Rocket troops of Bulgaria. Part II. Death by US strike
Democracy came to Bulgaria on November 10, 1989 - the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall. There were three missile brigades (RBR) of operational-tactical missile systems (OTR) in the country, armed with: 46th and 66th RBR - OTR 9K72 "Elbrus", 76th RBr - OTR 9K714 "Oka". Each RBR had two missile battalions (RDN) with three starting batteries (SBat), two launchers (PU) each. The 46th and 66th RBRs were subordinate to the 1st and 3rd Bulgarian Army (BA), and the 76th RBR was in the Reserve of the High Command (RGK). In the three Bulgarian armies there were also 13 separate missile divisions (ORDn), which were subordinate to the motorized rifle division (MSD) and tank brigades (TBR). ORDn consisted of 2 SBATs, 2 launchers in the MSD and 1 launcher in the TBR, and were armed with: 2nd ORDn - tactical missile system (TR) 9K79 "Tochka"; 5th, 7th, 11th, 16th, 17th, 21st, 24th - 9K52 "Luna-M"; 1st, 3rd, 9th, 13th, 18th - 2K6 Luna.
The described missile formations were provided with two mobile missile technical bases (PRTB) - 129 and 130, one central missile technical base (MDG) and other rear and other support units. ORDN TR were armed with high-explosive, chemical and training warheads, which were located in Bulgaria. The RBR OTR were listed on the 47 nuclear warheads (MS). However, they were on conservation in the USSR and could be issued to the BA only by order of the Warsaw Pact Organization (ATS) Headquarters, which was no longer in 1991. Then the minister-chairman of Bulgaria appealed to his Soviet colleague with a request that Bulgaria should be issued relying warheads equipped with high-explosive and cumulative charges. The USSR responded that Bulgaria should purchase them for about $ 50.000 each. Bulgaria bluntly paid the required amount and received high-explosive and cumulative warheads for OTR 9K72 "Elbrus" and cassette warheads for 9К714 "Oka". Understanding the current political situation, the Chief of the General Staff (NGSH) of the BA, on his own initiative, without any external pressure, gave instructions to dismantle and destroy the code-blocking devices of the PU and transitional compartments (cones) of carriers with AЕ1820 and АЭ1830 indexes, and all the tools that were used for the routine work with them. After that, no Bulgarian rocket could be used as a carrier for a nuclear warhead.
In February, the United States pressured 1992 on the invertebrate president of Bulgaria, Zhelyu Zhelev, and he ordered the defense minister and the NGSh to show the equipment and weapons of the best Bulgarian 76 th BRL and the MDGs to the Americans. Vaunted American intelligence did not know anything about the deployment of OTR "Oka" in Bulgaria, until the USSR itself in 1989 did not list to the Americans all nuclear carriers weapons, which he put abroad. The covert deployment and the fifteen-year-old content of the entire rocket brigade, which carried out 6 OTR launches and visited the Kapustin Yar ground in the USSR several times, speaks quite well about the level of professionalism of the Bulgarian missile forces and the Bulgarian special services providing them, as well as the loyalty of Bulgaria to the USSR. The Americans came to us, having a complete list of factory numbers of launch vehicles (RN) and MS, delivered to us by the USSR. During the test in the 76-th RBR, the Americans unexpectedly requested opening of hatches to the instrument compartments of the LV, which was not coordinated in the preliminary conditions. After a telephone conversation with the Ministry of Defense, the Americans' demand was met, and they filmed the internal structure of the PH with a video camera. The MDGs in Lovech were subjected to the same humiliating test, where the Americans checked the thickness of the PH and MS coverage and checked their factory numbers against the list they had. At a meeting in the General Staff Office after a trip to the 76-th RBR and MDGs, the Americans asked where the dismounted code-blocking devices with PU and transition compartments (cones) of the LV were located. The Bulgarians explained that everything was destroyed, but the Americans did not believe it. They were given a case with a protocol of destruction attached to it, which they photographed. 25 June 1997, the US Foreign Office received a note from the US demanding the destruction of our missile systems. This was the beginning of the end of the Rocket Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. So that the humiliation was complete, the missiles were called according to the NATO classification: 9K72 “Elbrus” became SS-1C “Scud” (“Fog”), and 9K714 “Oka” - SS-23 “Spider” (“Spider”). To our credit, we did not caved in under humiliating dictates, and it took the United States five years to “pull out” our teeth. However, the result of the confrontation of the world hegemon (USA) and the Republic of Bulgaria, which occupies territory in 111 square. km and has a population of 7 million, was a foregone conclusion.
