The growth of the Bulgarian Artillery :
1891 - 1904
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In
1891 the Sixth Ordinary National
Assembly passed the Law for the
organization of the Armed Forces of the Principality of - 6
artillery regiments with 6 four-guns field batteries in peace, and 6
eight-guns batteries in wartime (six guns for the mortars batteries); - 6
mountains half batteries in peace, that should be expanded to 6 six-guns
batteries at the mobilization; - 3
fortress artillery battalions with 3 companies each in peace, and - 6
reserve artillery batteries with 4 sections each, that should be expanded to
4-6 six-guns batteries at the mobilization; - 6
four-guns reserve mountain batteries, that should be raised at the
mobilization; - 6
four-sections field replacement batteries, that should be raised at the mobilization; - 2
mobile artillery workshops and 2 mobile artillery depots. This
plan was ambitious, but the trained men available at that time were not
enough to raise so many units. Supposing 200 men on average for every
battery, the Active Army would require 12,000 men and the Reserve Army
another 5,700 men. In fact on 1 October 1894 the men serving in the Active
Army (1884-1893 levies) were only 8,300, in the Reserve 5,730, 14,030 men in
all. As
for the materials in wartime the Bulgarian artillery would have all together
78/90 batteries with 504/576 guns (408/480 field, 60 mountain, and 36
mortars), not counting the fortress artillery. All the field batteries of the
active army should be armed with 87mm guns, while the 75mm guns should be
assigned to the reserve batteries (2nd, 3rd, 5th),
along with the old 9 pdr Russian guns (1st and 6th) and
the short range 9cm Krupp guns (4th). Later all the reserve
batteries would be re-equipped with modern guns. They brought the number of
the Infantry Division at whom they were attached, and not that of the
relative artillery regiments. In order to have also some artillery pieces
that could fire at high
elevations with the curved trajectory, one battery in every
regiment should be armed with 120mm field mortars. Some
changes were introduced by the law passed by the Tenth Ordinary National
Assembly in 1897, when the War
Minister was colonel Nikola Ivanov. The reserve artillery regiments were
disbanded, and gave their gun to the active regiments, that were then
composed by 3 active and 1 reserve divisions, each with 3 six-guns batteries.
Only the active batteries, however, were horsed in peace. Finally, after a
debate lasted many years, the batteries were reduced to 6 guns, and new units
were raised with the surplus guns. The
mortars, now designed howitzer, were attached to the fortress artillery. A 5th
company was added to each fortress artillery battalion. The mountain
batteries were detached from the artillery regiments and formed 3 independent
divisions, with 3 six-guns batteries each, garrisoned respectively at
Berkovitza, Vratza and Samokov. Later with an Order
of 3 June 1899 they were administratively grouped into a mountain artillery brigade with headquarters at
Sofia, the divisions keeping their previous garrison. In
order to arm the new units, the Bulgarian War Ministry should purchase a
great number of artillery piece. In
1891 an order was planned for 192
– 87mm field guns (24 batteries), 30 – 75mm mountain guns (5 batteries), and
36 – 120mm mortars (6 batteries). But it was not made in a single settlement,
since the military Budget did not allow a so considerable expenditure,
especially because at the same time it was necessary to modernize also the
heavy artillery, required to attack the fortress of Odrin, in the event of a
war against In
1891 three contract was signed: - in
February for 24 – 87mm field guns with 24 ammunition wagons, - in
March for 48 – 87mm field guns with 84 ammunition wagons and 18 – 120mm
mortars, - in
April for 6 – 75mm mountain guns and 18 carriage of new model for the
mountain guns already in service. Therefore,
in May 1891, a commission was set up to go to Germany at the Krupp factory to
test the new models of field and mountain guns. The commission was made up of
the Artillery Inspector, lt.col. Petar Tantilov, by maj. Panteley Tzenov, who
at that time was the commander of the 5th artillery regiment, by 2nd lt.
Konstantin Stanchov, and by professor Dobrev, a chemist. First the commission
went to Essen, where it examined the different types of guns produced by
Krupp, indicating the improvements to be introduced. Then
it went to the Krupp proving ground of Meppen, near the Dutch border, where
shooting tests were carried out. Finally, it went to the gunpowder factory of
Hamm, near Cologne, where experiments with black powder were carried out.
