Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes unknown documents extracted from the Central State Archive in Tirana with the relevant facsimiles which reflect the activity of Anglo-American aviation in Albania in the years 1943-1944, which for almost 45 years the communist regime kept top secret and never opened their files. In the archive files of the fund “The activity of the Anglo-American allies in Albania” for a period of 14 months, there are 40 crashed planes and more than 193 paratroopers killed or captured by the Germans …
The distortion, falsification and manipulation of official historiography by the communist regime of Enver Hoxha that lasted for almost half a century, unfortunately continue in the same way even after the ’90s …?! This is clearly seen in the official texts of the history of Albania, Memorie.al is publishing some of these documents of the fund “The activity of the Anglo-American allies in Albania”, where it turns out that in a period of 14 months (September 1943-November 1944) , in Albania, about 40 allied planes were shot down, where more than 193 Anglo-American paratroopers were killed, disappeared without a trace, or captured by the Albanian gendarmerie forces and the Germans.Memorie.al has all these documents in full together with the relevant photos and based on the fact that for these historical events, there have always been and continue to be various reactions and controversies (from journalists, scholars, historians, politicians, etc.) to be as accurate as possible in these things, we are publishing some of these documents as they were written 75 years ago.
The towns and villages where the 40 allied planes crashed
As we said a little above, in the archival documents of the fund “The activity of the Anglo-American allies in Albania in the years 1941-1944”, which we were able to research, it turns out that only in the years 1943-1944 in Albania have fallen about 40 Anglo-American aircraft. And specifically: in Kamic and Pjet Roshan, Tuzi, Mali i Bardhë i Ulqin and its surroundings in Montenegro, Suhadoll, Delimex, Gilmanic, Germicë, Suhareka, Gradec, Peja, Prizren and Prishtina of Kosovo, Vermosh, Bajza, Velipoja , Hot, and Grudë of Shkodra, Iball of Puka, Fan, Shebe and Perlat of Mirdita, Shënkoll and Lezhë, Dibër, Luz i Fushë-Krujë, Shijak and Karpen of Kavaja. Of these, in this article we are publishing only a part of the documents where it is about the crashed planes in Montenegro, Kosovo and Mirdita.
28.VII.1944, 15 USA paratroopers captured in Shebe and Fan of Mirdita
Albanian state.
The weapon of the Albanian Brotherhood.
District Command.
Nr. 1396/2 Prot.
Shkodra on July 31, 1944
Abbreviation: On the burning of an airplane and the landing of 10 crew members.
Command of P. Brotherhood
(Office I) Tirana.
We submit that on the 28th of this month at 11.30 in a place called Guri i Zi in the village of Shebe, Perlati commune, N / prefecture of Mirdita, an American four-engine plane crashed and its crew of 10 people was completely burned. All American citizens have descended by parachute, four of whom fell in the village of Shebe and 6 in the village of Perlat, at this moment they are visible from the Mirdita Brotherhood Force under the command of Captain Ndue Bajraktari, who immediately with the measures taken he arrested whom he found 4 in the house of Mark Doçi in the village of Shebe and 6 others in the house of Frrok Gjeta in the village of Perlat, of whom 9 I accompanied to the Command, and 1 of them were injured and he was not able to travel, he secured it and left it at Mark Doçi’s house in Shebe village. The plane is said to have been bombed in Romania and after it had landed, on its way back it was destroyed or wounded by German anti-aircraft gunships and thus could not travel longer, it was burnt in the place shown above. Also, in their body is not found any private item on top or ammunition only the clothes they have.
The crew members are:
- Lt. Havoc B. Million. Matrix 0-755484.
- Earl A.Sehrot Zberger-36858330.
- Ross Yl. Lemanson-0718351.
- Shomas L. Harrie-07702042.
- Edward L. Vanslike-37494449.
- Sgt. Fohu Neupane-32606685.
- Elandel.Postit-o-705415.
- Bensand Usinbengen-13121283.
- Ceyrue D. Reed-19060885.
- S / Set. Albert Eraddock — injured.
They also wrote a piece of paper (compass) written in different languages that was found on them, together with the mentioned ones, they were handed over to Kom. Germany.
Prefecture Police Commissioner.
The District Commander of the Gendarmerie is informed.
