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G.K.

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Hi, I'm new here, and I want to share with you my new HoI III campaign, this time playing for Bulgaria... I hope you'll like it...
____________________________________________

Diminished Kingdom – 1936 Axis BulgAARia

Airspace over the Balkans, 3rd January 1936, 3 o’clock AM

An old aircraft was flying over the dark shadow of the Macedonian mountains. Inside, there was a man sitting on the seat, drinking a glass of the best Italian red wine.

His name was Bogdan Filov – the prime minister of Bulgaria.

Bfilov.jpeg


As he was looking from the window at the land below, gloomy ideas were passing through his head.

“This is Bulgarian land. Inhabited by Bulgarians. Those were the sons of our nation who liberated it from the violent rule of the Ottomans. They shed their blood and sacrificed their lives for the liberty of our brothers. Then we were betrayed by all. By the Serbs, by the Romanians, by the Greeks. All of those nations had to fight the barbaric Turks; they suffered under their rule the same way as we did.

How could they betray us as they did?
If you are interested, you can watch my attempts to change the Status Quo on the Balkans. Now, we have the power to act... ”

Airport of Sofia, January 1936

As the sun was rising over the small and poor country, the aircraft was just landing. On the runway, there was a car awaiting me. Tsar Boris III. needed to be informed about the results of the negotiations held in Rome with the Italian government.

Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-07619%2C_Boris_III._von_Bulgarien.jpg


The programme was important for both sides. Formally, we were discussing the “economical cooperation”, but the real programme was much more concrete – the military alliance between our glorious nation and the Axis – Germans and Italians. Also, one of the Hungarian diplomats was present. Our nations have one thing in common – their lands and dignity were stolen in the last thirty years. Further cooperation might help us to change it.

Tsar seemed to be satisfied with the results and ordered me to guide our state to the Axis.

Residence of the Prime Minister Filov, Sofia, January 1936

The internal situation here is not as good as it should be.
According to Tsar’s order, I made some inevitable changes in the government. This is how it looks like now:


Here is the current map of Bulgaria, soon to be changed.



Note our neighbours – Greeks, Serbs, Romanians, Turks. All of them attacked us in 1913. The only neighbour we can consider our friend is the Black Sea.
But we won’t let our country be destroyed. We will strike our opponents, and show them what is the taste of revenge.

And those damn trade unions, together with communists and other leftists are meanwhile attacking Bulgaria from the inside. I ordered our security minister to crush them.


Not to mention those spies.

March 1936





Italians have just finished their Ethiopian adventure, while the Germans are reoccupying the Rhineland. Western Powers are sitting on their asses and do nothing with it. They are just weak. Better for Bulgarians.

Meanwhile, our arsenals are producing new artillery to reequip our army. Weak army, indeed. No cars, no navy, no airplanes, everything goes in the WWI-style. But our new allies have promised some assistance in modernisation of our forces, which are now consisting of 12 000 cavalry units and approx. 30 000 infantry units. Nothing else.

September 1936, Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sofia.

In Spain, Generals Mola and Franco started their fight against the left-wing government in Madrid. Our partners are sending troops and airplanes to their aid; Bulgaria is limited only to “moral support” of these generals.

Armament minister reports that the new artillery units are ready to be deployed.



Budapest, Capital of Hungary, Early September 1936

A secret meeting is taking place here. In four-day-lasting negotiations, delegations of Bulgaria (Me), Hungary (Admiral Horthy) and Soviet Union (V. Molotov) agreed on a first part of the Bulgarian revenge. Between those nations is a state, which is occupying their lands – the Romanian Kingdom.

According to the treaty, combined operation will be held on 23rd of September. While the Soviet and the Hungarian troops are supposed to decoy their troops, Bulgaria will attack and secure their capital. The territory should be then partitioned between our countries – Transylvania to Hungary, Bessarabia and northern Romania to SU, the rest – to us.



All the country is preparing for the 3rd Balkan war, which should start – tomorrow in the morning. God be with us in our just cause.
 
Ooh, interesting. Like the narrative! Will be interesting to see how Bulgaria fares in this world. :D
 
Part Two – The War

Bulgarian northern border, September 23, 3 o’clock AM

During this moonless night, members of the Bulgarian army, stationed along the border, were still sleeping. Except for one man, Lieutenant Boris Draganov, who was sitting on the chair and listened to Radio Moscow. Normally, he would be arrested for listening to a communist radio station, but this was a special case.