While Professor Dobrev carried out the necessary analyses of the powder, the
rest of the commission returned to Essen, to complete the acceptance tests of
the adopted guns. The
first 24 guns arrived at the end of 1891 and were assigned to the 3rd
and 4th batteries of 1st, 2nd and 6th
artillery regiments that gave their 75mm guns to the reserve batteries. The
48 guns of the second order arrived at the beginning of 1892, and were
employed to raise the 5th batteries of the six artillery regiments. The
mortars too arrived at the beginning of 1892 and were assigned to the 1st
batteries of 2nd, 3rd and 4th artillery regiment.
The carriages arrived at the end of 1891, but when they were mounted on the
guns, it was found that, although 1.5m longer and 15 kg heavier, they were
just as unstable as the old ones. Furthermore, their increased length and
weight hindered transport and made loading difficult. Therefore in mid-1892,
it was proposed to return the carriages ordered in 1891 to the Krupp factory
and to replace them with new ones, ordering two 75mm mountain batteries
instead of one. After various negotiations, in July 1892 an agreement was
reached with Krupp : the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th artillery regiments returned
their carriages and received new ones, while the 4th and 5th artillery
regiments each received one new six gun mountain battery. In
April 1892 another 64 field guns
and 12 – 120mm mortars were ordered in Germany. They arrived respectively in
May 1893 and in 1894 and were employed to rearm the 2nd batteries
of the artillery regiments (the guns), and the 1st battery of the
1st and 6th artillery regiments (the mortars). The last
mortar battery, that should have been assigned to the 5th
artillery regiment was never bought, and was replaced by another field
battery. A field battery was also assigned to the proving ground. It seems
that at least one field battery was armed with 75mm guns that should be
assigned to the 1st battery of the 4th artillery
regiment at Sofia, to be attached in wartime to the Cavalry Division as horse
artillery. In The
last big order before the introduction of the quick-firing artillery came on
7 March 1897, when 90 – 87mm with
spare carriages, 90 gun-limbers, 45 ammunition wagons, 23000 shrapnel with
23000 time & percussion fuzes and 100000 percussion fuzes to Krupp at a
cost of 2 135 000 leva. The ammunition was to be manufactured by the Essen
factory and the guns, the carriages and the ammunition wagons by Magdeburg
factory. Maj. Nyagul Tzvetkov and Lt. Stefan Slavchev were detached from the
5th artillery regiment at the Sofia Arsenal to examine the
manufacturing specifications of guns and were appointed controller officers
for the production and delivery of all artillery material. However, the
delivery of it was delayed by the decision to also purchase a new model of
Krupp bar sight, which were ordered in April 1898. In
fact, at the end of December 1897, a new bar sight for aiming and adjusting
the fire of field guns was developed at the Krupp factory. To learn more
about them, on 2 January 1898, the head of the Sofia Artillery Arsenal, maj. Kalin
Naydenov along with cpt. Ivan Kardzhiev of the 4th Artillery
Regiment and cpt. Hristo Yonov of the 1st Artillery Regiment, were
sent to Essen. At the end of January 1898, Krupp presented the design
drawings for the new sights to the commission and Paul Kaufman, Krupp’s
representative in Sofia, forwarded them to the Artillery Section of the
Ministry of War. In mid-February, the 87mm guns equipped with the new sights
underwent testing. The observation of 10 rounds fired at a range of 4,000
meters confirmed a high degree of precision and effectiveness in aiming.
Therefore, the commission and the Artillery Section decided to adopt the new
devices, not only for the 90 guns recently ordered, but also for the 216
Krupp 87mm field guns already in service in Bulgaria. In April 1898, the
Krupp factory was commissioned to produce 90 new-model sights for the new
guns, 90 spare sights for them, and 216 sights for all 87mm guns then in
service in Bulgaria, at a total cost of 13,068 leva, or 33 leva per sight At
the beginning of May the controller officers drew up a schedule according to
which the guns were to be delivered at the rate of 18 a month starting in
April, but further problems arose when the guns with the new sights were
tested, resulting in further delays. Deliveries began by the end of April.
