The Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS (1st Bulgarian) (german: Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS (Bulgarisches Nr. 1)) was formed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

when

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

left the

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

and joined the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

in September 1944.

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

hoped to raise two divisions of SS volunteers from among Bulgarians to fight on the side of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, but the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

advance into Bulgaria meant this never materialized.

Formation and activity

It was made up of volunteering Bulgarian workers and soldiers who did not agree with their government's decision to change their allegiance to the Allies.Unknown Bulgarian Grenadier Regiment (In Bulgarian)
Narod.ru. Retrieved 21 July 2015. Only small numbers of pro-German Bulgarians were able to join outside Bulgaria, including some from the Fifth Army engaged in the occupation of Yugoslavia. The formation fought initially in occupied territories in Yugoslavia and Greece, in the

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

under the command of General Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller. They fought to protected the retreat of the German

Army Group E Army Group E (''Heeresgruppe E'') was a German Army Group active during World War II. Army Group E was created on 1 January 1943 from the 12th Army. Units from this Army Group were distributed throughout the Eastern Mediterranean area, includin ...

in the

Vardar The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . Th ...

valley. Most of the volunteers were attached to German military units in the late 1944. The unit pledged allegiance to

Aleksandar Tsankov Aleksandar Tsolov Tsankov ( bg, Александър Цолов Цанков; June 29, 1879 – July 27, 1959) was a leading Bulgarian politician during the interwar period between the two world wars. Biography A professor of political econom ...

's Bulgarian government-in-exile. Morale was not very high. Soldiers were forced to plant potatoes in a nearby field due to ration shortages. The regiment was transferred to the Eastern front of Germany in January 1945, participating in the Battle of the Oder–Neisse against Soviet troops. The unit was re-equipped with anti-tank weaponry in April 1945 and renamed the ''SS Tank Destroyer Regiment''. At that time a group of soldiers made an attempt to desert. They were hunted down and caught and a firefight ensued, in which three deserters were killed.Unknown Bulgarian Grenadier Regiment (In Bulgarian)
Narod.ru. Retrieved 21 July 2015. At the onset of the Allies in early May, the regiment disbanded itself.

Commanders

*SS-Standartenführer Günther Anhalt *SS-Oberführer Heinz Bertling *SS-Oberführer Bogosanow *SS-Oberführer Rogozarow

References

{{mil-unit-stub Military units and formations established in 1944 Foreign volunteer units of the Waffen-SS Bulgaria–Germany relations Grenadier regiments