Throughout the Balkans, partisan and resistance movements as well as the violence needed to keep them in check both escalate. The results are death and repression on a scale the region has not seen in decades.

Major Characters in this Episode:

Tsar Boris III

Major Thompson

Adolf Hitler

Marshal Tito

Draža Mihailović

Leon Tajer

Timeline:

• 1941, Jun 28-30th - Over 13,000 Romanian Jews are massacred by Romanian forces in Iasi.

• 1941, July 11th - A law on taxing Jewish property is passed.

• 1941, July 13th - Montenegro revolts against Italian occupation.

• 1941, July 14th - A course opens in Sofia to train teachers from Macedonia and other new territories.

• 1941, July 23rd - Radio broadcasts from a station called “Hristo Botev” begin from Moscow under the leadership of the Soviet Foreign Affairs Bureau and Georgi Dimitrov.

• 1941, July 23rd - The Soviet Union bombs Pleven, Balchik, and Dobrich. There are no casualties.

• 1941, July - Radio broadcasts in Bulgarian begin from Jerusalem on a station called the “Freedom Station” subsidized by British Intelligence.

• 1941, July - Adolf-Heinz Beckerle is appointed the new German Ambassador to Bulgaria.

• 1941, Aug 11th - Two groups of Bulgarians (14 people) are landed south of the mouth of the Kamchia River by the USSR to build a military intelligence organization and instruct partisans.

• 1941, Aug 11th - Soviet planes bomb Bulgaria again, triggering protest from the government.

• 1941, Aug 12th - The demarcation line between Bulgarian and Italian territory in Macedonia is amended to give Bulgaria Peshteni.

• 1941, Aug 15th - Partisans attempt to liberate the Gonda Voda concentration camp but fail.

• 1941, Aug 19th - Germany and Romania sign the Tiraspol Agreement.

• 1941, Aug 28th - A third group of military instructors (9 people) for the partisan movement is landed by submarine by the USSR.

• 1941, Aug 29th - Germany establishes a Serb puppet state.

• 1941, Aug 30th - Germany and Romania sign the Tighina Agreement.

• 1941, Aug 31st - A second attempt by partisans to liberate the Gonda Voda concentration camp also fails.

• 1941, Aug - Turkey expresses interest in the future of Turkic peoples in the USSR to Germany.

• 1941, Sep 6th - The Law for the Protection of the State is amended to make most offenses punishable by death.

• 1941, Sep 7th - An attempt to assassinate a Soviet Military Attache in Sofia fails.

• 1941, Sep 10th - A diplomatic note about the “hostile attitude” of Bulgaria towards the USSR and against the “incorrect information” about Soviet bombing of Bulgaria is issued by the USSR.

• 1941, Sep 11th - 170 political prisoners including Krastyo Rakovsky are shot in Oryol Prison on Stalin’s orders.

• 1941, Sep 13 - Oct 7th - Two groups of 5 Bulgarian instructors for the partisan movement land near Dobruch by parachute. Further groups are parachuted near Tryavna, Haskovo, and Thessaloniki. Of 54 total only 14 remain alive at the end of the year. The rest are killed in fighting with police.

• 1941, Sep 19th - Tito and Mihailovic meet to discuss the partisan movement against the Germans.

• 1941, Sep 27th - The main Greek resistance movement against Axis occupation begins.

• 1941, Sep 28th - Leon Tajer kills a German soldier and tries to set fire to German tanks in Ruse. He is captured, convicted, and hanged.

• 1941, Sep 28th - Oct 6th - Greek nationalists and communists launch an armed uprising in the Drama region which is suppressed by Bulgarian troops. By the end of the year some 200,000 Greeks have emigrated from Bulgarian controlled territories.

• 1941, Oct 7th - Broadcasts begin in Moscow from the “People’s Voice” radio station under the leadership of the Soviet foreign affairs bureau and with Stanke-Dimitrov as a host.

• 1941, Oct 11th - Macedonian Partisans mount their first major attack on Axis forces in Prilep.

Sources:

• История на България в Дати by Vasil Katsunov, Plamen Mitev, Valeri Kolev, Evgenia Kalinova, and Iskra Baeva

• Crown of Thorns by Stephane Groueff

• Bulgaria During the Second World War by Marshall E. Miller

• History of the Balkans: Twentieth Century by Barbara Jelavich

• The Bulgarian Jews and the Final Solution, 1940-1944 by Frederick B. Char

• The Left Side of History by Kristen Ghodsee

• The Balkans by Misha Glenny

• Entangled Histories of the Balkans, Vol. Two by Roumen Daskalov, Diana Mishkova ed.

• Yugoslav Communism and the Macedonian Question by Palmer & King

• A Concise History of Bulgaria by R.J. Crampton