MAJOR
Llesh Marashi
(AQSH. Fund 346. Year 1944 File. 65. Fl.194)
- In another archival document dated 30.III.1944, where the deputy prefect of Mirdita, SD, in an information he sends to the Prefecture of Shkodra, it is written: “Regarding the order No.6 / 3 dated 11 / III / 1944, we have the honor to submit to you that, on the 23rd of km at 11.30 in the area of the village Thirrë of Fan Commune, an English plane crashed: its crew consisted of five soldiers with the following ranks: 1. Lieutenant, 1. Captain, 2 The sergeants and a soldier, who took advantage of the parachutes, fell to the ground and all are safe. The above personnel, after being investigated, were handed over to the German Military Command here.
(AQSH. Fund 346. Year 1944. File.65 Fl. 30)
30 American paratroopers killed and taken prisoner in the municipality of Ulcinj
- In the large number of many archival documents contained in the fund “Activity of Anglo-American allies in Albania in the years 1940-1944”, which are located in the Central State Archive in Tirana, there are also three documents signed by the Commander of the District Brotherhood of Shkodra, Major Llesh Marashi, which talks about three crashed planes in the Municipality of Ulcinj. In the document dated January 25, 1944, Major Llesh Marashi, in the telegram he sends to the Ministry of Interior in Tirana, writes: about 10 of them are captured by the German Army.
(AQSH. Fund 346. Year 1944. File 93. Fl.1)
- In the second document dated 11 April 1944, in the information sent to the General Command of the Gendarmerie in Tirana, Major Llesh Marashi writes: “The district of Ulcinj informs us that on 30/3/1944 it fell in Porto-Milan an English plane, the crew of 10 people was taken by the German army there point “.
(AQSH. Fund 346. Year 1944. File 65. Fl.45)
- While in the third document dated 31 August 1944, in the information sent to the General Command of the Gendarmerie in Tirana, Major Llesh Marashi, writes: “On 25.8.1944, at 15 o’clock in the place called Mali i Bardhë, near Kenret, the district of Ulcinj, an American plane crashed and as it fell to the ground, it burned completely. The crew spat and fell with parachutes which were 11 people including one Officer. “10 of the crew were captured by the Germans and 1 is at sea.”
(AQSH. Fund 346. Year 1944. File 65. Fl.206)
24.VIII.1944, 19 parachutists dropped in Prizren and Rahovec
- The other archival document which bears the date 24.VIII.1944, in a notification for the Ministry of Interior (Political Office) in Tirana, the Prefect of Prizren, Shaqir Curri, writes: “I submit to you that on the 17th of the continuation in the region of the Municipality of Serbica e Epërme near the village of Glanicë, a four-engine English plane landed. His 9-member crew, as soon as they landed, set the plane on fire. All the people who came down were handed over by the German military authorities. Also, in the district of Rahovec, another plane crashed, whose crew of 10 people landed by parachute in the district of Suhareka. They were arrested by the local District Command and handed over to the German military authorities. Only one damaged machine gun was found on this plane. “Four others that were released in the area of the Municipality of Banja are in the warehouse of the next District, but they also broke down”.
(AQSH. Fund 152. Year 1944. File 866. Fl.9)
15.VII.1944, 15 USA paratroopers captured in Tuz and Podgorica
- Archival document dated 19 July 1944, where the Commander of the Shkodra Gendarmerie District, Major Llesh Marashi, in an information he sends to the General Gendarmerie Command in Tirana, writes: “About the Tuzi Command informs us that on the 15th this month at 13 o’clock there are 9 American paratroopers who have ramuno two in the village of Pjet Roshan and one in the village of Gradic and six in the village of Kamic in the region Around Tuzi, the staff of the Bajza Post in cooperation with the Germans on that day they were able to arrest all the mentioned parachutists who were taken by the Germans with all the war material they had with them, and that the burned plane had a ram in the village of Dedaj in Shkreli ”.
(AQSH. Fund 346. Year 1944. File 65. Fl.178)
- Archival document which was also issued from the fund “The activity of the Anglo-American allies in Albania in the years 1940-1944”, dated 26.V / 1944, where the Commander of the Shkodra Brotherhood District, Kol Marka Prenga and the Prefect of Shkodra , Ded Thani, in the information sent to the Correspondence Directorate at the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tirana, reads: “Tuz on 20 / V / 1944. Abbreviation: over 6 American paratroopers. On the 18th of k.m. An American plane had to land, because the plane had two engines broken down, in the direction of the villages of Triceps and Grudë, 6 people parachuted down from the crew, and the plane landed in the Podgorica airfield. All six paratroopers were captured and handed over to the Podgorica Field Brigade, who insisted on handing them over; Whose names are below;
- Lio Smeth Nr. 14064595 T.4230 JOHN
- SMITH BOX 275 DUNDEE FLA.P.
