site.btaDefence Ministry Representatives Commemorate Fallen Bulgarian Soldiers in North Macedonia, Romania

Bulgarian delegations commemorated fallen Bulgarian soldiers on the occasion of All Souls' Day at military cemeteries in North Macedonia and Romania, the Bulgarian Defence Ministry said Saturday. 

A delegation from the Ministry of Defence, led by Deputy Minister Radostin Iliev, participated on Saturday in a commemorative ceremony on the occasion of All Souls' Day at the Bulgarian military cemetery in the village of Tsapari, municipality of Bitola, in the Republic of North Macedonia, the Ministry of Defence reported.

"Our military history is filled with acts of bravery and heroism. Such is the case here, not far from Mount Pelister and Baba Mountain. In the spring of 1917, the 6th and 8th Infantry Divisions stationed here, the Bdintsi and Tundzha Divisions, successfully defended their positions for three months. They succeeded with skill and bravery to defeat a much superior enemy. In this way they foiled the Triple Entente's whole spring offensive," Deputy Minister Iliev said in his speech. He stressed that the victory was achieved at the cost of many valiant sacrifices and was supported by the local population of the region. "These officers and soldiers gave their lives for the defence of the national interest. They performed their duty to the motherland with dignity and to the end and deserve our respect and adoration," the Deputy Defence Minister said.

The ritual was attended by Dimitar Iliev, Director of the Social Policy and Military-Patriotic Education Directorate, Brigadier General Dimitar Hlebarov, Director of the Directorate of Communication and Information Systems at the Ministry of Defence, cadets from the G. Benkovski Bulgarian Air Force Academy, the Bulgarian Ambassador to North Macedonia, Zhelyazko Radukov. Wreaths and flowers were laid on behalf of the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence at the monument to the Bulgarian officers and soldiers who died during the First World War. In the Church of St. A memorial service was held in at the St. George Church. The commemoration was organized with the assistance of the Bulgarian Embassy and the Office of the Military Attaché in Skopje.

Earlier, on 1 November, Deputy Minister Radostin Iliev and the delegation he led laid flowers at the memorial to the 193 Bulgarian officers and soldiers near the village of Drenovo, Kavadartsi municipality, at the memorial plaque of the fallen Bulgarian officers and soldiers in the Bulgarian-German military cemetery in the town of Prilep and at the memorial to the fallen Bulgarian officers and soldiers in the church yard in the village of Berantsi, Bitola municipality.

For the second consecutive year, All Souls' Day was celebrated with a military ritual and a memorial service at the International Cemetery of Honor Mircea cel Batran near the village of Mircea Voda, Constanta County, Romania. The initiative was taken by the Ministry of Defence and the event was organised in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Bucharest and the Office of the Military Attaché.

The ceremony was attended by Bulgarian Ambassador to Romania, Radko Vlaykov, Brigadier General Ivan Ivanov - Deputy Chief of Staff for Headquarters Multinational Corps Southeast (HQ MNC-SE) in Sibiu Romania, Bulgarian and Romanian servicemen. The memorial service was officiated by the Archbishop of Tomis in the presence of Bulgarian and Romanian priests.  

The International Cemetery of Honor Mircea cel Batran contains the remains of more than 5,000 soldiers from four national armies - Romania, Germany, Russia and Bulgaria - who died on the Dobrudzha front during the First World War, and the cemetery is the site of the cemetery. 

The cemetery is one of the largest outside Bulgaria in terms of the number of Bulgarian soldiers buried there - about 200, whose tombstones are separated in a special sector.