Faleminderit Zaim. Yes indeed. This was, in my opinion, a very controversial chapter in British military history.
I have looked at it from different angles and can understand why things happened as they did from a British strategic point of view, but also when I look at it from an Albanian viewpoint there was much to feel disappointed (to say the least!) about how the British government behaved.
Also if one looks from the standpoint of the individual British SOE chaps who deployed - they were incredibly brave, and I can understand that some felt extremely frustrated once there, and yet others forged life-long links and affection to Albania. It really was a complex situation.
Even today, from Albanians and Brits I hear the same views expressed, but one really needs to look from all angles to even begin to make sense of it all. I hear too many Brits stating a view purely from a Brit strategic standpoint, and Albanians from a more local viewpoint. I fully understand why, but neither is sufficient to make sense of it.
Just over a year ago I wrote an article about the Brits in Albania in WW2 which was published in some Albanian newspapers around the world. It wasn't a scholarly piece though as it was written also as a chapter for a book I hope one day to publish - a broad collection of essays about my various thoughts and reminiscences of Albania.
I will post more pics - I need to dig out the originals first so that I can add the captions, which I think will be more interesting.