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The
Aegean Unit of the Bulgarian Fleet was established on 31 December 1914 with
Decree N. 96. The Fleet Order fixed its organization and its task. It was
composed by command, sea defence, semaphore observation service and workshop.
Its main task was to assure the surveillance and the protection of the
seacoast without craft.
The
head of the Unit was maj. Nikola Furnadzhiev, who had been previously the
head of the semaphore posts, with 1st rank midshipman Velizar Peev
as adjutant and Lt. Georgi Antonov as head of the mine defence. The peace
establishment was only 74 men, whom 8 assigned to the direction of the unit, 38
to the mine defence, and 28 to the semaphore observation service. They had
only four rowboats, three at Dedeagach and one at Porto Lagos.
After
the mobilization, proclaimed on 10 September 1915, the Aegean Unit reached
its war strength, and on 20 September it was composed by 2 Staff officers, 5
senior officers and 237 NCOs and seamen. Its naval equipment was reinforced
with the Iskra motor boat,
weighting only 12 tons, and five rowboats. On 1 October, when Bulgaria entered war, the defence of the coast
of the Aegean Sea was assigned to some units
of the 10th Belomorska Division : 37th Infantry
regiment at Ksanti, 40th infantry regiment at Dedeagach, and 8th
cavalry regiment. They were supported by a little number of old guns
taken from Sofiyski fortress artillery regiment (4 – 57mm Gruson guns and 18
– 75mm and 87mm Krupp guns). The harbour and the
mine companies of the Aegean Unit were put under the orders of the
units to cooperate with the Army to repel an enemy landing. On 10 October
1915 to protect the coastline 4 – 120mm L/25 guns of the Sofiyski fortress
artillery regiment were sent to Dedeagach.
To protect the
Bay of Dedeagach at the beginning of March
1916 the mine company laid down three rows of 10 mines each at distance of 10 km from the coast. In
August 22 mines were laid down to defend the Bay of Porto Lagos.
With the help of a German mine command of 33 men, the mine laying continued
in 1917, especially after the intense naval bombardments of Kavala and
Leftera made by the Anglo-French Fleet at the beginning of the year. From 24
to 29 March 1917 three rows of mines were laid down in the Bay of Kavala,
while on 1 April the minefield at Dedeagach and Porto Lagos was strengthened.
Finally on 14 and 23 April further mines were laid down in the Bay of Porto Lagos and Kavala. The main
effect of the activity of the mine company was the great decrease of the
traffic of the enemy ships along the Bulgarian coast.
After the
victorious offensive of the 2nd Army in Thrace and the occupation of the
Greek coast up to Kavala, the area assigned to the Aegean Units increased
greatly. Since there were no coast guns to defend the coast of the Aegean Sea, it was necessary to turn to the fortress
artillery, using also some guns captured in Greek Thracian fortress. On 20
August 1916 the operative order N. 59 of the 2nd Army commander
mentioned 2 – 150mm batteries with 2 guns each of the Kavala coast artillery
regiment. Unfortunately neither the number, nor the model of these guns is
reported. On 10 May 1917 west of the Maritza river, between Dedeagatch and
Makri were deployed :
– at Dedeagach :
2 batteries with 2 – 57mm Gruson guns each; 2 batteries with 2 and 4 – 87mm
Krupp field guns respectively; 1 battery with 4 – 120 mm L/25 Krupp guns; 1
battery with 4 – 120mm L/28 Schneider-Canet guns;
– east of Makri
: 1 - 87mm Krupp gun;
– at Cap Makri :
1 - 87mm Krupp gun;
– west of Makri
: 2 batteries with 2 – 87mm Krupp guns each.
The coast
artillery was constantly strengthened during the war, and in 1918 most of the
312 guns of Bulgarian 4th Army were used for coast defence
(according with Stefan Noikov, the Belomorska Otbrana alone had 97 guns).
The head of
the coast artillery of the Aegean Sea was
col. Yerotey Sirmanov, who had been the head of the artillery of the 11th
Infantry Division during the Balkan Wars, taking part in the siege of Odrin.
With the establishment of the 4th Army, he became the head of its
artillery, after having been promoted major general.
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