- CLARENCE DAVIDS 0-688985 T.43430
- KATHLEEN DAVIDS 3208 CANCHER AVE DETROIT MICH C.
- S / SGT.JOSE ALDAPE 38414971
- T / SGT. JOSEPH WALËORTH 0-812335-T-43
- P.MRS.GRAY ËALËORTH 104 QTHAVE-Ë-ASHLAND-ËIS
- T / SGT.R. I WILLS-39281023-MRS.R.S. WILLS. 403-SO PACIFIC-CALIF”.
(AQSH. Fund 152. Year 1944. File 374. Fl.195)
27.VII. 1944, 3 planes with 30 USA soldiers are shot down in Peja and Prishtina
- The other document dated 19.8.1944, in an information sent to the Political Office of the Ministry of Interior in Tirana by the Deputy Prefect of Prishtina, Reshit Mehmeti, reads, among other things: “For information, we have the honor to inform you that, with 10/8/944 at 12.30, from an allied plane which had caught fire, 10 American pre-cadets were thrown and caught on Mount Germiq in Prishtina. “They were taken over by the Germans.”
(AQSH. Fund 152. Year 1944. File 866. Fl.7)
- Also in another archival document which bears the date 22.VIII.1944, where the Prefect of Peja, Xhelal Preveza, in the information he sends to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tirana, among other things is written: We have the honor to inform you that with the date On July 27, 1944, in the region of the Municipality of Suhadoll, an American plane crashed together with its staff of ten people, who were handed over to the German Command of Senica. Also, on 10.8.944, another plane crashed in Delimex, whose crew was burned “.
(AQSH. Fund 152. Year 1944. File 866. Fl.8)
Description in the book “Anglo-American Danger for Albania
Enver Hoxha: Uninvited allied military missions
All the activity of the Anglo-American allied missions in Albania during the years of the Second World War (1941-1944), not only was denied by Enver Hoxha and the official historiography of the communist regime, (since 1947 when they forced the allied representatives of left our country), but in his later memoirs, and mainly in the book “The Anglo-American Danger to Albania” (published in 1982) the communist dictator of Albania, denigrates their entire role and contribution. Regarding this, in the book in question, among others, Enver writes:
AN INVITED MILITARY MISSION
The first military mission in Albania, Maklini. Partisan areas do not have two gates. Empty promises. The “walks” of English officers – in search of “friends”. McLean’s urgent request for a meeting – “a general will come at the head of the mission”. “What is your center, Major?” “Measures to paralyze the devilish plans of the British Ministry of War.” These are just some of the titles of a chapter of Enver Hoxha written in his book, which clearly shows his ignorance of the Anglo-American allied missions. Regarding this fact, further in the same book, he writes: “At the end of 1943, the Regional Committee of the Party for Gjirokastra informed me that a group of English soldiers, led by a group, had entered our liberated areas from the Greek border. lighthouse, Bill Macklin, major, armed with weapons and radio, claiming to be an official military mission sent to Albanian partisans by the Cairo-based Mediterranean Allied Forces Headquarters. I instructed the comrades of the Gjirokastra Regional Party that the English who came from Greece should be blocked in Zagori and asked in detail, what their names were (proving their identity with official documents), where they came from, who was leading them, what were the tasks of the truth they had etc … And so, did the friends. The group of British soldiers, blocked by partisans in an area of Gjirokastra, after seeing that the country had a god, was forced to address on May 1, 1943 to the highest authority of the National Liberation War in Albania, a letter signed by Bill McLean, in which he said that he had been sent by the Cairo Headquarters in the capacity of senior liaison officer to establish links with the resistance movement in Albania, wrote: “I have a great desire to meet with your Council as soon as possible. possible and receive information to transmit to Cairo, from where supplies will be sent to you. I will discuss important issues. My wish is to enter the center of Albania “. “Apparently, the Cairo-based SOE had found the mask to enter Albania.”
(Enver Hoxha, “Anglo-American threat to Albania”, pp. 29,30,31,32,33. Tirana 1982)
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