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by Paolo Crippa (Author)
Having been defeated in the First World War, Bulgaria, as a result of the implementation of peace treaty clauses, could not purchase tanks until the early 1930s. Due to the lack of industrialisation, it was forced to turn to the countries that were the main producers of armoured vehicles at that time. Thus, the CV33 fast tanks were purchased from Italy, the Vickers Mk. E from England and the LT vz. 35. After the first units were established, thanks to Germany, into whose sphere of influence Bulgaria had entered, French wartime French tanks, the Renault R35, and new Czechoslovak tanks were purchased. In 1943, with the establishment of the Bronirana Brigada, Panzer IVs and StuG IIIs arrived. In 1944, after the coup d'état, Bulgaria changed allegiance and joined the Red Army in the liberation of Yugoslavia and Hungary, fighting the Germans with its armoured units until the end of the conflict in May 1945.
