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    Posted

    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.

    Scan 26.jpeg

    Scan 25.jpeg

    Scan 24.jpeg

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    Posted

    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

    Posted

    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.

    Posted

    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

    Posted (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 by Zaim Qyteza
    Posted
    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.

    • 1 month later...
    Posted

    Scan 20.jpeg

    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?

    Posted
    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?

    Posted

    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.

    Posted
    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

    • 3 weeks later...

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