There are no two deaths, but we cannot do without one! These are the words of Boris Drangov to his soldiers. On May 26, 1917, one of Bulgaria's leading officers died on the battlefields of Macedonia.
At the Bend of the Cherna River, the regiment's positions were subjected to fierce artillery fire. Colonel Boris Drangov with his headquarters, instead of retreating, went out to the front lines, faithful to the principle that the commander should be with his soldiers.
There he was seriously wounded by an exploding shell. He died the same day. He was buried in Skopje.
Boris Stoyanov Drangov was born on March 3, 1872 in Skopje.
He received his primary and secondary education in his hometown. He graduated from the Skopje Bulgarian Pedagogical School. Boris dreamed of being a sailor since childhood. In 1891, he was enrolled in the first cadet company at the Military School in Sofia.
Despite his excellent success, in 1894 he was demoted due to a conflict with a line officer and was sent to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. However, on January 1, 1895, he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. Boris Drangov believed that an officer is, above all, a thinking person, an educator and guardian of soldiers, who, in peace and war, teaches them primarily by personal example. He perfectly understood the role of military discipline, but not one that turned into dead scholasticism. Drangov throughout his military career tried not to do anything that would harm the personal dignity and creative initiative of his subordinates. He did not want to educate novices and pleasers, but ardent, determined, enterprising and proud soldiers. For him, a soldier has not only hands and feet, but also a heart and a head.
In 1903, the young Bulgarian officer took an active part
in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenskoye Uprising as a platoon commander. Having proven himself as a capable commander, Drangov was sent to complete higher military education abroad – from 1904 to 1907 he studied at the Nikolaev General Staff Academy in St. Petersburg, graduating with honors. In 1910 he was appointed a lecturer at the Military School in Sofia.
Drangov's students were Chudomir, Krum Kyulyavkov, Stoycho Mushanov, Andro Lulchev, Yordan Badev, as well as a large part of the Bulgarian public and political elite between the two world wars. Then he began to write in military publications, mainly in the magazine "People and Army". During the First Balkan War (1912-1913), already a major, Drangov served as chief of staff of a brigade in the 1st Infantry Sofia Division. He fought at Bulair, Chataldzha, Edirne.
During the Second Balkan War (1913) he fought against the Serbs on Mount Bubljak. During the First World War (1914-1918) he was commander of the 5th Macedonian Infantry Regiment of the 11th Macedonian Infantry Division. He fought at Kumanovo, Krivolak, Udovo station, Demir Kapija.
On the Dobrudja Front he fought against Romanians and Russians.
On April 22, 1916, he was appointed head of the first Bulgarian reserve second lieutenant school in Skopje.
In 1917, he refused to work at the Army Headquarters and took command of the 9th Plovdiv Infantry Regiment.
A particularly important and interesting moment in his military and life career was the period 1915-1917 as head of the Skopje Reserve Officers School, the graduates of which immediately after graduation went to the front. In 1916, Boris Drangov published a manual called "Remember the War", considered the bible of the Bulgarian officer corps.
Colonel Drangov's office is on the ground floor next to the guardroom. By his order, no curtains were placed on the windows of the room. The furniture consists of a table, chair, soldier's bed and a library. Every soldier can see how the head of the school lives and what he does.
“Every chief should be a leader, an example in everything, that is, the first to do what he requires of his subordinates. The chief should be a model and example of firm discipline and order, which give unwavering strength and create immortal deeds.”. This is what Boris Drangov bequeaths to his subordinates.