In 1997, specialists from the GS of the BA, the MoD, the Bulgarian National Assembly (our “Duma”) and presidential advisers responded to the United States that the destruction of these missiles did not meet the national interests of Bulgaria. By that time, the United States was already seriously engaged in the creation of an Islamic arc in the Balkans and wanted to completely exclude any possibility of opposition between Orthodox Slavs and Islamists. 18 July 1997, State Department spokesman James Rubin, said: “The non-proliferation of missile weapons is the highest priority of the US administration. The missiles of Bulgaria and Slovakia belong to the first category in terms of their ability to carry weapons for mass destruction, and therefore there is talk of their destruction. The United States is ready to assist in the destruction of these missiles. " Preparing for the war against Yugoslavia and the firm consolidation of the Islamists in the Balkans, the USA and the EU with the help of international bankers and transnational corporations deliberately plunged Bulgaria into a terrible economic crisis. The Bulgarian people, driven to hunger and despair for the first (and, I hope very much, for the last) time in their stories voted for the "democrats" - open supporters of the West and the United States. This resulted in the death of hundreds of Bulgarian factories, the closure of four of the six reactors of our Belene NPP, the abandonment of the Bulgarian sky for the NATO criminal war against Yugoslavia and many more troubles for the entire Bulgarian people.
The Bulgarian people learned well what “democracy” is and what a Masonic-satanic state is - the United States. Today in the Bulgarian parliament there is not a single party, whose name includes the words "democracy", "democratic". But a black deed was done, and on July 27 of 1998, the then minister-chairman (today the most hated politician for Bulgarians) Ivan Kostov committed another heinous crime against the Bulgarian people, signing the “Agreement on proceedings, economic, technical and other assistance” with which the United States "pledged to help" the Bulgarian government in the destruction of:
• SS-23 - missile system 9K714;
• SCUD-B - missile system 9K72;
• FROG-7 - missile system 9-52;
• cash SCUD-A - missiles 8K11.
The agreement entered into force on 1 February 1999 of the year, but due to the NATO war against Yugoslavia, we were in no hurry to destroy our missiles. The US needed allies near Yugoslavia, and they, too, were in no hurry to put pressure on Bulgaria to fulfill their commitments. In the summer of 2000, Deputy Defense Minister Velizar Shalamanov ordered the General Staff to prepare a detailed report on the country's Missile Forces. It contained the most sensitive operational information, which at one time we did not even give the USSR. And never bratushka did not put pressure on the leadership of the country, they respected our sovereignty. The report received by Shalamanov was rushed to be taken to the US embassy in Sofia (let him choke with his 30 pieces of silver, Judas). On December 5 of that year, another “friendly” US commission went to the 66-th RBR. As a result of her work, the Bulgarian government "jointly" (that is, under dictate) with the US State Department decided:
• PU and all vehicles that cannot be used in the national economy of the country will be demilitarized at the Terem plant in the city of Veliko Tarnovo at the expense of the USA;
• the remaining cars will be sold by auction;
• The United States takes the oxidizer and the combat units of the P-300 (9K72) missile.
In January, 2001, Defense Minister Boyko Noev, a protege of Ivan Kostov, said: Bulgaria does not have and will not have the political and military objectives that can be achieved by the Р-300 missiles. At the end of 2001, the government of Simeon Saxekburgburgtsky made a secret decision to destroy the last Bulgarian OTR - 9K714 "Oka". Bulgarian Foreign Minister Jew Solomon Pasi solemnly announced this decision while being at the summit in Washington. This was the last condition for Bulgaria’s membership in the NATO bloc. According to the plans of the West, our country was supposed to enter NATO unarmed, humiliated, and completely dependent on the will, weapons and equipment of the older "brothers" in the bloc. The times when our allies supplied us with the best military equipment in sufficient quantities ended a quarter of a century ago.
