The idea of writing a history of the regiment, which included the 1st howitzer battery, came from the commander, Col. Georgi Kukureshkov /1868-1930/. Already in the first days of the inclusion of the combat unit in the war, he encouraged the combatants to write down their impressions and describe events and episodes from the battles, marches, rests. Many of the officers required their soldiers to recount their experiences during lulls, and the most literate among them wrote them down. There were also incentives for this activity. For the best story or description, officers sometimes gave out of their own funds and supplies a small cash prize, a pack of cigarettes, or some other small incentive.
The heroic in a war is always accompanied by the tragic. The reverence for the memory of the dead was expressed by Major Vassilev when he visited a cemetery near Dobrich, where many Bulgarian officers and soldiers are buried, as well as those from the armies allied to Bulgaria: "...A whole garden, from every corner of which pride and humility exude and blessed rest, each cross of which speaks to us of bravery, self-denial, duty fulfilled”.
The other side of the war - the joy of victory, erupted in the solemn welcome of the Bulgarian troops in the settlements through which the 1st Sofia Infantry Division passed, including Vassilev's howitzer unit. One of the places of tumultuous joy was Kaspichan station, where the enthusiasm and love for the fighters grew into a national rejoicing with wine provided for everyone. And the way of the battery to Bucharest in November and December 1916 is described with the color of various incidents and reflections.
In May 1917, the battery went to the front in Macedonia. However, the main place in the descriptions of the battle route is not so much the battles as the stories and impressions of the places it passes through, the occupations of the fighters and their experiences. The nature and historical past of the settlements and places that are part of Bulgarian history are described - the city of Nis, the Bulgarian Morava River with its picturesque gorge, the city of Vranya, the valley of the Vardar River, etc.
During the severe winter of 1918, it became impossible to conduct combat operations because of the deep snow. Then the soldiers from the howitzer battery conceived and performed their first stage performance - the comedy "Like the matchmaker, like the betrothed". "There was a lot of laughter..." says Boyan Vassilev on the occasion of the front performance.
The following are descriptions of battles at the height of Golyama Yarebichina, south of the village of Huma, which the Bulgarian side lost, and of the difficulties in feeding the fighters and horses. Captain Vasilev expresses his concern about the impending hopelessness and the sad mood among the soldiers.
"In some letters from the interior," he notes, "and even from those who wrote from the front, even if there was censorship, a certain weariness from the war could already be detected, and ... the complaints against the actions of some individuals in the interior of the country were especially evident, performing municipal service or public work. And the spirit of the people inevitably affects the spirit of the army. It was necessary to act on feelings more often, to take into account the inner peace of the soldier".
In September 1918 came the defeat at Dobro Pole. Captain Vassilev writes with pain: "The finale of the great tragedy of the Bulgarian people begins... When did our soldier retreat? Even in peacetime he had hardly been trained in the rules of retreat, but in war he was not used to it either…” The last roars of the battery’s howitzers were heard two days before the conclusion of the armistice of September 27, 1918, when enemy fire was fired planes near Upper Jumaya.
The book also provides statistical data on the losses of the Bulgarian army - 101 killed, died of diseases and disappeared, 000 wounded. However, this same sad statistic is also a reason to admire the physical and moral endurance of the "small Bulgarian army, poorly armed, poorly fed, not always well clothed".
Major Boyan Vassilev's work presents the different faces of war through the narrative of the battle path of an artillery combat unit that walked its path with dignity during the First World War. The virtual walk through the pages of the book is a brief illustration of the contents of this amazing document.
