Reading your document on Bulgaria, I was struck by the stationing of forces to seriously secure the frontier with Turkey.
In mid-late 1944, the Soviet 37th Army “disappeared” from the front lines in the war with Germany. Its destination was the frontier with Turkey, along which it remained until beyond the end of the war.
Apparently, that frontier was considered a potential danger. I assume the thinking of Bulgaria and the USSR was that Turkey could have attempted to re-enter the Balkan lands it had lost in the early 1900s.
2. Regarding Bulgarian organization, I have seen another source mention the 14-man rifle squads. I assume they drew that number of men from the British intelligence source you mentioned. Interesting that some of these details remain unclear, I wonder if the museum in Sofia has more information.
I assume that the museum would. Many years ago the Bulgarian MoD provided regiment-level organization tables for me (those are the ones you see in the article). I was so happy to see actual confirmed, official information that I decided not to press my luck and ask for lower-level tables. So (a) those regiment-level tables you see are actual, genuine tables, and (b) if they have those I suspect that the Bulgarian Army will have battalion- and company-level tables as well.
Perhaps I should try for those once the dust settles on all the other country write-ups I am polishing.
I have added a new tab called “sources” that I will use to publish materials that may otherwise be difficult to access. My first foray is the record of activities of the Japanese SNLFs in the first six months of the Pacific War. Check it out when you get a chance.
Hi Dibo,
First, my apologies for the very long delay in getting back to you. I have been putting in very long hours on other projects and this website does not notify me when someone posts here. So I did not see it.
Your websites are very interesting and it is always gratifying to hear from someone who has put a lot of work into their efforts.
Any comments or corrections you have about my document would be very much appreciated. I look forward to them.
Beautiful work regarding the French Army documents, thank you.
Any chance you may at some point examine the TEGs of the Army of Liberation? While similar to U.S. Army organization at the time, there was many points of difference at the detail level.
Hi. Sorry for the delay in responding. For some reason the host does not let me know when someone leaves a message. I would think that those TEGs would show up in the US archives, since the US Army was the primary sponsor. I don’t recall seeing any of them, however. On the other hand, I was not looking for them either. They might show up in the MID regional files if you have access to NARA college park. I’m sorry I can not be of more help.
Hi again, I looked and I have no TEGs for the Free French except for a table for the infantry battalion as of late 1942 for the French Forces in the Levant. This was clearly an extemporized organization based on what little equipment was available, rather than any optimized configuration. I can send that to you if you can send me a destination.
Feel free to comment on any of the documents posted here.
Hello Leland,
Reading your document on Bulgaria, I was struck by the stationing of forces to seriously secure the frontier with Turkey.
In mid-late 1944, the Soviet 37th Army “disappeared” from the front lines in the war with Germany. Its destination was the frontier with Turkey, along which it remained until beyond the end of the war.
Apparently, that frontier was considered a potential danger. I assume the thinking of Bulgaria and the USSR was that Turkey could have attempted to re-enter the Balkan lands it had lost in the early 1900s.
2. Regarding Bulgarian organization, I have seen another source mention the 14-man rifle squads. I assume they drew that number of men from the British intelligence source you mentioned. Interesting that some of these details remain unclear, I wonder if the museum in Sofia has more information.
Cheers
I assume that the museum would. Many years ago the Bulgarian MoD provided regiment-level organization tables for me (those are the ones you see in the article). I was so happy to see actual confirmed, official information that I decided not to press my luck and ask for lower-level tables. So (a) those regiment-level tables you see are actual, genuine tables, and (b) if they have those I suspect that the Bulgarian Army will have battalion- and company-level tables as well.
Perhaps I should try for those once the dust settles on all the other country write-ups I am polishing.
Congrats on your new website, Leland! Some pretty good info here…
Kind regards,
Nuyt
I have added a new tab called “sources” that I will use to publish materials that may otherwise be difficult to access. My first foray is the record of activities of the Japanese SNLFs in the first six months of the Pacific War. Check it out when you get a chance.
For the Bulgaria file you may want to check:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bulgarian_military_equipment_of_World_War_II
and
https://forum.boinaslava.net/forum/international-forum/international-forum-aa/9232-
Both links are created by me, and the first one, although focused on weapons mostly, contains enough sources and info for corrections on the artillery and armor parts. The second one is on OOB, but I have not yet listed the sources there – but if you want something specific as information – feel free to ask me.
I will provide some specific comments when I finish reading your file. So far it seems broadly on mark, with some exceptions.
Hi Dibo,
First, my apologies for the very long delay in getting back to you. I have been putting in very long hours on other projects and this website does not notify me when someone posts here. So I did not see it.
Your websites are very interesting and it is always gratifying to hear from someone who has put a lot of work into their efforts.
Any comments or corrections you have about my document would be very much appreciated. I look forward to them.
Leland,
Beautiful work regarding the French Army documents, thank you.
Any chance you may at some point examine the TEGs of the Army of Liberation? While similar to U.S. Army organization at the time, there was many points of difference at the detail level.
Hi. Sorry for the delay in responding. For some reason the host does not let me know when someone leaves a message. I would think that those TEGs would show up in the US archives, since the US Army was the primary sponsor. I don’t recall seeing any of them, however. On the other hand, I was not looking for them either. They might show up in the MID regional files if you have access to NARA college park. I’m sorry I can not be of more help.
Hi again, I looked and I have no TEGs for the Free French except for a table for the infantry battalion as of late 1942 for the French Forces in the Levant. This was clearly an extemporized organization based on what little equipment was available, rather than any optimized configuration. I can send that to you if you can send me a destination.