(NOTE - Photo of cruiser Sofia is now working. Everyone have a look and admire the mighty Bulgarian Navy!)
Part 12 – Destroy the Communists! (1/2)
5th August 1941
Herr Schäffer had informed me that Germans are now at war with SU. We weren’t requested to join at the moment, but we might use it to take back some former Romanian territories along the Danube. Let’s see how this war will proceed…
German and Finnish troops seem to be winning on all fronts.
In September, Tsar Boris made the decision to go to war and ordered me to prepare our country. Soviets were disorganized by the time and our allies were advancing towards the Black Sea.
In the afternoon of September 19, after declaring war, Bulgarian and Turkish troops have crossed the borders and attacked. Except a few incidents with border patrols, we were not resisted.
The first fighting took place in Moldova after our troops had crossed the Danube, but no serious clashes took place and Soviets were forced to retreat soon.
Meanwhile, our submarines have sailed in order to attack and destroy anything flying the red flag.
In October, our forces captured all the lands we wanted and the advance has stopped. The German tanks soon pushed the Commies back to Siberia, capturing all the major cities, and our new border was safe.
Far in the East, the Buddhist monks have left their non-violent religion and converted themselves to Nazism… Interesting.
November 1941, Black Sea
One of the Bulgarian submarines, Tsar’s ship Piranja under Captain Bojidarov, famous for gunning the Greek merchant during the fight for Grand-Bulgaria, was patrolling near Crimea, searching for Russian warships. The sea around was more dangerous than ever before; Soviet Submarines, despite being technically much worse than Piranja, were ordered to stop them. Piranja was already attacked once, but the enemy torpedo missed her by some 10 meters from the stern.
Michail Bojidarov was just on the bridge having his cigarette, thinking about his wife and little daughter back in Varna. His family had a tradition in fighting for Bulgaria at sea; his father served on Drazki, torpedo boat which attacked and damaged Ottoman armored cruiser Hamidiye. He wanted to be famous, too, but he knew that a single merchant is not the kind of information that his children and grandchildren will be taught in school.
Suddenly, he was awakened from his thoughts by the watchmen:
“Smoke on the horizon!”
Bojidarov threw his cigarette away and took the binoculars. He saw a high superstructure, apparently belonging to a cruiser or something bigger, steaming at high speed towards the South, escorted by 2 destroyers.
“There’s no point in this. We can’t get into position with this angle. Watch her movement, and after she’ll be gone report her to the admiralty, as far as I know Shchuka is patrolling somewhere in her direction, she might have more luck than we did.”
Captain Bojidarov then went down through the main hatch and lied down in his cabin. He knew he just missed his chance.
But then, his XO came in:
“Captain, that Commie has just changed his course. If we move fast, we’ll maybe get a chance to give him a torpedo or two!”
“Do what’s necessary. I’ll be there in a second!”
Yes, there really was a chance. Soviets were steaming fast, but the night allowed them to get close enough to try it.
Soon, the ships switched on their searchlights and started to fire. Captain Bojidarov ordered to dive the boat, but the searchlights were not aimed towards his sub, but into the skies. A group of German Stukas had attacked the group; he was observing the attack through his periscope and seen how the Germans hit and sunk the destroyer on the left side, providing a great chance to get close and get the cruiser down.
The formation, clearly disorganized, broke apart. The destroyers were trying to secure the cruiser, but as long as one of them was occupied by saving the survivors from the icy sea, the only one left didn’t had a chance. Meanwhile, captain Bojidarov was preparing, pressed to the periscope:
“The bastard is coming. Prepare all four tubes!”
The ship was now closer than 1000 meters; easy shot, indeed. Bojidarov knew he can’ t miss… And he didn’t.
“XO, write into the ship diary: All four torpedoes hit the target. Enemy cruiser, identified as a new Chapayev-class cruiser, was seen burning and few minutes after, unmistakable sounds of sinking were reported. There’s no doubt she went down.”
Pamiat Merkuriya, Brand new Chapayev class cruiser, sunk that evening
Bojidarov felt proud. About his crew, about his father, about himself… But there was no time for this. Soon, he could hear rotating screws by his own ear.
The destroyer was coming and was apparently very close!
“They found us! Crash dive!” screamed Bojidarov, but deep in his heart, he knew it was too late. He took the only photo of his family and held it, praying to God for those he loved and preparing himself for the worst.
A second later, as the destroyer’s bow hit Piranja, a terrible, loud sound of crusher and torn metal was heard, signalizing the inevitable end. Everyone was awaiting the water to flood the boat, kill all the crew and sink the boat.
But there was no water inside. For some reason, the pressure hull was intact.
“Piranja must be made from concrete, or Soviet destroyers are from paper” said Bojidarov, apparently a bit shocked by the event. The enemy upside then left, presumably thinking that Piranja is sunk.
Piranja surfaced in early morning. All the crew could see why they had survived. The bow was somehow missing – the destroyer torn it away. Despite the pressure hull was intact, the damage was critical and Piranja needed to sail into port for necessary repairs. Newly captured port of Feodosia was the closest…
Damaged Piranja in Feodosia
Other things were happening in the Black sea – Piranja wasn’t the only submarine present. One of them, previously mentioned Shchuka, was unlucky in recent wars. While others were raiding Greek merchants during the 3rd Balkan war, Shchuka hit a rock in the Sea of Marmara and had to be towed to Istanbul for repairs.
Her captain, Nikola Todorov, has recently been married. He was one of the youngest captains in our navy, aged just 26, and he wanted to show the world that he is a good commander after all.
His submarine was sailing to Georgian coast to raid Soviet coasters carrying supplies. Todorov was aware of the risky conditions in the Black Sea, so he ordered to change course every 20 minutes to prevent enemy submarines of chasing him.
Wise decision, indeed.
But during the night of November 26, while on the bridge with his crew, he spotted a bubble trail on the left.
Enemy torpedo!
Immediately, he ordered to turn hard to left, hoping that the torpedo will miss by the stern, but it was too late. Torpedo was heading right into the middle of Shchuka and there was no chance she could avoid it.
But Captain Todorov knew that Soviets torpedoes are unreliable. One of his colleagues reported being hit by a torpedo which failed to explode; perhaps the unreliable detonators will fail again…
Unfortunately for Bulgaria, this one worked perfectly. Terrible explosions splat the boat in halves, immediately killing most of the crew and sinking the boat in a matter of seconds.
Noone had a chance to survive.
A few hundred meters away and fifteen meters under the surface, Soviet captain ordered his crew to lower the periscope.
“That fascist scum is down. Good job, crew!”
“We serve to the Soviet Union!”
To be continued...