First Army (Bulgaria)

The Bulgarian First Army was a Bulgarian field army of World War II.

Throughout 1940 and 1941, Bulgaria, under Tsar Boris III, allied itself with Adolf Hitler's Germany and captured Dobrudja, Thrace, and much of Macedonia in the process. In the Bulgarian Army, there were four or five field armies, including the First Army, and some 30 divisions. In the spring of 1942, Hitler requested Boris' help controlling occupied Serbia. The Tsar allowed the Führer to use his First Army, and so the First Army began its occupation duty in Yugoslavia, which was full of partisans and resistance.

In early September 1944, the rapidly advancing Red Army reached the northern border of Bulgaria. Bulgarians continued fighting the guerillas in Thrace and Macedonia, but also turned their guns on the Germans. By the end of the month the First Army, together with the Bulgarian Second and Fourth Armies, was in full-scale combat against the German Army along the Bulgaria-Yugoslavia border, with Yugoslavian guerillas on their left flank and a Soviet force on their right. At this time the First Army consisted of three 10,000-men divisions.

By December 1944, the First Army numbered 99,662 men. The First Army took part in the Bulgarian Army's advance northwards into the Balkan Peninsula with logistical support and under command of the Red Army. The First Army, along with the rest of the Bulgarian forces, advanced into Hungary and Austria in the spring of 1945, despite heavy casualties and bad conditions in the winter. Because of the army's equipment shortages, on March 14, 1945, the Soviets agreed to provide the Bulgarians 344 aircraft, 65 T-34 tanks, 410 guns, 115 anti-aircraft guns, 370 mortars, 370 transport vehicles, and some 30,000 small arms, all free of charge. [Gosztony, p. 211.]

During 1944-45, the Bulgarian First Army was commanded by Lieutenant-General Vladimir Stoychev.

Footnotes

References

* Gosztony, Peter. "Stalins Fremde Heere". Bonn: Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 1991. ISBN 3-7637-5889-5.
* Ready, J. Lee. "World War Two Nation by Nation". London: Arms and Armour Press, 1995.

ee also

* Battle of Drava
* Battle of Mura

External links

* [http://www.explo-guide.com/Bulgaria-army-Museum-Sofia Travel tips to visit Bulgaria Army museum in Sofia]