German Air Units Supporting Bulgaria in the Second World War

Immediately after Bulgaria had signed the Axis Tripartite Pact on 1 March 1941, the troops of the German 12th Army and aircraft of Fliegerkorps VIII began to deploy to locations within Bulgaria in preparation for Operation Marita, the planned invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia.

On 5 April 1941, the day before the attack, the forces deployed in Bulgaria were as follows:

Unit	Base	Aircraft
Fliegerkorps VIII
2(F)/11	Sofia-Filiporci	Do 17P
I/StG 1	?	Ju 87R
Stab, I and III/StG 2	Belica & Krainici	Ju 87B/R
I/StG 3	Belica	Ju 87B/R
Stab, II and III/JG 27	Belica & Sofia-Vrba	Bf 109E
I(J)/LG 2	Sofia-Vrajdebna	Bf 109E
I/LG 1	Krumovo	Ju 88A
II(Sch)/LG 2	Sofia-Vrajdebna	Bf 109E (2 Staffeln)
10(Sch)/LG 2	Sofia-Vrajdebna	Hs 123A
7(F)/LG 2	Sofia-Vrajdebna	Bf 110F
10/LG 2	Krainici	Hs 123A
II/ZG 26	Krainici & Sofia-Vrajdebna	Bf 110C/E
7 Seenotdienstaffel	Varna	various floatplanes
IV/KGzbV 1	Krumovo	Ju 52/3m
Attached to 12 Armee
5(H)/13	serving XXX Korps	Hs 126
2(H)/10	serving XVIII Korps	Hs 126
4(H)/22	serving XL Korps	Hs 126
4(H)/32	serving XI and L Korps	Hs 126
1(H)/14 Pz	serving 2nd Panzer Division	Hs 126
1(H)/23 Pz	serving 9th Panzer Division	Hs 126

After the attack, Luftwaffe units moved into Greece and Yugoslavia. The Luftwaffe did not return to Bulgaria until the Allies began bombing raids on the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania. On 7 February 1944, Jagdfliegerführer Rumänien (JaFü Rumänien) was renamed Jagdfliegerführer Balkan (JaFü Balkan) and assumed control of Luftwaffe units in Romania and Yugoslavia. By June 1944 this command had expanded to include II/JG 301 based at Bojurishte in Bulgaria (with Bf 109Gs) and 6/NJG 100 (formerly 4/NJG 200) at Krumovo with Do 217s, in well as 6 Fighter Polk of the Bulgarian Air Force. The last German forces evacuated from Bulgaria on 30 August 1944.

4/JG 51 with Bf 109G-6 may-june 1944