Written by Petrit Latifi
The Albanian border had been the scene of provocations by neighboring states for years, for their aggressive purposes or territorial claims against Albania. The year 1949 is “special”. During this year alone, a total of 747 provocations of various types (land, air and sea) were carried out on the Albanian borders, of which 612 on the border with Greece (303 land, 299 air and 10 sea); 130 on the border with Yugoslavia (57 land, 69 air and 4 sea) and 5 (air) in the coastal sectors with Italy.
All these provocations were also preceded by rampant propaganda by neighboring countries against Albania, especially in the southern sectors. They not only threw books, pamphlets and newspapers into Albanian territory with calls against the popular power in Albania, but they went so far as to fabricate and spread fictions, according to which bases had been created around the Albanian border, from where the Greek partisans were supplied in the fight against the Andarets (the forces of the Greek democratic army). The Greek prisoners captured by the Albanian Border Forces also claimed the psychological preparation that was being given to the Greek soldiers for an imminent attack on Albania.
“We have been constantly instructed by our superior commands to carry out chauvinistic propaganda among the soldiers to arouse hatred among them against the Government and the Albanian people, telling them that; Southern Albania belongs to us, since it is Greek, that the Albanian Government oppresses the Northern Epirotes and exterminates them, that Albania helps the communist bandits and threatens the independence of Greece.“
They have also instructed us to carry out armed attacks on the border against the Albanian guards, entering their territory. We have been told repeatedly that we must have our army ready, with hatred against Albania and, when the opportunity arises, to attack Albanian soil, to exterminate the communists and take Northern Epirus”, declared, before the Albanian authorities, the Greek officer Skuros Dhimitris, captured by Albanian border guards, amidst fierce fighting, where he had entered over 300 meters into Albanian territory.
And finally, these goals are clearly affirmed in his statement of August 3, 1949 by General Papagos, former Minister of Defense of Greece, where he says that: “The Andartes (he is referring to the forces of the Greek democratic army) were crushed in Thessaly, Rumelia and generally in the depths of Greece. Gramozi and Vici, will be finished within August. Then we will fall to Albania”.
The preparation for an aggression against the People’s Republic of Albania, plotted through a wide-ranging provocation through Greece, was also accompanied by the activation of the diversion and espionage centers of the countries neighboring Albania, to send emissaries and gangs from there; “… in order to organize movements of internal ‘enemies’, which, in combination with provocations at the border, would serve as a reason for the armed intervention of the imperialist powers”.
“One day on 10.07.1949 on the heights of Pirgas,” declared another Greek soldier Sterios Kostandinos, taken prisoner by the Albanian border guards, “the company commander, Lieutenant Hundas Anastasios, called me, who told me that we must continue the propaganda among our soldiers, according to the order we had against the democracy of Albania. Based on the words of the commander, Lieutenant Hundas, who had also spoken with the battalion commander, this order was intended to; to create a situation of insecurity on the Greek-Albanian border and, along with this, to cause the intervention of the Anglo-Americans, supposedly to restore calm.”
The resistance of the Vidohovë-Devoll border post, in the provocation of August 2, 1949
The Greek provocations on the border with Albania reached their peak on August 2, 1949, when their military forces organized and carried out an armed attack against the Albanian border guards in the Devoll sector, thus violating the territorial integrity of the RPSH. “Such actions remind us of the methods of the German Nazis and fascists who create incidents on the borders with their neighbors with the aim of pressure and intimidation, to create insecurity and hostility between peoples or to pave the way for broader aggressive actions,” wrote, among other things, in an editorial, the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit” at that time, strongly expressing its opinion on the events of August 2, on the Albanian-Greek border.
But how did this attack begin and how was it carried out? On the morning of August 2, 1949, at 04:30, in the area of Bozhigrad (Miras) the artillery preparation of the Greek military forces, deployed along the border with Albania, began. The shells fell up to 300-400 m deep into Albanian territory. At 05:00, the Greek infantry attack began, with 3 battalions of Br.51 F and Br. 52 F of D1 F supported by an Artillery Regiment and a squadron of “Spitfiter” type fighter aircraft, based at the Kastoria airfield. They attacked the quotas 1309 and 1425 which were located 100 m. deep into Albanian territory, in the sector of the border post, Vidohovë-Bilisht.
Their attack was met by the defense of the Albanian border guards, which were no more than a platoon. So, that was the number of soldiers at the Vidohovo border post, armed mainly with rifles and automatic weapons, as well as 3 heavy and 4 light machine guns. The fighting continued fiercely for 7 hours. Especially at the 1309th point, nothing was visible but smoke and flames.
