Bulgarian Paratroopers?

[Wyrmalla]

I'm debating putting together a small paratrooper force. Wanting to do something different other Axis Nations seemed appropriate. Bulgaria seems like the best option as I can use German models with a bit of modification.

The problem with the Bulgarians is that finding information on their organisation online's been a pain. A platoon had 45 men ...ah, and that's about it. Squad composition and support weapons are difficult to. Their standard issue weapon was an SMG, but were LMGs carried as well? Did they have anti-tank weapons? How many men were in a squad? Etc.

I'm looking to make just the platoon and some support weapons, and don't want to guess. They were trained with the Germans so may have used something similar - but the Germans used rifles in their platoons, not just SMGs.

So does anyone have any information or could point me in the right direction?

[carlos marighela]

Not paras but infantry company organisation here:

https://www.quartermastersection.com/bulgarian/companies/1057/BULGARIANINFANTRYCOMPANY

Hope that helps.

[Wyrmalla]

I suppose anything helps. Thanks!

Knowing if they used drop containers would be useful. I'll need to judge if they used the same type of parachute as the Germans. It appears that at least from the webbing and a video that I found that they did. Which would perhaps then infer that they didn't drop with their weapons - given how dangerous those German style parachutes were.

I've found video and images indicating that they did drop with their weapons. Rifles and SMGs at least. But I couldn't see any LMGs or heavier weapons. That being the main issue. Determining whether the men would have access to LMGs - or if they relied totally on SMGs. To me it seems plausible that they'd be armed similarly to other Nation's troops. I just don't want to put together models which are completely wrong if I do go ahead with this. :/

And yes, of course they could use captured equipment, or be supplied with gear in the field. It helps to know though.

Edit:

I've found a source noting that they used "heavy machine guns" and Mortars in a support role. Again I'm not sure how they were deployed (i.e. from cannisters, carried by the men, or gliders). Or whether support elements were entirely seperate from the infantry or integrated. For instance whether a platoon would just have rifles / smg or also have heavier gear like I said. I can find images of them using MG-34, and equipment lists for the Bulgarian military in general.

It may come down to representing a force in field conditions - with the manpower and equipment represenative of an Axis force in 1944 (i.e. anything and everything). Which could be realistic when it comes to the realities of combat. Primarily them working as an asymetric force - elite fighters with a focus on SMGs - facing off against more conventional infantry, would be the draw in collecting them. That and being a smaller force without needing any armoured support would keep the modelling time, and the budget, down.

[Wyrmalla]

Till someone can maybe fill me in on inconsistencies, here's what I've managed to piece together for a plausible platoon:

HQ Section -
Officer - Pistol
Second - Pistol
Medic - Pistol (?)
Radio Team (2 Men) - Pistols


Infantry Squad - x3 - 12 men
Sergeant - SMG
Second - SMG
Light Machine Gun - MG-34
Machine Gun Loader - SMG or Rifle
Infantryman (7 men) - SMG or Rifle
Sniper - Rifle

Support Weapon Team - x2 - 2 men
Armed with either 5cm Mortar, MMG, AT-Rifle (guessing based on what the Bulgarians had in inventory)

Along with potentially Panzerfaust / Panzerschreck, and possibly some captured weapons depending on the period (i.e. I'm aiming at a time before Bulgaria switched to the Allies and received a load of arms from the Soviets).

This is all guess work so far based on images I've seen of guys lined up or in aircraft, in the field with certain weapons, notes I found on the arms Bulgaria had, and to an extent looking at what the Germans were doing. The Bulgarians were trained and equipped by the German paratroopers, so I'd expect them to an extent to be using a similar organisation too (barring using more SMGs. Which I believe the Germans attempted to do at a point as well, but never had enough of them).

Within the HQ section I'm not sure on its make up entirely. I.e. whether the radio would be a one or two man team. Particularly as I've noticed other Nation's HQ organisations list Stretcher Bearers, but in reality they served in signals. The Officer's Second may also serve in signals too. However again, with other forces things aren't always that clear, nor did the real structure follow what was on paper. As for their equipment. I listed pistols, though suspect that SMGs would have been used by a few within this element based on photographs.

As for the individual squads. I'm judging that there would be 3, rather than 4 smaller ones. Again basing this on what the Germans were doing. that could be completely wrong. The LMGs seem to have been present. I just can't work out if they were used within the squad (in place of SMGs) or attached to it. But I guess on the ground soldiers would use what was available. The snipers seem like they'd fit into how the force is structured - giving some precision firepower to compliment all the SMGs. I'll need to look up just what the numbers of Sniper Rifles in service was to see if 1 per squad would be plausible. Its what the German paratrooper squads had on paper, so it seems to fit.

The two support squads were to fill in the numbers. I noticed that Paratrooper platoons would be supported by other platoons armed with heavier weapons. So assumed that within the SMG platoons themselves they'd have some form of support weapons to give them some range. Bulgaria had some German light mortars in service which could have worked with the paras. And if they were anything like the other Axis Powers a Mortar would be fairly standard within a rifle platoon. Its more a case of trying to work out what could be air dropped, and determining how the Bulgarians accessed their weapons during a drop.

How's all that sounding? Heh, someone must have tried collecting these guys?


Oh, and looking at choices for models. The main source would be German paratrooper figures. With their heads swapped out for Warlord Games Soviet ones. The oversized heads that Warlord makes gives a similar look to the one Bulgaria used - perhaps with a bit of reshaping. They also seem to have used the Stalhelms German paras were issued, however I'd rather avoid them being just Germans with a different camo scheme.

Their weapons would be mostly German. With some captured Soviet stuff perhaps. And a few Czech SMGs acquired from the rest of the Bulgarian military. This would allow for some variaty in the models, as from what I've managed to find there's not many manufacturers doing paras with just SMG as their own packs - and otherwise sell them as one or two per dozen figures. So instead the Czech SMGs could be converted from rifles. The main ranges to consider would be Offensive Miniatures and the Perry's - in order to suit the proportions of the rest of my collection.

I'll have a shot at converting some test figures from a few spare Paras that I have today at some point, and then we'll see how viable all this actually is. 

[Hang Tuah]

Would very much like to see the end results of all this research. I believe the Bulgarians wore a helmet unique to themselves?

[Wyrmalla]

Yeah I've seen a few similar looking ones. I've not really done research into the different types. One type seems to have been worn by the paras, so that's what I was aiming for.

There's images attributed as being Bulgarians wearing German para issue Stalhelms too. But like I said, I'd rather differentiate the models as much as possible from just being Germans in all but name.(Which is why I didn't collect a Hungarian force originally, though I've since dropped that reasoning).

Hopefully if this can be kept to just a platoon of paras it won't get quite as out of hand as my other WWII forces. Being paras they won't have all the vehicles I tend to splurge on at least.