The First Division, 1939-45

[bellum]

The First Bulgarian Infantry Division was formed in 1935 from the First Infantry Brigade as part of the general program of rearmament in violation of the Treaty of Neuilly. The home station of the division was Sofiya.
This unit was considered elite and was nicknamed the “Iron Division”. It was composed of the 1st, 6th and 25th Regiment of infantry and the 4th Regiment of artillery. The 16th Infanty Regiment was also attached for a time.
It was mobilized for the Balkan campaign in 1941, but saw no action. After a short tour in Yugoslavia, the unit was sent to the Turkish border until late 1942. At least some portion of the division, probably just a reinforced battle group but possibly the entire division, was on anti-partisan duty in Macedonia –the records are unclear on this point. The division was back in Sofiya by March 43, except for the 25th Regiment which was in Thrace on occupation duty.
Upon the Bulgarian defection from the Axis, the First Infantry Division joined with Soviet forces in driving Nazis out of Macedonia and later, Yugoslavia.

By Michael Parker. The Europa Magazine, nr. 14 (GR/D, 1990), p. 18.

That´s all I have on this subject. Can anyone post that kind of info referring to other Bulgarian Army units during the WW2? Or, is available a list of bibliography useful for this goal?

Regards from Spain,

Carlos Pйrez

[dibo]

Unfortunately there is no bibliography in English or Spanish for that matter. You may want to try the Nafziger book: Bulgarian order of Battle World War II ISBN 1-58454-020-0. That's the only source in English I know.
On the Web the only sites with somewhat coherent information are:

http://niehorster.orbat.com/032_bulgaria/__bu.htm

http://axishistory.com/index.php?id=4043

However be warned - these sources contain numerous mistakes, omissions, etc, which is not surprising giving the fact there is hardly any literature on the subject even in Bulgarian.
Info on the Bulgarian OOB in English is one of the projects I'm working on and hopefully will someday publish it on the Web. Until then however feel free to ask me questions - but please be specific, because I have neither the time nor the resources to answer long questions.

P.S. 1st Infantry Division was recreated in 1928 and not in 1935. The basis was the cadre of the 1st Infantry Regiment, which was in fact the downgraded as per the restrictions of the Neuilly Treaty in 1920 1st "Iron" Sofia Infantry Division of the WW1.

[bellum]

Thanks dibo, you are confirming what I know about sources in English (scarces and mostly unreliables) since I am trying to put together some useful info from them. No doubt your work will be unique and priceless ... keep it running. We, all those "aficionados", have two hopes right now: your project and future Alexander Vachkov´s books on Wars for the Unification of Bulgaria series (if even will be published).

Regards,

C.

[dibo]

Your project and future Alexander Vachkov´s books on Wars for the Unification of Bulgaria series (if even will be published).

Regards,

C.

See:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=994085#994085

Alexander Vachkov plans to publish 4 books of his series, dealing with 1885 war with Serbia, the Balkan wars 1912-1913, the Bulgaria in First World War 1915-1918 and Second World War 1941-1945. So far he has published the first two (the Balkan Wars is available in English as well) and is working on the third. So it will be published somewhere in the future...