Preface
The period from September 1943 to November 1944 was the final phase of the Resistance. This stage can be divided into two parts, September '43 to August '44 was a difficult period against German fascism, at this time, the domestic resistance parties split, the National Liberation Front became the main body of the resistance movement, in the face of several large-scale encirclement and suppression by the German army, the guerrilla fighters stubbornly resisted, retained the core resistance and re-developed and strengthened.
The period from September '44 to November '44 was the decisive stage of the Albanian resistance, when the Albanian National Liberation Army surrounded and annihilated the German army in the country, drove it out of Albanian territory, and eliminated the rest of the country, and the communists established a new regime in Albania.
The defection of the National Front and the establishment of a German puppet government
The surrender of the Italian fascists led to the collapse of the military and political institutions they had established in Albania. The Albanian partisans continued their offensive.
In the north, the legal movement led by Abbas Kubi, as well as other nationalist groups, occupied several major towns; In the south, the FNL has achieved even more spectacularly, not only uniting its occupied territories in the south, but also capturing cities such as Korça, Girocaste and Elbasan. The occupied areas of the FNI are mainly in the countryside around Vlora and its southern port.
However, the rapid invasion of the Germans soon undermined the situation that the parties had maintained. Hitler feared that the surrender of Italy would allow the Allies to open a road from Italy to the Balkans, thus exposing Germany's southern borders to direct Allied attack. "In order to prevent the Allied troops from landing in Albania, Germany decided to launch an attack on Albania.
Prior to the invasion of Albania, the Wehrmacht developed a series of military plans for an operation codenamed "Project Axis" against the Italian strongholds in the Balkans, ordering the Germans to take over, capture or destroy Italian forces in the Balkans. German troops entered Albania in July-August 1943, and by mid-August there were about 6,000 German soldiers stationed in Albania.
After the German army entered, they quickly occupied Albanian airfields and ports, and also established defensive positions along the Albanian coastline in case the Allies advanced from the Adriatic. They occupied the main Albanian towns, drove the partisans into the countryside and mountains.
The Germans planned to create an independent and neutral Albania, preferably with a pro-German government. After the Muji Agreement was torn up, on 7 October, the Central Committee of the National Front ordered its ranks to cease resistance.
As during the Italian period, these leaders feared reprisals from the Germans. Many of their core strongholds were located in towns and exposed areas of the coastal plain, all under the tight control of Germany.
Moreover, the National Front was well aware that its enemy, the Communist Party of Albania, was well organized and supported by the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, which would allow it to defeat the German invaders and seize power in the country after the war, and that it was a good time to destroy the enemy with the help of the Germans. For Germany, the choice of the National Front is exactly what they would love to see the Albanian resistance split.
As a result, the two developed a more comprehensive cooperation than during the period of Italian rule. They began to inform about the activities of the National Liberation Front and received funds from the Germans to buy weapons from the collaborating government and the Germans.
After the formation of a "neutral government" in Germany, most members of the National Front came to power and continued to fight against the National Liberation Front. "This led the Communists to classify the leaders of the National Front and members of the Tirana government as outright collaborators and traitors.
Overall, before May 1944, Germany and its puppet regime had a higher level of support in Albania than in the other occupied territories. Because they have made considerable efforts to turn their image, they have been seeking some degree of autonomy for their people in some areas, and they have committed fewer atrocities in Albania than in other regions.
One German historian estimates that the Albanian government under German rule received 25 to 30 percent support, with the remaining 30 to 35 percent neutral and 35 to 45 percent opposed. Eventually, however, popular support inevitably began to wane, largely due to the continued growth of the resistance and the retaliatory actions of the Germans as a result.
Resistance to German fascism
In the early days of the German invasion, although they had been wearing the mask of hypocrisy, they also carried out brutal massacres. British Special Operations Service (S.0.E.) In his memoirs, Captain David Smiley recalled the atrocities of the German army after entering the country:
"On my way back, I saw smoke from other villages, which I thought had been set on fire by the Italians in retaliation. I was wrong, because I met Safiet Batka and his troops, and he told me that it was the village of Balmash that I saw burning, which was set on fire by the Germans. He said they burned the women and children of their families alive and shot them as they tried to escape...... This is the first time we have reported on the Germans in Albania. ”
Long before the official surrender of Italy, the Albanian resistance had already carried out the actions of the invading German troops. As early as July 1943, the partisans attacked a German convoy on the road from Kolça to Ioannina.
On 19 August, Captain Smiley and FN leaders planted eight mines at several bends in the road near the village of Korchabalmash. - A large half-track personnel carrier towing an 88mm caliber tank exploded on a set of mines. The partisans opened fire on the personnel carrier, 18 Germans were killed.
