Albanian–Yugoslav conflict

The Albanian–Yugoslav conflict or Yugoslav armed uprising in Albania (Albanian: Kryengritja e armatosur jugosllave në Shqipëri), was a secret Yugoslav paramilitary operation in Albania with the main goal of uncovering Albanian propaganda and information and overthrowing the government of Enver Hoxha[3][4] to protect Yugoslavia from a possible invasion by Albania.[5][6]

Albanian-Yugoslav conflict
Part of Cold War
Date1948–1954
Location
Result

Communist Albanian victory

  • Yugoslav Operation failed
Belligerents

Albania Albania

 Yugoslavia

Commanders and leaders
Albania Enver Hoxha
Albania Mehmet Shehu
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Aleksandar Ranković
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Vladimir Popović
Strength
Albania Unknown Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 3,600[2]
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

Background

After the paramilitary Operation Valuable, Yugoslavia decided to continue their operation to prevent itself from going to war with Albania.[7] They sent Yugoslav Army agents to Albania to check the situation there[8]

In 1949 the Albanian–Yugoslav conflict widened considerably and came close to a possible war.[9] Enver Hoxha sought to concentrate the entire state and political apparatus of Albania on 'the unmasking of the bourgeois and anti-communist policy of Yugoslavia'. The information and propaganda[10] disseminated by both countries changed accordingly.[11]

Operation

In 1950 the Yugoslav Agent Forces were supposed to recruit the Tito clique made up of Serbs, Albanian Royalists[12] and Greek volunteers[13][14] and get them ready for the mission.[15][16][17]

In 1951, three Yugoslav army divisions were deployed to the Albanian border area, one near Podgorica, a motorized division in Skopje and another between Dibra and Ohrid. The Albanian authorities were alerted and subsequently arrested more than 150 people(responsible Yugoslav agents) who were considered dangerous or suspicious in the border areas with Yugoslavia.[18][19] They recruited a total of 3600 men[17] for this operation, they also called the agents either Tito's agents or Tito's soldiers[20]

The mission of Tito's agents/soldiers was to overthrow the regime in Albania by releasing propaganda documents, bringing information to Yugoslavia and exposing the situation in Albania. The Yugoslav forces were assisted with equipment by the CIA.[21]

Borderline tensions

In 1948, after UDBA sent its agents to Albania, their agents were all caught. The Yugoslav UDBA still tried to protect their agents but they were arrested by the Albanian border guards and the Yugoslavs of the UDBA were tortured and their heads were beaten up with chairs by the Sigurimi. In 1948, after the conflict was spreading, Albanian border guard soldiers decided to take revenge. They invaded Yugoslav territory with 225 Albanian soldiers and attacked Yugoslav soldiers and citizens, killing 10 Yugoslav soldiers, wounding 15 Yugoslav citizens and kidnapping 3 UDBA agents.[22]

Albanian attack on Yugoslav territory
Part of Cold War
Date1948
Location
Result Albanian attack successful
Belligerents

Albania Albania

 Yugoslavia

Commanders and leaders
Albania Enver Hoxha Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito
Strength
Albania 250 soldiers Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Unknown
Casualties and losses
Albania Unknown Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 10 soldiers killed
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 15 citizens wounded
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 3 UDBA Agents captured

Aftermath

Many of the soldiers were either bugged, captured and sent to labor camps or to court and charged with a death penalty.[23] In the late 1970s, the Albanian leader Enver Hoxha planned to invade Yugoslavia after the death of Tito in order to retake Kosovo, as well as parts of Montenegro and Macedonia where the Albanian majority were inhabited, in order to create a Greater Albania again.[24][25]

We have been supporting Kosovars (Kosovo Albanians) with all our might, whenever and to the extent to which the circumstances allowed. And we are in favor of them uniting with Albania because that would ensure national unity

References

  1. Për popullin, me popullin 1973, p. 15.
  2. "OBOPUS BGFIEND" (PDF). CIA: 8.
  3. Smith, W. Thomas (2003). Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency. New York: Facts On File. ISBN 978-1-4381-3018-7. OCLC 586163250.
  4. Niebuhr, Robert (2018). The search for a Cold War legitimacy : foreign policy and Tito's Yugoslavia. Leiden. ISBN 978-90-04-35899-7. OCLC 1019845033.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts. Ohio State University: Ohio State University. 1963.
  6. West, Nigel (2021). Historical dictionary of Cold War intelligence. Lanham, Maryland. ISBN 978-1-5381-2031-6. OCLC 1199056460.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. Lulushi, Albert (2014). Operation Valuable Fiend : the CIA's first paramilitary strike against the Iron Curtain. New York. ISBN 978-1-62872-322-9. OCLC 876900674.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. "The South Slav Journal". Dositey Obradovich Circle. 5. 1982 via Indiana University.
  9. Hetemi, Atdhe (2020). Student movements for the Republic of Kosovo : 1968, 1981 and 1997. Cham, Switzerland. ISBN 978-3-030-54952-7. OCLC 1199330117.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. USSR Information Bulletin. Indiana University: Indiana University. 1952.
  11. Phillips, David L. (2014). Liberating Kosovo : coercive diplomacy and U.S. intervention. Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-262-30512-9. OCLC 1124328991.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. Keçmezi-Basha, Sabile (2009). Të burgosurit politikë shqiptarë në Kosovë 1945-1990 : (gjatë viteve 1945-1990 në ish-Jugosllavi shqiptarët kaluan në burgje 666 shekuj, 72 vjet e 7 muaj burgim). Shkup: Logos-A. ISBN 978-9989-58-322-3. OCLC 778324097.
  13. Third Blue Book on the Anglo-American Intervention on the Monarcho-fascist Regime on the People's Struggle for Liberty. University of Michigan: University of Michigan. 1950. p. 173.
  14. Për popullin, me popullin. botim i Ministrisë së Punëve të Brendshme të Republikës Popullore të Shqipërisë: botim i Ministrisë së Punëve të Brendshme të Republikës Popullore të Shqipërisë. 1973. p. 197.
  15. Bethell, Nicholas (2016). The Albanian Operation of the CIA and MI6, 1949-1953 : conversations with participants in a venture betrayed. Robert Elsie, Bejtullah D. Destani. Jefferson, North Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4766-6379-1. OCLC 929123505.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  16. Lucas, Peter (2007). The OSS in World War II Albania : covert operations and collaboration with communist partisans. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-2967-7. OCLC 83977506.
  17. "OBOPUS BGFIEND" (PDF). CIA: 8.
  18. ""Activity of UDB agents towards Albania"". Memorie.al. 2020-11-03. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  19. "Dokumentet e CIA, ja si funksiononte sistemi i propagandës i Enver Hoxhës, më 1951 regjimi u përgatit për përplasje ushtarake me Jugosllavinë". sot.com.al. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
  20. Prifti, Peter R. (1999). Remote Albania : the politics of isolationism. Tiranë: Onufri. ISBN 99927-30-49-8. OCLC 46974576.
  21. "OBOPUS BG FIEND" (PDF). CIA: 17. 1953.
  22. Životić, Aleksandar (2021). "Borderline tensions between Yugoslavia and Albania (1948-1954)" (PDF). Оргинални научни рад: 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-12-06.
  23. Central Intelligence Agency, United States. (1963). Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts. Ohio State University. pp. 121–122.
  24. ""Albanian communist leader planned to attack Yugoslavia"". Bulevar B92. 2013-04-03. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
  25. Bisenic, Dragan (2023). "Operation "Breakthrough": Enver Hoxha's preparations for the military invasion of Kosovo and the creation of "Greater Albania" after Tito's death (1)".
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