Technical and tactical regulations
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At first the
instruction of the Bulgarian artillery was carried out along Russian
regulations, but in 1892 these were modified according with the peculiarity
of the Krupp guns at that time adopted by the Army. In 1880s the training of
the artillery was essentially founded on the firing theory, while the firing
practice was seen as a sort of show without any
relation with the real tactical situations and the probable enemy actions. In fact, at
that time in Russian artillery schools the fire was directed according with
theoretical estimates. Before the war
against Serbia (1885) the instruction of the artillery troops was based on
the Russian Regulations for gun and
battery exercises of foot artillery and instructions to conduct ammunition
wagon (Устав
орудійнаго
и
батарейнаго
ученія
пешей
артилеріи и инструкція веденія
заряднихъ
ящиковъ) published in 1884. Even
if it contained notions for firing from covered positions, indirect fire was
almost unknown. Actually the guns were not fit for it, and the artillery
officers did not understand the meaning of the angle of sight. Tactically the
lesson of the Russo-Turkish War was almost ignored, and the batteries were
not used en masse. Rarely two or
more batteries were put under a common commander, very often the battery
itself was split and even a single gun was used independently. At that time
the Bulgarian artillery officers were young, and had not enough field
training. Many of them had graduated at the The first
Bulgarian instructions for the artillery fire, the Rules for artillery adjustment and fire were adapted from the
Russian instructions by the Artillery Inspector lt.col. Petar Tantilov, and
published with a red cover. This “Red booklet”, as it was known among the
artillery officers, followed strictly the rules used in 1884-85 by the
Russian Artillery School, and modified by the most authoritative artillery
scholars of the time, like Aleksandr
Trofimovich Baumgarten and Vladimir Nikolaevich Shklarevich. It contained
instructions about the tactical methods of choosing artillery positions, and
for shooting at different targets. Moreover for the first time some models to
draw up practice reports were offered to the gunners. In 1891 the “Red
booklet” was integrated by the Instructions
for acting and firing of artillery division with two or three eight-guns
batteries, which for the first time provided directions to operate with
groups of batteries and to concentrate the fire. At that time however the rules for the field
artillery were directly influenced by the accurate
fire of the fortress artillery. Therefore they did not pay great care
to the peculiarity of field targets: their mobility, their quick appearance and disappearance, the depth
of their front, their vulnerability and so on. Most of all, the demands
of the law of
probability always prevailed against the needs of the real battle fire,
even if the experts were aware of
the great variety of the battle conditions. At the same
time the organization of the artillery was changing : the strength of the
field batteries was reduced to six guns, instead of eight as previously, and
the batteries were grouped by three in artillery divisions
(отделение), that
became the basic tactical unit. This meant that new instructions and
regulations should be introduced. After a long
debate, attested by a great number of articles published in the Bulgarian
military press, in 1897 the “Red booklet” was replaced by new instructions
inspired by the most recent acquisitions about the artillery fire borrowed
from the regulations of the great powers armies: the Draft direction for firing in field and mountain artillery and
the Draft rules for firing in
fortress-siege artillery, followed in 1898 by the Regulations for cavalry instruction
with artillery division. Lacks and inaccuracy of the first two texts were
amended, and a new version was published in 1899 and intensely tested. The
definitive text was finally adopted in 1902. Within the gradual development of the Bulgarian
artillery, the most substantial change was its rearmament with quick firing
guns. This was the result of the transformations and improvements of the
techniques at the beginning of the 20th Century, the grown of the fire power,
and the increasing rôle of the artillery fire in battle. A great
contribution was also offered by the experiences of the Russo-Japanese War. The new weapons adopted by the Bulgarian
Army, and the new requirements of the modern warfare needed new ways of
training in artillery. Since this time the guns came mainly from French
factories, the instructions adopted were directly inspired by the French
system of fire discipline. After all it was
adopted by most of the armies which had been rearmed with French quick-firing
guns, but it also exerted a marked influence even upon the regulations of
those powers which had not adopted it, such as New Instructions for the employment of the
field quick-firing artillery in combat were published in 1905 and a new Direction for firing in field and mountain
quick-firing artillery was added in 1908. The main novelty was the introduction
of the indirect fire (defilade). Instead of occupying open positions on the
crest of the hills, and firing directly to the target, now, as a general
rule, the artillery should fire from covered and deeply masked positions with
the aid of the new improved sighting devices. However the text added that
defilade was not the aim, but only a mean and the artillery should not
hesitate to occupy also open positions, if the circumstance required it. In 1906 these
two texts were followed by the Draft
instructions for the employment of the fortress artillery and by the Draft field service regulations for
quick-firing field artillery, that were confirmed two years later,
remaining in force till the outbreak of the Balkan Wars. Finally a Field service regulation for quick firing
mountain artillery was published in 1909. The new instructions and regulations for the artillery were drawn up by a Committee attached to the Artillery
Inspection. The texts were approved by the Artillery Inspector on the basis
of a report of the president of the Committee and of the head of the
respective section of the Inspection. Then they were printed and sent to the
troops for 1-2 years as “draft regulations”. After the submission of the
proposals of modifications and additions, and the introduction of the
appropriate corrections, the final texts were approved by the War Minister
and issued to the units to be fully applied and implemented. Unlike the
French school, which thought that artillery should be mobile, rapid firing
and able to fight from forward positions, the Bulgarian Army assigned great
importance even to the greater calibres that formed the so called “heavy
field artillery”. It was composed by field howitzers, which expressed to the
highest degree the increased and decisive rôle of the artillery on the
battlefield. Firing at curved trajectories and at long ranges, they were able
to destroy shelters and to hit troops
keeping under cover or entrenched, targets that were almost unreachable for
light field guns firing to flat trajectories. For The war
against Turkey (1912-13) and, even though to a lesser degree, the Interallied
War concurred remarkably to the
development of the Bulgarian artillery, which had to face with new and
unexpected problems, and to acknowledge its own limitations and inadequacies. The first remarks on the
experiences gained during the war were published already at the end of 1913,
with the Additional instructions for
the employment of the artillery fire in future combats. This brief text
was focused on the importance of entrenching the artillery positions, saving
ammunitions and concentrating the fire on a single target. A global
rethinking of the tactical role of the artillery required more time. Only on
the eve of the entry into the Great War, the Bulgarian Army published a set
of basic papers, which lay at the bottom of the employment of the Bulgarian artillery
during the war, staying in force even after its end. In 1915 the Artillery
Inspection published a new Direction
for the employment of the field artillery in combat and a new Direction for firing in field artillery,
a text containing the amendments and the additions required by the adoption
of the ex Turkish Krupp field guns, while the Engineers Inspection
the Instructions for the attack of
fortified positions and the fortification of field positions, that
reflected the experience of the siege of Odrin, but also the first lessons of
the Great War. In particular |