Boris was falling asleep while listening to Bolshevik “revolutionary” songs, but suddenly, radio Moscow stopped replaying “Kalinka” and a very strange sentence appeared in the radio programme:

“On the Southern Border the stakes are burning”.

Not many people knew what it means. Boris did. Immediately, all the soldiers were woken up and prepared for action.

At 5 o’clock, the sentence was replayed in the radio.

This was the signal to start the war. While Soviets and Hungarians had provoked minor clashes on the northern borders of Romania during last 2 weeks, Bulgarian army crossed the Danube and began marching on Bucharest. No resistance was met after we crossed the borders. Romanians were successfully decoyed. Operation “Roma down” was started.

(Note: I should kick the intelligence minister. His codenames suck.)

The plan is simple – 2 cavalry divisions will be enveloping the capital and occupying the key city of Ploiesti. After it, Bucharest will be attacked from all sides, occupied and the key state officials, including the King, should be arrested.



On the home front, Tsar ordered some tougher laws to be enacted.



Frontline near Bucharest, September 26, early morning



First minor clashes took place near Ploiesti and the advance of our cavalry was stopped. We seem to be overpowering the Romanians, but their airplanes are still attacking our brave cavalrymen on the front and we can do nothing about it due to absence of the airforce.

Meanwhile, Bucharest is to be encircled. Our intelligence reports that at least one division defends the capital.

Outskirts of Bucharest, Night September 26-27



Defenders of Ploiesti were attacked from their left side and our cavalry is pressing them back. On the periphery of Bucharest, our troops are marching towards the royal palace, meeting only very little resistance. Everything is looking good in this phase.

But the Romanians are not sleeping and heavy forces are moving south now. We must be fast...

Bucharest, September 28



White flag was seen flying from the newly built Arcul de Triumf. Our troops are now marching into the centre to secure the parliament and royal palace.

The defence was much weaker than I expected, there were less than 4000 soldiers in Bucharest. In Ploiesti, the second city we need to capture, our troops are already moving towards the centre, but the Romanians were reinforced.



Ploiesti, Noon September 29





After our troops were reinforced from the south, the Romanian resistance had collapsed and General Dumitrescu later surrended to our troops. The Bulgarian flag is now flying over the 2 most important cities and many Romanian officials were captured. Royal family has fled to Poland.

Romanians asked for armistice and the negotiations begun. They offered to return all the lands inhabited by Bulgarians and all their territorial gains from Balkan wars.

But we won’t accept anything but unconditional surrender.



And... They accepted! War is over!

Part Three – Partition of Romania

According to the Treaties of Budapest from September 1st:

1) Romanian territories are partitioned between SU, Hungary and Bulgaria:



2) All the officials of what used to be Romanian Kingdom are under patronage of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (DO NOT ask what does it mean – I don’t know and I even don’t want to know if my conscience should stay clear!)

3) The occupation regime is an internal affair of the occupying country and should not be influenced from the outside.

October 1st, Sofia

A grand parade was held in the capital. Tsar, I and General Kutinchev were riding three white horses while the army marched behind. Heroes, including Lieutenant Draganov, were then decorated for their extraordinary bravery.

Meanwhile, our general staff analyzed the previous war. The result: We need an airforce and a navy!

But we lack the technology to build them, except for transports.

Now, we are negotiating with Germans about possible licence for their Messerschmitts and in Varna, the first transport ships are built for future use.



December 21st, Embassy of Germany, Sofia



On this day, Bulgaria formally joined Axis (so far Germany and Italy), soon to be followed by Hungary. In the Soviet Union, comrade Stalin seems to be occupied by murdering everyone he can see.



Sofia, January 7

While all the Bulgarians are celebrating Christmas, General Franco came to a final victory in Spain. Our government has officially recognized him as the head of state, although we had some unofficial relationships with his government before.



Few weeks after, our 3 transport fleets were commissioned and the Office of Bulgarian Admiralty was opened in Varna. Negotiations with Germans have finally some results, so we started to build 2 submarine fleets and also a fighter wing.



 
Oh, a cooperative attack on Rumania with the SU? Very neat. What will the next target be? Very interesting narrative in the beginning with the Secret soviet message.
 
Still not sure, all the four original neighbors need to be beaten.

But I think that Bulgaria is going to live in peace for a few years while getting ready, but... who knows? :wacko:
 
Part 4 – Peaceful Intermezzo

Summer 1937

The things seem to be moving in the world, as we have a new partner in our fight.