Responsible, patriotic leaders of the country did everything they could to save the country's missile forces. They negotiated and carried out their decisions for five years, going directly against the will of the “world gendarme” - the United States. The fact that in the end our missiles were cut, and the oxidizer and the MS went to the US - not our fault. If Russia wanted, we would return her missiles back to her. We really hoped that Russia would stand up for Yugoslavia, and in large territorial agreements there would be a paragraph for our missile brigades. After all, it was not for this that the execution of US decrees was being executed, in order to shake off rocket salvo along their Orthodox Slavic neighbors.
Although in the past we had our showdowns with the Serbs, Bulgaria’s rocket armament always stood guard against the Islamization of the Balkans. NATO devoured Serbia like a tuzik hot-water bottle. The Islamists founded another Muslim state in the heart of the Balkans - Kosovo. The United States established in the center of the Balkan Peninsula a mighty military base - Bondstyll. Russia was silent. Bulgaria has no choice but to submit to the dictates of the State Department. After five years of dodging, thinking and revisions, we finally cut our missiles into scrap metal and transferred the oxidizer and the US warheads.
In the 2001 year, after we had removed our OTP from armament and began to cut them, Turkey immediately adopted the OTR with a range of up to 300 km. The Yankees promised that in return for destroyed OTP and TR they would supply us with MLRS (MLRS) with a range of up to 90 km, but, of course, they deceived us.
Almost all patriotic Bulgarians opposed the destruction of the country's missile forces and cooperation with NATO, each in the form in which it could. The author has expressed his position twice.
In the second case, I was a student and freely protested against the provision of Bulgarian airspace for a predatory NATO attack on Yugoslavia. He did not risk anything except a couple of blows with a baton on the shoulder and on the ass. For a healthy 19-year-old, it's not scary at all, and besides - a good reason for pride. The police sympathized with the protesters, and there was no occasion for them to beat them on the liver, kidneys, or heads.
But in the first case, I took great risks. At that time, I was still on an urgent service, as an efretor of the communications company of the 21 th mechanized brigade, where until very recently the 21 st ORD was located. When I got there, the missiles and launchers were no longer there, but there was still earthmoving equipment, air-conditioned warehouses with cranes and other equipment. Once NATO officers arrived at our farm — Americans, Turks, and Greeks — to see for themselves that the missiles were gone. The subdivision learned about the inspection half an hour before it was carried out, and, of course, everyone rushed feverishly to “ennoble the territory”. As a competent soldier, I was assigned a task in accordance with my “high” technical qualifications - to wipe the climate control panel in the former rocket depot with a cloth, and at the same time doors, handles, and a crane… As a non-drinker, non-smoker, and generally soldier in good standing, I was handed without hesitation a full bottle of alcohol. Staff sergeants would never have been entrusted with such “material value”. I honestly fulfilled the task, but did not report on the readiness, so that I was not instructed to "lick" something less pleasant than the control panels. A couple of times officers ran into the warehouse, but each time I diligently and very energetically improved the work already done, and I had no complaints about it. Finally, the commission of inspectors came to me in full.
If the commission was led by a Bulgarian or at least an American officer, I would have behaved as it should be. But for my and the commission of misfortune, it was headed by a Turkish officer. I could not bend before the Turk. Instead of clicking my heels, saluting and standing still at attention, I frowned my hands in my pockets, turned my back on the Turk and slowly went about my business. The Bulgarian general in the commission shouted as if he had been slaughtered. Two "sixes" of the general - the lieutenant colonel and the major - grabbed me under the arms and dragged me to the guardhouse. The general promised to give me a tribunal, but nothing happened. Although I shipped 15 days from General GSH, specially authorized for something there (groveling), I sat in the guardhouse for a day and a half. I was released the next day, after the departure of the commission. Obviously, the brigade officers didn’t like the check either ...
