Part XXV: Collaboration

February 8, 1941. Pustec, Albania.

Even though the gentle rocking of Lake Prespa was a far cry from the Adriatic storms he had faced before, Captain Muso Ulqinaku could not help feeling a pit grow within his stomach. The cold rain continued to pound down on his fishing boat and seemed to pay no attention to his rubbers or his woolen uniform as it sunk into his bones. All around him the dark green reeds seemed to move. Was this it? Had the Italians at last figured out what they were doing or had someone else done the work for them?

"Don't worry Captain, it's just the wind. We haven't seen any Italians up here since before the war."

Muso scowled, though he wasn't sure if he was angry at the mind reading or the fisherman's heavily accented Albanian. "It's always just the wind until it isn't."

I am never complaining about the mountains again…

He decided right there that he would take all the marching and waiting in the world over the lake smuggling duties he had been assigned. Then again, most of his battalion had opted to do the same. As tedious as hauling mortars up and down goat trails was, if the Italians showed up one had a far better chance than he did sitting here in this decrepit fishing boat packed to the gunnels with explosives. Even at the outset his professed joy at returning to the water was merely a masking a resignation born of a duty to do what was necessary. All the mortar training in the world would not do the çetas any good if they didn't have the tubes and bombs his men were shipping across the lake.

As he scanned the shore for signs of activity, Muso mentally reminded himself of the efficiency that drew Zog to choose this route. Unlike the Yugoslavs who had been scared shitless of Mussolini and completely closed the border as he asked, the Greeks had been quietly averting their eyes to Zog's smuggling efforts since the outset of the conflict. (1) During the initial months poor transportation links put a natural damper on what could be brought up on the roads. The mules and trucks were fine for maintaining the trickle of rifle ammunition and grenades that had been sent up during the fall, but things had changed over the past few months. Mussolini's aggressive rhetoric coupled with his defeats elsewhere convinced the Greeks that they might be next and though they remembered Chamberlain's attempt to mollify the Italians by refusing to guarantee their independence in 1939, they were more than happy to play a more active role in funneling arms to Albania. (2) As far as Greece was concerned, the more troops Zog could keep tied up in the Albanian mountains the better.

This change of heart could not have come at a better moment. Muso could still remember returning from the first shipment thinking that all of this was a lot of risk for very little reward when news from North Africa arrived. At first, he did not believe it. Zog had of course predicted Italian difficulties in Africa but the scale of the disaster was utterly staggering.

The entire Tenth Army gone.

And that was just in Libya. Just the other day he heard a report that the Free French had smelled blood in the water and launched an offensive of their own in Abyssinia. Initially, Muso hadn't really given a shit about the rest of the war, but that had changed once Zog told him about the arrangement he'd made with General Wavell. As a partial repayment for his aid earlier in the war and the actions of Vehib Pasha's Motorized Brigade, the British were going to ship all the captured weapons they could to Albania. (3) Of course, tanks, trucks, and a few other things were going to stay in Egypt, but the rest was all earmarked for Albania and the Greeks had secretly agreed to look the other way while it passed through Salonika. From there it would make its way by rail to Florina where it was then offloaded and shipped across the border.

That was where Muso and his men came in. Now that he had access to an entire Italian Army's equipment, Zog was no longer content with the trickle of smugglers. All told they probably brought in a ton of material, maybe two at the most, every month.(4) If they waited for them to achieve the necessary volume to haul all the goods they had waiting for them, they'd have to wait years to reap the rewards, if the war even lasted that long. The more trips the smugglers took across the border, the more likely they'd get caught. With that in mind, Zog turned to the Prespa lakes in the hopes that he could convince the villagers who lived on them to help them bring the goods in even faster. Furthermore, by making use of the entire hold they could carry the "bigger ticket" items Zog had prioritized. It was a classic Zog move, high risk/high reward. They had 4 boats making daily "fishing" trips and together they were able to bring nearly 3 tons of war materiel across every day.

In keeping with his pre-war obsession, the first shipments were dedicated to the captured mortars and their ammunition. The British had captured just over a hundred 81 mm mortars, twice as many 45mm "assault mortars," and tens of thousands of rounds with probably more coming from East Africa in the coming months.(5) They'd probably have their hands full this entire month shipping those weapons alone, assuming they kept arriving, but that was apparently only the beginning. Today's shipment of 50 81mm mortars and ammunition was merely a proof of concept. If they were successful here, then Zog had bigger plans which began with ammunition for the resistance's handful of artillery pieces and extended to augmenting them by shipping disassembled 65mm guns. Muso had his doubts about Zog's more ambitious schemes, considering how low in the water the fishing boat was already sitting, but "Stefan," the vessel's captain seemed to think it could work.