The Japanese.



Their troops began marching into the Chinese territory; let’s see how they will fight...

On the home front, there’ve been some attempts to reduce our power, but all of them were crushed. Ministry of war reports that the first Bulgarian fighters will be ready soon. Our future pilots are being trained in Germany right now.



Airport of Varna, Bulgarian military airbase

All our government had been invited to see our new fighters on their first flight. It was impressive! It’s good to see that our partners are so technically advanced. After we have seen the air performance, Tsar Boris ordered me to get some support planes for our troops. We got offers from both Italy and Germany, but the German Stuka is, according to our air experts, much better at its task.



bulair1.png


Bulgarian Messerschmitts 190 D on their first flight

After this magnificent day, I had to go back to a normal duty. On 23sd f October, there had been a first uprising in our part of Romania, but it was soon crushed and the leaders were shot. Hopefully, those Romanian are going to think twice before they’ll rise again.

A few months after the first clashes Japanese are doing great work in China, as they’ve already puppeted Shanxi and the Commies.



January 1938

In Sofia, there had been a large celebration of Christmas this week. I admit, I used it as – more or less - propaganda action to celebrate our great victory over the Romanians and to show the people that we need to go even further against our outer enemies. All the Bulgarians were applauding to me...

After the celebrations, I was invited to visit the German ambassador, Herr Schäffer, at his residence in Sofia. He informed me about the future aspirations of the Third Reich and asked me for political support in Austria and – later – even Czechoslovakia and Poland. He promised that he is not going to provoke any wars as the West is in crisis and most likely will let their “Führer” do what he wants.

He also promises further military support in establishing the “Grand-Bulgarian Empire” on the Balkans if we keep supporting them.

I like that term. I should use it in one of my speeches.

Soon, Germans made the things move a bit – their troops had marched to Austria and annexed it without any resistance.



In February, they took a part of Czechoslovakia, again without resistance. Herr Schäffer was right – The West is weak now. They were allied with Czechoslovaks – but betrayed them.



Varna, April 20

Since the early morning, there had been an extraordinary activity in the port. One man, Zlatan Ivanov, was also here, waiting on the pier. His career was just beginning.

But he wasn’t going to be a dock worker.

On this glorious day, he was going to become a submarine captain.

In the docks, the first of the 12 our submarines, named “Aкула“– “Shark”, was being launched.



akula.jpg


This was the first step in building a navy, although other ships – 2 destroyer fleets – were being built. Our admiralty even plans to build some cruisers and even talks about battleships!

But those 2 submarine fleets are a good base, though. I guess we will hear about Captain Ivanov again...

Few months later, our factories finished the Stukas. I’m planning to order some real bombers to be built, but I’m going to wait till Bulgaria conquers more IC. Our fighters need to be reinforced, too.

But let’s wait with the airforce and modernize the ground forces, too. 2 light armoured divisions are to be built. They are composed of 1 MOT + 1 LARM for now and should be improved after we get the potential to do so.

Due to lack of IC, only 2 licensed MOTs are built (Bulgaria lacks the technology to build trucks in 1938... I can understand it about ships, tanks and planes, but considering this, there’s really something very wrong with my country...)





In October, the Germans have finished Czechoslovakia using a great cooperation between Hungarians, Poles and even Slovaks. Again without any resistance. Germans have conquered 2 countries so far and they hadn’t even fire a single bullet due to cowardice of some leaders. This is a signal for Bulgaria to gear up for another war...



The New Year has come again and major diplomatic changes occurred in Europe.

Mussolini doesn’t want to stay behind in conquering Europe, so he took Albania. Germans got back some territories lost in the Great War and agreed with Soviets about the future territorial spheres.



Now, in 1939, Bulgaria is ready for another war...

Weird things are happening in Japan now... But that is the subject of a future update... they are too weird to be narrated in a few sentences...
 
Oh, oh, which country are you invading now?
And fail bulgarians not knowing how to make trucks. :rofl:
 
Part 5 – Blitzkrieg without tanks

January 1939

On these days, I and my government don’t have so much work, so I have finally some time for myself. During one rainy morning, I was reading a newspaper and the main headline got my attention:

Internal crisis in Turkey!

This is a chance for us to get some territories back. Let’s finish what we have started in 1912 and kick the Ottomans from Europe!

