Video: Forgotten Panzers of Bulgaria

Definitely found this interesting. A lot of the info for the video is in the description, but here's a brief outline:
When WWII ended Bulgaria had to fortify it's border with NATO Turkey. However they seemed to have been short of concrete So they used Soviet and German tanks from the war to form an "armored defensive line". They've been abandoned for a long time now but recovery is only just beginning to start.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AvM6-EE2Ww&feature=endscreen

 

What are the chances of some being restored?

 

Watching that British group on the Isle of Wight weld two firing range relics together to make an operational Sherman says some of these are good candidates. I am amazed at the dedication of restorers.

 

Hawker, seems like there's a lot of work to be done on restoration, some of it may surely be impossible... like you saw in the vid a lot of the "guts" of the vehicles have been torn out, like the steering mechanics for the tracks (which are also missing of course) and a lot of other odds and ends. Most likely it will take a long time if they deem it likely. But I think there's a chance

 

Before any restoration of the Bulgarian relics happens, that most monumental obstacle to all human activity must be overcome first:
Red Tape.
Not a great deal of hope out there that things might be resolved any time soon - I'd sometimes rather that they had been sold off (as originally planned) to people who might do something with them rather than sit there rotting further in Sofia, but as info only comes out in dribs and drabs I've no idea what the precise current situation might be.

Time for another dig into these old dears I think.

~A

 

I sadly agree. It's much better to sell them off to other countries that have museums and curators able to restore some of these vehicles rather than let them sit around. I don't know if Bulgaria has any such museums, but they should...

 

That's nothing that some under the table payoffs to local officials couldn't fix! Wasn't Bulgaria the country whose parliament engaged in one massive fistfight a few years ago?

Nice video -- its sad to see those rare vehicles rusting away.

 

I believe they're are largely currently stored at a Sofia Military Museum.
Video somewhere.

Ah, no, different vehicles if I recall (Some pics on this WW2T thread).
There's a more detailed thread here somewhere too.

Hmmm - remembered that Wehrmacht Awards had some of the best info last time I looked - some encouraging news there.
Actually stored at a new Museum in Yambol now, and gaining restoration of sorts:
http://184.172.36.50/forums/showthread.php?p=5820826
Quite pleasing.

~A

 

Well if anyone knows how much the hulls are going for I'll certainly like one mailed to me in Canada. It will look great in my living room.

 

I would like to see that living room