Underweight and ‘ferret-faced’

“The Wildest Province” of Europe. Yes, it is Albania, or at least that’s how it was described in the 18th century by the foremost of the Brits to have ever graced that ‘province’. Apparently, the name stuck since the Brits operating there during WWII didn’t think much better of it. And that’s how Roderick Bailey, the author of a book on the deeds of those literal rabble rousers, decided to title his rather meticulous historical research on the British Special Operations Executive in Albania.

Albania, ‘hosting’ two German divisions, had caught the Britt’s attention, but nowhere near to the scale Yugoslavia had with its 22 German divisions, or Greece …because of its marbles I guess. So much more important was Yugoslavia and Greece, which actually wanted a piece of Albania, that the British never did commit to preserving Albania’s borders when asked to do so verbally or in writing.

So, they send in these chaps and in the process turn Albania over to Enver Hoxha. Their mission was: “Go in! See who fights the Hun, and help them”. And help they did:

By 1945, according to SOE records, the British had sent 7000 rifles, 5000 submachine guns, and 1800 light machine guns, together with 16.5 million rounds of ammunition, 240 mortars with 25,000 bombs, and 25,000 grenades, plus a few PIATs and pistols and 60 medium machine guns. Also there was a good deal of kit, ranging from 28,000 sets of battledress and 57,000 pairs of boots. On top of it the Partizans were the recipients of 33,000 gold sovereigns and hundreds of tons of food.

It is unclear to what extent the Brits can be credited with Enver Hoxha’s faction emerging victorious in the civil war with Nationalists. Most of this aid was delivered to the partizans during the summer and autumn of 1944. Clearly it was more than sufficient to arm the 20,000+ partizans, and a lot of it was used by the Partizan First Division to fight the nationalists.

However, the British can certainly be credited with the nationalist faction losing the civil war. The SOE never bothered to listen to the concerns of the nationalists. Indeed, reports from personnel embedded with them were often delayed and dismissed outright by the top British brass in Bari and London.

The British never gave it a second thought to the fact that Kosovo would go back to Yugoslavia. German justice was no justice at all. The famed historian Arnold Toynbee disagreed. Working for the Foreign Research and Press service he would write in 1943 that “the 1941 border created by the Germans did approximate justice from the ethnic point of view”. Even Albania’s borders would have been in jeopardy had there been no Albanian faction fighting the Germans.

The sad saga of the Albanian nationalists ended ignominiously. Abas Kupi, the only man found capable of mounting some resistance to the Italian occupation force when it landed in Durres, and causing some 400 Italian casualties, was found alone and adrift in open sea. Gani Kryeziu, the finest of all Albanian nationalists, courageously fought the Germans in his Gjakova district calling on Albanians to fight the Germans or risk Kosovo going back to Yugoslavia. He too was left without support, and died in Tito’s prisons.

In short, Albanians were not worth thinking of beyond the framework of short term Great Power interests. This understanding should be crucial to modern Albanians. With the farce of Kosovo’s independence, and the unquestioned Great Power support for the corrupt Tirana elite (as long as it maintains ’stability’), it becomes clear that Great Power interest has been roused, but their thinking has not changed.  Size should be the single most important factor in changing their thinking. Whether its the size of the economy, or the land and the people that generate it, it is clear that Albanians are seen as underweight, and ‘ferret faced’.

One can do nothing about the face, but for sure something can be done about one’s weight.