But... De Iure we have no reason for attack... No territorial claims, no possible provocations as the Turks are neutral.

January 20, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sofia

Finally, there might be a reason. Mr.Kioseivanov, the minister, advised me to try the method used against the Czechoslovakia...

I didn’t understand at first but then I realised that in Eastern Thrace, there are a few Bulgarians and if we can manage a propaganda campaign about the Turkish atrocities, we might get a reason for war...

We have also started to manufacture tanks for our future armoured divisions, but they won’t be ready to fight this war.



February 1, Turko-Bulgarian border

Everything is going well.



The public opinion in the world seems to be watching the Far East now, and although we made some steps to assure the world that war is going to start soon, the people doesn’t seem to be interested in another local war here. Either way, the partition of Romania was easy, too, just the Greeks are afraid and deployed some troops along the border and in the occupied Western Thrace.

Mr. Georgiev, chief of staff, informed me that the troops are deploying along the border and are ready to fight.

He also presented his “blitz” (Or “M'lnija” – we are nationalists after all, aren’t we?) plan:

The Ottomans control 9 VPs and according to our intelligence, we only need to occupy 5 of them. Istanbul is worth 3 points, Ankara 2, others 1. In total – 6.

Istanbul is close to the border and should be easy to capture. 2 smaller cities, Izmir and Trabzon, are on the coast and can be invaded. It is a risk and before we start the operation, we must be sure that they are undefended, because their navy is much stronger, containing an old battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim, 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer fleet and 1 submarine fleet. If they manage to find our ships, they are doomed as we have nothing to defend our transports. We must therefore be fast.

After we invade those cities, our troops will be marching on Istanbul. We must conquer it at any cost and if the invasion fails, we will be holding it as a fortress.

Our air force must destroy any possible resistance in Thrace.


Bulgarian army is now deployed and our navy is alerted, too. Submarines and transport, one fleet of each, are now ready for invasion. Here is the “M'lnija” plan:


(Red are our forces, Yellow the enemy ones)

Our submarines have been spying their coastal cities and they are really undefended. We also know everything about their navy. The war can begin...

On the 14th of February, our troops have crossed the border. The war has begun. 38 000 men are marching on Istanbul; while 20 000 others are invading the coast.







Both invasions were successful and Izmir and Trabzon are occupied, but Trabzon is being bombed and the Ottoman troops are closing.

At Izmir, our navy was found by the Turkish Navy, one entire transport fleet was destroyed and the only submarine that was in contact, “Delfin“(„Dolphin“) attacked the battlecruiser, but missed with all four torpedoes and was damaged in counterattack. Captain Kirillov had failed, but at least saved his crew.

The Straits are now closed for our ships, so the first submarine fleet has anchored at Dodecanese.

Meanwhile, our troops are marching through Eastern Thrace to Istanbul, which has been bombed by our Stukas since the beginning of war.



bulair3.png

Bulgarian Stukas bombing Turkish motorised troops retreating to Istanbul.

bulair4.png

(This time they hit nothing, but they are improving, really... What a shame.)

In the evening of 16th February, our troops attacked Istanbul. The decisive battle was started.

bgmortarh.jpg

Our heroic soldiers firing a mortar against Turkish positions in Istanbul

Ottoman air force tried to stop our advance, but our new fighters did well on the skies.

On the 20th, our troops were occupying the European part of Istanbul and the Turks sued for peace.





464pxyaroslavveshinnano.jpg

(Artist’s vision, the victorious Bulgarians attacking Istanbul)

According to the treaty of Istanbul, signed by the glorious nations of Bulgaria and Germany (and the Turks, too...) Turkey had to cede us the Eastern Thrace and even Istanbul. The Ottomans were finally kicked out of Europe. Georgi Rakovski would be proud about us.

Germans asked us to let them help us forming a new Turkish government, while Turkey will become our protectorate and will be placed under our indirect control.



Now, Bulgaria has the first puppet state and an important ally against the Commies on the East.
 
Last edited:
A puppet state, that is cool. ;) Is Greece next? May they tremble in fear!
 
464pxyaroslavveshinnano.jpg


Did the Bulgarians use Steyr M95's?
Yes it is Mannlicher... :p


That painting is actualy:
"Bulgarians overrun the Turkish positions en bayonette", by the Czech painter Jaroslav Věšín.
And it is about First balkan war 1912-1913, but is accurate for that bulgarian-turkish war, not by the used wepons but by will that soldiers show :)
 
Our armies are now being reequipped with more modern semi-automatic rifles, but yes, some of our reserve units are still using it as they did in real WW2... Have a look HERE

DiOmitko: I didn't knew the author was Czech, too... Interesting!
 
