Show Us Your Bulgarian Things: PART TWO

[Rick Research]

Theodor: the General in your very nicely scanned photo is wearing the Prussian Pour le Merite: so he is

either Generalleutnant Nikolaus Jekow (German spelling, received it 18 January 1916) or a

General Todorow (14 October 1917)

Besides those two, only that old guy with the funny beard in the "wrong" uniform I posted over in the first part of "Show Bulgarian" got that award.

[Luftm40]

I have owned this RK group for many years, and have posted pics of it before...but what the heck. Gunther Hannak. He was awarded his Bulgarian stuff while serving w/ JG 77 in the Balkans. Wow, I just realized that to me Hannak used to look old in this pic...now he looks like a kid. Well, I know Hannak isn't getting younger, so...

[stevenn]

group

What an impressive group.Did he survive the war?

[Theodor]

Thanks Rick! I don't know why I have a "gut feeling" it's Jekov, but such feelings are not of a great help in historical research

Well, that's quite for the "Imperial...", but as have started here... here we go on

"Greeting the Austrian Emperor, 18 April 1918, Kjustendil" /Kjustendil = Western Bulgarian town/


At the Czerna river, Height 1050 /a place of famous battles/. Interesting is his belt /poorly seen, unfortunately/ - it's a clasic German from the type with crown and "Gott Mit Uns".



Ok, one of those fellas is Bulgarian. But please let me know, what nationality are the rest????????

[Theodor]

And jumping to another period, here is a group of Bulgarian paratroopers, unfortunately the original picture is very small:

[Theodor]

...and a closer look:

He's got both the Bulgarian and the German paratrooper badges.


He's got a nice gun

[Theodor]

Yes, the scanner is an entertaining toy, but ok., I'll stop fo a while torturing you with my blurry foggy pics I'll give way for really good stuff to be shown, cause I almost transferred the thread into "Show your worst pic"

[d-riemer]

And jumping to another period again

And jumping to another period, here is a group of Bulgarian paratroopers, ...

When the Germans were losing and Bulgaria had switched sides in the final months of WWII, the officers did not model themselves after the Germans any longer but tried to look more like the Soviet army.

Here is a picture of general Shteru Atanassov early 1945 in Hungary with some of his officers. He was the Assistant Commander (Political Commissar) of the First Bulgarian Army and the person who kept an eye on the royal officers still in the army. He wears an interesting mix of orders: a Soviet Red Banner and two royal Orders for Bravery with the infamous year "1941" removed. (The orders shown in the picture are the same type but not the actual ones awarded to him.) Atanassov had demonstrated his political loyalty as partisan and had been transferred to the 130,000 who marched as the First Bulgarian Army under Soviet command toward Germany (they only made it to Austria).

The Germans had supplied and trained the Bulgarian army for years. The army could handle German weapons and, therefore, was given captured material. However, using German planes and armored vehicles was dangerous. They had a hard time not to be mistaken for Germans by the Soviets. Finally, they painted big white crosses on their equipment.

The last-minute switch of Bulgaria in WWII had the effect that Bulgaria did not lose any territory after the war and even kept some area acquired as ally of Hitler-Germany.

[Theodor]

Shteriu Atanasov... I can not imagine him looking different but Soviet-like After all he was in the USSR since 1925! Entering the commie party in the early 20's, he participated in the commie revolts and in 1925 fled to the USSR. He returned to Bulgaria with the Red Army...
I would not say there was a change in the behavior of the old officers. The "new-born" ones were those who copied the Soviets, the "old" ones just had to remove from the uniforms the kinf's letter and the crowns, when the monarchy was removed.

[d-riemer]

Bulgarian-History Expert Needed

I have a badge that was probably awarded in the Bulgarian military in 1985. It has no explanatory text and is telling a picture story I do not understand. The backside shows only the state seal, the front is shown below. The year 1885 points to the battle of Slivnitsa but what is the symbolism of the badge about? five columns (is there a monument like that in Bulgaria?), "pod 24300" and 2 cannons (was artillery decisive in this battle?). The battle of Slivnitsa is famous for the fact that the Bulgarian army led by officers not higher in rank than captain (the Russians had just pulled out all their higher-ranking officers) defeated Serbian aggressors led by their generals.

[John F.]

The only Bulgarian awards I have are attached to this Bar.

John

[JensF.]

I accidently posted in the Part I thread.

I search any informations about the St. Alexander Order, Silver Merit Cross with swords on the ring. Awarded to which ranks and for what? Rarity and value? I just got a german medal-bar with one of them (WWI type). Thanks!!!
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[JensF.]

This one here:

[JensF.]

Nobody?

[Theodor]

Hi, I do not know this monument, maybe exist, I do not know... As for "pod 24300" - POD comes from PODELENIE - podelenie means a military unit. Of course, they are top secret, so only numbers given Maybe this is the military unit at Slivnitza? /most probably it is the one dedicated to the 1885 events... but may be some other, as well / Seems this is a 100 years commemorative medal/badge of a military unit, which is under the patronage of... something related to the Serb-Bulgarian war 1885.

I have a badge that was probably awarded in the Bulgarian military in 1985. It has no explanatory text and is telling a picture story I do not understand. The backside shows only the state seal, the front is shown below. The year 1885 points to the battle of Slivnitsa but what is the symbolism of the badge about? five columns (is there a monument like that in Bulgaria?), "pod 24300" and 2 cannons (was artillery decisive in this battle?). The battle of Slivnitsa is famous for the fact that the Bulgarian army led by officers not higher in rank than captain (the Russians had just pulled out all their higher-ranking officers) defeated Serbian aggressors led by their generals.