DIVISIONAL AND NON-DIVISIONAL ARTILLERY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000500120006-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2009
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: October 31, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

C/L"IC-)
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`\-6
INFORMATION REPORT ? r ? ? ? r
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Tit25X1
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by la?...
COUNTRY Bulgaria
SUBJECT Divisional and Non-
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
DATE ACQUIRED
REQUIREMENT
REFERENCES
REPORT
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF PAGES
This is UNEVALUATED
Information
3 L. 0 ;tc>ber 1955
ARMY review completed.
25 YEAR
RE-REVIEW
AIR FBI ACC--j-
INFORMATION
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COUNTRY. . Bulgaria
SUBJECT Bulgarian Army Artillery
REPORT
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DATE DISTR. 11 Oct. 1955
NO. OF PAGES 4
DATE OF INFORM REFERENCES:
PLACE ACQUIRED
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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4rmy an ;
there were non-division?,1 e.:rti.lery units in the Bulgarian
such uni to were
b
eu
ord.. rate to , he one cor?os three
and or (v ii; l eser~~?e F~ - Reserv L lahvr?.o ? rjr,,azI ~arh ~ armies
ati ieast one unidentified
heavy" artillery regiment, one unidentified antitank regimentjeng
_nidentified rocket-launcher regiment, and other es of units we e
heoreticall subordinate directly to the ?GK.
I
R(~K artill r units At OCS,
~ Y , particul.arlythe heavy" artillery
n , a artillery weapons ranging :xrc>r~r 152 mm to 225 mm and possibly
Heavier types
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25 YEAR
RE-REVIEW
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Artillery AAA Divisions
Bulgarian Army in
there were no artillery or
11953
Smaller Artillery AAA Units
4. Regiments were the highest level of artillery unit
divisions in the 9rx1
these were subordinate to either divisions, corps, armies, or
reserve.
kllome~erbeyond thesoutheastern part of Sofia on the Sofia-Plovdiv
road.
the GHQ
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Concerning AAA materiel : In 1951, 25X1
at east two AA gun positions about one 2 A11
there were about six such gun positions which formed
acrce
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a barbed wire fence had been constructed around the entire area. I 25X1
they were camouflaged with a
net and y-a small portion of the barrels was visible. Furthermore.
of Sof is.
to
the gun crews lived within the area. 25X1
e were several such AA gun positions within the vicinity 2bAl
AAA Guns at Ruse
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6. During 1954 four AA gun positions on a hillside t
the eastern
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edge of Ruse,
positions wer
on the Ruse-Silistra
e estimated to be ab
(N 44-o8, E 27-17) road.
ut 50 m apart and appeared to
The gun
form a
semi-circle.
their mission was to protect
the
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international r ge which Crosse the Danube. The guns
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were camouflaged with a net and only the barre1a warm Yri~
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j-cney comprised an AAA.battery . The gun
crews ap
parently l
ived within
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the area since
a one-story br
ick buil
ding, meas
uring about
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25 m in length, an one sma garage within t
he- area
which was
surrounded
by a barbed wire fence.
another AAA battery
was loca
ted in the
southern
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2 OJT"1
Pleven
in the Pleven area
an unidentified infantry division was located
was subordinate to the Second Army.
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Units in Kol~rad (formerly Shumen
the 18th'Infantry Division 'Headquarters,plue all
subordinate units except the 46th Infantry Regiment, were located
Kolarovgrad area during 1953.
L =
the 46th Infantry Re imen which was subordinate to this vision
and located at Tolbukhin (formerly Dobrich). this
di
isio
"
v
n was commonly known as the
Shumen Division"
well have been the'Kolarov rad Division.
or e s units s 1a a as 1954.
there had been no change in the location
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have had about 3 howitzers of a caliber less than 152 mm.
10. The Third Army headquarters and subordinate elements moved from Kolarovgrad
about 1950. The 18th Infantry Division Headquarters,plus all subordinate
units except the 46th Infantry Regiment, moved to Kolarovgrad at some
subseque., date and occupied the casernes vacated by Third Army elements.
11. During 195, an unidentified howitzer artillery regiment, commonly refer-
red to as GAP (Gaubichen Artileriski Armayski Polk),,. which was subordi-
nate
an unidentified heavy antitank art ery re mart
was located in Nova Zagora () 42-29, E 26-01) during 1953.
Unite in Ruse
12. During 195 25X1
another unidentified gun artillery regiment, subordi 25X1
nate to Third Army was l^^?{--A _? ---- -
several years. During 1954
this regiment, of Ge
several 152 mm guns of
1
the ice on the Danube
a nnho
255
regimen n
aun number `..--?
Of 152 m-'m guns
of 152 s Of German World W
ad imet
ar II
nd
ibl
g y other
a Postypes.
Other Units
13.
14.
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7FX1
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espite the. fact that it-was called a"heavy'WLantitankantitank 25X1
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Army Artillery 25X1
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Unit
...^v i vayvgiLJs organizations
7th Infantry Division(Podelenie 65100)
18th Infantry Division
22nd Infantry Division
U/i Tank Brigade
U/i Mountain Infantry Brigade (Podelenie
U/i Howitzer Artillery Regiment70120)
U/i. Gun Artillery Regiment
W/i Engineer Regiment
&T/i Signal Regiment
W/i Truck Transportation Regiment
U/i Chemical Battalion
U/i Reconnaissance Battalion
the First and Second
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Location
Yambol (N 42-28, E 26-31)
Kolarovgrad
Khaskovo
Zvezdets(t 42-07, E E 227-24)
Kolarovgrad
Ruse
Sliven
Sliven
Sliven
.Sliver
Sliven
Armies were
E::::~~t had been there for 25X1
similarly oraaniy.AA _
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4
the theoretical T/O structure of an
artillery regiment was three battalionS,i.e.,, one battalion of guns,
Qne battalion of howitzers, a?d`one battalion which consisted of an
antitank, an AA,, and a, mortar battery
Corps Artillery
18.
E 27-42) and ~ it consisted of tw o entified infantry divisions. 2bA1
One division headquarters located at Bur as and the othe:25X1
division headquarters was located at Stalin (formerly iiarna)25X1
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here was only one corps in the Bulgarian Army. 25X1
headquarters was located at Dolni Chiflik (N 42-59 e 25X1
during 1 3 t
its
6.
L
, ever a e80,
numbered among its weapons 20 German 50 mm AT guns, Rheinmetal, and 25X1.
four German 75 mm AT guns PAK-40 horsedrawn, 45 8 mm Schwarzlosse
machine guns, and an unknown number or 8 mm Manlicher carbines and
9 mm Walther pistols; all of these were of German World War II origin..
Comments In connection with the increasing Sovietization of
e Bulgarian Army shown by a number of reports, it is interesting
to note that the 83rd Heavy Machine (dun at'mlion
th 1
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