ORGANIZATION OF BULGARIAN MOUNTAIN TROOPS UNIT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R016100120009-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2011
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: January 21, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/03: CIA-RDP82-00457RO16100120009-5
IOTELLOFAX 4
FORM NO.
FEB 1952 51-4AA
COUNTRY Bulgaria
SUBJECT Organization of Bulgarian Mountain
INFORMATION REPORT REPORT
CD NO,
Troops Unit
DATE OF
INFO.
assist is or k'enkov.
REPORT NO.
DATE DISTR. 21 January 1953
NO. OF PAGES 2
UPPLEMENT TO
and Petur
assigned to
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2. A course to train 12 young officers as instructors was organized in April 1951.
The course was held at the Mal?ovitsa Mountain hostel (NL212 E2322) and at
Gara Lakatnik (N)4305 E2322)0
A committee composed of the three men listed in Para.l, requested that Nikola
Shopov, Encho Penkov, and Khristo Borisov, who were serving in the regular
Army, be transferred to the mountain troop unit. Penkov and Borisov were
transferred to the Ministry of War in Sofia, where, with the assistance of
an unknown number of officers who had completed the training course in April,
they organized a mountain climbing course for 25 to 30 men. This course was
given in the Sini Kanen mountain area (N11.21.43 E2621), above the city of Sl,Ven.
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a group of soldiers were trained in mountain climbing in
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE.
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AND 794, OF THE U.S. CODE, AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR REVE-
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CLASSIFICATION SECRET
SECURITY INFORMATION
the task of organizing a unit of mountain troops. Ivaylo Vladigerov
. About 1949, the Bulgarian Ministry of National Defense assigned Major Penkov
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
ARMY red,
the area below Mount Sinanitsa (N)41)4 E2322), in the Pirin Mountains. Food
supplies for this group were taken up to the training area
5. The committee mentioned in Para-3 also organized monthly training course 0X1-HUM
mountain climbing for civilians, and 12mmcnth mountain climbing courses for
military personnel. These courses were to be given at the Mal'ovitsa hostel,
and were allegedly to start in the winter of 1951-52.
NAVY
AIR
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/03: CIA-RDP82-00457RO16100120009-5
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/03: CIA-RDP82-00457RO16100120009-5
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6. Fifty climbing ropes and 50 mountain picks (possibly the Horeshouski make)
were imported and were distributed to civilian mountain
climbers. Later on this equipment was called in and made available to the
committee. A number of portable windproof gasoline stoves, to be used for
cooking and heating, have been imported and are being stored in warehouses.
The committee is testing various types of sleeping bags, shoes, haversacks,
and other clothing items to determine which are best suited for their purposes.
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7. the committee is attempting to procure 5,000 alpine picks,
,,uuu mountain peor, 59000 pairs of climbing spikes, carbide lamps, ete. from
outside Bulgaria, since attempts to produce these items locally were unsatis-
factory.
8. Because of the lack of equipment and the small number of instructors available
(approximately 20), doubts that a mountain troop unit will be available
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/03: CIA-RDP82-00457RO16100120009-5