The Bulgarian fortifications
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In 1912
Bulgaria could not rely very much on fortifications for its defence. The
absence of a specific plan and deficiency of resource kept from establishing adequate
fortifications along its borders. From 1885 to 1912 the engineers worked
sometimes on a strongpoint, sometimes on another, but at the outbreak of the
war none of the planned fortification was finished. In 1912 the chief
existing fortified places were : 1.
the works built along the Slvinitza
position; 2.
the works of the Sofia position; 3.
the old Danube fortress; 4.
the works built
against the Turkish border. The Slivnitza position consisted of a number of
semi-permanent works along the positions occupied by the Bulgarian Army in
the war against Serbia (1885), 30 Km north-west of Sofia. There were some
small closed redoubts armed with 57mm Gruson guns
in cupolas that had an extensive field of fire over the open country towards
the exit of the Dragoman pass. To the north along the same line, there was
the old fort of Belogradchik and some other places
selected for fortification, to prolong to the north and south the Slivnitsa position. Belogradchik, a little
town situated on the western slope of Stolova Planina, was an
important junction, connecting the two roads coming from the passages Saint Nikola and Kadaboaz and directed
to Vidin, and the nearby road Chuprene – Lom. The old fortress rose on a hill approximately 1 km west of the town and was
inaccessible southward due to the sheer rocks. It was a regular quadrilateral in shape and was
protected by stone walls, thick enough to allow the move of the gun from a lace to another. It had some barbets
and platforms of earth from which guns could fired, while the powder magazines and secure rooms for the
troops were demolished by the Turks when they left the fortress on 25
February 1878. Along the southern side some redoubts with cisterns for water
were dug into the rock. The fortress could quarter a garrison of 4000 men. In 1885 the
Serbian Army tried unsuccessfully to occupy it. After the war The War
Ministry, recognising that its defences were too weak, decided to strengthen
the place. An entrenched camp with thirteen works was planned, but never
built. In 1888-92 a ring 30 km long was built around the town with five
infantry redoubts (Nr. 0, 1, 2, 3, e 5), some batteries and roads connecting
each other the fortifications. The place was divided in three sectors: I
eastern, near “Venetz” (Stolova
Planina); II south-eastern, east of the road Belogradchik-Lom; III south western, west of that road up
to hill 274; IV western, from hill 274 up to peak north-east of Dubrava; V north-western, from the peak south-east of Slivovik up to the peak south of Koluger.
The Sofia position consisted of seven
outlying works guarding the capital from the south and west. Two of them on
the south commanded the exit from the Vladaya Pass
with the road and the railway from Radomir. The
remaining works were in the plain facing west to resist an attack from that
side. The old Turkish earthworks were not included in the ring, remaining
abandoned in the west. They were commenced in 1892 and in February 1895 three
of them were completed, but not yet armed. At the beginning it was planned to
arm them with four 57mm QF guns and four to six 150mm guns each. The
fortified position was finished at the end of the century, but all the works
were armed only with 57mm QF guns. The Danube fortresses were Vidin, Nikolpol, Ruse, Silistria,
Shumen and Varna. During the Ottoman rule the last four were known as “the
Balkan Quadrilateral”. All these places were towns surrounded by one or two
bastioned lines with a citadel and small forts at the points where these lines
abutted on the Danube. During the Russo-Turkish war both Shumen and Ruse were
entrenched camps, the first comprising eighteen and the latter twenty
outlying redoubts, and an old masonry enceinte. The tracés
were irregular polygons, the profiles of great strength, and the revetments
largely of masonry. After the war all the fortress of the Quadrilateral were
razed, according to the terms of Article 11 of the treaty of Berlin. Vidin too a
double enceinte with eight bastions and seven detached works. In 1912 it was
armed with outdated Russian guns and mortars. Vidin was besieged both in
1885, when it was defended by capt. Atanas Uzunov and supported by
the Danube Flotilla, and in 1913, when it was defended by may. gen. Krastyo Marinov.
In both the occurrences the places was cut off, but hold out bravely and was
not occupied by the Serbian Army. At the eve of the Balkan Wars these
fortresses were not in a good state of repair, and were consequently unfit to
resist serious operations. Along
the Turkish borders there were the
following fortified position: -
the Dupnitza
position in the Macedonian theatre of operations; -
the barrage works blocking the pass of
the Rodopi mountains; -
the Tarnovo Seymen and the Yambol
position in the Tharacian theatre of operation. |
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The Balkan Quadrilateral |