The commission established to receive the equipment, chaired by maj. Stojan
Zagorski and including cpt. Hristo Ionov and lt. Stefan Slavčev, examined
the artillery materiel and sent back several gun carriages and limbers. On
June 14, the commission inspected the reworked items and began accepting the
first batch, which consisted of 18 guns, 19 gun, 9 ammunition wagons, and
various accessories and spare parts. The second batch was delivered on June
16; in this instance, too, some items were replaced as they were found to be
unsuitable. The third batch was accepted on July 1, with no defects
discovered in the equipment. The
fourth and fifth batches were completed by the end of July. A new commission
was appointed to receive them, chaired by maj. Njagul Tzvetkov and composed
of maj. Ivan Kardžiev and lt. Stefan Slavčev. On August 20, four
batteries from the fourth batch, comprising 24 guns, 25 carriages, and 9
ammunition wagons, along with their associated accessories and spare parts, were
accepted. The remaining two batteries of the fourth batch (12 guns, 13 carriages,
and 9 ammunition wagons, with their accessories and spare parts) were
accepted on September 14. The fifth batch was accepted by the commission in
October. Along with these, 216 bar sights for the 87mm Krupp guns in service
in Bulgaria were also accepted. Meanwhile,
123,000 fuzes for the 87mm shrapnel were submitted to the commission. In
mid-June, 23,000 T&P fuzes were accepted, followed by 100,000 percussion
fuzes in early July. By the end of October, the first 5,000 shrapnel arrived,
with the remaining 18,000 delivered in several batches before the end of the
year. The
guns were assigned to raise a third artillery division in the first five
artillery regiments. Every regiment received 18 guns with their carriages and
limbers, 9 ammunition wagons, 4600 shrapnel, 4600 T&P fuzes e 20000
percussion fuzes. An
order order for 18 mountain guns and 48 heavy artillery pieces had been
signed with the French firm Schneider-Canet on 8 February 1897, only a few
days before the signing the contract with Krupp. This was the first time that
the Bulgarian artillery purchased French guns, and it happened after a long
debate, and under the conflicting pressure of the French and German
governments. In
fact the Bulgarian War Ministry was not satisfied with the Krupp mountain
artillery adopted in 1886 and regarded the Schneider guns superior to the
Krupp ones. In addition, the French diplomacy threatened to refuse the loan of 30 million francs, vitally
important for the Bulgarian economy. Above all the Bulgarian Army was trying
to free itself from the dependence on the factories of a single country,
thinking that it could be very dangerous if it adopted a hostile politics
towards The
solution was a sort of compromise. The main order was directed to Krupp, to
keep the uniformity of the field artillery batteries. In fact Schneider
equipped its guns with a different breech mechanism, and at that time had not
an 87mm gun, therefore adopting French weapons the Bulgarian Army should
change entirely the features of its artillery matériel. The heavy artillery,
regarded as more moveable than the Krupp ones, and the mountain guns were
purchased in The
field guns were the standard Krupp 87mm Mantelkanone
adopted already in 1885, with only little changes and updates. The Schneider
mountain gun was similar to the Krupp ones, bought after the war against The
120mm field howitzers, at first designed mortars as in the Russian Army, had
been intensely tested in the Krupp proving ground at Meppen in 1886-1888 with
positive results, popularized by the official report of the firm Krupp Nr. 80
published in 1890. Besides These howitzers however were
regarded as poorly mobile, both for the excessive weight and the peculiar
features of the piece in marching order. This fault clearly appeared during
the march that the mortars of the 3rd artillery regiment without ammunition
wagons made from |
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In
1903 the Thirteenth Ordinary
National Assembly passed a new Law for
the organization of the Armed Forces of the Principality of Unfortunately
a great number of the units planned in 1903 remained only on paper. In Especially
the artillery could develop very slowly, both for the restrictions on the
budget of the War Ministry, and the need of replacing the existing artillery
pieces with new quick-firing guns. Therefore in 1904 only 3 artillery
regiment were raised, and, instead of 9 brigades with 18 regiments, the
Bulgarian artillery could deploy only 9 regiments, of whom 6 with 9 (6
horsed), and 3 with only 6 batteries, while the mountain artillery had half
of the planned artillery divisions (3 instead of 6). Still at the beginning
of the War against |
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Cost of artillery matériel in 1891 |
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87mm field gun |
75mm mountain gun |
120mm field howitzer |
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battery fully equipped |
194 615 leva |
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barrel |
4200 leva |
1855 leva |
6210 leva |
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carriage with limber |
9385 leva |
7625 leva |
13 585
leva |
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ammunition wagon |
7565 leva |
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store wagon |
3975 leva |
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store wagon N. 1 with tools |
7005 leva |
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store wagon N. 2 with tools |
5525 leva |
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common shell |
10 leva |
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shrapnel |
30 leva |
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Remarks : for an
ammunition wagon manufactured in |
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Krupp 75mm mountain gun M. 1886 Schneider 75mm mountain gun M.
1897 |