FOREIGN VOLUNTEERS IN THE GERMAN ARMED FORCES 1939-45

In military terms Bulgaria's contribution to the German conquest of the Balkans was a minor one. The Bulgarians, with the help of the an armoured German division, were to guard the Wehrmacht's left flank during the invation of Greece. After the defeat of Yugoslavia and Greece three divisions of the Bulgarian Second and Fifth Armies were moved into Macedonia and Thrace to allow the Germans to concentrate their forces elsewhere.

German attempts to persuade King Boris to commit men, even volunteers, to the German-Soviet war were resolutely resisted, particularly after Stalingrad, and in the summer of 1943 the king even refused to extend Bulgaria's commitment against the partisans in Yugoslavia and Albania. In the Black Sea, Bulgaria's few minor warships were restricted to escorting convoys.