The “War of Ferizaj” took place, one of the organized efforts of the anti-communist resistance to oppose the reoccupation of Kosovo by units of the Yugoslav National Liberation Army. Thus, the Headquarters of Area IV for the Protection of Kosovo from Communists and Slavic Chetniks, which was formed within the Second League of Prizren, and which had the duty of protecting the Ferizaj-Kaçanik-Gjilan area, organized several meetings with its activists. Adem Gllavica was at the head of the staff. About 50 activists were gathered under his leadership, including Hysen Tërpeza, Idriz Hajrullahu, Muharrem Fejza, Qazim Llugaxhia, Bajrush Kapetani, etc. It was decided to organize all Albanian nationalist forces to liberate and save Ferizaj and Gjilan from the massacres of Serbian communists and Chetniks. The leaders of these operations were also appointed. Adem Gllavica, Hysen Tërpeza and Qazim Llugaxhia were appointed for Ferizaj; for Gjilan: Idriz Hajrullahu, Sylë Zarbinca and Muharrem Fejza. In the morning of December 2, 1944, Adem Gllavica with his fellow fighters, at the head of about 2,000 volunteers, for a short time penetrated some parts of the city of Ferizaj. They took the gendarmerie building and the barracks that were empty, penetrated to the Catholic church, the Montenegrin neighborhood, the Bakiki tower and the building where the Headquarters of the II Kosovo Brigade were located, the effectives of which they came to the Slavic population of the city and the surrounding villages also helped. During the fighting, the partisan forces also used artillery against the Albanians, until a battalion of the III Kosovo Brigade came to their aid from Gjilan . Help also came from Pristina and Skopje. The fighting lasted the whole day, continuing to the next day. Due to the unequal ratio of forces, the Albanian volunteer units were forced to withdraw. This war by the communist government was used as a trigger for a new massacre of the defenseless Albanian population. Only during 2-3 days, about 1,500 Albanians were killed and wounded. Partisan forces also suffered significant losses. (In the photo: View of the city of Ferizaj.)
Text: The encyclopedic dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. II , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 998–999.
Photo: © https://ferizaj24.info/kyteti/
Graphic processing: AHCF