Part 6 – The Curious Story of the Legion Krum

To watch the entire story, we must get back in time to September 1938, to the Far East.

On the Chinese front, our Japanese allies were advancing really fast. While Xibei San Ma, Commies and Shanxi were under their control, Kuomingtang still resisted despite the huge Japanese breakthrough. Chinese troops made several counteroffensives with various results, but the Japs were still advancing. Kuomingtang then joined the Allies and Japan got into conflict with the entire faction.



Then, an unexpected thing then occurred – French troops invaded the Japanese mainland!



Personally, I never thought that French are even able to fight, so I first thought that minister Kioseivanov is joking, but apparently he wasn’t...

As long as the islands were nearly undefended, the entire Axis realised that French victory is not far and that we might lose an important ally in the area.

Soon, French troops were holding Kyushu and their troops, overnumbering the mighty Samurais, began marching to Tokyo.



During the winter all the Bulgarians were occupied with the last conflict, but the situation in Japan was even worse, even though they finally defeated the Kuomingtang..





Germans and Italians decided to send some technical aid and military specialists. And Bulgaria? We need to be loyal partner to the Axis and we can’t let the Emperor fall!

But... We have neither technical specialists (not even truck-makers!) nor good strategists used to modern warfare!

But there can be a way to help them, though.

Immediately, I started to act. Our canvassers raised a wave of solidarity among our nation and many people are willing to help, so other friendly nation won’t be subjected to another version of the Neuvilly treaty.



From 20 000 volunteers found in the army, Legion Krum, named after the great Bulgarian warrior, was created. One of them was Lieutenant Boris Draganov, hero of the Romanian War.

bg15infreg.jpg

Members of the Legion Krum before the voyage, notice Mr. Draganov, sitting on the very left

Port of Constanta, Morning April 6

The crowd of devoted Bulgarians come to say farewell to our heroes, leaving for a country on the other side of the planet (Err... some people still believe the Earth is flat... Education is not the best here, but this will change, I promise). Both our transports began their voyage to Tokyo...



One day after, another ceremony was held, this time in Varna. Bulgarian navy has its own destroyers of the modern German design. After it, a keel of a new ship was laid, this time a light cruiser, again a German design.

ddbul.jpg

Asparuh, one of our newly commissioned destroyers of the German Z17 design seen while performing an exercise in the Black Sea



“While we were leaving our homeland, I felt really strange. I didn’t know if I will ever return to my beloved country, but simultaneously I was so proud about our nation, fighting for our comrades in such a distant country. French Napoleonic ambitions must be stopped! They have embarrassed our glorious nation after the Great War; we won’t let them do the same to others!”

These are Mr. Draganov’s memoirs; as a member of the Legion, he will now lead you through the story:

“On the 19th of April, our ships have landed in Nagoya, one of the Japanese ports. Most of my friends on board thought we are going into an uncivilized country, but we were really wrong. While our steamer was anchoring, I took this photograph of Japanese battleships, anchoring in the port:

japanesebattleshipsyama.jpg




Meanwhile, the Samurais strengthened their defence, but the French troops were still dominating and their next target was Nagoya. We had some time to look into Japanese culture – really extraordinary event for someone who haven’t ever left Europe – as the vast majority of these 20 000 men.

800pxhigashihonganjinag.jpg


Japanese architecture in Nagoya, photographed by a member of Legion Krum

mukden1931japanshenyang.jpg

Our and Japanese troops marching through Japan towards the frontline

But then a strange thing occurred.

When both our divisions were already waiting a few kilometres behind the frontline and all of us could hear the shooting, the Japanese informed us that our presence is no longer necessary.

(What the F**K? When I got an EF from other state, no one dared to ask me whether I want it or not...)





When we were again boarding the ships, I had a disappointing thoughts passing through my head. We are leaving our allies, our comrades in fight while they are threatened by complete destruction. Why are they refusing our helping hand?

Our return to Varna was as quiet as possible as long as the mission ended with a terrible shame. But after a few months, all of us realised that the Japs had a reason to refuse us. The tide stared to turn and slowly, mile for a mile, the French troops were pushed back and later, all the Japanese islands were liberated.

