By Prof. Dr. Kasem Biçoku
Part two
-The documents donated by the former German military advisor, Colonel Wolfman Hoffmann, do not prove the departure of “the last German soldier from Albania on November 29, 1944”-
Memorie.al / The ceremony organized in February 2002 by the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Albania for the handover of photocopies of two documents regarding the date of Albania’s liberation, which Colonel Wolfman Hoffmann, former German military advisor to that ministry, together with a letter in Albanian signed by him, handed over to Major-General Pëllumb Qazimi, was an action outside the legal framework applied in our country for historical documents. Such documents are deposited in our state archives, primarily in the Central State Archive. The subsequent stances of the representatives of the Ministry of Defense have been not only political but also outside the ethics of communication with the media and researchers.
Continued from the previous issue
Only one of the two documents donated by Colonel V. Hoffmann has been taken from the Archive. It has the title; “Excerpt from the war diary of the Supreme Command of the Southeast in Zagreb (Agram), with document no. 3, page 673, of November 30, 1944. On the situation on the Adriatic Front” (Auszug aus dem Kriegstagebuch des Oberbefehlshaber Südost in Agram. I a – KTB nr. 3. Seite 673. Vom 30. November 1944. Zur Lage and der “Adria-Front”).
The document itself is a kind of printed form, divided into two columns, respectively titled: “Date, time, place, and type of quarters” (Tag, Uhrzeit, Ort und Art Unterkunft) and “Presentation of events (The most important: Assessment of the situation [enemy and own resources]. Entry and exit times of reports and orders)” (D a r s t e l l u n g d e r E r e i g n i s s e (Dabei wichtig: Beurteilung der Lage [Feind und eigene]. Eingangs und Abgangszeiten von Meldungen und Befehlen)) (photo 4, see previous issue).
Under the title of the first column, which takes about ¼ of the page, it is typed: “30.11.1944, Direction is Zagreb” (30.11.1944 Führungsabteilung Agram). While under the title of the second column, also typed, it is written: “On the situation: Army Group E” (Zur Lage: H. Gr. E).
After this, in a very concise manner, the main events are given, first those of the “Eastern Front”, then those of the “Adriatic Front” and the “Aegean”. It is clear from them that the most important events of all three days, November 28, 29, and 30, are included, distinguishing them from one another. Here is the text for the last two fronts:
“Adria-Front:
Skutari geräumt. Öffnung der neuen Marschstrasse XXI. AK. nach Matesevo schreitet gegen zähen Feind nur langsam vorwärts. Bei andauernden Kämpfen im Raum Lise auflebende Gefechts-Tätigkeit an HKL S und SW Mostar.
XCI. AK. z.b.V. hat bei flüssigen Marschbewegungen Nacht 29./30.11. Novi Pazar geräumt Feind folgt zögernd. Gren. Rgt. 47 am 30.11. früh aus Prijepolje zur Öffnung Strasse nach Brodarevo-Bijelopolje angetreten.
Ägäis:
Am 28.11. Feindanlandung im N-Teil auf Insel Piskopi, alle Angriffe in Livadia-Bucht abgewiesen, Feindverband gab Kampf auf und zog sich in Richtung Simi zurück”.
Albanian translation provided in the original, then English:
English translation:
Adriatic Front:
Shkodra was evacuated. The opening of the new marching route for the XXI Army Corps to Matesevo, due to strong enemy resistance, is only progressing slowly. Meanwhile, fighting continues uninterrupted in the Lise area and combat activity revives on the HKL [Main Battle Line] south and Southwest of Mostar.
Followed hesitantly by the enemy, the XCI Army Corps, with special duties, evacuated Novi Pazar with uninterrupted marching on the night of November 29-30. The 47th Grenadier Regiment, on the morning of November 30, set out from Prijepolje to open the road to Brodarevo-Bijelo Polje.
Aegean:
On 28.11., enemy forces landed on the northern part of the island of Piskopi, and all their attacks in Livadia Bay were repulsed. The enemy grouping gave up the fight and withdrew in the direction of Simi.”
(Note: The Ministry of Defense’s translation provided in the original Albanian is slightly different; this is a direct translation from the German.)
This document was drafted in accordance with the framework of a form and has predetermined requirements. Among them is the mandatory notation of the date to indicate the time of combat actions on the ground. Therefore, its date of November 30 indicates the development of events and not the date the document was drafted. The important events of previous days are noted according to their respective dates, November 28 and 29.
Its drafting in Zagreb was undoubtedly done some time after the events mentioned in it, because information from distant regions, such as Albania, to reach Zagreb and then be processed, summarized, and entered into forms like the document in question, took time and could not be done immediately.
Therefore, they also have chronological inaccuracies, because information reached the higher commands with delay, and various episodes were included in summarized form, where unimportant ones, such as the quiet withdrawal of the German army’s rearguard from Shkodra, were included in the dates of important combat episodes.
The other document has more detailed data; therefore it has rightly been taken as more important by Colonel V. Hoffmann, who has marked with an arrow its part about Albania (photo 5). He obtained this document from the volume “Secret Diary of the Wehrmacht Command in World War II, 1939-1945, Volume 11, 01.09 – 31.12.1944” (Die Geheimen Tagesberichte der Deutschen Wehrmachtsführung im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945, Band 11, 01.09 – 31.12.1944, Osnabrück, 1984), published by Kurt Mehner in Osnabrück, Germany.