Today there is no rocket, no 21 of the mehbrigade. Recently drove near the former place of service. Warehouses and territory cleared under the next shopping center ...
The article is written based on the book of the former commander of the missile troops and artillery of the BNA, Lieutenant General Retired Dimitar Todorov, “Rocket troops to Bulgaria,” ed. “Eur Group 2002”, Sofia, 2007, 453 p.
The described missile formations were provided with two mobile missile technical bases (PRTB) - 129 and 130, one central missile technical base (MDG) and other rear and other support units. ORDN TR were armed with high-explosive, chemical and training warheads, which were located in Bulgaria. The RBR OTR were listed on the 47 nuclear warheads (MS). However, they were on conservation in the USSR and could be issued to the BA only by order of the Warsaw Pact Organization (ATS) Headquarters, which was no longer in 1991. Then the minister-chairman of Bulgaria appealed to his Soviet colleague with a request that Bulgaria should be issued relying warheads equipped with high-explosive and cumulative charges. The USSR responded that Bulgaria should purchase them for about $ 50.000 each. Bulgaria bluntly paid the required amount and received high-explosive and cumulative warheads for OTR 9K72 "Elbrus" and cassette warheads for 9К714 "Oka". Understanding the current political situation, the Chief of the General Staff (NGSH) of the BA, on his own initiative, without any external pressure, gave instructions to dismantle and destroy the code-blocking devices of the PU and transitional compartments (cones) of carriers with AЕ1820 and АЭ1830 indexes, and all the tools that were used for the routine work with them. After that, no Bulgarian rocket could be used as a carrier for a nuclear warhead.In February, the United States pressured 1992 on the invertebrate president of Bulgaria, Zhelyu Zhelev, and he ordered the defense minister and the NGSh to show the equipment and weapons of the best Bulgarian 76 th BRL and the MDGs to the Americans. Vaunted American intelligence did not know anything about the deployment of OTR "Oka" in Bulgaria, until the USSR itself in 1989 did not list to the Americans all nuclear carriers weapons, which he put abroad. The covert deployment and the fifteen-year-old content of the entire rocket brigade, which carried out 6 OTR launches and visited the Kapustin Yar ground in the USSR several times, speaks quite well about the level of professionalism of the Bulgarian missile forces and the Bulgarian special services providing them, as well as the loyalty of Bulgaria to the USSR. The Americans came to us, having a complete list of factory numbers of launch vehicles (RN) and MS, delivered to us by the USSR. During the test in the 76-th RBR, the Americans unexpectedly requested opening of hatches to the instrument compartments of the LV, which was not coordinated in the preliminary conditions. After a telephone conversation with the Ministry of Defense, the Americans' demand was met, and they filmed the internal structure of the PH with a video camera. The MDGs in Lovech were subjected to the same humiliating test, where the Americans checked the thickness of the PH and MS coverage and checked their factory numbers against the list they had. At a meeting in the General Staff Office after a trip to the 76-th RBR and MDGs, the Americans asked where the dismounted code-blocking devices with PU and transition compartments (cones) of the LV were located. The Bulgarians explained that everything was destroyed, but the Americans did not believe it. They were given a case with a protocol of destruction attached to it, which they photographed. 25 June 1997, the US Foreign Office received a note from the US demanding the destruction of our missile systems. This was the beginning of the end of the Rocket Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. So that the humiliation was complete, the missiles were called according to the NATO classification: 9K72 “Elbrus” became SS-1C “Scud” (“Fog”), and 9K714 “Oka” - SS-23 “Spider” (“Spider”). To our credit, we did not caved in under humiliating dictates, and it took the United States five years to “pull out” our teeth. However, the result of the confrontation of the world hegemon (USA) and the Republic of Bulgaria, which occupies territory in 111 square. km and has a population of 7 million, was a foregone conclusion.
