The Bulgarian Resistance () was part of the anti-Axis resistance during World War II. It consisted of armed and unarmed actions of resistance groups against the Wehrmacht forces in Bulgaria and the Tsardom of Bulgaria authorities. It was mainly communist and pro-Soviet Union. Participants in the armed resistance were called partizanin (a partisan) and yatak (a helper, or a supporter, someone who provides cover for someone else).
Background
The Communists had long despised the pro-German policy of Prime Minister Bogdan Filov and even campaigned in 1940 for a political pact with Moscow (the Sobolev action).
German forces entered Bulgaria on 1–2 March 1941 as a result of Bulgaria's adhesion to the Axis. The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) declared this to be a "fatal move" and once again called for a union with the USSR.
On 6 March 1941 Georgi Dimitrov called on the people of Bulgaria to start resistance against the Germans.
Before the German invasion of the USSR, there had not been any armed resistance in Bulgaria. At the start of World War II, the Comintern supported a policy of non-intervention, arguing that the war was an imperialist war between various national ruling classes, but when the Soviet Union itself was invaded on 22 June 1941, the Comintern changed its position. The resistance movement was set up in August 1941 by the Bulgarian Communist Party to oppose the pro-Nazi government.
Beginning
The German attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 sparked the rage of Communists and Russophiles in Bulgaria. The same day the BCP spread a brochure among the people urging them "to hinder by all means the usage of Bulgarian land and soldiers for the criminal purposes of German fascism". Two days later, on 24 June, the BCP called for an armed resistance against the Wehrmacht and the Bogdan Filov government.
On 23 July 1941 an illegal radio station — "Hristo Botev" ("Христо Ботев") — began broadcasting.
In the first year of the resistance the BCP used mainly its combat groups. They carried out a number of actions, including arson and demolition of arms, clothes and fuel warehouses, communications, factories and transport lines. The combat groups assassinated prominent Bulgarian politicians, army and police leaders, and Wehrmacht officers. The combat groups' activities impaired the image of Hitler's supporters in Bulgaria but a great number of their members were captured or killed.
The first known partisan in Bulgaria was Ivan Kozarev.
The first guerrilla group (cheta) was created on 26 June 1941 near Razlog, the first partisan commander was Nikola Parapunov. The second group was created in August 1941. Other guerrilla detachments were created in the late summer and autumn of 1941.
The first guerrilla detachments were relatively small. They were created in the Pirin, Rhodopes and Sredna gora mountains.
In September 1941, Bulgarian communist émigrés arrived on Soviet submarines and aircraft to boost the resistance movement. 55 experienced communist fighters were sent by the Foreign Bureau of the BCP, according to one version. According to another version, they were sent by order of the NKVD, of which the Bulgarian Communists in Moscow were not aware. The landing of the so-called "paratroopers" and "submariners" turned out to be precipitate and most of them were captured or killed. On the other hand, those who survived became some of the most prominent partisan leaders.
On October 7, 1941, a second illegal radio station — "Naroden glas" ("Народен глас") — began broadcasting.
Also, activists of the Resistance produced and distributed several illegal newspapers ("Работническо дело", "Народен другар", "Народен глас", "Истина", "Народен партизанин", "Партизанска борба", "Отечествен фронт") and leaflets.
Rise of the partisan force
In the winter of 1941-1942 the Wehrmacht suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Moscow. This destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the German army, and showed that the blitzkrieg in the Soviet Union had failed. In April 1942, a map titled "The Danube area" was published in Germany, where the so-called "new annexed territories" of Bulgaria in Macedonia and Thrace were described as "territories under temporary Bulgarian administration". This was a failure for Sofia's official propaganda, which claimed to have completed the national unification of the Bulgarians. These events led to a rise in the partisans' manpower and prestige.