Greece 1941-43

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GLADIVM
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Greece 1941-43

#1

Post by GLADIVM » 23 Nov 2004, 08:14

I am looking for infos about the Anti-partisans activities of Italian Army during occupation of Greece .

It is not easy to find accounts of Italian forces anti-partisans sweeps in Greece and wouold be grateful if anyone can help in my search .

Thanks

Yours

GLADIVM

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Lupo Solitario
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#2

Post by Lupo Solitario » 23 Nov 2004, 14:32

Hmm, GLADIVM, I've practically never found anything about it, it's one of the most unknown element in WWII italian history

If there's some answer I'd be really glad to know it too


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#3

Post by Larry D. » 23 Nov 2004, 15:14

Hmmm......

The Italian military records for Slovenia, Dalmatia, Hercegovina, Montenegro and Albania 1941-43 are rich in details of many, many anti-partisan operations carried out by Italian units, some quite large involving several divisions and some quite small involving no more than a battalion or less. Why would not the Italian Army-, Corps- and Division- records for those formation based in Greece contain similar information?

The level of activity for the Italians in Greece would have been much less, of course, because the Greek resistance didn't really get going until after the Italian capitulation on 8 September 1943, but there should still be some evidence in the records of an occasional anti-partisan sweep or razzia.

--Larry

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#4

Post by Lupo Solitario » 23 Nov 2004, 15:30

Larry the point is that in 60 years it had been practically published nothing about italian occupation in Greece. There's not an official book of Italian Army Historical Bureau on greece occupation period (while there is about Jugoslavia and Albania) neither other sort of publication...The only way should be going to Rome and spending some month diving into archives but I have neither money or time to do it

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#5

Post by Larry D. » 23 Nov 2004, 15:41

Lupo, I read you loud and clear and agree that little has been published.

However, here's an alternative. The U.S. National Archives microfilmed all of the Italian military records that had been seized by the Germans following 8 Sep 43, and these include most of the Italian Army- and Corps-level records for Greece. They are available for $35.00 US per roll (c. 1,250 frames per roll). The total number of rolls that would cover all of the Italian units in Greece and the Aegean would be around 30 to 40, I would guess. That's $1,050 - $1,400 US plus around $30 more for shipping costs. That's still a lot of money, but it beats the high cost of staying in a Rome hotel and eating in a restaurant for 2 or 3 months!

--Larry

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GLADIVM
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#6

Post by GLADIVM » 24 Nov 2004, 07:56

I agree with you that it is astonishing that almost nothing has been written about the occupation period from 1941 to Sept 43 , when instead a lot has been published about Yugoslavia in the same period .
Possibly is because the Greek resistance movement was less glamourous than Tito's partisans and probably in greece there was much less partisan activity but still at least around Mount Pindo and in the mountains of North Greece there should have been some partisan activities of a few groups , communists and royalists as after 8th Sept the Italian Division Pinerolo under british patronage , so to speak , joined partisans forces there and for a few weeks was involved in fighting germans .
Later the Italians were betrayed , disarmed and imprisoned by the greek partisans groups which were more interested in grabbing italian armaments than in having cooperation of a well organised Italian force .

I am just curious to find out if Greek partisans before Sept 43 were much of a threat as in other Balkan areas and if anti-bands operations of grand proportions were organised to face them .

Thanks Lupo and Larry D. for yr inputs , I will keep looking and , not in near future but sometime later , will go to Roma and let you know if find out something that can be pieced together in order to give an overview of operations there .

Yours

GLADIVM

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#7

Post by DrG » 24 Nov 2004, 17:10

Lupo Solitario wrote:There's not an official book of Italian Army Historical Bureau on greece occupation period (while there is about Jugoslavia and Albania) neither other sort of publication.
Does Montanari's book about Albania cover also the years 1940-43? Or you talk about the book about Albanian troops by Crociani? :?

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#8

Post by Annelie » 25 Nov 2004, 15:11

Gladivm

Not sure if this will be of any help but in
"Inside Hitler's Greece" by Mark Mazower......
page 151-152 is mention of the Italian army in l944.

Annelie

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#9

Post by GLADIVM » 26 Nov 2004, 08:42

Thanks Annelie , will check if can find this book

I would like to ask something about the Albanian partisan movement , on which I must admitt my knowledge is not much , Were the albanian partisans of Enver Hoxa a real threat to the italian Occupation forces before sept 43 ?

When did the partisan movement start ? In summer of 41 coinciding with invasion of Russia or earlier ?

AFAIK during operations against Greece in winter 40/41 some of the Albanian units conscripted by Italians mutined and in some cases shot their officers , was this the beginning of armed resistance to Italian occupation ?