But the Albanian border guards did not retreat. “I will not retreat from here, because this is my home and my homeland,” one of the soldiers, named Mustafa Gjini, shouted from the beginning of this attack, giving extraordinary courage to his comrades who were in very critical moments for their lives. “Come on, come on, because this is where you will leave the line”! he addressed the Greek soldiers facing him, border guard Tafil Ferhati.
Although at these moments a whole squad of Greek soldiers rushed towards him to defeat him, he did not retreat, but remained in place fighting, where he killed 4 of them, until he himself was killed. At the 1309th point (border pyramid region I-55), a group of 3 Albanian border guards, with a heavy machine gun, wreaked havoc on the attacking enemies, until an artillery shell of the Greek forces fell on their position, putting out of action the machine gun and wounding two of them.
Captain Zylgani Vidohova, an officer of the Vidohova border post, killed six Greek soldiers and took their flag. Another group of border guards, although they ran out of ammunition, continued to stand and fight in their positions, only with hand grenades.
However, the Greek military forces always attacked with greater forces. By lunchtime they had reached the 1309 quota. However, only a few hours had passed and the Albanian Border Forces, supported by army units that arrived in the region in the afternoon, after artillery preparation, at around 6:00 p.m., launched a counterattack and forced the Greek military troops to retreat with complete failure.
In this way, by evening, the situation on the border had normalized and the aggressors had retreated beyond the border pyramids. In this heated combat situation, for the protection of the Albanian state border, Captain Memo Nexhipi from Dukaj i Tepelena, Aspirant Ferid Bregasi from Vendresha e Skraparit, soldier Tafil Ferhati from Marjani i Oparit, soldier Shyqyri Avdia from Skrapari, soldier Ibrahim Fetahu from Lushnja and soldier Hasan Ramadani from Shijaku, while six others were wounded.
According to the press release of August 3, 1949, published in the press of the day, the Greek military troops that day had about 100 killed and wounded, as well as three prisoners captured by the Albanian border forces, two of whom were wounded. In the hands of the Albanian border guards, various types of weapons remained, including 6 English machine guns, 5 American automatic rifles, English-type grenade launchers, and a lot of American-made ammunition.
Highly appreciating the combat activity of the Vidohova border post in the defense of the Albanian border, upon the proposal of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Albanian People’s Army, the Presidium of the People’s Assembly awarded it the title of “Hero of the People”, with the motivation: “The heroic resistance of all the soldiers of this post in the provocations of the Greek monarcho-fascists of August 2, 1949, became an insurmountable barricade for the enemy. The small post unit, placed until death on guard of the dear land of the Fatherland, showed massive heroism in the defense of quota 1309 and successfully broke the repeated attacks of several enemy battalions.
The high example of patriotism, courage and bravery that characterized the personnel of this post became an inspiration for all fighters against the provocations of the monarcho-fascists. He is a great inspiration for all our Border Forces, for the army and for our brave and hardworking people”.
Facing other Greek provocations on the border with Albania
After August 2, 1949, Greek provocations extended to other directions of the Albanian border, from Bilishti to Konispol. “During 04.08.1949, the Greek monarcho-fascists continued their vile provocations against Albania on the southern border, in the Bozhigrad sector and in the direction of Leskovik, near the pyramids No. 11, 12, 13 and 14. In the Bozhigrad sector, the monarcho-fascists, supported by artillery and aviation, with numerous forces, attacked quotas 1425 and 309.
Counterattacks by the Albanian border forces broke the monarcho-fascists and drove them out of the border. During August 4-5, more than 1500 artillery shells fell on Albanian soil. “Some of these shells that fell in Menkulas (Devoll) have burned 5 houses,” said the operational communiqué of the Albanian People’s Defense Ministry, dated August 6, 1949.
Under these conditions, the General Command of the Albanian People’s Army, anticipating the possibility of Greek provocations in a broader and more aggressive style towards Albanian territory, in the Bilisht and Leskovik sectors, took comprehensive measures to further strengthen the border defense, as well as to deal a devastating blow to any plan of the Greek military troops towards Albania.
