bulgarians with 20 light armored cars 4x4 Sdkfz 222 and 223.
In total, in accordance with the rearmament program (which received the code name "Barbara Plan"), the Germans delivered to Bulgaria 61 PzKpfw IV tanks, 10 Pz. Kpfw. 38 (t) tanks, 55 StuG 40 assault guns, 20 armored vehicles (17 Sd. Kfz. 222 and 3 Sd. Kfz. 223). The motorization of the Bulgarian army continued with the delivery of 40 Austrian Steyr RSO / 01 tracked tractors and 40 2-t Maultir type 3000S / SSM semi-track tractors made at Ford-Werke AG in Cologne on the basis of the Austrian Ford V3000S truck.
In February 1944, the German side handed over the remaining 51 Pz. IVH tanks out of the 97 ordered.
In early September 1944, a tank brigade was stationed in the Sofia - Bozhuriste - Slivnitsa area. Since spring, the brigade has included: headquarters, a tank regiment, a motorized regiment, an artillery regiment, a reconnaissance battalion, an anti-tank battalion, an engineer battalion, an anti-aircraft unit, a transport unit, an evacuation unit and repair shops. The brigade consisted of 9,950 servicemen. The reconnaissance battalion consisted of 238 motorized units. Of these: 133 motorcycles with sidecars and 26 armored cars SdKfz 222 and 223. The motorized infantry regiment consisted of 369 trucks: 206 trucks Steyr 440/640.
The artillery regiment consisted of 190 motorized units. Among them: 30 heavy semi-tracked tractors 8T SdKfz7.
The transport section consisted of 102 Austrian Opel-Blitz, Steyr and L3000 trucks of different variants. In the technical part, there were 64 trucks and a tractor. The main force of the brigade was a tank regiment. It consisted of 134 tanks, distributed across three battalions (squads), including 97 German medium tanks Pz. Kpfw. IVG and Pz. Kpfw. IVH. On September 14, 1944. in the first battalion there were 37 tanks and 11 trucks, in the second - 37 tanks and in the third 35. The reserve platoon of a tank regiment had 12 tanks, the headquarters of the regiment had 13. Separately, the brigade leadership had up to nine tanks at its disposal. Due to the variety, there were many problems with spare parts in the brigade's engine park. All samples were of foreign production, so interruptions in their delivery happened very often. Therefore, the repair shops themselves made some parts, often doing the appropriate repairs in the field. The brigade had 77 mobile workshops.
Meanwhile, the morale of the brigade was low. The Germans noted pro-Russian sentiments among her soldiers and officers, a fascination with Pan-Slavic ideas, which intensified even more as the German army was defeated on the eastern and Italian fronts. Moreover, the instructors even believed that, out of unwillingness to fight, some Bulgarian officers of the brigade were sabotaging the training process.
On August 28, 1943, the Bulgarian Tsar Boris III died under mysterious circumstances (one of the versions of his death is the fact that he rejected Hitler's request to send a 100,000-strong Bulgarian army to the Soviet-German front with the motivation that it would not fight against the Red Army). On September 9, 1944, the pro-German fascist government was overthrown by the Fatherland Front, which included communists, farmers, social democrats, radical democrats and a number of other parties, with the help of the military, in which the Tank Brigade took the most active part. She took key positions in the capital. On September 11, 1944 Bulgaria declared war on Germany.
On September 15, 1944, the Tank Brigade, which was subordinate to the First Bulgarian Corps, was ordered to advance towards the city of Pirot (Serbia) northwest of Sofia. It was necessary to act against a group of German troops on the road to the city of Nis (Serbia). On the night of September 15-16, the Brigade command received an order to launch an offensive in the direction of the Bela Palanka area (west of Pirot). During reconnaissance on September 15, a shell hit one of the Pz. IV tanks. Later, the technical unit managed to evacuate the car to the rear workshops. On September 17, the tank regiment of the brigade, which was in the rear, received an order to launch an offensive shortly after the offensive of the 35th Infantry Regiment and strengthen its offensive, since the infantry regiment was unable to overturn the German resistance in the direction of Pirot - Bela Palanka - Niš. Due to poor reconnaissance of the Milin Kamyk area, the vanguard of the tank regiment got into a minefield, as a result of which 10 Pz. IV tanks were damaged. Strong German artillery fire prevented the evacuation of the damaged vehicles. Until September 20, the losses of the tank regiment amounted to 11 tanks and two self-propelled guns.
