Bulgaria

Republic of Bulgaria

Bulgaria emerged from the Second World War as a single-party nation, the Communist People’s Republic under the influence of the Soviet Union. It became a member of the Warsaw Pact in 1955 and sent military advisors to various regions in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1989, responding to the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the Bulgarian communist party relinquished its political monopoly and in 1990 free elections were held. The country was invited to join NATO in 2004 and deployed military personnel to Afghanistan as part of ISAF.

The Bulgarian People’s Army (Българска народна армия, or БНА) was an active member of the Eastern Bloc. The country produced considerable war materiel which were exported or supplied as war aid to friendly governments and sympathetic Marxist-Leninist guerilla movements. In addition to the Land, Air and Naval Forces, the military included Labor Forces, Rocket Forces, Transport Troops, and Signals personnel. The Ministry of the Interior forces included the Border Guards, Interior Troops, and the People’s Militia (armed police). Early Bulgarian camouflage patterns were heavily influenced by those of the German Wehrmacht, particularly the splittermuster or “splinter patterns.” During the communist era, Bulgaria joined other Warsaw Pact nations and invaded Czechoslovakia in 1955, to suppress the efforts of the Prague Spring in liberalizing the country and distancing itself from the Soviet Union. Aside from this, the country was involved in no direct military conflict as a People's Republic.

The Bulgarian Armed Forces (Български Въоръжени сили), also commonly referred to as the Bulgarian Army (Българска армия), have been significantly reduced in size in the modern era, although it retains Land, Air and Naval branches of service. The Ministry of the Interior continues to hold responsibility for internal security and law enforcement duties. Between 2003 and 2008, small contingents of Bulgarian troops deployed to assist with the Iraq War, and a small force was also sent to Afghanistan as part of ISAF. The country has been active with peacekeeping efforts as far back as the early 1990s, sending personnel to Cambodia, Angola, Tajikistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, Liberia, Libya, and Somalia.

Following WW2, Bulgarian units employed a variation of the German Wehrmacht splittertarn (splinter) pattern. This in turn led to adoption of a number of variations of the pattern over the next 55 years, which ultimately became the standard uniform of the Bulgarian soldier. With the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union, Bulgaria rapidly became interested in shedding her ties to the old regimes and adopted several camouflage patterns based on the British DPM model in the early part of the 21st century.

Bulgarian Camouflage Patterns

• The earliest Bulgarian camouflage pattern was a splinter pattern highly derivative of the Splittermuster pattern of the German Wehrmacht. The pattern is thought to have been used during WW2 or shortly thereafter, as some details of the uniform and the high-quality printing suggest that it was pre-Communist era. The pattern features green and brown or russet geometric splinter shapes on a khaki background, although extant samples vary considerably in the shades of green and brown dyes that were applied.

• A variation of the three-color splinter pattern utilizing different screens is known to have emerged between 1951 and 1952. Bulgarian uniforms in this pattern conformed to the Soviet "reconnaissance" uniform design introduced during the Second World War, and the fabric was equally lightweight, although again extant samples indicate a wide variation in the shades of green and brown dyes utilized in the printing process.

• A more faithful, but much less-defined version of the wartime German Splittermuster (splinter) pattern was introduced circa 1953. The design incorporated very crudely printed green and brown splinter shapes on a light olive green field with wavy rain straits. This pattern was worn as a coverall by primarily by Bulgarian airborne troops.

• Circa 1959 another Bulgarian variation of the splinter pattern emerged. Produced until approximately 1968, this variation was essentially the same as the previous one, with the exception that the edges of the splinter patches were much more well-defined than those of the 1953 pattern. Like its predecessor, the printing technique was fairly crude. There is some speculation as to the extent of this pattern's issue, but it still was primarily intended for wear by airborne and reconnaisance personnel.

• There is some photographic evidence indicating that Bulgarian military personnel wore Soviet solnechnye zaychiki (sunshine rays) or berezkha pattern camouflage uniforms, probably in the 1960s or 1970s.

• A completely different camouflage pattern emerged and was issued alongside the "splinter" pattern circa 1968, known by the Bulgarians as жабежка кожа or Zhabezhka kozha (frogskin) pattern. The design, featuring bright green spots & blotches, and brown rain straits on a grey background, was printed on the same style coveralls for issue to airborne personnel and chemical troops (possibly to confuse NATO forces). The coveralls were later issued to Border Patrols or Federal Border Guards (sources conflict as to which is correct).