Either way, for all of us it was a great experience. Not to mention the possible cooperation in naval engineering...”
 
Part 7 – Strom over Europe

May 2, German embassy, Sofia

While our legionnaires are return to their homeland, thing seems to be moving here in Europe...

During the morning I was invited to visit Herr Schäffer again to discuss a very urgent cause.

I wasn’t sure what’s happening, so I was really surprised when he informed me that since this day, the Third Reich is at war with the Allies.

For now, we haven’t been requested to join them. We will just be watching how the Germans will perform... Either way, we have more pressing causes here in the Balkans right now... The Grand-Bulgarian Empire is waiting...

To build it, we might need some bigger ships that destroyers or cruisers. Our technicians are working on plans to build the “Tsar” class battleship as we can’t buy them from foreign countries. Even light carriers are planned...



May 5th, my personal residence in Sofia

German troops are marching towards Warsaw and the Poles are probably doomed as their western border s undefended.



One week later, the Nazis were at the outskirts of Warsaw. On the western front, as opposite to Polish “Blitzkrieg”, both armies are sitting in trenches watching each other.



Poland was finally beaten in June despite their brave resistance. After it, Soviets have occupied the Baltic States. The map of middle/eastern Europe is now a bit boring...



Meanwhile, Hitler has occupied another country, this time Denmark, and started a campaign against 3 other Scandinavian states. His troops have puppeted Luxembourg and are now attacking Belgium.

October 1939

Hitler’s tanks are advancing through Europe. Netherlands are occupied, Sweden is facing an invasion.



French troops were finally pushed away from Japan.



On the western front, Sitzkrieg was turned to Blitzkrieg, but when the Germans reached Seine River, the switched back to Sitzkrieg.



December 1939

Our first light tanks are now being deployed. Finally, we have some modern ground units, too. Hopefully, we should be able to try them soon...



bgtankarmreg.jpg

Bulgarian LARM in the field

The free industry was used to build more fighters for our glorious air force.

Part 8 – Surprise!

January 2, my residence, Sofia

I was 5 o’ clock AM and I was still sleeping, when suddenly, my butler shook with me to wake me up:

“Mr. Filov! Get Up!”

“Who the hell do you think you are to wake me up like th...”

“We are at war, Mr. Filov! The Greeks are crossing our southern borders!”

“Why the **** are they doing that!? The treaty of Neuvilly wasn’t enough for them?

“I don’t know, I will find out”

What a shock. Why are they attacking us? I was soon to find out, as the Italian ambassador, Signore Calvi, has invited me to the embassy.

“Perdoneme, Signore, I forgot to informe you about the plans of our magnífico Duce! Nostro glorious nation has just declared la guerra a los Grecos!”¨



What a strange guy. As an ambassador, he can’t even speak our language, not to mention that he seems to be much dumber than his “Duce”. Now, we are in war we are not ready for as our troops are deployed in Romania…

I left the Embassy and headed for the Staff to see what we can do with it.

All our troops are now redeploying, but the Greeks have already started their assault. I just hope we will save our capital from occupation…



Our bombers are attacking their mobilizing troops, but we can’t hold them for a long time. We do not have any good airfields south of Varna, and despite 2 are being built, they aren’t ready for use.



Immediately, our submarines sailed on the sea to attack their shipping.



7th of January, Sofia

Greeks are now closing towards our capital, while our troops are marching to save it. On this day, Sofia was bombed, too.



[/MG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e8/Sofia-bombing-ww2-lavrenov-gruev.jpg[/IMG]

The casualties were not high, but this is the first time when the war is being fought on our territory.

January 11, the frontline

First minor clashes have occurred as we are launching a counterattack. Our cavalry is going to capture Thasos. Hungarians are coming to help us defend our homeland.



Since now, we are retaking our lands in Thrace. Our tanks should soon join the battle, so let’s see how they will perform…



Our tank divisions are encircling the enemy in the west. If we are lucky, we might destroy 2 entire divisions!

The funny thing about this war is that even the Italians weren’t ready for war. They have only 6 000 men in Albania, all of them are now encircled, while Greeks have already conquered Tirane without any resistance.

We are holding the key forts in Thrace, while 2 divisions are really encircled and soon will be crushed.



Night January 17-18, Aegean Sea

Everything is now quiet on board of Akula. Captain Ivanov is already in bed, while the XO is at the bridge, searching the targets with other watchmen.

