June 6th-7th, 1944
The “Battles at the Snake’s Neck and at the Cut Stone” took place among the fiercest battles fought by the Albanian National Liberation Army forces during the general enemy exercise of June 1944. For the capture of these two necks of great strategic importance, which connect the province of Opar with that of Tomorrica, the German operation command threw into battle over 2000 Nazi soldiers, over 45 cannons and mortars. From the forces of the Albanian National Liberation Army, in the beginning, the IVth, Vth battalions, and the “Antonio Gramsci” battalion of the 1st Assault Brigade, as well as partisans of the partisan battalion of Dumre and Shpati, participated in the defensive battles, a total of about 550 fighters. Then three battalions of the VthAssault Brigade entered the fight with about 450 other fighters. At midday on June 6th, the forces of the 1st Assault Brigade and the local forces broke through all the attacks of the German forces and their defenses at the Snake’s Neck and the Cut Stone. On the night of June 6th–7th, the forces of the Albanian National Liberation Army quickly counterattacked the Nazi forces. The enemy was forced to stop, change direction and not be able to set foot in the province of Tomorrica. During all the fighting in Snake’s Neck and Cut Stone, 30 fighters of the Albanian National Liberation Army were martyred. More than 150 soldiers and officers were killed and wounded by the German forces . (In the photo: View from the province of Opar.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1564-1565.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opari
Graphic processing: AHCF
