• General of the Bulgarian Army Stiliyan Kovachev, 1860
• General of the Bulgarian Army Georgi Stoyanov Todorov, 1858

 

Stiliyan Kovachev was born on 26 February in Yambol, then under Ottoman rule. He received his elementary education in Yambol and in Sliven. Since early age he entered the Yambol Revolutionary Committee where he assisted Dimitar Drazhev helping for the correspondence of the committee. When the April Uprising broke out the cheta of Drazhev joined the squad of Ilarion Dragostinov and Stoil Voyvoda. During a battle to the north of Sliven Georgi Drazhev was captured by the Turks and hanged on 29 June 1876 but Kovachev managed to escape the gallows.

After the Liberation of Bulgaria the 18 year old Kovachev continued his education in Plovdiv. In November 1878 he moved to Sofia and enter the newly established Military School. He graduated in the following year and on 10 May was promoted to Lieutenant and was appointed as a commander of a platoon in the 2nd company of the training forces of the Eastern Rumelia militia.

On 9 July he was promoted to First Lieutenant. Between 1882 and 1883 he studied in the Military Engineering Academy in Saint Petersburg but fell ill and had to return to Bulgaria. On 7 March 1884 he was promoted to Captain and in the spring of 1885 his company was sent in the Rhodope Mountains to the south of Pazardzhik to protect the Bulgarian population from Turk and Greek bands.

During the Serbo - Bulgarian War in 1885 his company was transferred from the south - eastern border and took part in the battle of Slivnitsa. Kovachev participated in the advanced guard of the army during the advance to Tsaribrod (11 November) and Pirot (14-15 November). For his achievements during the war he was awarded the Order "For Bravery" IV Grade.

After the war he became chief of the chancellery of the Military Ministry (1886 - 1894). On 13 August 1886 he was promoted to Major and on 1 January 1882 to Lieutenant Colonel. Between 1894 and 1905 he was in command of the 9th infantry regiment, 12th infantry regiment, 5th infantry brigade and 2nd infantry division. On 1 January 1896 he was promoted to Colonel and in 1905 to Major General. Between 1905 and 1909 he commanded the 4th Preslav Infantry Division and then the 2nd Thracian Infantry Division until 1912. From September 1912 he commanded the Rodopi Detachment.

In the beginning of the First Balkan War he was in command of the 2nd infantry division and the Rodopi Detachment which advanced in the secondary direction from Plovdiv to Western Thrace. After the success in that operation he was put in charge of the 4th Army which defeated the Ottomans in the battle of Bulair and in the battle of Şarköy.

On 14 July 1913 General Kovachev was appointed Minister of Defense in the new government of Stoyan Danev but due to the tense situation he remained in the front lines. Due to his disapproval of the action of Tsar Ferdinand and the beginning of the Second Balkan War he was removed from office and from the command of the 4th Army and on 27 August 1913 went to the reserve.

After Bulgaria entered the First World War in 1915, Stiliyan Kovachev was mobilized in the headquarters of the 2nd divisional region and from 1916 he became head of the Main Rear Command of the army. On 15 August 1917 he was promoted to Lieutenant General. After the war he resigned from the army. On 6 May 1936 he was promoted to General of the Infantry.

General Stiliyan Kovachev died in Sofia on 11 July 1939.

At the age of 19 he volunteered in the Bulgarian Corps (Opalchentsi) during the Russo - Turkish Liberation War. After the liberation he graduated the first course of the Military School in Sofia (1879). In 1882 he entered the St Peterburg Academy but did not graduate because he returned for the Unification of Bulgaria in 1885 and took part in the war that followed immediately after it. During the war against Serbia he commanded a unit which fought successfully against the enemy in the area of Vidin and Kula.

After the war he participated in the dethroning of Alexander I and was dismissed from the Army in 1886 but only a year later he was reinstated in office. On 13 August 1887 we was promoted a Major and on 1 January 1896 Todorov became a Colonel. He served in the Military School and as a chief of the Sevlievo garrison. On 1 January 1910 he was promoted to Major General and appointed commander of the Seventh Rila Infantry Division.

During the First Balkan War (1912 - 1913) as a commander of the Seventh Rila Infantry Division he advanced towards Solun and on 26 January 1913 he defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Bulair.

During the Second Balkan War (1913) he and his division participated in the Battle of Kalimantsi where the Serbs were defeated.

After the accession of Bulgaria to the First World War he commanded the 2nd Army. He led the operations in Macedonia which ended with the defeat of the Serbs in the battle of Ovche Pole. With that success the Bulgarians did not allow the meeting of the Serbian Army and the Anglo - French forces who embarked in Solun. In February 1917 he was in command of the 3rd Army that suffered defeat by the Romanian Army in Dobrudzha. From 8 September 1918 the became commander - in - chief of the Bulgarian Army after the illness of General Nikola Zhekov. He participated in the Battle of Dobro Pole. He was dismissed in 1919.

General Georgi Todorov died on 16 November 1934 in Sofia.