Bulgarian Nationalists Disgruntled with US World War II Pilots' Monument

The monument of the US pilots who died over Bulgaria in World War II has angered Bulgarain nationalists VMRO. Photo by Politika.bg

The nationalist party VMRO has expressed resentment against an initiative of the US Embassy for honoring the US pilots who were killed in the American air raids on Bulgaria during World War II.

The VMRO party has reacted to a recent opening of a monument of the US pilots in early October by US Ambassador James Warlick.

The nationalists have requested from the Embassy that they make an addition to the monument mentioning also the Bulgarian pilots who defended the country against the US air force, and the civilians who were killed by Anglo-American bombardments.

"This is the only way historical justice will prevail, and the monument in front of the US Embassy will become a true war memorial, which is the normal practice in such cases, rather than a monument of shame," the VMRO party said in a media statement.

In his words for the opening of the monument, US Ambassador James Warlick explicitly praised the fact that Bulgaria and the USA are allies even though they were once in war.

"What greater recognition for the memory of these men than the fact that today, at this ceremony, we stand together as allies. If we have managed to go this far, we must be capable of achieving much more together," Warlick stated.

The opening of the monument of American pilots killed in Bulgaria in World War II was carried out together with Bulgarian National Guard Unit and the Bulgarian Army.

In the same statement on Friday the nationalists from VMRO mentioned they planned to clean and rehabilitate the monument of pilot Dimitar Spisarevski in Sofia, who died in battle against an Anglo-American air raid, in 1943.

Spisarevski is revered in Bulgaria for symbolizing the courageous Bulgarian pilots defending their fatherland.

On December 20, 1943, in the sky above Sofia Spisarevski took down an American bomber by crashing deliberately his fighter into it.

That day a group of about 200 American B-24 Liberator bombers accompanied by P-38 Lightning fighters set out to bomb the capital of Bulgaria, which at the time was an ally of Nazy Germany in World War II in 1941-1944, before formally switching sides in September 1944. They were met by 36 Bulgarian Messerschmitt Me-109G-2 fighters.

Spisarevski was one of the pilots on duty in the Bozhurishte air base. During what was his first and only air battle, he evaded two American fighters, headed to a group of 16 Liberators and, without ceasing fire, crashed into the leading bomber.

Spisarevski's machine crashed at the heights near the village of Pasarel close to Sofia. The American bomber crashed on the other side of the village.

For the taking down of a four-engine bomber, he was credited posthumously with three aerial victories and promoted to the rank of captain. Spisarevski was buried in the Walk of Pilots in the Central Sofia Cemetery.

Dimitar Spisarevski was born in the northeast Bulgarian city of Dobrich in 1916. His family moved to western Bulgaria after the Treaty of Neuilly, which ceded Northeast Bulgaria to Romania.

In 1938, Spisarevski graduated from the pilot fighter school in Werneuchen, Germany. In the summer of 1943, he was one of the two Bulgarian pilots sent to the English Channel to observe the aerial warfare tactics.

As one of Nazi Germany's allies in World War II, Bulgaria declared a token war on the UK and the USA on December 13, 1941.

The Anglo-American bombardments of Sofia and other major Bulgarian cities took place between November 1943, and April 1944, and killed 1 347 persons, and damaged 12 564 buildings, 2 670 of which were completely destroyed.

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