In 1997, specialists from the GS of the BA, the MoD, the Bulgarian National Assembly (our “Duma”) and presidential advisers responded to the United States that the destruction of these missiles did not meet the national interests of Bulgaria. By that time, the United States was already seriously engaged in the creation of an Islamic arc in the Balkans and wanted to completely exclude any possibility of opposition between Orthodox Slavs and Islamists. 18 July 1997, State Department spokesman James Rubin, said: “The non-proliferation of missile weapons is the highest priority of the US administration. The missiles of Bulgaria and Slovakia belong to the first category in terms of their ability to carry weapons for mass destruction, and therefore there is talk of their destruction. The United States is ready to assist in the destruction of these missiles. " Preparing for the war against Yugoslavia and the firm consolidation of the Islamists in the Balkans, the USA and the EU with the help of international bankers and transnational corporations deliberately plunged Bulgaria into a terrible economic crisis. The Bulgarian people, driven to hunger and despair for the first (and, I hope very much, for the last) time in their stories voted for the "democrats" - open supporters of the West and the United States. This resulted in the death of hundreds of Bulgarian factories, the closure of four of the six reactors of our Belene NPP, the abandonment of the Bulgarian sky for the NATO criminal war against Yugoslavia and many more troubles for the entire Bulgarian people.
The Bulgarian people learned well what “democracy” is and what a Masonic-satanic state is - the United States. Today in the Bulgarian parliament there is not a single party, whose name includes the words "democracy", "democratic". But a black deed was done, and on July 27 of 1998, the then minister-chairman (today the most hated politician for Bulgarians) Ivan Kostov committed another heinous crime against the Bulgarian people, signing the “Agreement on proceedings, economic, technical and other assistance” with which the United States "pledged to help" the Bulgarian government in the destruction of:
• SS-23 - missile system 9K714;
• SCUD-B - missile system 9K72;
• FROG-7 - missile system 9-52;
• cash SCUD-A - missiles 8K11.
The agreement entered into force on 1 February 1999 of the year, but due to the NATO war against Yugoslavia, we were in no hurry to destroy our missiles. The US needed allies near Yugoslavia, and they, too, were in no hurry to put pressure on Bulgaria to fulfill their commitments. In the summer of 2000, Deputy Defense Minister Velizar Shalamanov ordered the General Staff to prepare a detailed report on the country's Missile Forces. It contained the most sensitive operational information, which at one time we did not even give the USSR. And never bratushka did not put pressure on the leadership of the country, they respected our sovereignty. The report received by Shalamanov was rushed to be taken to the US embassy in Sofia (let him choke with his 30 pieces of silver, Judas). On December 5 of that year, another “friendly” US commission went to the 66-th RBR. As a result of her work, the Bulgarian government "jointly" (that is, under dictate) with the US State Department decided:
• PU and all vehicles that cannot be used in the national economy of the country will be demilitarized at the Terem plant in the city of Veliko Tarnovo at the expense of the USA;
• the remaining cars will be sold by auction;
• The United States takes the oxidizer and the combat units of the P-300 (9K72) missile.
In January, 2001, Defense Minister Boyko Noev, a protege of Ivan Kostov, said: Bulgaria does not have and will not have the political and military objectives that can be achieved by the Р-300 missiles. At the end of 2001, the government of Simeon Saxekburgburgtsky made a secret decision to destroy the last Bulgarian OTR - 9K714 "Oka". Bulgarian Foreign Minister Jew Solomon Pasi solemnly announced this decision while being at the summit in Washington. This was the last condition for Bulgaria’s membership in the NATO bloc. According to the plans of the West, our country was supposed to enter NATO unarmed, humiliated, and completely dependent on the will, weapons and equipment of the older "brothers" in the bloc. The times when our allies supplied us with the best military equipment in sufficient quantities ended a quarter of a century ago.
