Partisans in the Balkans.
Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2023 12:39 pm
Hello to all ; a point of view..................................
Partisan struggle in Albania.
With Italy's surrender and its declaration of war on Germany in August 1943, two German infantry divisions marched into Albania, already standing by on the Albanian border. I first led my infantry battalion (1) to Prizren, a small town with a Mohammedan population in the friendly Kosova region.
There we moved from the major battle in the open terrain, in which we had always taken part as infantrymen in the front line in the Soviet Union from Sokal on the Bug to Stalingrad on the Volga, to the mountain battle in the wild and inaccessible karst mountains of the Balkans. This caused us little difficulty. The necessary equipment was available in abundance from the existing stocks of the Italian troops, two armies that had been in Albania since 1939. It was only up to the initiative of the individual commanders and company commanders to find it.
Abandoned pack animals, mules, donkeys and small horses stood in a neglected state tied to rickety fences, starving or grazing half-wild on dried-out grassy areas outside the towns and villages. Wooden saddles, clumsy and hard, were usually found near the animals. In the numerous warehouses of the Italian barracks camps there were cooking boxes made of light metal, which were now supposed to replace the good old field kitchens. At first there was only a shortage of mountain boots.
The few we found looked very nice when new, but were completely worn out after a few marching in high mountains. The rough upper leather absorbed the moisture instead of keeping it out. Many Italian mountain batteries fell into our hands without a fight. The gun barrels had a caliber of 7.5 cm. For a gun with the initial supply of ammunition, 6 strong pack animals were required. There were enough grenades packed in carrying baskets. Backpacks, very practical and functional, now replaced our knapsacks and the assault pack of the German grenadiers. Italian soldiers who were willing to help helped us load the pack animals and were their guides.
The German officers and soldiers quickly adapted to the new equipment. What else could shake the old Russian fighters; They had become masters at improvising.
But the high mountain battle against partisans soon began. The Albanian gangs, together with Italians loyal to Badoglio, attacked the weak German units in a sneaky and devious manner. Very soon the German soldiers, who had fought for almost two years in the toughest battles against numerically and materially far superior opponents with great success, had to realize that war in the high mountains is completely different than in open, open terrain. (Although artillery, anti-tank guns, tanks and aircraft were not available to the enemy or were only used very sporadically, the battle was much more difficult and very costly and placed the greatest physical and psychological demands on the leadership and troops.
(1) This unit was part of the new 297th Infantry Division, reorganized in Bordeaux France, under the command of Generalmajor Friedrich-Wilhelm Deutsch. In June 1943 it was subordinated to the Kommandierender General und Befehlshaber in Serbia (General Paul Bader) to carry out security tasks and operations against the partisans. In September 1943 it was assigned to the XXI. Gebirgskorps (General Paul Bader).
Sources: Partisanenkampf in Albanien. Frank. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 120 (1954). Heft 4-5
https://www.maparchive.ru/division/part ... vision.pdf
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gl ... bKorps.htm
Cheers. Raúl M .
Partisan struggle in Albania.
With Italy's surrender and its declaration of war on Germany in August 1943, two German infantry divisions marched into Albania, already standing by on the Albanian border. I first led my infantry battalion (1) to Prizren, a small town with a Mohammedan population in the friendly Kosova region.
There we moved from the major battle in the open terrain, in which we had always taken part as infantrymen in the front line in the Soviet Union from Sokal on the Bug to Stalingrad on the Volga, to the mountain battle in the wild and inaccessible karst mountains of the Balkans. This caused us little difficulty. The necessary equipment was available in abundance from the existing stocks of the Italian troops, two armies that had been in Albania since 1939. It was only up to the initiative of the individual commanders and company commanders to find it.
Abandoned pack animals, mules, donkeys and small horses stood in a neglected state tied to rickety fences, starving or grazing half-wild on dried-out grassy areas outside the towns and villages. Wooden saddles, clumsy and hard, were usually found near the animals. In the numerous warehouses of the Italian barracks camps there were cooking boxes made of light metal, which were now supposed to replace the good old field kitchens. At first there was only a shortage of mountain boots.
The few we found looked very nice when new, but were completely worn out after a few marching in high mountains. The rough upper leather absorbed the moisture instead of keeping it out. Many Italian mountain batteries fell into our hands without a fight. The gun barrels had a caliber of 7.5 cm. For a gun with the initial supply of ammunition, 6 strong pack animals were required. There were enough grenades packed in carrying baskets. Backpacks, very practical and functional, now replaced our knapsacks and the assault pack of the German grenadiers. Italian soldiers who were willing to help helped us load the pack animals and were their guides.
The German officers and soldiers quickly adapted to the new equipment. What else could shake the old Russian fighters; They had become masters at improvising.
But the high mountain battle against partisans soon began. The Albanian gangs, together with Italians loyal to Badoglio, attacked the weak German units in a sneaky and devious manner. Very soon the German soldiers, who had fought for almost two years in the toughest battles against numerically and materially far superior opponents with great success, had to realize that war in the high mountains is completely different than in open, open terrain. (Although artillery, anti-tank guns, tanks and aircraft were not available to the enemy or were only used very sporadically, the battle was much more difficult and very costly and placed the greatest physical and psychological demands on the leadership and troops.
(1) This unit was part of the new 297th Infantry Division, reorganized in Bordeaux France, under the command of Generalmajor Friedrich-Wilhelm Deutsch. In June 1943 it was subordinated to the Kommandierender General und Befehlshaber in Serbia (General Paul Bader) to carry out security tasks and operations against the partisans. In September 1943 it was assigned to the XXI. Gebirgskorps (General Paul Bader).
Sources: Partisanenkampf in Albanien. Frank. Allgemeine schweizerische Militärzeitschrift. Band (Jahr): 120 (1954). Heft 4-5
https://www.maparchive.ru/division/part ... vision.pdf
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gl ... bKorps.htm
Cheers. Raúl M .