In the Order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces dated August 5, 1949; “On preventing the passage of Greek monarcho-fascist forces into Albanian territory”, addressed to the People’s Army Divisions deployed in the South of Albania and the People’s Defense Division (DMP), concrete measures were defined to strengthen the border defense which aimed at:
Strengthening the surveillance and reconnaissance of Greek monarcho-fascist forces, which could attempt to cross the Albanian border; concretely defining the possible directions and regions of penetration of Greek military troops into Albanian territory, through the state border; concentrating Albanian border forces in the defense regions of DMP platoons and companies, relying on the fire of the Divisions’ artillery batteries; placing reserves on standby in various sectors of the state border, etc.
This order also determined that; The military units subordinate to the Southern Divisions would remain ready to take on new tasks in accordance with the expected situations, while those deployed in the region of Leskovik, Erseka, Bozhigrad, Hoçisht and Bilisht would depend on the division commands, respectively according to their defense belt.
Guided as always by the peaceful policy with neighboring countries, the above order also gave these categorical instructions: during combat operations, weapons shells should not fall on Greek territory; Albanian border units and sub-units should not cross into Greek territory in any way; in case Greek partisans crossed into Albanian territory, they should only disarm themselves. ”
And in fact, by taking all the necessary measures in time, and by always being ready, the Albanian Armed Forces successfully faced the subsequent aggressive Greek provocations. “The Border Forces themselves, subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as an integral part of the country’s Armed Forces, acted in close cooperation with the army units and other bodies of the DMP in protecting the state border.”
In fact, we see this cooperation concretized in the joint actions of the border guards with the DMP forces and those of the Army, to repel the provocations of the Greek military troops, in different sectors of the state border with Greece. Specifically, in the Bilisht area, the Albanian border forces, together with those of the 1st battalion, of the 8th Regiment, of the DMP, were organized in three zones, (or garrisons as they were called), to ensure the protection of the border in this sector.
According to the Combat Order of the People’s Protection Department, it was envisaged that the first company of the B.M.P. (People’s Protection Battalion), with the border guards of the respective sector, would defend the border in the sector (region) between the border pyramids I-32 and I-33, including the hills of the Gurit-Devoll border post; the third company of the B.M.P, with the border guards of the respective sector, would defend the banks of the Llabanište River, including the hills of Trestenik-Devoll; while the second company of the B.M.P., divided into two parts, was concentrated in depth in the second line of defense, on Paliku Mountain and the Kapshtica Hills, to secure both sides of the highway connecting Albania with Greece.
All these constituted the combat security forces for the Bilisht sector and had the task of destroying enemy forces that would dare to attack this region, preventing them from entering Albanian territory.
On August 7, 1949, in the region of the I-55 border pyramid, at the 1425 quota, where the Greek military troops had been able to concentrate on Albanian territory, a fierce battle took place between them and Albanian forces, consisting of a border platoon (the staff of the Vidohova post) and a sub-unit of the People’s Army. The Albanian forces were organized and operated divided into two groups: one on the right flank of the 1425 m height from the side of the village of Qytezë-Devoll and the other directly on it.
During the combat operations, the variant of the counterattack and flanking attack was implemented, neutralizing the enemy’s weapons with artillery fire. The enemy defended itself in prepared positions. Among them, a machine gun placed on the hill in a bunker, greatly endangered the Albanian forces that were attacking towards that place, almost completely naked.
However, the Albanian forces launched and continued the attack without stopping until the task was carried out. Despite the desperate resistance of the Greek military troops, this height was taken by the Albanian forces, but it could not be held that day, as the enemy engaged in combat, other additional forces and was able to temporarily regain the 1425 quota. Only the next day, through the counterattack of the Albanian forces, height 1425 was finally taken and the enemy withdrew to its own territory.
The Greek military forces, at this time, were also trying to use Albanian airspace for their war purposes. For several days in a row, a Greek plane took off from Corfu, passed within Albanian airspace in southern Albania and conducted reconnaissance up to the Gramoz-Ersekë sector. This plane carried out these flights over Albanian territory, taking advantage of the lack of anti-aircraft defense weapons on the part of the Albanian border forces.
“However, the border guards decided one day to punish this air pirate, according to the possibilities they had. For this purpose, they adapted the 12 m/m. anti-tank guns they had for this type of combat. They placed them in several prepared shafts that had the shape of a triangle at the end and made them suitable for anti-aircraft fire. Such “anti-aircraft” guns were placed in the regions of Çukë, Manastir, Ksamil, the hills above Vivar, Stillo and at the Bugazi-Saranda gorge; points that protected the corridor that the Greek plane was passing through.
