{"id":7817,"date":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/1970\/01\/01\/formation-of-the-xvi-assault-brigade-of-the-albanian-national-liberation-army\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T18:52:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T18:52:47","slug":"formation-of-the-xvi-assault-brigade-of-the-albanian-national-liberation-army","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/1970\/01\/01\/formation-of-the-xvi-assault-brigade-of-the-albanian-national-liberation-army\/","title":{"rendered":"Formation of the XVI Assault Brigade of the Albanian National Liberation Army"},"content":{"rendered":"
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T<\/span>he “XVI Assaul<\/span>t<\/span> Brigade of <\/span>t<\/span>he Albanian Na<\/span>t<\/span>ional Liber<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span>ion Army” was formed in <\/span>T<\/span>herepel<\/span> of Skrapar from a ba<\/span>t<\/span>t<\/span>alion from Bera<\/span>t<\/span>, <\/span>t<\/span>wo ba<\/span>t<\/span>t<\/span>alions from <\/span>Mallakas<\/span>t<\/span>ra<\/span>, and a volun<\/span>t<\/span>eer de<\/span>t<\/span>achmen<\/span>t<\/span> from <\/span>Lushnja<\/span>, <\/span>comprising<\/span> abou<\/span>t<\/span> 465 figh<\/span>t<\/span>ers organized in<\/span>t<\/span>o 3 ba<\/span>t<\/span>t<\/span>alions. Wi<\/span>t<\/span>hin <\/span>a shor<\/span>t<\/span> t<\/span>ime<\/span>, <\/span>t<\/span>he number of figh<\/span>t<\/span>ers doub<\/span>led, and on Sep<\/span>t<\/span>ember 10, 1944, <\/span>t<\/span>he IV ba<\/span>t<\/span>t<\/span>alion was <\/span>es<\/span>t<\/span>ablished<\/span>. As par<\/span>t<\/span> of <\/span>t<\/span>he <\/span>t<\/span>raining for <\/span>t<\/span>he uni<\/span>t<\/span>s of <\/span>t<\/span>he Albanian Na<\/span>t<\/span>ional Libera<\/span>t<\/span>ion Army aimed a<\/span>t<\/span> libera<\/span>t<\/span>ing <\/span>t<\/span>he main ci<\/span>t<\/span>ies of Sou<\/span>t<\/span>hern Albania, <\/span>t<\/span>he XVI Assaul<\/span>t<\/span> Brigade conduc<\/span>t<\/span>ed comba<\/span>t<\/span> opera<\/span>t<\/span>ions in<\/span> t<\/span>he Bera<\/span>t<\/span>-Vlorë-<\/span>Lushnje<\/span> area. By Oc<\/span>t<\/span>ober 10, <\/span>t<\/span>he brigade had libera<\/span>t<\/span>ed <\/span>t<\/span>he province of <\/span>Myzeqe<\/span> and forced <\/span>t<\/span>he enemy <\/span>t<\/span>o re<\/span>t<\/span>rea<\/span>t<\/span> t<\/span>o <\/span>t<\/span>he ci<\/span>t<\/span>ies of Fier and <\/span>Lushnja<\/span>. <\/span>T<\/span>he brigade <\/span>main<\/span>t<\/span>ained<\/span> cons<\/span>t<\/span>an<\/span>t<\/span> con<\/span>t<\/span>rol over <\/span>t<\/span>he Vlorë-Fier, Bera<\/span>t<\/span>-Lushnjë, and Bera<\/span>t<\/span>-Fier roa<\/span>ds, s<\/span>t<\/span>riking enemy convoys. On Sep<\/span>t<\/span>ember 18, i<\/span>t<\/span> organized an ambush in <\/span>t<\/span>he village of Vajkan, <\/span>along <\/span>t<\/span>he Fier-Lushnjë road, <\/span>t<\/span>arge<\/span>t<\/span>ing a German convoy, resul<\/span>t<\/span>ing in <\/span>significan<\/span>t<\/span> damage<\/span> t<\/span>o personnel and war ma<\/span>t<\/span>erial. <\/span>T<\/span>he brigade also inflic<\/span>t<\/span>ed losses on <\/span>t<\/span>he en<\/span>emy during an ambush a<\/span>t<\/span> t<\/span>he <\/span>Koshovica<\/span> pass on <\/span>t<\/span>he Fier-<\/span>Vlora road<\/span> and ano<\/span>t<\/span>her a<\/span>t<\/span> t<\/span>he Cukas hills on <\/span>t<\/span>he Bera<\/span>t<\/span>–<\/span>Lushnje<\/span> road on Oc<\/span>t<\/span>ober 5. In coopera<\/span>t<\/span>ion wi<\/span>t<\/span>h <\/span>t<\/span>he forces of Group III of <\/span>Mallakas<\/span>t<\/span>ra<\/span>, par<\/span>t<\/span> of <\/span>t<\/span>he XVI Brigade libera<\/span>t<\/span>ed <\/span>t<\/span>he ci<\/span>t<\/span>y of Fier on Oc<\/span>t<\/span>ob<\/span>er 15, while <\/span>t<\/span>he remaining forces, along wi<\/span>t<\/span>h <\/span>t<\/span>he VIII Assaul<\/span>t<\/span> Brigade, con<\/span>t<\/span>inued comba<\/span>t<\/span> opera<\/span>t<\/span>ions in <\/span>Lushnja<\/span>, libera<\/span>t<\/span>ing i<\/span>t<\/span> on Oc<\/span>t<\/span>ober 18, 1944. <\/span>T<\/span>he XVI Assaul<\/span>t<\/span> Brigade was led by poli<\/span>t<\/span>ical commissar Abdyl <\/span>Këllezi<\/span>, and 56 mar<\/span>t<\/span>yrs fell from i<\/span>t<\/span>s <\/span>ran<\/span>ks. On <\/span>December 14, 1944, <\/span>t<\/span>he brigade was in<\/span>t<\/span>egra<\/span>t<\/span>ed in<\/span>t<\/span>o <\/span>t<\/span>he III Assaul<\/span>t<\/span> Division of <\/span>t<\/span>he Albanian Na<\/span>t<\/span>ional Libera<\/span>t<\/span>ion Army. A<\/span>t<\/span> t<\/span>he beginning of 1945, i<\/span>t<\/span> began publishing <\/span>t<\/span>he newspaper “Voice of Libera<\/span>t<\/span>ion.” <\/span><\/span>(In <\/em><\/span>t<\/span>he pho<\/span>t<\/span>o: Par<\/span>t<\/span>isans of <\/span>t<\/span>he XVI Assaul<\/span>t<\/span> Brigade, Oc<\/span>t<\/span><\/em>ober 1944.<\/em>)<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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T<\/span>ex<\/span>t<\/span><\/strong>:<\/span><\/span> Albanian encyclopedic dic<\/span>t<\/span>ionary – Vol. <\/span>1 <\/span><\/span>,<\/span> Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kris<\/span>t<\/span>alina-KH”, <\/span>T<\/span>i<\/span>ran<\/span>a, 2008, page 305.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Pho<\/span>t<\/span><\/strong>o<\/strong>: <\/span><\/span>© Cen<\/span>t<\/span>ral S<\/span>t<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span>e Archives<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Graphic<\/strong> processing<\/strong>: <\/span><\/span>AHCF<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The XVI Assault Brigade of the Albanian National Liberation Army was formed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ngjarje"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11376,"href":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7817\/revisions\/11376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albheritage.wpadmin.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}