The “War of Arbana”, the first major clash with the German Nazi invaders in the Tirana district, took place. The enemy used the forces of autonomous units of the XXI Mountain Corps, reinforced and supported by special sub-units, a total of about 2000 selected soldiers. He intended to, with a lightning strike from three directions and by surprise, capture the General Staff of the Albanian National Liberation Army, the staff of the partisan group in Peza and annihilate 270 partisans gathered there for the formation of the III Assault Brigade, so that together with those of the partisan group of Peza, it reached 600 people. Partisan forces used the tactics of fighting in small groups of 10–12 fighters, in many directions, from top to bottom, and counterattacked in the enemy’s rear. After 15 hours of fierce fighting, the enemy was forced to retreat. He left on the battlefield many dead, in addition to the wounded and a large amount of weapons, ammunition and other war materials. In the battle of Arbana, the General Staff organized a quick and safe direction of the partisan forces; maneuvering forces out of the encirclement while encircling the enemy itself; as well as their support from the peasantry of the area. (In the photo: Map of Tirana Municipality.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1544.
Photo: © https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harta_e_Bashkis%C3%AB_Tiran%C3%AB.svg
Graphic processing: AHCF