And when on August 4, 1949, this plane entered Albanian airspace in this region, their fire forced it, after failed attempts to return, to take a landing course in the direction of Vurgut-Saranda. Through the operational communiqué of the Ministry of People’s Defense of those days, it was announced, among other things, that: “… at 07.55 on 04.08.1949, a plane flew into Albanian soil, in the village of Hoxhë e Markat in the Saranda district. It was shot down by Albanian army forces and crashed in the Finiq field, near Saranda. The pilot was captured alive.”
In the later days of August 1949, the Greek provocations escalated further and became more dangerous. The operational communications of the Ministry of People’s Defense again announced new attacks and artillery strikes by Greek military troops on Albanian territory. “At 03.30 in the morning of August 12, 1949, the monarcho-fascist forces, up to a brigade supported by artillery and four “Spitfire” type aircraft, treacherously attacked Albanian soil in the direction of the I-35 pyramid, in the Bilisht sector, where after fierce fighting with the border guards, the enemy entered Albanian soil, up to the 932 quota.
The Albanian Border Forces counterattacked the Greek monarcho-fascists, defeated them shamefully and forced them to retreat in panic towards the 966 quota, deep in their land.” From the first attack, the Albanian border forces offered fierce resistance to the aggressors. However, being superior in men and equipment, despite the losses they suffered, they were able to penetrate to the positions of the Guri border post and the region on the left side of the village of Trestenik-Devoll.
Fierce fighting took place especially in the vicinity of the Guri-Bilisht border post, where the border guards, in cooperation with the army units, turned the positions into impenetrable fortifications. They did not move from the defensive line and did not want to know anything about the powerful shells of the Greek artillery, which fell relentlessly on their positions.
Not accepting this defeat, the enemy repeated his attack in this sector, but this time with greater forces and combat equipment. About 36 fire nozzles of his artillery were firing on Albanian soil; Bombardments and machine guns were also carried out by aircraft (of the fighter-bomber type) that flew close to Bilisht and fired incessantly at the border forces and population.
Some of these shells were incendiary (with napalm) and caused fires in crops and houses. Taking advantage of the powerful fire of artillery and aviation, on this same date, at 13.10, the Greek monarcho-fascists, with a brigade, supported by artillery and 6 aircraft, attacked Albanian soil again, in the direction of pyramids I-32 and I-34, the Bilisht sector, where they penetrated into Albanian territory up to quotas 1120 and 1170.
Despite the very fierce resistance of the Albanian forces, they were able to gain ground in the direction of the Trestenik-Bilisht border post valley, as well as in the region of the border pyramid I-33. The fighting, which continued here for 6 hours, was very fierce. The Albanian border forces, reinforced with 3 other DMP platoons, and supported by artillery, counterattacked and forced the enemy to return to their positions, causing many killed and many wounded.
The Llabanica field (Trestenik-Devoll), where two successive attacks by the Greek monarcho-fascists were broken, and especially the gorge, which leads to the I-33 border pyramid, became a terror for those who dared to cross the border and provoke the Albanian border forces.
As the day dawned on August 13, 1949, the Greek military troops again provoked the Albanian border guards. “Today, August 13, at 03:00 in the morning, the monarcho-fascists, with forces of up to two brigades, supported by artillery, crossed the Albanian border at the I-33 pyramid, Bilisht sector,” stated the operational communiqué of the Ministry of People’s Defense dated August 13, 1949. Their goal was to concentrate and organize themselves at the height of Paliku Mountain, and then undertake a frontal attack in the direction of Bilisht.
The Albanian forces, consisting of a border company and a reserve company of the D.M.P. forces, as well as supported by an army infantry battalion, counterattacked and defeated the monarcho-fascists, forcing them to abandon the height captured in the region of the I-33 pyramid and retreat defeated, to their own territory.
At the forefront of the Albanian border forces, the commissar of the Bilisht Border Battalion, Nasi Remaçka, who was killed fighting alongside his courier, Dane Zeneli, there on the border line. During this fighting, the enemy suffered heavy losses. “One of the captured Greek soldiers, Peritiros Qirjako, an officer of the 41st Brigade of the monarcho-fascist army, stated that during the fighting in the region of the I-33 pyramid alone, he had pulled over 50 Greek soldiers killed and wounded, that their morale that day had been greatly reduced and that they were constantly under threat from their superiors.”
Of the killed enemies, 26 of them remained on Albanian soil. The next day, “on August 14, 1949, at 07:30, the Greek monarcho-fascists, with the 41st Brigade, of the 9th Division, supported by an artillery regiment and a squadron of “Spitfire” aircraft, continued their attacks against Albania, in the direction of pyramids I-30 and I-31, Bilisht sector. During this day, the enemy fired more than 2,000 artillery shells into Albanian soil, in the villages of Trestenik, Kapshtica of Cangonj-Devoll as well as in the city of Bilisht.
