German invasion of Albania

German invasion of Albania
Part of World War II in Albania
Date 9th of September - 11th of September 1943 Location Albania Result Creation of a collaborationist government Anti-German resistance began German occupation of Albania until the 29th of November 1944
Belligerents
Nazi Germany Wehrmacht	LANÇ
Commanders and leaders
Maximilian von Weichs Hubert Lanz	Enver Hoxha Mehmet Shehu Myslim Peza
Units involved
118th Jäger Division 100th Jäger Division 92nd Motorized Regiment 297th Infantry Division	6th Assault Brigade Volunteer squads
Strength
36,000	unknown
Casualties and losses
unknown	unknown

Nazi Germany invaded Albania on the 9th of September 1943 with the forces of the 2nd Armored Division, in the circumstances of the collapse of Italy. German military convoys invaded Albania from Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. On the 10th of September, at 9AM in Tirana arrived the special plenipotentiary for the Southeast of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Neubacher, along with special agent for Albania Fon Schjager. From German reports it is understood that German authorities had begun talks with trusted Albanians prior to the invasion.

The invasion

At 4AM, on September 9, units of the German army assigned to Army Group F under Field Marshal Baron Maximillian von Weichs invaded Albania, carrying out a plan that had been made only three days earlier. Three divisions of the 21st Corps under General Hubert Lanz overran Albania, encountering resistance only from the nine Italian divisions stationed in Albania or from the various resistance groups.

The 118th Jäger Division, the only unit to encounter resistance on 9 September, moved southwest from Niksic. The 100th Jäger Division occupied Elbasan and Struga, while its 92d Motorized Regiment took the territory between Tepelena and Vlora. The 297th Infantry Division reached Prishtina and Prizren, according to plan. On the next day the Germans took Pogradec, Tirana, Durrës, and Kukës. On 11 September the 118th reached the coast while a part of the 297th crossed the Drin River.

At the time of the German invasion these were the Italian troop formations stationed in Albania:

1. The Military Headquarters of the Shkodër-Kosovo Sector, commanded by General D'Arle with the "Puglia" Division;
2. IV Army Corps, commanded by General Spatocco with the "Parma", "Perugia" and "Brennero" divisions;
3. XXV Army Corps, commanded by General Mondino with the divisions of "Arezzo" and "Firenze";
4. The defense area of Tirana, composed of units of motorized groups and personnel from IV Army Corps.

During the night between September 8 and 9, 1943, the commands of the above units requested instructions from their general command, on how to act in the newly created circumstances. At 9 o'clock in the morning on September 9, German troops surrounded Struga and ordered the Italian garrison to surrender, while the military convoy continued towards Elbasan. The General Staff of the Royal Italian Army, only in the afternoon of September 9, issued an order, in which the largest formations were ordered to gather in localities and the movements would have to be done very quickly.

Lower commands were instructed to follow higher-ranking commands. While the Italians were in complete chaos of command and control, a small convoy of the German army reached the outskirts of Tirana. The Italian command in Tirana held a number of meetings and interviews, first with General von Bessel, who had been in Tirana for several days, and later with General Rendulic, who came to Tirana from Belgrade. It is not known exactly what kind of talks took place, but it is clear that the headquarters of the Royal Italian Army in Albania was in a situation of uncertainty from the beginning, while the military units themselves were undecided to carry out the order for resistance issued through his proclamation by General Badoglio.

On September 10, 1943, German troops began to commit acts of violence against Italian troops. They forcibly disarmed the Italian officers and soldiers in the streets of Tirana, seized military machines, forcibly occupied various warehouses and garrisons of the Royal Army. All this happened while the General Staff of the Army had not yet issued an order as to what position the Italian troops should take. The only instruction given to the Italian troops was the verbal order to "have faith in their superiors, maintain calm and not provoke disturbances through of premature acts", which meant nothing, but increased even more confusion, chaos and would lead the Italian army in Albania to the tragic fate it suffered.

On September 10, 1943, General Rossi, commanding the Eastern Army Group, ordered his troops to surrender their weapons and equipment to the Germans, while Wehrmacht representatives announced that if the surrender and disarmament of the troops Italian in Albania was not completed by September 24, the Germans would kill the entire Italian General Staff. A group of German troops rushed into the Italian General Staff and, after driving the Italian military personnel out of the offices, destroyed it. At the same time and without any reaction from the Italian troops, the Germans continued to occupy strategic points, barracks, offices and warehouses, driving out the Italian troops. The morale of the Italian troops after these events and after the absence of any orders from the superiors of the army, was reduced to the lowest levels within the span of three days. To add to the confusion, word spread that all Italian troops were to be herded into transit camps, to be ready for repatriation as soon as possible. The behavior of the German troops has been the same throughout the country and in accordance with the plans prepared by the German High Command. A large number of Italian officers were killed in cold blood by the Germans. The Italian soldiers, left without command and without orders, generally followed three solutions for their further fate in Albania already occupied by German troops: the first group, which made up the bulk of the Italian soldiers, surrendered and succumbed to fate ; the second group fled to the mountains and joined the partisans, the third group that was accepted by many Italians, especially those of the militia and the air force, restored its fate with Fascism and collaborated with the Germans against their Italian brothers.