Marku Vickers Posted February 9, 2020 Posted February 9, 2020 Here are a few of my old (original) photos from the SOE ops time in Albania. I had the pleasure to be invited to the house of David Smiley in London some years ago when I was the British Defence Attache in Albania. I returned to him a lot of his old photos which I had found. Sadly David died not long afterwards. I believe his family donated his extensive collection of photos to one of the museums in London. Anyhow, here are a few of the photos I still have from this controversial chapter of military history.
Bayern Posted February 9, 2020 Posted February 9, 2020 A mostly unknown war theater , thanks for share . interesting the officer seated with Royal Army uniform , first sight looks Italian but later you recognize the Albanian Shoulder Boards
Marku Vickers Posted February 9, 2020 Author Posted February 9, 2020 I have quite a few photos, many with captions. If there is interest I can load more and add the explanations.
BalkanCollector Posted February 9, 2020 Posted February 9, 2020 Please share more of the photos with us, these are amazing!
922F Posted February 9, 2020 Posted February 9, 2020 Thank you for posting these.....and please add more as time permits! The uniformed Albanian officer appears to wear a Zog type hat badge as well as shoulder boards.
Bayern Posted February 10, 2020 Posted February 10, 2020 Yes ,more pics please and regarding the officer i said the same as 922f
giorgos_p Posted February 10, 2020 Posted February 10, 2020 Thanks for the photos! A very interesting chapter of WW2 history, indeed. I would also like to see more photos. Are there any close-up ones of the para qualification wings? Regards, Giorgos
Zaim Qyteza Posted February 11, 2020 Posted February 11, 2020 (edited) Dear all, The Albanian officer on the second photo, is general Prenk Pervizi at that time commandant of the Albanian Army. Albania at that moment was theoretically "neutral state" with an own government and army. General Pervizi receive the rank of general during the Italian period, in 1940. Incognito hi was in contact with the British missions to find an personal solution for the post war period. After the war hi was sentenced to death by the communist government, but he escape first in the mountains and after that on Italy. During the German period, the Albanian army return to the king Zog period uniforms. Regards, Zaim Edited February 11, 2020 by Zaim Qyteza
Bayern Posted February 12, 2020 Posted February 12, 2020 Thanks Zaim ! I read once that in October of 1940 a Albanian regiment named Tomor fight against Greece .
Marku Vickers Posted February 12, 2020 Author Posted February 12, 2020 22 hours ago, Zaim Qyteza said: Dear all, The Albanian officer on the second photo, is general Prenk Pervizi at that time commandant of the Albanian Army. Albania at that moment was theoretically "neutral state" with an own government and army. General Pervizi receive the rank of general during the Italian period, in 1940. Incognito hi was in contact with the British missions to find an personal solution for the post war period. After the war hi was sentenced to death by the communist government, but he escape first in the mountains and after that on Italy. During the German period, the Albanian army return to the king Zog period uniforms. Regards, Zaim 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.
Bayern Posted February 13, 2020 Posted February 13, 2020 Hello .I will expect anxiously your posts about this unknown and interesting theater of war
Marku Vickers Posted March 18, 2020 Author Posted March 18, 2020 A few more. Sorry chaps - it is not allowing me to upload any more photos - not sure why.
Marku Vickers Posted March 19, 2020 Author Posted March 19, 2020 Just managed to post one more, above, but again now when I try to upload another it says I cannot. Are we limited to the number of photos we can upload in one day?
BalkanCollector Posted March 19, 2020 Posted March 19, 2020 10 hours ago, Marku Vickers said: Are we limited to the number of photos we can upload in one day? There's a limit of 8MB of files you can post. You've probably tried to upload more than that. Great photos! Please, keep them going. Is there anything written at the back of them?
puma77 Posted March 22, 2020 Posted March 22, 2020 Are there any photos of General Pervizi when he defected to the British accompanied with a sizeable group of Albanian army soldiers ? Would be interested in any photos showing the Albanian army in their Italian uniforms and reintroduced Albanian rank insignia. The seated officer in the second photo wearing Italian uniforms and Albanian shoulder boards is General Pervizi.
Zaim Qyteza Posted March 22, 2020 Posted March 22, 2020 4 hours ago, puma77 said: Are there any photos of General Pervizi when he defected to the British accompanied with a sizeable group of Albanian army soldiers ? Would be interested in any photos showing the Albanian army in their Italian uniforms and reintroduced Albanian rank insignia. The seated officer in the second photo wearing Italian uniforms and Albanian shoulder boards is General Pervizi. Dear Puma77, Since you requested, I opened a new topic dedicated to ALBANIAN ARMY DURING GERMAN PERIOD. Regards, Zaim
puma77 Posted March 22, 2020 Posted March 22, 2020 Hi Zaim, thanks for starting the new topic, i've found a few photos which i will post. Ken.
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