| Battle of Pezë | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II in Albania | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 LANÇ | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Maximilian von Weichs | Myslim Peza | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 5,000 | 2,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 200 killed several artillery pieces destroyed | Unknown | ||||||
The Battle of Peza was an attempt by German troops to clear the partisans from the area of Peza, which lies south of Tirana. [1]
Since the end of October 1943, the Germans had infiltrated patrols to gather information and had secured the camouflaged service of a number of Albanians as guides. The Germans were looking to destroy the partisan structures in Pezë since the partisan presence there was very big. [1]
On November 3, 1943, the Germans moved from Peqin to the southern area of Tirana controlled by the partisans. On November 5, the Germans advanced from Peqin to Peza, but were stopped by the fighters of the partisan leader Myslim Peza, with many material losses for the Germans. [1]
On November 6, the Germans returned from the south-west direction, from Petrela, and captured the base of the newly formed Third Brigade. The fighting continued in the following days. Myslim Peza did not foresee the attack, while under his command he had only 2000 partisans, against 5000 German soldiers equipped with artillery and mortars. However, he caused the Germans 200 killed according to British witnesses. [1]
A part of the Third Brigade was withdrawn towards the east, along the Tirana-Elbasan road, while the remaining part continued with Myslim Peza towards Priska, 9 km east of Tirana. Myslim Peza together with his soldiers managed to escape. Meanwhile, in the third week of November 1943, the German forces, estimated at 5,000, repeatedly attacked the forces of Myslim Peza, around 2,000 of them, south of Tirana. The Germans were pushed back. [1]
After the German attack on Pezë, several battles occurred in Dibër, Berat, Vlorë, Korcë and Patos, almost all of which were victories for the Albanian partisans. [1]
In Albania, World War II began with its invasion by Italy in April 1939. Fascist Italy set up Albania as its protectorate or puppet state. The resistance was largely carried out by Communist groups against the Italian and then German occupation in Albania. At first independent, the Communist groups united in the beginning of 1942, which ultimately led to the successful liberation of the country in 1944.
Mehmet Ismail Shehu was an Albanian communist politician who served as the Prime Minister of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania from 1954 to 1981. He was known as a close confidant of Enver Hoxha and served in various high-ranking positions in the government.
Case White, also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive, was a combined Axis strategic offensive launched against the Yugoslav Partisans throughout occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. It was one of the most significant confrontations of World War II in Yugoslavia. The offensive took place in early 1943, between 20 January and mid-to-late March. The Axis operation prompted the Partisan Supreme Command to enact its plans to drive toward eastern Herzegovina, Sandžak and Montenegro.
Case Black, also known as the Fifth Enemy Offensive in Yugoslav historiography and often identified with its final phase, the Battle of the Sutjeska was a joint attack by the Axis taking place from 15 May to 16 June 1943, which aimed to destroy the main Yugoslav Partisan force, near the Sutjeska river in south-eastern Bosnia. The failure of the offensive marked a turning point for Yugoslavia during World War II. It was also the last major German-Italian joint operation against the partisans.
Haxhi Lleshi was an Albanian military leader and communist politician who served as the Chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania from 1953 to 1982.
The Antonio Gramsci Battalion was formed on 9 November 1943 from captured Italian soldiers who wished to continue the war by resisting Nazi German forces in Albania. In the beginning its forces amounted to 137 men who chose their own leaders: Terzilio Cardinali (commander), Alfredo d'Angelo, Giuseppe Monti and Dominico Bogatai. One Albanian partisan, Sami Kotherja, was also appointed to battalion command. The battalion was composed of two companies.
Mehdi bey Frashëri was an Albanian intellectual and politician. He served as Prime Minister of Albania in the 1930s and as Chairman of the Provisional Administration Committee in the Albanian puppet government under Nazi Germany.
The 19th Infantry Division "Venezia" was a infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The Venezia was classified as a mountain infantry division, which meant that the division's artillery was moved by pack mules instead of the horse-drawn carriages of line infantry divisions. Italy's real mountain warfare divisions were the six alpine divisions manned by Alpini mountain troops. The division was named for the city of Venice and based in Tuscany, from where it also recruited most of its troops. After the Armistice of Cassibile between the Allies and Italy was announced on 8 September 1943 the division joined the Yugoslav partisans in Montenegro and formed the Partisan Division "Garibaldi".
The Kosovo Operation was a series of military operations leading up to one final push during World War II, launched by the Bulgarian army with the assistance of Albanian and Yugoslav Partisans to expel German forces from Kosovo and prevent the retreat of German forces from Greece. German Army Group E was withdrawing through it from Greece towards Bosnia, since the escape route through Niš and Belgrade had been closed by the Yugoslav Partisan, Bulgarian and Soviet forces.
