Spissarevsky, Dimitar

Dimitar Spisarevsky was born on July 19, 1916 in Dobrich , in the Bulgarian Dobrudja . After the 1919 Neuisk Peace Treaty , Dobrich finds himself in Romania , and then the Spisarevsky family leaves for Bulgaria. She lives consecutively in Lome , Belogradchik and Sofia . In Sofia, Spissarevsky Dimitar graduated from the Second Men's Gymnasium, where he was the standard-bearer. Then he enters the Military E.V. school . He is expelled from school and sent to military service in Yambol , but will soon be reinstated in the rank of cadet for his excellent behavior.

When announcing a set for training in flight business, Spisarevsky is recorded one of the first. His graduation is sent to study in Nazi Germany . From April 1938 to July 1939, Dimitar Svetozarovich studied at the Aviation School in Kaufbeuren . Later he improves his skills in aerobics at the aviation school in Schleissheim and then graduates from the prestigious aerobatics school in Vernoichen . In 1943 , Spisarevsky and another Bulgarian pilot were again sent to the Luftwaffe to study the tactics of modern air combat, watching the air battles over the English Channel .

His nickname is Spic . That was the name of Spisarevsky’s closest friends.

Feat

After returning to Bulgaria, Spisarevsky was briefly appointed company commander at the airport in Karlovo . But soon he was included in the bracken ^[2] 3/6, stationed at the Bozhurishte airfield and participating in the defense of the capital from American bombers, who attacked Sofia three times in November and December 1943. In total at that time, B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Libereitor bombers from the 15th US Air Force ^[3] , based on Sicily , had already killed 150 civilians, 247 wounded and destroyed civilian objects in the Bulgarian capital ^[4] .

December 20, 1943 a group of 200 aircraft once again flies to bomb Sofia . At this time, Spissarevsky was on combat duty at his Messerschmitt Me-109G-2 , at the Bozhurishte military airfield.

Liberators from the 376th heavy bomber group (376th Bomb Group (Heavy)) fly to Sofia in a wedge with triples, echeloned into the rear column, the edge of which disappears beyond the horizon. They are guarded by the heavy Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters from the 82nd Fighter Group. Little Bulgaria can raise only 36 fighter pilots to confront this formidable force. They form an oncoming battle formation by the fours into a rear convoy, at an altitude of 6000 m. Orlyak is ordered to 3/6 to tie Lightning from undercover in battle. At that time, 2/6 brackets should attack the bombers and force them to drop bombs outside of Sofia .

Due to a technical malfunction, Spisarevsky’s plane does not take off with everyone, and the pilot takes to the air late, on a reserve vehicle. By the time he reached the scene of the air battle, he had already flared up in full force. A small group of Bulgarian pilots fought bravely. But they knew in advance that they were not able to recapture the American air armada, and could only gain some time to shelter the civilian population and shoot down a number of enemy aircraft. Their main goal was to knock down bombers and force them to drop bombs outside the capital. There was no question of repelling an air attack and preventing the bombing.

At the moment when Spisarevsky arrived at the scene of the air battle, a group of 16 bombers slipped out of the battle and headed for the Bulgarian capital. Contrary to all military logic, Dimitar rushes to attack this group alone. He takes one "flying fortress" on the sight and begins continuous firing from machine guns. Lightning from the cover also opens fire, there are more and more holes in the Spissarevsky messerschmitt, but he does not notice anything except the enemy’s plane, which is going to bomb its capital. In a minute and a half, Dimitar used up all the ammunition, but the goal was achieved - the enemy bomber is damaged and begins to burn. Then Spisarevsky notices that there are no more cartridges, and his car is badly damaged. Dimitar understands that living from an enemy flock of aircraft will still not come out. And boldly rushed to the ram to the second bomber.

