Bulgarians in the International Brigades

[keith A]

I had originally believed that the Bulgarians were in the Blagoiev or Djakovic Battalions but the more I look into it (including very impressive entries in this Forum) the less I know. Wikipedia is hopelessly inaccurate so.... I am looking for details of the period 1936-38 especially. Also why Bulgarians (other than Communists) would join the IB.

regards

Keith

[fortrees44]

Hello keith,

I found in the Spanish Archive a entry dated on 1938, of a Bulgarian joined in the Nationalist Army, to be more precised the 8th Bandera of the Legion, his name:
Augusto Jacob Ros.
Regards

[George Lepre]

Hi Keith -

I happen to be reading a text regarding the International Brigades and have learned the following:

- a Bulgarian named Stomatov commanded a battalion in the XIV IB. He allegedly spent several years in prison in Bulgaria for political activity prior to the war.

- the political commissar of the XII Brigade was a Bulgarian who used the nomme de guerre Bielov.

I will add more names as I come across them.

I hope this helps!

Best regards,

George

[Ironmachine]

Keith, there is a very good article about the Bulgarians in the IBs, Los Búlgaros en las Brigadas Internationales, by Dragomir Draganov, included in the book Al lado del gobierno republicano: Los brigadistas de la Europa del Este en la Guerra Civil Española (ISBN: 9788484278917), pp. 161-190. It is in Spanish, but it's full of names of Bulgarian volunteers and information about their activities and roles in the IBs, so well worth the effort of trying to understand it even if you don't speak Spanish. At this moment, most of it can be read in Google Books (https://books.google.es/books?id=ovSkAg ... no&f=false)

[keith A]

Many thanks chaps, all your suggestions will be followed up

[George Lepre]

The commander of the Dmitroff Battalion was a Bulgarian named Grebenaroff who was killed in action.

George