I guess that after mutinying and defecting these albanian soldiers had little choice but start a partisan war as surely they would have been shot on sight if found .

Thanks for any input .

Yours

GLADIVM

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#10

Post by Lupo Solitario » 26 Nov 2004, 13:37

DrG there's a text of USSME about italians in albania form 1939 to 1943 but I don't remmeber its data. Yours are useful too

GLADIVM: I believe albanians partisans started to become a real menace in 1942 more or less (in a land as albania, it's often difficult to give a "color" to a fireshot...).I think mutinies of winter 1940 simply "disappeared". They were in their land and certainly italian commands had more pressing troubles than hunting for them...

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#11

Post by Larry D. » 26 Nov 2004, 15:24

GLADIVM -

There is a fairly substantial body of published books and articles on the Italian and German occupations of Albania. I read most of them during the 1980's but I've now forgotten much of the details. AFAICR, the Communist Party in Albania began their active resistance at about the same time Tito did in Serbia, which was a week or so after the Germans invaded Russia on 22 June 1941. The Albanian partisans got off to a slow start and did not offer much of a problem until summer 1942. From then until 8 September 1943 the Italians were faced with a growing number of ambushes of their convoys, attacks on the few rail lines in the country, attacks on remote outposts and villages, etc. It was enough to cause the Italians to carry out a number of regiment- and division-size anti-partisan operations in and around the mountains where Hoxa's boys had their camps.

If you are really interested and can't get to a library that might have some books on the subject, then I can go out to my garage and retrieve a box full of notes that I have stored there. Then, if you have some specific questions, I can probably do a little digging and come up with an answer.

--Larry

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#12

Post by GLADIVM » 29 Nov 2004, 06:21

Thanks Lupo & Larry ,

Larry I am quite interested in the subject of resistance to Italian forces in Greece and Albania , at present I am out of Europe , for a few months , for work and have difficulties to find book specialized in the italian experience in WWII and would much appreciate if you could help in my search .

I am mostly interested in the anti partisans operations and sweeps undertaken by Italian forces in 1941 / 1942 / 1943 , with possibly details of units involved and results of operations .

Hope this is not too much to ask as would involve the re-reading of all yr books , but if you can help I would be very glad .

Thanks

Yours

GLADIVM

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#13

Post by Larry D. » 29 Nov 2004, 14:39

GLADIVM -

I'm up to my eyeballs in projects and the approaching holiday activity, but I will try and set some time aside and see what I can do, but it might now be until after the New Year begins.

--Larry

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#14

Post by Larry D. » 30 Nov 2004, 01:53

GLADIVM -

Here is an overview of wartime Albania. I checked through my accumulated notes and found that it would just be too time consuming to extract the dozens and dozens of little incidents reported daily in the Italian military records. I guess you'll just have to go to the Military History Office in Rome and dig it out for yourself.

ALBANIA - OVERVIEW 1939 - 1945

On Good Friday, 7th April 1939, an Italian Expeditionary Corps invaded Albania and within a week had occupied the country. After brief initial resistance the 10,000 strong Royal Albanian Army disintegrated. King Zog fled to exile and obscurity in London, and the Italian King Vittorio Emmanuele III usurped the Albanian throne.

The unsuccessful attempt of Abas Kupi, a royal official, to start a rebellion in Durres was followed by two years of relative calm, with an Italian garrison consisting of the “Puglie”, “'Firenze”, “Parma” and “Arezzo” Divisions. An A1banian Royal Guard was based in Rome, and four Albanian Fascist Militia Legions (1st - 4th were established, wearing white fezzes and Italian Militia uniform. An indigenous Po1ice Force was formed, and Albanians admitted to the Italian Navy, Air-Force, Frontier Guard, Customs Guard and Carabinieri. Six Royal Albanian Infantry battalions and three Artillery batteries became attached to Italian units, and these, plus two new Light Anti-Aircraft batteries, five irregular “Volunteer Battalions” and the 1st and 2nd Legions performed disastrously in the 1940 Greek Campaign. Nevertheless, in 1941 Greek Southern Epirus and Yugoslav Kosovo and Western Macedonia, each with Albanian majority populations, were ceded to Albania.

With an increase in guerilla activity the 1st - 3rd Albanian Rifle Regiments (Cacciatori d'Albania) were formed in late 1941, each 2,300 strong, with two infantry battalions, a machine-gun company and a four-gun artillery battery. In Spring 1943 the 4th Regiment was raised in Kosovo, and joined the 1st in the 1st Albanian Rifle Brigade, but unreliability and desertions forced the 2nd and 3rd Regiments to disba.nd just before the Italian .Armistice.