• Circa 1979 yet another version of the Bulgarian splinter design emerged, now featuring more densely-aligned dark green and dark brown splinter shapes on a grey-green field with wavy rain straits. Another interesting feature of this version is that the splinter shapes themselves no longer touched each other. Both summer and winter issue uniforms were now being produced, although issue was still limited primarily to airborne, intelligence, and special forces personnel. The pattern was also exported to Afghanistan in the 1980s. It is interesting to note that, on some versions of this design, the splintered shapes appear to have been reversed.

• Common among most Warsaw Pact nations at one time or another, Bulgaria also adopted a "rain drop" pattern between the 1960s and 1970s. The design, quite similar to that adopted by East Germany, consisted of thick brown "rain straits" on a pale grey-green background, with a light contrasting pattern of purple/brown splotches or spots. This pattern has only been doucmented on the special operations coveralls that were issued to paratroops, reconnaissance personnel, artillery spotters and some engineer personnel. Based on limited documentation, it is likely these coveralls saw distribution for an extremely short period of time.

• The fifth and last version of the Bulgarian splinter pattern was introduced around 1991. This version, dark green and dark brown splinter shapes on an olive green background with slightly thinner rain straits, saw universal distribution within the Bulgarian Armed Forces and remained in service until around 2002. A wide variety of uniform styles and field equipment were produced in this pattern.

• Little is known about the camouflage pattern seen here, except that it appears to have been worn by Bulgarian military advisors serving in desert or semi-arid regions towards the end of the communist period. The design itself seems to be a re-coloration of a pattern also produced in Bulgaria for export to insurgent organizations such as the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) in South West Africa.

• At some point in the late 1980s, Bulgarian military advisors were issued an interesting lizard camouflage pattern uniform. Featuring green and brown horizontal stripes on a sandy background, the design was probably intended to blend into desert or semi-arid regions such as those in Africa or the Middle East where these advisors were serving. Sources in Bulgaria also suggest that the pattern may have been used for compulsory military training (NVO) which occurred around the 10th year of schooling in Bulgaria during the communism period.

• Another Bulgarian lizard camouflage design to emerge during the late 1990s was a green-dominant pattern. This pattern was simply a trial design, and probably not adopted due to its similarity to lizard patterns worn by Greece. The pattern has brown & dark green horizontal stripes on olive green background.

• Introduced just after Bulgaria became member of NATO in 2004, this five-color Disruptive Pattern Material or DPM design was initially fielded by Bulgarian units serving in the Balkans and later became the standard pattern for the entire armed forces, remaining so until 2018. The design features black, russet, medium olive & light olive green disruptive shapes on pale green or khaki background.

• Ultimately adopted as the standard camouflage design of Bulgarian forces serving at home and in temperate regions, a variation of the DPM pattern having slightly darker, more forest-like shades replaced the earlier, more brightly hued pattern.

• A three-color Disruptive Pattern desert variation was also issued at the same time. Employing russet & khaki disruptive shapes on a sandy background, the pattern has been worn by Bulgarian troops deployed to Iraq and on other missions with the United Nations.

• Bulgarian four colour urban disruptive pattern. Used by Bulgarian Air Force and Gendarmerie serving in ISAF (Afghanistan). In use since 2004.

• In May 2018, the Ministry of Defense revealed a new series of pixelated camouflage designs to replace the previously issued DPM variants. Two of these patterns utilize the same color palette as the German Army's flecktarn and desert flecktarn patterns, while the third - having the same basic structure - will have a grey color palette for the Air Force.

Other Camouflage Patterns worn by Bulgaria

• Bulgarian Rangers deployed to Afghanistan (2009) have been photographed wearing US style 3 colour desert uniforms.

• Since around 2020, Bulgarian Air Force have been wearing the so-called "Universal Camouflage Pattern" or UCP, developed in the United States and worn by the US Army officially until 2019. It is uncertain whether the uniforms are made locally, or imported from Asian factories.

Comparison Photos

• Comparision of the early splinter pattern with the 1953 pattern. The 1953 pattern is only a subset of the early splinter pattern. The area outlined in red is repeated on the 1953 pattern.