From the artillery strikes, 5 civilians were killed and material damage was caused to several houses in the above villages”. The Greek military troops tried again to regain the height of Palik Mountain. But the Albanian forces counterattacked them and forced them to return to their previous positions (i.e. to their territory) and restore the normal situation on the border line.
“During the fighting of 13 and 14 August 1949, the losses of the Greek military forces amounted to 200 killed and 250 wounded. Only on 14 August, during the withdrawal, the Greek military troops left 60 dead on Albanian soil. While on the Albanian side, during the 12th, 13th and 14th of this month, 29 people fell fighting for the protection of the borders and 127 others were injured.
“Since August 2, until 12:00 on August 15, 1949, the Albanian Border Forces, during the fighting against the Greek monarcho-fascists, have caused the enemy over 300 killed and 500 wounded, while 270 others were taken prisoner,” it is emphasized in the operational communiqué of the Ministry of People’s Defense, dated August 15, 1949. It further emphasizes that “on August 25 they (i.e. the Greeks) attacked once again in the Vidohova sector, supported by 3 tanks, and again on August 29. But, finally, the monarcho-fascists were forced to give up this adventure that cost them very dearly”.
While the Greek monarcho-fascists continued their provocations on the southern border and in the sectors of the Albanian border with Yugoslavia, 10 provocations of various kinds were carried out, such as in Peshkopi, Tropoja and Shkodra. These provocations were mainly related, as before, to: illegal border crossings by Yugoslav soldiers and their entry into the depths of Albanian territory, with opening fire (shooting) with various weapons from Yugoslav territory, on Albanian residents and border patrols; dropping subversive propaganda materials inside Albanian territory; carrying out armed attacks against Albanian soldiers, etc. In all these cases, the determined and correct stance of the Albanian border forces forced the Yugoslav soldiers to withdraw without claims to their territory.
Some conclusions about the events of August 1949, on the Southern border of Albania
Analyzing the events that occurred during the month of August 1949, on the Southern border of Albania, we come to the conclusion that; everything spoke clearly that this time it was not a question of simple provocations, like those of 5 years ago. This time, something more serious was thought of. Starting the work that supposedly only required through Albanian soil, to take the arms of the Greek partisan forces, who were in Gramoz and Vici, they thought of starting an open aggression to realize by means of weapons the old Greek dream; the taking of “Northern Epirus”.
The Albanian Border Forces in cooperation with the Armed Forces, as well as supported by the inhabitants of the border area and the entire Albanian people, fought resolutely against the Greek monarcho-fascists and heroically defended the state border of the RPSH. “… when the border guard of Vidohova-Devoll clashed with the Greek monarcho-fascists, the people of the area expressed their desire to go and fight with him, armed with weapons. The villagers there were the first to bring the border guards water and bread to the positions
“… When the border guards of Ponçare-Devoll were on standby awaiting Greek provocations and were carrying out engineering work, 40 armed men from the village of Menkulas-Devoll found themselves on the border line, alongside them…! The young men and women of the village of Kapshticë-Devoll, with their animals, ensured the transport of combat materials and food to the trenches and helped with tools and other equipment for the construction of the positions…!
When the villages of Bozhigrad and Trestenik-Devoll were asked to temporarily withdraw to the depths due to the circumstances of the war, they asked for only the women and children to withdraw, while the others insisted on joining the border guards at the front. On the other hand, the entire Albanian people stood strong, fearless and ready to take up arms to defend the country.
Old partisans, patriots, workers, peasants, young people and women sent letters to the Central Committee of the Party of Labor and the Government, asking to be allowed to go to the border to defend the homeland.
Successfully confronting these provocations was a new experience for the Albanian Border Forces, which knew how to best transition from the system of guarding to that of protecting the state border and win against an opponent superior in strength and combat technology.
The organization and conduct of successful combat operations highlighted not only the heroism of the soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers, but also the leadership and command skills of the cadres who were able to successfully analyze and evaluate any combat situation created during provocations and to make and implement the right decisions to achieve success in any counterattack against the Greek monarcho-fascists.
Cooperation and coordination of actions with the units of the Albanian Army as well as with other structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in all combat situations for the protection of the state border was extremely necessary and one of the decisive factors for achieving success. Provocations by neighbors on the border with Albania continued during 1950.
Reference
Balkan Academia 