They’ve already lost one contact with the enemy ships 3 days before, when a Greek tanker they were chasing suddenly disappeared in the fog.

In the rainy afternoon of January 17, they were nearly rammed by an Italian submarine Axum, which was patrolling the area, too.

This time, Akula was just unlucky.

But as the rain stopped in the evening and Italians were goon, the tide seemed to be changing.

At 10 o’ clock, Captain Ivanov was suddenly wakened up by his XO:

“Sir, sailor Borisov thinks he has spotted something on the horizon!”
“OK, I will be there in a minute. Don’t lose it!”

Soon, captain Ivanov was looking on the horizon with his binoculars:

“A steamer, nationality unknown, size between 3000-5000 BRT, closing at slow speed. XO, raise the alert and bring the boat to periscope depth!”

Akula was slowly submerging and crew got ready on their places. Meanwhile, captain Ivanov was watching the ship through periscope:

“Yes, it is a Greek merchant. If he keeps his course, he will sail right before our bow. Ideal firing position!”

At 22:30, the ship was so close that captain Ivanov could see the sailor smoking on the bridge.

“XO, set the following: Bearing – 20. Range – 700. Angle on Bow – 72. Speed – 5. Prepare the torpedoes 3 and 4!

“Torpedo tubes flooded and ready to fire, sir!”

“Tubes 3 and 4, wait for my orders. Torpedo 3..”

…FIRE!

Torpedo 4… FIRE!”

“Torpedoes fired sir! Time to target – 40 seconds!”

Soon, all the crew heard 2 loud explosions. They hit her! As captain Ivanov raised the periscope, he has seen the ship capsizing and sinking. The Bulgarian Navy has scored its first hit!

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Unique photo of Akula in action, taken by a Greek sailor who survived the sinking

Later, He received a message from the Admiralty that just a few hours after his attack, Captain Bojidarov and his “Piranja” sunk another.



Our infantry divisions are now destroying the forces trapped in Bulgaria. We are trying to secure the provinces lost at Neuvilly before further attacks.



Meanwhile, the Greeks have recaptured their forts. This turned to be a major mistake of our staff...



February 1940, Thrace

Our troops are trying to kick the Greeks out of their forts, but despite our numbers they are still holding them. Our cavalry has broken through their lines along the coast and is supposed to attack their back…



The counterattack was stopped as there are huge forces as reserves. The cavalry retreated back to Kilkis, but at least we have captured another division here.

After 2 weeks of battle, the Greeks are still holding in and are even attacking our forces. But the battle is slowly turning in our favor.



On the 15th, the battle was finally won and the Greeks were shattered, but at a huge prize. Nearly 1 700 Bulgarians had lost their lives in the intense fighting. Nearly all our army, 100 000 men, were employed in the operation.



Now we have a chance to break through their lines. While the battle is even on both wings, the centre is now weakened. In the early hours of February 16, our units started another major offensive against our enemies.



Meanwhile, Captain Ivanov sunk another Greek freighter.



On the 24th, the weakened Greek troops retreated to Salonica, making the decisive mistake. Soon, lots of Greek soldiers, totally disorganized, were trapped here:





March 1940, city of Salonica

What a great success for our troops! Salonica has finally fallen and general Papagos, together with his nearly 80 000 soldiers has surrended to our troops!



Now, only a few divisions are standing between heroic Bulgarians and the Acropolis…

Just one single day after our magnificent victory, Mussolini has landed a huge army in Tirane. That’s typical for the Italians – they always come to battle when it’s already over. I guess Mussolini will give a speech about how THEY defeated Greece. I just hate that guy.

The race Sofia/Tirane – Athens has just begun. First prize – Greece!

The Greeks are now desperately overnumbered and our generals expect that we will soon achieve a breakthrough.



On the 15th, Italians came to take their part as they’ve finished liberation of Albania.

But they have no chance to win the “race” as our troops are already occupying Thessaly. Either way, the last offensive has already begun.



The war finally ended on 22nd; our tanks have occupied the Athens and Greeks surrended in the evening.



After the peace treaty was signed, the Hellenic state still existed, although in slightly “different” borders; Mussolini has occupied Epirus while the mighty Bulgaria took its lands plus Macedonia and the Eastern coast, including the islands in Aegean Sea.

With our troops already mobilized and our last enemy unprepared, we shall soon finish our last enemy in Europe, Yugoslavia…