Half an hour later, a large convoy of 23 German trucks approached from the direction of Leskovík. The first truck exploded at another set of mines, the second and third trucks were ambushed, and five Germans who tried to escape were killed. The Albanians suffered no casualties in both successful attacks.
On 14 September, the Albanian National Liberation Army (NNLA) engaged in its first head-to-head confrontation with the German army, in which 3,000 Germans were killed and forced to retreat to the mountains, and the ELN emerged victorious, capturing two military camps near Vlora and freeing 7,000 imprisoned Italian soldiers, many of whom had subsequently joined the Albanian forces.
On the 22nd-23rd, the guerrillas led by Abbas Kubi, together with the 1st Battalion of the Italian 226 Corps, raided Kruja, northwest of Tirana, a German mobile column of 75 vehicles from Tirana was repulsed, two tanks were also blown up, many German troops were killed or wounded, and the rest were captured. Another German column was also ambushed in the Elbasan area, and 90 German soldiers were killed.
After Germany entered the country, at the end of October, it recruited the forces of the parties led by the National Front to fight against the Communist Party. At the same time, Abbas Kubi left the National Liberation Front and founded the Legalist movement on his own, which further complicated the situation of resistance in Albania.
The retreat of the German invaders
At the end of October 1943, the situation in northern Albania and Kosovo was calm: various partisan groups were active in the area around Tirana; Tensions between the National Front and the Communists were growing: most of the southern part of Albania was occupied by Communist partisans. Beginning in November, the Germans launched a series of attacks against the communist partisans in an attempt to destroy them, which lasted until January 1944, known as the "Winter Campaign"
The three-month winter campaign of the Germans was a major blow to the Communist partisans. Winter was already difficult for the undersupplied National Liberation Front, and the nimble German troops, together with members of the National Front who knew the local conditions well, dealt a heavy blow to the communist partisans. In a letter to Naco Spyru in March, Hoxha admitted that "the situation is difficult, very difficult indeed...... But it is precisely in this difficult situation that we must strive not to lose our position.
It turned out that neither the German army nor the members of the National Front were aware of the tenacity of the communist partisans. The team members were good at mobile warfare, and after the rout of the Winter Campaign, they dispersed in time and regrouped; Most of the guerrillas were dressed in civilian clothes, which also covered their personal safety.
However, this caused the Germans to lose patience and trust in the Albanian civilian population and began to suppress the unarmed civilians. Large numbers of patriots and even ordinary citizens were arrested and thrown into prisons or concentration camps. On the morning of 4 February, the Germans and local police killed 84 people in Tirana. This brutal repression not only failed to deter the Communist partisans, but rather grew in opposition to Germany's brutal rule.
At the same time, there were significant changes in the deployment of German troops in Albania. Due to the deterioration of the situation in the other occupied territories, in early March 1944, the 279th Infantry Division was withdrawn and sent to the Russian front, and the 100th Division was sent to Hungary at the end of the month. Although they had subsequent replacement units, most of these soldiers came from prisoners of war and concentration camps.
Soon, they rebelled under pressure and defected to the ranks of the nationalists or the Communists. In addition, the Allies carried out air raids on Tirana airfield on October 13, 1943, and seven more air raids in February 1944, mainly on German military installations in Afghanistan. "As the weather began to improve, these attacks increased and affected many major cities and towns in Albania.
British aid to Albania also grew. In January, 25.8 tons of supplies were airdropped. In February, a total of 20.6 tons were released. The tonnage increased to 29 tons in March and fell to 27.8 tons in April, and these deliveries were far from meeting the needs of the partisans, so that British material assistance could not be considered decisive, but they did play an important role in the critical moment for the partisans.
At the end of August 1944, the collapse of Romanian rule and the critical situation in Bulgaria prompted the German High Command to finalize the plan for withdrawal from the Balkans. The Belgrade headquarters ordered all units, including the 21st Corps, to prepare to retreat so as not to be caught between the advancing Soviet Union and the growing partisan detachment. As the military situation became unstable, the pretense of friendly occupation of Albania by German fascists began to fade.
On 11 November, the guerrillas attacked again, and on the afternoon of 17 November, several battalions of the 297th Infantry Division marched from Durrës to Tirana and broke into the city with heavy artillery. After 20 days of fighting, the guerrillas finally liberated Tirana. During this period, they also liberated Elbasan. Subsequently, with the help of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army and the guerrilla military delegation, the Albanian National Liberation Army successfully liberated Shkodra on 29 November, realizing the liberation of the entire territory of Albania.