25 – 27 July 1998
The Battles of Llapushnik Gorge took place. By order of the General Staff of the Kosovo Liberation Army, on May 9, 1999, Gryka e Llapushnik was taken. Its capture was of special importance in several directions: the movement of Serbian forces from Prishtina towards the Dukagjin Plain was interrupted; the war of the Kosovo Liberation Army extended to Llapushë; the cooperation of war units in the region of Verrin was realized; the zone of free territories for the supply of weapons was created; the population’s responsibility for the war of the Kosovo Liberation Army increased. The gorge of Llapushnik became the arena of fierce fighting and was held by the forces of the Kosovo Liberation Army for a full 78 days. During the fighting on 25 – 27.07.1998, the engaged forces of the Kosovo Liberation Army of 120 fighters with light weapons faced the Serbian forces of nearly 600 soldiers and policemen, with heavy weapons. The fighting was sometimes hand-to-hand and the Serbian forces suffered heavy losses in men and equipment. The forces of the Kosovo Liberation Army won. (In the photo: The monument dedicated to those who fell in the Llapushnik Gorge.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1560.
Photo: © https://drenasi.info/
Graphic processing: AHCF