800px-Mortaio_da_81_Mod._35.jpg

An example of the Italian Mortario da 81 Mod.35 carried by Muso. In addition to those captured by the British and shipped to Albania, the Zogists also captured significant weapons and ammunition from the occupying Italian army to equip their forces.​

Why shouldn't he? He's getting paid enough…

Despite "Stefan" echoing Zog's insistence that he had nothing to worry about, Muso couldn't help but wonder about where the Macedonian's real loyalty lay. Smugglers had always been notoriously unreliable. Sure, Zog was paying them well, just like he paid everyone well, but who could say whether the Italians or Germans would come up with a better offer? Who was to say that they hadn't already? All of that didn't even touch on the fact that though "Stefan" and the rest of the fishermen were all Albanian citizens, they weren't ethnic Albanians. Most of them could speak it well enough, but all of them were ethnically Macedonians and given how well their Bulgarian brothers were cozying up to the Nazis…

Of course, "Stefan" insisted that he didn't give two shits about what Tsar Boris did in Sofia. As far as he was concerned, the Bulgarians were just as imperialistic as everyone else.(6) Again and again he professed that Zog was his king and consistently praised his efforts at Tax Reform and education. "You Albanians, you know what its like to be a minority…to have your language, your history taken away from you. It is fitting that out of all the Balkan states yours treats its minorities the best." To hear policies Muso had always regarded with skepticism praised so blatantly struck at his cynicism but did not overwhelm it. Was it really possible to buy these Macedonians loyalty so easily? Training a couple teachers and giving them a few hundred schoolbooks and Bibles in the local dialect had been relatively expensive for sure, but if that was all it took Muso wondered why anyone else hadn't figured it out.

Then again, having seen how well the villagers on the Greek side of the border responded to his presence, Muso couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Zog had a point. The Treaty of London (7) hadn't just severed Albanian communities with its borders, the communities around Lake Prespa all basically spoke the same language but now found themselves citizens of three countries. Recognizing this fact and throwing a bit more money at the issue than everyone else might well have built a cross border smuggling network well before the war even began. Even if they couldn't use Zog's books or Bibles, the fact that Zog was letting their neighbours carry their culture forward was probably the source of all the good will Muso saw today.

How long that good will would last was an open question. If the Italians managed to get some help from the villagers and sneak a patrol through the two dozen men he was employing as guards, Muso probably wouldn't even know what hit him. A single 20mm round, hell, even a well-placed rifle or machine gun round would probably blow him and the entire fishing boat to smithereens. Yet as terrifying as that seemed, deep down Muso knew it was worth it. The mortars on his boat alone doubled the number of "heavy" mortars the resistance had. Every shipment after that would make the resistance that much deadlier and save lives by shortening the occupation.

Notes

1. These attitudes mirror OTL. In OTL Yugoslavia even considered partitioning Albania with Italy for a few months. Their eventual decision to close the border was a major driver for Zog to go into exile via Greece. Also worth noting that in OTL the first British efforts to smuggle arms to Albanian resistors took place in Greece not Yugoslavia.

2. A bit of a difference here due to no 1939 invasion. More on this in subsequent updates.

3. In OTL the British were especially eager to ship Italian weapons captured during Compass to help spark an Albanian revolt to take the pressure off Greece. However OTL's lack of preparation meant that discussions centered around the shipment of 50,000 rifles and ammunition but never got anywhere due to unreliable Albanian leadership (including Zog) In TTL, Zog is extremely reliable and has plenty of rifles so he's able to focus on other things.

4. Early days. Also keep in mind no/limited air drops.

5. I'm ballparking here, if anyone has better numbers let me know. Basically, I've read that there were about 12 81mm and 27 45mm mortars per division (roughly). Ten divisions caught up in Operation Compass – some destroyed equipment… ?

6. I know I'm wading into some controversial waters here, but IMO this did seem to be the prevailing view in the Lake Prespa region pre-1945.

7. The 1913 Treaty of London established the borders of Albania which left the majority of the Albanian population in other countries to create one of the most ethnically homogeneous nation in the Balkans. That being said there were still small minorities, the largest being the Greeks, but also a few Macedonian and Serbian villages.

