Bulgarian insignia and uniform before WWII

[BIGpanzer]

Hello, everybody!
I need the information about insignia (army, air force, navy); badges, medals and orders of the Army of Kingdom of Bulgaria before World War II. Fotos, pictures, description, Internet sites links etc...
Also I need the detailed information about the uniform of Bulgarian army in interwar period (1920-1939). I have only the book by Andrew Mollo "ARMED FORCES OF WORLD WAR II: Uniforms, Insignia and Organisation".


There are only a few pages about Bulgaria Thank you very much!


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[Theodor]

welcome to the forum! What a coinsidence, this is the same that I want Sorry for the joke, but there is no such book and the information is not sufficient, even in Bulgaria...
Well, I am the Bulgarian in that forum, will do my best to give you the info that I have, hope that our forummates will help, too, they also have some info.
This will take some time, I have period pictures, will look for proper ones and scan.

[BIGpanzer]

Good evening, Theodor!
Thank you very much for the reply. I`ll be very pleased if you can help me with the information about Bulgarian Army from interwar period (1920-1939) - scanned pictures will be very useful for me.
I found some Internet links about army of Kingdom of Bulgaria, may be you know them:

1. http://members.tripod.com/~marcin_w/index-bul.html (info about Bulgarian Armed Forces of WWII)

2.http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/bulgaria/bulgaria.htm (a very good site about tanks prior 1946, page about Bulgarian tanks and vehicles)



3.http://www.geocities.com/athens/4795/Bulgaria.htm (orders and medals of Bulgaria - list of sites, I found it just today)

4. http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/bulgaria/bulgariamain.shtml (badges of Bulgarian Air Force, found also today)

5. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Styx/4555/ww2.html (bulgarian ww2 military page - an excellent page about Bulgarian aviation during WW2. Look at pictures!)






Thank you again. See you later.

P.S. Also there is a good book (3 volumes) by L.Funcken and F. Funcken "L`Uniforme et les Armes des Soldats de la Guerre 1939-1945", I will try to find it soon.

[Theodor]

Thanks for the links, they are interesting, I know some, others not. But be careful, there are many mistakes. For example, the tanks and vehicles site says, that we had 15 Jagdpanzers, delivered in 1946. No such things, these machines were 15 Panther tanks, delivered early in 1945, quite far before the war's end. And that historical site with blue background, it contains lots of data, but also lots of Bullsh**, strange mixture... And the pilot badges site - I have never heard of a Bulgarian "retired pilot" badge... The one that they show, thisi s an ordinary pilot's badge, simply the crown is removed with the fall of the moarchy /this was done to loads of equipment/. I would accept if the eagle was removed for a "retired pilot", but the crown... not the crown! This is simply a republican rework.
Well, I got into too much details, little by little will add information here, in this thread. /sorry, time is quite limited, so will have to be "little by little" /

[Theodor]

A little bit about the uniforms. The one below, I thought it is pre-WWI, but not long ago found out, that it is in fact a post-WWI uniform, used until the mid-20's /in fact, till the beginning of the 30's, because the process of replacing the uniforms was not that easy in the postwar years, even for the officers. At some distant garrisons some officers used these even in the beginning of the 30's/. Funny, these uniforms are almost exact copy of the German pre-WWI "Rock" uniforms, Dunkelblau color.

[Theodor]

The collar must be closed, but the plastic figure that I use has a too fat neck

Here is the back side

[Theodor]

This is what came next - from ca.1925 to the ealy or mid-30's. Velvet collar, the buttons hidden.

[Theodor]

And here have a look directly to that thread, showing very late 30's/WW2 Bulgarian uniforms, the typical period uniforms. By the way I gave the white tunic for dry cleaning and it cleaned greatly! Here is the therad: http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ad.php?t=62157

That's for now, tomorrow evening will add period pictures of different uniforms.

