Military history of Bulgaria during World War II

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The military history of Bulgaria during World War II embraces a primary period of neutrality until 1 March 1941, a period of alliance with the Axis Powers until 9 September 1944 and a period of alignment with the Allies until the end of the war.

1 Neutrality (1939-1941)
2 Axis Powers (1941-1944)
3 Allies (1944-1945)
4 Consequences and results

[edit] Neutrality (1939-1941)

The government of the Kingdom of Bulgaria under Bogdan Filov declared a position of neutrality upon the outbreak of World War II, being determined to observe it until the end of the war, but hoping for bloodless territorial gains, especially in the lands with a significant Bulgarian population occupied by neighbouring countries after the Second Balkan War and World War I. However, it was clear that the central geopolitical position of Bulgaria in the Balkans would inevitably lead to strong external pressure by both World War II fractions. Turkey had a non-aggression pact with Bulgaria.

Bulgaria succeeded in negotiating a recovery of Southern Dobruja, part of Romania since 1913, in the Axis-sponsored Treaty of Craiova on 7 September 1940, which reinforced Bulgarian hopes for solving territorial problems without direct involvement in the war.

[edit] Axis Powers (1941-1944)

Bulgaria was forced to join the Axis Powers in 1941, when German troops prepared to invade Greece from Romania reached the Bulgarian borders and demanded permission to pass through Bulgarian territory. Threatened by direct military confrontation, Tsar Boris III had no choice but to join the fascist bloc, which officially happened on 1 March 1941. With the Soviet Union in a non-aggression pact with Germany, there was little popular opposition to the decision.

Bulgarian occupation of Greece (in green)

Despite having officially joined the Axis Powers, the Bulgarian government maintained a course of military passivity until 20 April 1941, as German troops crushed Greece and Yugoslavia. In April 1941, the Bulgarian Army entered the Aegean region, hoping to gain an Aegean Sea outlet in Thrace and Eastern Macedonia, and occupying territory between the river Struma and a line of demarcation running through Alexandroupoli and Svilengrad west of Maritsa with the cities of Alexandroupoli (Дедеагач, Dedeagach), Komotini (Гюмюрджина, Gyumyurdzhina), Serres (Сяр, Syar), Xanthi (Ксанти), Drama (Драма) and Kavala (Кавала) and the islands of Thasos and Samothrace, as well as almost all of what is today the Republic of Macedonia and much of eastern Serbia.

Bulgaria did not change its position of passivity even after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, not dispatching units to any of the war fronts. The government was forced to declare a token war on the United Kingdom and the United States near the end of 1941, which resulted in the bombing of Sofia and other Bulgarian cities by Allied aircraft.

The German invasion of the Soviet Union caused a significant wave of protests, which led to the activization of a mass guerilla movement headed by the underground Bulgarian Communist Party. A resistance movement called Fatherland Front was set up in August 1941 by the Communist Party, the Zveno movement and a number of other parties to oppose then-current pro-Nazi government, after a number of Allied victories indicated that the Axis might lose the war. Partisan detachments were particularly active in the mountain areas of western and southern Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Tsar Boris III died suddenly in August 1943 after a visit to Germany. His 6-year-old son Simeon II succeeded him to the throne, but a council of regents was set up because of the heir's age. The new Prime Minister, Dobri Bozhilov, was in most respects a German puppet.

Bulgaria had maintained diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union while being an Axis member. The Soviet Army was approaching the Balkans and Bulgaria in the summer of 1943, after having crushed the Nazi defence around Iaşi and Chişinău. Romania quit the Axis Powers on 24 August 1944, declaring a war on Germany and letting Red Army forces cross its territory to reach Bulgaria.

On 26 August 1944, the Fatherland Front took the decision to incite an armed rebellion against the government, which led to the appointment of a new government on 2 September. Support of the government was withheld by the Fatherland Front, since it was composed of pro-Nazi circles in a desperate attempt to keep their power.

The Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria on 5 September and invaded the country three days later, occupying the northeastern part of Bulgaria with the key port cities of Varna and Burgas. The Bulgarian Army was ordered to offer no resistance.

[edit] Allies (1944-1945)

Garrison detachments with Zveno officers at the head overthrew the government on the eve of 9 September, after taking strategic keypoints in Sofia and arresting the ministers. A new government of the Fatherland Front was appointed on 9 September with Kimon Georgiev as prime minister.

War was declared on Germany and its allies a day later and the small divisions sent by the Axis Powers to invade Bulgaria were easily driven back. In Macedonia, the Bulgarian troops, surrounded by German forces and betrayed by high-ranking military commanders, fought their way back to the old borders of Bulgaria.

Three Bulgarian armies (some 500,000 strong in total) entered Yugoslavia in September 1944 and moved from Sofia to Niš and Skopje with the strategic task of blocking the German forces withdrawing from Greece. Southern and eastern Serbia and Macedonia were liberated within a month and the 130,000-strong Bulgarian First Army continued to Hungary, driving off the Germans and entering Austria in April 1945. Contact was established with the British Eighth Army in the town of Klagenfurt on 8 May 1945, the day the Nazi government in Germany capitulated.

[edit] Consequences and results

As a consequence of World War II, a Communist regime was installed in Bulgaria with Georgi Dimitrov in front. The monarchy was abolished and the tsar was sent into exile.

The Paris Peace Treaties of 1947 confirmed the incorporation of Southern Dobruja into Bulgaria during the war, the occupied parts of the Aegean region remaining within the borders of Greece and 150,000 Bulgarians being expelled from Greek Thrace.

History of World War II by nation