Air Combat Results

In a battle on December 20, 1943, Bulgarian pilots announced the destruction of 3 B-24 Libereyt bombers (lieutenant Dimitar Spisarevsky and second lieutenants Stefan Marinopolsky and Gencho Dimitrov destroyed one enemy bomber each) and 6 Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters. Another 5 four-engine bombers and 1 Lightning were damaged by the fire of Bulgarian fighters, but managed to get out of the battle ^[1] . According to American data, 1 bomber and 3 fighters were lost ^[5] .

Despite the courage and self-sacrifice of the Bulgarian pilots, the American air armada nevertheless achieved considerable "successes." 50 liberators broke through the Bulgarian fighter barrier, destroyed 113 buildings in Sofia with bombs and destroyed the railway in a suburb of the Bulgarian capital. Of the civilian population killed 63 people, 93 civilians were injured.

On the same day , December 20, 1943 , Lieutenant Georgy Raichev Kumyurdzhiev died on his Me-109, protecting the Bulgarian land from American bombers.

Messerschmitt Spisarevsky fell on a hill near the village of Dolni Pasarel . The body of the pilot was found among the wreckage of the car. On the other side of the village, a bomber shot down by him fell. Dimitar Spisarevsky was posthumously awarded the “Cross for Courage” and promoted to captain , buried with military honors on the Pilots Alley at the Central Cemetery in Sofia. For the destruction of one four-engine bomber, Spiesarevsky personally recorded three air victories at once ^[6] .

At the end of World War II, after the Nuremberg Tribunal assessed “the responsibility of the Hitlerite invaders and their accomplices for the atrocities committed by them in the occupied countries,” in Bulgaria, a former ally of Nazi Germany , Spisarevsky is “forgotten”. Since 1946, Bulgaria is a socialist country, since 1949 in CMEA , since 1955, one of the countries of the Warsaw Treaty Organization (ATS) . At that time, the communist government considered Spisarevsky to be an anti-communist , which corresponded to reality. Peter Kabakchiev, an employee of the 7th division artillery regiment, witness of the death of Spisarevsky, his cousin and fellow practitioner, says ^[7] :

After September 9, 1944 ^[8] it was forbidden for us to write and talk about Spisarevsky. Even the street named after him in his hometown of Dobrich was renamed “People's Court”!

They say, without evidence, that he was a member of the Bulgarian nationalist youth organization “Legion” at the gymnasium and, in a demonstration against the Neyisky Treaty, Dimitar gave several healthy slaps to his fellow practitioner remtsist Stoyan Gyurov (later he became a member of the BKP Central Committee and the Bulgarian ambassador in Moscow ). The book on the history of Bulgarian military aviation states ^[9] :

... 05/26/1943 a company from the 6th air regiment (based in Marino-Pole - ed.), Under the leadership of officers Dimitar Spisarevsky and Viktor Evstatiev (Pavlov), persistently searches the forests in the vicinity of Karlovo , detains one partisan and wounds another ...

During the reign of the Bulgarian Communist Party (September 9, 1944 - November 10, 1989), Spisparevsky was very rarely mentioned: only in specialized military aviation literature, and only slipped through, since the Bulgarians were uncomfortable once again recalling that they participated on the side of World War II Nazi Germany.

Since the 1990s, the name of Spisarevsky has gained fame. At the place of death a monument was erected. In his hometown of Dobrich , the street was named after him and a bas-relief with his image was erected. On the wall of the 22nd school in Sofia (the former Second Men's Gymnasium) in the city center and in the Druzhba quarter, there is also a bas-relief depicting a pilot, also one of Sofia's boulevards was named in honor of Spisarevsky, in memory of the pilot protecting the Bulgarian capital, in which 1943-1944, many peaceful Bulgarian citizens were killed by Anglo-American bombing and many buildings were completely destroyed.

In 2008, the Bulgarian Post issued a two-mark hitch dedicated to Dimitar Spisarevsky and Stoyan Stoyanov .

• Club pilots "Captain Dimitar Spisarevsky" (Bulgarian)
• Gallery of images of Sofia after the bombing
• Rock balad about Spisparevsky