[BIGpanzer]

Hello, Theodor!
Yes, there are some links in Internet about Bulgarian Army of WWII, many of them were made with the help of bulgarian enthusiasts. But despite this there are still some mistakes, you are right.
For example, http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/bulgaria/bulgaria.htm, which I told you about. I have a little bit different information from another sources about the amount of CV33 tankettes, Vickers 6-ton and Somua S-35 tanks in Bulgarian Army . As for 15 Jagdpanzers IV obtained by Bulgarians in 1946 (from the USSR as German trophy?), you are completely right - probably, they were Panther tanks, delivered in 1945.
I found this summer information about Military museum in Sofia. Here is the link: http://www.linux-penguin.org/achtung...cles/sofia.htm. It is incredible - there are so many quite rare tanks and vehicles there (French H-35 or Czech LT-35, Horch or FAMO military vehicles, which were in Bulgarian Army service during WWII), but in such terrible condition, and this is a museum, not a dump.



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I am sorry for the question, but do you know, may be now this bad situation already changed?

[BIGpanzer]

Good day, Theodor!
Yes, a good picture of post-WWI Bulgarian officer uniform, really, looks like German pre-WWI Dunkelblau jacket! What is the image on the buttons?
Thank you for the information about this.

[BIGpanzer]

Thank you very much for the perfect photo of the Bulgarian officer`s blouse of mid1920`s-mid 1930`s . Looks very impressive for me. What is the rank of this officer (captain, or, probably, not)? Does the figure on shoulders strap mean the number of regiment?
The link you gave me (complete set of 30's tunics) - it is very impressive
Thank you very much, dear Theodor!!! You have a good collection! These tunics look like the old Imperial Russian Army blouses (preWWI-WWI period), am I right? Also the service caps look like the Imperial Russian officers caps. But the tabs are from the German Army - so, could you provide me with the information, did these tabs appeared in Bulgarian Army after Bulgaria becoming a German Ally in March 1941 and German troops entered the country, or before, even in mid-1930s?
I need the good pictires of Bulgarian helmets and caps (army, air force and navy of 1920-1930s), do you have them?
Thank you very much!

[BIGpanzer]

Hello, Theodor!
Because now I am interested in Bulgarian history, especially in interwar period (1920-1940), could you help me - which flag was an official flag of the Kingdom of Bulgaria in this period? Probably, the second?

1.

2.

3.

Also what does mean the inscription around the Bulgarian Coat of Arms with lions and crown in these 50 stotinki (1937) and 2 leva (1925) coins, the same I have in my collection? Me seems should be near "Union provides strength" but I don`t have a Bulgarian vocabulary, sorry. Why do Coat of Arms differ from each other in both cases?



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What does mean the inscription "БОЖЕ ПАЗИ БЪЛГАРИЯ" (edge of the 20-100 leva 1930-1937 coins with Boris III - King of Bulgaria)? Me seems "God saves Bulgaria", but I am not shure. The same problems with Bulgarian language as before...



Thank you very much for the information.
Good luck!

[BIGpanzer]

Hello, Theodor!
The 5th letter to you from today, please, sorry for trouble
I found one very interesting link, do you know about it?
Here it is: http://www.rathbonemuseum.com/BULGARIA/BUMain.html
This is about the uniform of Bulgarian Air Force during WWII. Look at photos from it. Enjoy!

[Theodor]

Hi! Very sorry for not keeping my promise for pictures last eve, but came home a little late

I am very glad that you like the pictures that I made a few years ago at the Military museum This was in the pre-digital times, made with an ordinary camera.
But since an year or two the museum is in a new location! Everything wqas moved to the new museum, at the back side of the park of the former Military of H.M. School here in Sofia. Unfortunately the vehicles are again in the open!!! A litytle before they were moved, someone had stollen the coolant radiator of the halftrack As said, the vehicles are still in the open, at least they are not in the bushes now, still kids climb on them, but are much more vandal-safe

The flags - the first one is correect, white-green-red, the other two are not correct.

The coat of arms says exactly what you say! I think the Belgians had the same slogan.
On the king Boris III coin is written: "God, keep Bulgaria" /prevent from troubles /

[Theodor]

About the uniform with the velvt collar patches - someone has removed the bard, but there seem to have been 3 of them. So, 3 bars with one stripe - he must have been a Captain. The number 2 indeed indicates 2nd Regiment.