Page 591 - 1992 - XVIII Congresso Internazionale di Storia Militare

A~ffiRICAN INTUUCENC."E IN BULGARIA IN WOKLD WAR Il 557
in Lovech. Mosr ncdve among rhcm wcre che formcr director of che col!egc Floyd
Black and che teacher Lorence Moor. Wich rhcir personal t.ies thcy ensu.red a sup-
ply of characrer informacìon 122> abour impormnr pcrsonallrics, including che promj-
nent prorogerovisr Perso Traykov, che merchanc Boyan Komandarev, che wriccr
and film director Boyan Danovski, che former coloncl aml parricipant from rhe
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"Zveno" Boyan Srarelov and so on 1 3>.
Channelling d1e subversive operations rowards Bulgaria duough "Dogwood"
had irs weaknesses forche Amedcnns. The hcavy failures rhar ofren happened, led
to rh e conclusion rh a t no maccer w ha r ls rh e rcason, bue grca cer pare from ch<: o per·
a rive act.ivit.ies of che OSS in lsranbul was ct)nrrolted by rhe Bulgari:tn spccial scrv·
ices, and by dr. Dellius 124>. When che Ankara Commirtee became awarc of chis '."' ' l,
mutuai relations becweeo rhc Americans and che English worscned. Mumat confì·
dcnce was hardly resrorcd when one of che Amr:rican promincmt cxpercs - 'Frank
2
Visner, rescored che rulcs for securiry < 'l.
In Aprii l943 an American cit.izen, Angelo Kouyumdjiski, arrived in lstan·
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buJ - as a represenradve of OSS 1 ). The mai n purposes of his mission were: a)
the organizarion of questioning of che emigrnms. b) coumcrespiunage an d c) wag·
ing special operations in Bulgaria, Roumnnia and Hungary. Up tO rhe middle of
1944 che membcrs ofhis mission, hiddcn bchind che State Departmcnr, che service
of milic11ry arraché, commercinl rcprcscnrarives and che prcss, grew in rheir num-
ber to 431271. W i eh che assiscance of che Turkish poJice chey chosc che mosc im-
portane nnd most suicablc persons, who carne from che ubovc mentioned countries.
und gacherèd from chem informat!on about che war aims, ecnnomic sicuadon and
potrcicnl dcvclopmcnr of che Balkan coumries. According co che lncclligt:nce Depart·
mcnr of rhc Army Sraff, rhc OSS inrervicwcrs wcrc !va n Palov lvanov, Semi Ben-
basar, Solornon Levi, Josef Bernacan ere !28).
Similar co che formcr pcriods, che fourrh pcriod wus n Iso characreri~ed by grcar
acriviry. In accordance co rradirion, rhc inrdligcnce division of OSS in Sofia was
che fìrsr American reprcsenracion in che country. Prom che vcry bcginning, hec;ause
of che fa cc rh a t rhe American secrion of rh e Allied Conrrol Commission (ACC) ha d
nor arrived in Bulgaria, ic had m dea! wirh problcms new w me lmelligence serv-
ice. f or example, aided by rhe American milirary arcaché Generai Tindel and his
as~isranr Major Sigger ir succeeded in cnsuring arche beginnìng of Septembcr 1944
che easy wirbdrawal of 328 war prisoners. Thcy werc moscly Amc:rican pilocs from
the camp in Shoumen !2?l. The division consisted of 7 Arncricans and 15 English-
men who had fulfìcld a lot incelligence casks during rhc confusion nnd che criticai
period in rransforming che govermeoc's policy from animosicy co collahoration r··" >,
They succeeded in collcccing che nccessary information concerning polìrìcal and
economie sides ofBul~:.raro·Soviet murual relacìons. W i rh rhe assistàncc of che lnrel-
ligence Departmenr of che Army Scaff rhcy ensured day ro day informacion abouc
rhe wichdrawal of the Army Group "E" from che BaJkans and rhey also goc some
cxtremely imporrane German and Hungarian documencs concerning armaments,
educacion and orher maccers for che Armyl30l.