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In the 1920s, the British patent office offered a huge sum in pure gold plus cash to Second Lieutenant Hristo Nikolov Spasov to buy the patent for the first Bulgarian machine gun he had invented. Then he rejects the tempting offer because he wants the machine gun to serve our army. Due to envy and intrigue among our politicians and generals, this does not happen, and the inventor officer is dismissed from the army. Born on April 4, 1894 in the town of Samokov, an inventor began to learn the secrets of weapons alongside his father, Nikola Spasov Cheshmedjiyski, who moved to Sofia to work as a locksmith at the Military Arsenal.
After graduating from high school in 1912. entered the preparatory class of the Military School. In the First World War, he received the officer rank of second lieutenant and was appointed a platoon leader in a machine gun company. Hristo participated in many battles, but he can never forget the Battle of Krivolak in October 1915. Epic battles were fought there between the Bulgarian units and two French divisions, which with their light machine guns mowed down entire platoons and companies.
"Our attacking chains lay twenty paces from the enemy's trenches. The French machine-guns, Hotchkiss, Puteau, and Saint-Etienne, fired in long lines, without interruption, in succession, and with us, refusals and jamming.
One of our five machine guns "Maxim Sokolov" immediately went out of order, the other one could barely pull the machine gun belt", wrote Hristo Nikolov, who distinguished himself with his heroism in this battle and was awarded the Order of Bravery.
After this battle, he had the idea to develop and design a Bulgarian machine gun. He studied the technical structure and tactical-technical data of the machine guns adopted in service in the Bulgarian Army: Maxim Sokolov and Schwarz Loze, as well as other machine guns: Hotchkiss, Saint Etienne, Vickers, Colt. , "Lewis", "Bergman", "Puto", "Spandau" and synthesizes their positive features in a common construction.
Nikolov agreed to have the prison mechanism manufactured in the Sofia military arsenal, but he had to pay for it with personal funds.
In the fall of 1924, his 8-millimeter machine gun was ready, the tests were held at the shooting range at the Military Factory in the city of Sofia. A commission of officers highly appreciates its qualities, but makes recommendations from a lightweight heavy machine gun to a light one.
The inventor improved the model and on 19.10.1927 received a high evaluation from military specialists and a Bulgarian patent. In 1929 Hristo Nikolov constructed a new simplified model with a locking breech and movable barrel, which model was patented in Great Britain, Germany, Czechoslovakia, France and Switzerland. In the course of the shootings, the experts established that the shooting with the new machine gun is very accurate, and the prison is much more rallic than the ones known so far.
The experts recommend that the machine gun be accepted into service in the Bulgarian army, and that the captain be promoted to the rank of general and receive a reward in the amount of 1.5 million BGN (about 300,000 dollars at the time).
Before its patenting in England (the patent is kept in the National Military History Museum), the British Patent Office sent a specialist to meet Hristo Nikolov. After the specialist was personally convinced of the qualities of the machine gun, he offered him to buy the patent for a huge price - part in pure gold, part in money. Captain Nikolov refuses him, out of patriotism. The following year it became clear that the machine gun handed over to the Ministry of War for serial production was not accepted for service in the Bulgarian army, as it was "lost" together with its accompanying documentation. Due to the envy of the Chief of the Military Arsenal - General Stoenchev, the promised reward was forgotten, as well as the promise to be made a general.
Nikolov is broke, as he invested all his personal funds in the development of the machine gun. Tired and disgusted by intrigues and envy, he returns to his hometown of Samokov. After a year, the new Minister of War came to him with a proposal to restore the drawings and documentation. Nikolov brings a sample of the machine gun and the minister appreciates it highly at the garrison shooting range. Despite the results of the Bulgarian machine gun, the Danish "Madsen" machine gun was accepted into service in the Bulgarian army, due to the high commissions received.
Captain Nicolo was dismissed from the army and the compensation received, he made several changes to the design of the machine gun, even simpler and more advanced USM. In December 1937 turns to Tsar Boris III with a request to produce 3-4 pieces of the new model machine gun at the Military Factory, to be provided to the army for trials.
The weapons inspector, General Rusi Rusev, refused him with the argument that the factory was overloaded with work.
With bitterness in his soul from the attitude towards him in 1938. Captain Nikolov contacted the Soviet legation in Sofia and the following year handed over his light machine gun, along with the blueprints and 250 rounds of ammunition, to the Soviet military attache, Colonel Benediktov, free of charge. "I give it to your fatherland because mine does not want to take advantage of it".
The machine gun was later exported to the USSR.
At the moment, there are only two examples of the machine gun preserved, one is the Artillery Museum in the city of Saint Petersburg, and the other is in our Military History Museum. | ||||||||
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