The Chameria battalion was a battalion of the National Anti-Fascist Liberation Army of Albania during the Second World War. It was formed from the organized resistance groups of Cham Albanians on 15 June 1943 and was renamed as the IV Chameria Group in October 1943, which ceased to exist after the Liberation of Albania. It included at the time of its creation more than 500 armed troops, the vast majority of whom were Albanians from the Greek part of Chameria region and the rest from the Albanian part, and about 40 members of the Greek minority in Albania.
The National Liberation Movement, also translated as National Liberation Front, was an Albanian communist resistance organization that fought in World War II. It was created on 16 September 1942, in a conference held in Pezë, a village near Tirana, and was led by Enver Hoxha. Apart from the figures which had the majority in the General Council it also included known nationalists like Myslim Peza although the Partisans under Yugoslav influence ended up executing numerous Albanian nationalist figures. In May 1944, the Albanian National Liberation Front was transformed into the government of Albania and its leaders became government members, and in August 1945, it was replaced by the Democratic Front.
The 373rd (Croatian) Infantry Division was a division of the German Army during World War II. It was formed in June 1943 using a brigade from the Home Guard of the Independent State of Croatia with the addition of a German cadre. The division was commanded by Germans down to battalion and even company level in nearly all cases, and was commonly referred to as a "legionnaire division". Originally formed with the intention of service on the Eastern Front, it was used instead for anti-Partisan operations in the territory of the NDH until the end of the war. It fought mainly in the western areas of the NDH, and was involved in the attempt to kill or capture the leader of the Partisans, Josip Broz Tito, in May 1944. Severely depleted by desertion, the division withdrew towards the Reich border in the early months of 1945, eventually surrendering to the Partisans on 10 May 1945 near Brežice in modern-day Slovenia.
The battle of Knin was a major Yugoslav Partisan operation during World War II in Yugoslavia launched by the 8th Dalmatian Corps from 7 November to 9 December 1944 with the purpose of destroying German, Ustaše and Chetnik formations in North Dalmatia and the city of Knin, then part of the Independent State of Croatia. It was the final part of the 8th Corps offensive for the liberation of Dalmatia which began on 12 September 1944. The Knin operation had three phases: Initial battles on approaches to Knin from 7 November to 25 November, main battle and liberation of Knin from 26 November to 4 December, and final battles and pursuit of retreating Axis forces to Otrić in Lika from 5 December to 9 December.
The Congress of Përmet, was a meeting of the Albanian communist leaders on May 24, 1944, in Përmet, Albania, which elected a Provisional Government. The congress was modeled after the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia. 188 delegates attended the Congress. The majority of the delegates came from Southern and Central Albania: 25 from Korça, 48 from Vlora-Gjirokastra, 15 from Berat, 8 from Elbasan, 10 from Tirana, 3 from Peza, 2 from Durrës. Additionally, the congress was attended by delegates of the National Liberation Movement and the Brigades.
The Peza Conference was held in Pezë, a village near Tirana in Albania, on September 16, 1942. The conference's goal and objective was to organize different political forces in the resistance against Italian rule. Later, this organization was named the National Liberation Movement.
The Liberation of Tirana was a significant offensive during World War II in Albania. Albanian Partisans launched an attack on the German occupying forces in Tirana to free the capital city.
The Battle of Vukov Klanac was a 7-day fight between Wehrmacht and Yugoslav Partisan forces in central Dalmatia. The battle occurred between 15 and 23 October 1944. It occurred in the region between Metković and Ston as Wehrmacht forces retreated from the nearby cities of Dubrovnik and Ston. It resulted in the 369th Devil's Division losing most of its equipment and a large fraction of its manpower to Partisan forces.
On September 9, 1943, Nazi Germany launched an invasion of Albania following the collapse of Mussolini's fascist Italian government. The invasion was carried out by the 2nd Panzer Division, which deployed military convoys from Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia into Albania. On September 10, at 9AM, a special plenipotentiary for the Southeast region of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hermann Neubacher, arrived in Tirana accompanied by special agent Fon Schjager to oversee German interests in Albania.
The Battle of Leskovik was a battle between the Albanian resistance and Fascist Italy in Leskovik.
The German Winter Offensive in Albania (1943–1944), also known as the Winter Offensive or the Winter campaign, was a military campaign carried out by German forces during their occupation of Albania. The primary objective of this offensive was to secure southern Albania in case of a retreat. To successfully achieve this goal, the Germans needed to weaken the Albanian Partisan resistance, which had posed a significant challenge to their control in the region.