The Albanian Communist Party under Enver Hoxha was based in Southern Albania, and after June 1941 small independent detachments began to ambush Italian patrols. In Spring 1942 mobile battalions and local village militias were formed, and in April 1943 a British Military Mission to the Albanian Resistance arrived, favoring especially the Partisans. In May Operational Zones and a General Staff were
established, and by July the twenty battalions and thirty detachments, totalling 10,000 men, were christened the National Liberation Army under General (Gjeneral-Kolonel) Enver Hoxha. Hoxha tried to unite all Albanian guerillas in a “National Freedom Movement” through the Mukaj Pact, but this strategy soon collapsed when it was recognized as a ploy to extend communist influence to Northern Albania. In August 1943 the 1st Shock Brigade, organized on the Yugoslav pattern with five battalions and an artillery battery, was formed.

Other Albanian forces were less well organized. In the North local clans continued their traditional Balkan guerilla warfare. In Central Albania around Kruje the redoubtable Abas Kupi, who had returned from
Yugoslavia in April 1941, attempted to reestablish guerilla operations notwithstanding the unreliability of his men and the loss of the Yugoslav sanctuary after the German occupation of Yugoslavia. In the South
conservative anti-communist, anti-royalist politicians set up “Balli Kombetar” (named after its founder) in late 1942. A few weak “battalions” were formed, but fear of Italian reprisals against civilians made them reluctant to fight aggressively.

The Italian Armistice of September 1943 was the turning-point of the War in Albania. Some Italian troops fled to Yugoslavia, whereas the entire “Firenze” Division joined the Partisans, supplying 1st Shock Brigade
with the “Antonio Gramsci Battalion” (later “Brigade”), some 1,500 men strong. The Germans rushed 21st Mountain Corps ( 100th Jäger and 297th Infantry Divisions) to Albania, but otherwise were content to leave the running of the country to an Albanian “National Committee”. This Committee promptly severed all ties with Italy, and attempted to extricate itself from its inevitable association with the Germans by unilaterally declaring Albania a neutral country, citing the equivalent position of Egypt, which was
recognized as neutral in spite of Allied occupation. In spite of such legalisms, however, the war continued. By early 1944 Albanian collaborationist forces included the 1st and 4th Rifle Regiments, four Fascist Militia battalions, and the Gendarmerie, formed in Spring 1943 under General Prenk Previsi. In April 1944 in Kosovo 6,500 Albanians were formed into the SS-Mountain-Division “Skanderbeg”, but it performed poorly against the Partisans before final disbandment in October.

Following the collapse of the Mukaj Pact in late 1943 relations between the guerilla factions degenerated into armed conflict. Abas Kupi returned to Kruje and in December formed the Royalist, mainly Moslem, “Legaliteti” movement {often called the “Zogists”), and continued his sporadic raiding. Balli Kombetar, however, preferred German rule to Italian and, believing that only the Germans would allow Kosovo to remain Albanian after the war, began to collaborate. By early 1944 twenty of their battalions were fighting the Partisans alongside German units.

In December 1943 the Germans attacked Partisan areas in Southern Albania, but Hoxha's forces, now 35,000 men in the 1st - 6th Brigades, withdrew into the mountains. In February 1944 they reemerged, reoccupied the South and began advancing northwards. In May the 1st Shock Division (1st, 2nd, 5th Brigades) was formed, as was the “Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council”, a provisional government dominated by communists. Almost immediately German and .Balli Kombetar troops resumed the offensive in the South, driving the Partisans, including the new 7th - 12th Brigades, into Central Albania. There they fought more German units, including the “Skanderbeg” Division. In July they annihilated the poorly-equipped Legaliteti forces, although Abas Kupi did escape to Italy. Then the 1st Division, supported by Yugoslav Partisans, attacked Gendarmerie units in Western Macedonia, forcing Previsi to seek sanctuary with the British Mission.

In August 1944 the 2d Shock Division was formed, and combined with the 1st in the 1st Army Corps. Hoxha now had 70,000 men in Brigades 1 - 22 (23 and 24 were formed later) and territorial battalions. But Tirana remained in enemy hands, and so in October he sent 1st Division (1st, 4th, 23rd Brigades), and the 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 10th Brigades, to take the city, a task accomplished after three weeks of heavy
fighting. Meanwhile British troops were supporting the Partisans along the coast, and Balli Kombetar was disintegrating as the Germans evacuated Albania. By December they had all gone. During 1945 :f'our more divisions (3rd - 6th) were formed from existing brigades, and the 5th and 6th D'ivisions (seven brigades) were supporting Yugoslav Partisans in Kosovo.

(By: H.L. deZeng and Nigel Thomas, c. 1989)

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#15

Post by GLADIVM » 30 Nov 2004, 03:59

Thanks Larry ,

as general overview is good enough , will try do dig out details later by myself .

Yours

GLADIVM

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