Responsible, patriotic leaders of the country did everything they could to save the country's missile forces. They negotiated and carried out their decisions for five years, going directly against the will of the “world gendarme” - the United States. The fact that in the end our missiles were cut, and the oxidizer and the MS went to the US - not our fault. If Russia wanted, we would return her missiles back to her. We really hoped that Russia would stand up for Yugoslavia, and in large territorial agreements there would be a paragraph for our missile brigades. After all, it was not for this that the execution of US decrees was being executed, in order to shake off rocket salvo along their Orthodox Slavic neighbors.
Although in the past we had our showdowns with the Serbs, Bulgaria’s rocket armament always stood guard against the Islamization of the Balkans. NATO devoured Serbia like a tuzik hot-water bottle. The Islamists founded another Muslim state in the heart of the Balkans - Kosovo. The United States established in the center of the Balkan Peninsula a mighty military base - Bondstyll. Russia was silent. Bulgaria has no choice but to submit to the dictates of the State Department. After five years of dodging, thinking and revisions, we finally cut our missiles into scrap metal and transferred the oxidizer and the US warheads.
In the 2001 year, after we had removed our OTP from armament and began to cut them, Turkey immediately adopted the OTR with a range of up to 300 km. The Yankees promised that in return for destroyed OTP and TR they would supply us with MLRS (MLRS) with a range of up to 90 km, but, of course, they deceived us.
Almost all patriotic Bulgarians opposed the destruction of the country's missile forces and cooperation with NATO, each in the form in which it could. The author has expressed his position twice.
In the second case, I was a student and freely protested against the provision of Bulgarian airspace for a predatory NATO attack on Yugoslavia. He did not risk anything except a couple of blows with a baton on the shoulder and on the ass. For a healthy 19-year-old, it's not scary at all, and besides - a good reason for pride. The police sympathized with the protesters, and there was no occasion for them to beat them on the liver, kidneys, or heads.
But in the first case, I took great risks. At that time, I was still on an urgent service, as an efretor of the communications company of the 21 th mechanized brigade, where until very recently the 21 st ORD was located. When I got there, the missiles and launchers were no longer there, but there was still earthmoving equipment, air-conditioned warehouses with cranes and other equipment. Once NATO officers arrived at our farm — Americans, Turks, and Greeks — to see for themselves that the missiles were gone. The subdivision learned about the inspection half an hour before it was carried out, and, of course, everyone rushed feverishly to “ennoble the territory”. As a competent soldier, I was assigned a task in accordance with my “high” technical qualifications - to wipe the climate control panel in the former rocket depot with a cloth, and at the same time doors, handles, and a crane… As a non-drinker, non-smoker, and generally soldier in good standing, I was handed without hesitation a full bottle of alcohol. Staff sergeants would never have been entrusted with such “material value”. I honestly fulfilled the task, but did not report on the readiness, so that I was not instructed to "lick" something less pleasant than the control panels. A couple of times officers ran into the warehouse, but each time I diligently and very energetically improved the work already done, and I had no complaints about it. Finally, the commission of inspectors came to me in full.
If the commission was led by a Bulgarian or at least an American officer, I would have behaved as it should be. But for my and the commission of misfortune, it was headed by a Turkish officer. I could not bend before the Turk. Instead of clicking my heels, saluting and standing still at attention, I frowned my hands in my pockets, turned my back on the Turk and slowly went about my business. The Bulgarian general in the commission shouted as if he had been slaughtered. Two "sixes" of the general - the lieutenant colonel and the major - grabbed me under the arms and dragged me to the guardhouse. The general promised to give me a tribunal, but nothing happened. Although I shipped 15 days from General GSH, specially authorized for something there (groveling), I sat in the guardhouse for a day and a half. I was released the next day, after the departure of the commission. Obviously, the brigade officers didn’t like the check either ...
Today there is no rocket, no 21 of the mehbrigade. Recently drove near the former place of service. Warehouses and territory cleared under the next shopping center ...
The article is written based on the book of the former commander of the missile troops and artillery of the BNA, Lieutenant General Retired Dimitar Todorov, “Rocket troops to Bulgaria,” ed. “Eur Group 2002”, Sofia, 2007, 453 p.
Information