),[2] planned to deploy between the fifth and tenth day after a full mobilization in the area between Silistra, Tolbukhin, Varna and Omurtag)[3] Colonel-General Hristo Dobrev, the first commander of the Land Forces Command (the peacetime organisation, which would transform into the Balkan Front in case of war) gave the following reasons for its formation: "It is well established, that according to the operational plans of the Warsaw Pact's Joint Forces High Command, our country should have formed a front operational-strategic formation, including the main forces of the BPA.
Initially the command of the front was formed following the "emission" method - dispatching personnel from the General Staff and the departments of the Ministry of People's Defence [on an ad hoc basis].
Taking these shortages into account already in 1963 the Minister decided, that a peacetime nucleus for the mobilization of the wartime Front Command should be formed.
The experience gained during its existence has unequivocally showed its usefulness as a model for the formation of a front command in peacetime, but nevertheless due to factors completely outside of operational considerations, the MDPT was disestablished in 1965 and for several years we made a step back to the old ad hoc practices for the formation of an FC, which were proven time and again to be ineffective.
During the years after 1965 our experience has convinced us in the necessity of having a permanent peacetime nucleus for the formation of a wartime front command.
At a conference about the organization of the armed forces of about ten years ago [around 2003] Lt.-Gen. Hristov described the need for the LFC as such: "It is well known, that according to the operational plans of the Supreme Headquarters of the Warsaw Pact Organization our country was supposed to form a frontal Operational-Strategical Formation (фронтово оперативно-стратегическо обединение), mainly including the Bulgarian People's Army with the mission in case of an aggression launched against the People's Republic of Bulgaria to mount defensive action on the southern state border in order to secure the deployment on Bulgarian soil of additionally one Soviet and one Romanian front, after which with the support of the Soviet Strategic Missile Troops the three fronts were, with the support of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet [which at that point would have absorbed the Bulgarian and the Romanian Navies] to launch a strategic operation aimed at the total destruction of the aggressor... Our men were excellently trained.
"[5]The headquarters of the 1st Balkan Front, at Sofia, would have had direct command of the following units and formations: The Bulgarian People's Army education institutions would have formed the following units in wartime: Another Reserve Officers' Training School is also listed - bg:Осма мотострелкова дивизия.
After the end of the Second World War and the signing of the Paris peace treaty by Bulgaria in 1947, the Soviet Union began to strengthen the armed forces of its new satellite state.
[17] 333 Т-72s of Soviet and Czechoslovak manufacture delivered until the collapse of the Socialist bloc and spread between the 9th and 13th tank brigades and training centers.