On September 19, the Tank Brigade re-entered the army reserve, and it was ordered to redeploy in the Ponor-Blato-Veliki Sukhodol area. During the march, due to a technical malfunction, two tanks from the 8th company were evacuated. On September 30, the motorized regiment was ordered to advance to the Zaychar-Kula area, which was 300 km away from the location of the Tank Brigade. Less than a week later, on October 8, the regiment turned to the Babuchnitsa - Gorchin area.
To begin the offensive operation, the Tank Regiment received an order on October 8 to make a transition from the Trekljano area to the Svoje - Mezgraia - Modra stena area.
On October 10, 1944, a tank regiment with a battalion of the 32nd Infantry Regiment of the 12th Division broke through the German defenses in the Vlasotintsi area and entered the rear of the German units in the Morava River valley. The next day, units of the Tank Brigade occupied the town of Leskovac. As a result of battles and breakdowns, many vehicles were damaged, including tanks. Soon after heavy fighting, which took place on 14 October with the German 7th SS Division "Prince Eugen", the Panzer Regiment was reorganized. The number of battalions in the regiment decreased, and there were only two of them. But in the battles near Poduevo the regiment fought again as part of three battalions. However, the number of tanks dropped to 88. The damaged vehicles were repaired in a technical workshop organized in Leskovac. A significant number of tanks and vehicles accumulated in repair shops could not be restored. Some of them were dismantled by mechanics and their parts were used to repair other machines.
After battles with the SS division, the 2nd Bulgarian Army, which included the Tank Brigade, began preparations for the Kosovo operation.
On November 3, during the fighting near Poduev, two tanks were lost. At the end of the operation, two batteries of self-propelled guns also took part. One attacked near the area of Mala Kosanitsa, and the other in the area of Myrdare.
Until November 15, the Tank Regiment was in the Kurshumli Bani area, where it was preparing for an offensive in the direction of Pristina (the administrative center of Kosovo in Serbia). In two days, the technical unit managed to repair 82 damaged vehicles, which significantly increased the striking power of the Tank Brigade in the following battles.
On November 22, the Tank Regiment took part in heavy fighting in the Mitrovica area, where it lost several tanks. On December 5, 1944, the leadership of the Tank Brigade issued an order for demobilization. All units were ordered to return to Bulgaria.
Tanks Pz. Kpfw. IV of the Bulgarian tank brigade in Sofia after returning to Bulgaria, December 1944
Irrecoverable losses of the Tank Brigade during the battles in Yugoslavia amounted to 20 tanks and 4 self-propelled guns. Part of the equipment during demobilization was in repair shops. At the first stage of Bulgaria's participation in the Second World War, the 1st, 2nd and 4th armies, numbering 287 thousand people, fought in Yugoslavia. At the second stage of Bulgaria's participation in the Second World War, the 1st Army of 120 thousand people was re-formed. She was to fight in the ranks of the 3rd Ukrainian Front in Hungary. The 1st Army included only one tank squad (battalion), which had 35 Skoda and Praga tanks (Czechoslovakian production) and 4 Pz. IV. There were 25 combat-ready ones. The battalion was in the operational army reserve.
Another tank battalion was formed on January 8, 1945. It consisted of: 22 Pz. IV tanks. three self-propelled guns, 34 motorcycles, 11 off-road vehicles, 25 trucks, two mobile workshops and three tanks. The battalion was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Gumbabov.
Bulgarian tank crews on Pz. Kpfw. IVH in Hungary 1945
To make up for the losses in early 1945, the command of the 3rd Ukrainian Front handed over to the Bulgarian army a batch of captured armored vehicles (one T-IV tank, one Hungarian Turan, three StuG assault guns, two Jagdpanzer IV assault guns, four Hetzer self-propelled guns and two Italian Semovente da 47/32).
Captured German assault gun Jagdpanzer IV at the National Museum of Military History of Bulgaria in Sofia
Thus, the Bulgarian tank brigade, despite the modest level of combat training in 1943 - 1944, managed to prove its combat effectiveness on the battlefield, bearing the brunt of the battles in Serbia and Kosovo in October-November 1944. I never had to meet with my German opponents. That is why the Bulgarians during the Second World War did not have a single tank ace.
