also liked Pivka museum articles… Pivka has the best preserved and maintained exhibits of all ex-Yu states and thay also use correct historical color schemes

Also, did you know that the few Panthers that Germany gifted Bulgaria were recicled and used to make cutlery?
So one of us may be eating from a spoon made out of Panther metal. :D

To better understand the issue, here is a brief history of the museum and its collection: it is a brand new museum which was created on the grounds of the old barracks in Yambol, Bulgaria. There were attempts to sell the land to private individuals for redevelopment, but those were thwarted and instead the Ministry of Defense relented to putting a museum on the property.

The tanks were all dug out from a defensive line along Bulgaria’s southern border (mostly with Turkey). Back in the day, when the Bulgarian Army switched to Soviet equipment and the WW2 German armor was obsolete, instead of selling to the Middle East or using the panzers as targets, someone had the idea of using the tanks to create fixed defensive positions along the Warsaw Pact’s southern border.

The tanks rusted away until “entrepreneurial” spirits started looting the defensive line, lifting off bits and pieces for scrap metal value. Ultimately, an army officer attempted to export a whole vehicle to a collector in Germany, but was caught at customs. That incident helped the Ministry of Defense realize that the dug in remains were actually worth a lot more than their value as scrap. Finally, the tanks were dug out, taken to Yambol where local enthusiast restored them on a really low budget (the paint and labor were all donated) and finally after years of red tape gifted to the new museum by the Ministry of Defense (for a while it was not clear who held title to the tanks, funny story).

Long story short, I am guessing the curious hybrid is connected to the history of the defensive line along Bulgaria’s southern border. Perhaps the PzIV’s turret was removed to be placed on a bunker, and then some “engineer” decided that slapping a Su-76 gun on the hull and digging the whole thing into the ground would make a fine defensive position as well.

The thread in Traditsia linked above is good, feel welcome to come in and ask questions in English on that tank or on the Czech tanks used in Bulgaria or on anything else tank related: there are knowledgeable people there that may be able to provide answers.

Regards,
TVV