The title of the document is: “Daily Reports of November 30, 1944” (Tagesmeldungen vom 30. November 1944). The document is drafted in a much summarized diary form by the Wehrmacht Command in Berlin, based on information received from subordinate military commands operating on various fronts of the war.
Consequently, it was drafted long after November 30, 1944, and reflects the main events of that date, as well as, like the previous document, those of November 28 and 29, which are clearly distinguished in the facsimile of the document. Therefore, we are not providing the transcribed and translated parts. Here is the German text of the part of the document concerning Albania and the nearby region:
“LXXXXI A. K. z.b.V.: Novipazar ohne wesentlichen Feinddruck geräumt. Auf Plevlja angesetzte Rgt.-Gruppe 22. I. D. gegenüber zähem Widerstand Jabuka-Pass genommen.
Adria-Front: XXI. Geb. A. K.: Skutari geräumt. Nachhuten im Absetzen in Aufnahmestellung an Nordostausläufen Skutari-See. Wiederholt gegen Westteil Brückenkopf Bioce geführte Bandenangriffe abgewiesen. Zum Angriff aus Brückenkopf angetretene Rgt.-Gruppe gegen Widerstand nach Überwindung grösserer Geländeschwierigkeiten Raum um Klopot (8 km. nordnordostwärts Bioce) gewonnen”.
English translation:
“LXXXXI Army Corps, for special employment: Novi Pazar evacuated without significant enemy pressure. The regimental group of the 22nd Infantry Division, intended for Plevlja, took the Jabuka Pass against strong resistance.
Adriatic Front: XXI Mountain Army Corps: Shkodra evacuated. Rear guards, in the process of disengagement, take up positions on the northeastern outskirts of Lake Shkodra. Repeated bandit attacks carried out against the western part of the Bioce bridgehead were repulsed. The regimental group that launched the attack from the bridgehead, overcoming considerable terrain difficulties and resistance, gained the area around Klopot (8 km north-northeast of Bioce).”
(Note: The Ministry of Defense’s translation given in the original is slightly different; this is a direct translation.)
This document of the German Army Command, drafted in Berlin, as its title also indicates, speaks about the events of November 30 and, as its facsimile shows, separates the important events of November 28 and 29. That the document recounts events of November 30 is also evidenced by the mention in it of the German withdrawal from Novi Pazar.
According to the book “Chronology of the Liberation War of the Peoples of Yugoslavia” (Hronologija Oslobodilačke Borbe Naroda Jugoslavije 1941-1945), published by the Military Institute of Belgrade in 1964, Novi Pazar was liberated on November 30 (p. 1020, photo 6).
Therefore, the statements of the former German military advisor, Colonel V. Hoffmann, that: “The XXI Alpine Corps… on 29.11.1944 left the last major city of Albania, Shkodra. Therefore this date can be called the end of the occupation of Albania,” are erroneous.
These statements of Colonel V. Hoffmann can be explained by the mistaken localization that, with the “help” of Ministry of Defense employees, he must have made of the Klopot region (which is located northeast of Podgorica), confusing it with Koplik. Therefore, he wrote “the last major city of Albania, Shkodra,” implying that Koplik was a small settlement and consequently unimportant for marking and commemorating the date of its liberation.
Also, a shadow of doubt can be cast on the accuracy of the Albanian translation of Colonel V. Hoffmann’s letter and interview, given the inaccuracy, as shown above, of the Albanian translation that the Ministry of Defense made of the two documents donated by him.
In conclusion of this writing, we emphasize that, contrary to its status as a depoliticized institution, the Ministry of Defense in this case entered the game of those who, for political purposes, manipulate documents to distort historical truth.
The conclusion that “Shkodra was liberated on November 28, 1944,” given by the Special Commission established in 1993 by order of the President of Albania, Mr. Sali Berisha, has not been contested by any scientific institution or commission of researchers.
So far, only specific individuals have come out against it, who a priori has politically opposed the Special Commission’s conclusion on the date of Albania’s liberation, not scientifically, on the basis of comprehensive data from historical sources and examination of their content.
For the historical truth that Albania was liberated on November 28, 1944, I am also providing another source-related datum that pertains to the Ministry of Defense itself and which I did not present in the book; “28 November 1944, The Day of the Liberation of Albania”. This datum is the ‘Liberation Medal’.
In a government decision regarding the ‘Liberation Medal’, it is noted that: The ‘Liberation Medal’ was deserved by those persons who were in the ranks of partisan formations until November 28, 1944. In implementation of this decision, the Ministry of War and National Defense, on November 23, 1945, issued the relevant circular (about its existence I was kindly informed by Mr. Albert Kotini, who also donated a photocopy of this document to me), where it is written: “The Liberation Medal is received by: a) All those who until November 28, 1944 [emphasis by K.B.] were under arms in operating units, in rear units, or in military commands and institutions. b) All those who have been in operating units of the rear, or in military commands and institutions, but who before November 28 left the army by order of a superior (transfer to the reserve, to the government, or demobilization ordered by the General Command)” (photo 7).
While the certificate of the ‘Liberation Medal’, issued by the Presidium of the People’s Assembly and received by many veterans, has this motivation: “He participated in the ranks of the Albanian National Liberation Army and, with weapon in hand, fought against the occupier and traitors until the complete liberation of the Homeland [emphasis by K.B.] and of the Albanian People” (photo 8).
Thus, even in the documents of the Ministry of Defense itself, which in February 2002 came to the forefront of the deceptions about the date of our country’s liberation, November 28, 1944, is called the date of Albania’s liberation. Memorie.al
