[NI1488]
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Information
In Memory of
R G SOUTHEY
Lieutenant
542595V
Pilot
31 Sqdn., South African Air Force
who died on
Thursday, 29th June 1944. Age 21.
Additional Information: Son of Wilfrid and Blanche Southey, of Cedarville, Cape Province, South Africa.
Cemetery: SOFIA WAR CEMETERY, Bulgaria
Grave Reference/
Panel Number: Spec. Mem. "C." 2. C. 3.
Location: Sofia War Cemetery, which is a section of Sofia Protestant Cemetery is 2 kilometres north of the railway station.
Historical Information: Most of the 1914-1918 War graves are those of servicemen who died during the Allied occupation of Bulgaria from November 1918 to April 1919, in particular members of the British 26th Division to whom there is a memorial in Sofia War Cemetery. Fifteen graves in Varna Protestant Cemetery and eighty four in Ruschuk (Ruse) British and Jewish Cemeteries, all of the 1914 - 1918 War, were transferred to Sofia War Cemetery in 1955 and 1960 respectively. The 1939 - 1945 casualties were mainly air crew who died in raids over Bulgaria towards the end of the war. There is also a memorial to Major W.F. Thompson, Royal Artillery, a popular war hero in Bulgaria, who died in June 1944 while helping Bulgarian partisans. His grave, at Letakovo, could not be marked or permanently maintained. Prior to the outbreak of the 1939-1945 War Britain and France sought to encourage the formation of a Balkan bloc, consisting of Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia, which in the event of hostilities would remain neutral. Bulgaria, however, had lost Southern Dobrudja to Romania in 1913; and after the 1914-1918 War, when she sided with Germany, had been obliged to cede to the Allies Thrace (later handed over to Greece) and some territory on the Yugoslavian border. The recovery of these territories was always her aim. She was, moreover, subjected to pressure from both Germany and Russia, and our negotiations were rendered difficult. When war came she remained neutral for a few months; but she saw in the Axis rather than in the Allies the means to her ends, and in March 1941 she came out openly on German's side. Elements of the German 12th Army entered the country preparatory to the invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia, and gradually established control of Bulgaria. As time went on resistance to the Germans developed within the country, with which a few British emissaries were associated, and after the German attack on Russia there were small British missions in Bulgaria. When Russian successes in Romania brought Russian forces close the Bulgarian Government wished to remain neutral in the war between Germany and Russia. In August 1944 they announced their withdrawal from the war, and delegates to Cairo sought terms of peace from the Allies. Russia, however, would not recognise this neutrality and almost immediately invaded Bulgaria, who capitulated on 9th September and at once declared war on Germany. Commonwealth assistance to Bulgaria against the Germans was limited to the bombing of the Romanian oil fields and other strategic points. The Commonwealth war casualties buried in Bulgaria are therefore, save for three soldiers, airmen who crashed while flying over the country on these and other operations. Sofia Protestant Cemetery contains German and Serbian War Plots, and between them is the British plot, containing the graves of soldiers and airmen from the United Kingdom (three of whom are unidentified) and one demobilised British soldier. RADOMIR MILITARY CEMETERY was 300 yards South of the railway station. It was made in October-December, 1918, and it contained the graves of 27 British soldiers. These graves (mainly those of prisoners) were brought from DUBNITZA CEMETERY, RADOMIR CEMETERY and MILITARY CEMETERY and SOFIA TOWN CEMETERY. There are also 252 French War Graves at Sofia.