[(Excerpted from Ervis Muça "The Vërlaci Regency 1941-43" Royal University of Tirana Press, 1998]

…The archival record could not stand in starker contrast to the popular discourse surrounding the Regency's popularity. Though it would also be an egregious mistake to adopt the position of early Zogist propaganda which portrayed the resistance as an embattled minority, the consensus which emerged after 1944 was very much a political decision. Everyone wanted to identify with the LNÇ and the presence of infiltrators within the Regency allowed all but the most egregious collaborators to escape immediate public scrutiny. Though the Tirana Trials seemed to successfully have counteracted this phenomenon during the 1950s, by 1960 the consensus was already losing ground. Despite a consistent scholarly discourse to the contrary, a growing public perception developed that the Vërlaci Regency never had any significant popular support and was solely the outgrowth of Italian military power. Given trends towards reconciliation and an increased public focus on 19th century Albanian history, this popular discourse is understandable, but it's infusion into scholarly discourse with Xhemal Hyseni's book King Zog: Foresight or Fortune? is problematic.

Though Hyseni raises a number of interesting points in other portions of his book, his dealing with the Vërlaci Regency does not follow the evidence and is instead motivated by his own political alignment with the resurgent anti-Zogists coupled with an unhelpful attitude of academic contrarianism. Undoubtedly, Zog was not as perfect as his hagiographers claim but neither was he a completely debased Machiavellian schemer as Hyseni would have us believe. Based on the documents captured after the war from both the Regency and the Italians it is plainly apparent that the Tirana Trials were far more than "a vindictive pedagogic exercise in politically dominating personal enemies" but was a response to tangible acts collaboration from Albanians of all classes. Far from being united behind Zog from the outset of the war, by all accounts the Albanian population was deeply divided in October 1940 with only 30-40% of the population supporting Zog at most.(8)

Furthermore, it is far more accurate to talk about resisters, collaborators, and bystanders, not as hermetically sealed camps but as a spectrum of behaviour that everyone engaged in under the pressures of the occupation. Many sided with the Regency at the outset of the conflict and later defected when the regime's brutality and complacency towards the Italian camps became apparent. Others, particularly in the North, sided with Zog at the outset but grew wary as the radical aims of his political program were progressively revealed and used the German invasion as an excuse to turn against this program in an attempt to preserve their historic privileges. Similarly, many peasants, caught in an endless struggle to survive the war, remained neutral for the majority of the conflict and drifted between all three camps as needed. Recognizing the reality of the situation does not confuse or condemn any individual or class but rather helps us to focus, as the Tirana Trials did, on individual acts and intentions to judge guilt.

Those intentions and the acts that grew out of them are fully displayed in the host of documentary evidence gathered after the war. When considered in their totality, rather than the cherry-picked examples Hyseni uses, they continue to portray the civil war that post-war Albanian historians identified from the beginning. The 1990 release of Italian military documents further reinforces the evidence gathered for the Tirana trials by providing critical insight on the key month of September 1940. Rather than portraying those who declared for the Vërlaci government as a confused mass of innocent actors desperate to salvage some kind of autonomy in the aftermath of Zog's death as Hyseni does, their statements and interviews with the Italians show considerable anxiety about the prospect of Zog's potential survival. The most damning is the following quote from none other than Prince Xhelal less than 48 hours after he publicly identified another cadaver as Zog's body in Tirana.

"Every possible effort should be taken to ensure the capture of General Pasha and his band before they reach Elbasan. The risk of an event casting catastrophic doubt on the King's death rises exponentially with every step they take away from the capital. To this end, the tribe of Mati is willing to commit 1500 men to the pursuit efforts provided that they are adequately supported with aircraft, artillery, and adequate motor transport…" (emphasis in the original)

Despite none other than his own daughter attesting to the death of his longtime nemesis, newly proclaimed Regent Shefqet Vërlaci expressed similar attitudes calling for "…an immediate attack on Elbasan by forces currently stationed at Mjekes.(9) Such an attack should not only face minimal resistance, but also seal off Vehib Pasha's route of escape. The fate of the regency rests on preventing his force's capture or at the very least denying it adequate medical supplies for a critical period."

Though Vërlaci did not know about the stockpiles and bases Zog established at key locations such as Pëllumbas, his request to Soddu makes no sense in a world where he actually thought Zog had died in Parashqevi Qiriazi's bookstore. Similar comments from other high-ranking defectors show that the vast majority thought that Zog had survived the attack. Though there was some disagreement on the likelihood of his recovery, all of them saw the supposed announcement of Zog's death as a mere propaganda ploy and a potentially disastrous one at that. Still, all of them went ahead with their defection because they saw no other chance to preserve their way of life and their vision for Albania. HavingIn addition to having suffered defeat after defeat in the 1930s, many of these collaborators faced an even greater financial pressure from the fact that by investing in Zog's "Hedge fund" to compensate for their losses in the 1931 Creditanstalt crash, a large portion of their wealth was controlled by a man seemingly dedicated to radical changes which threatened their Albania with extinction. Caught off guard by the sudden outbreak of war, many of these men convinced themselves that their only hope lay in an Axis victory and thus threw all of their remaining resources towards the expression of that end in Albania.

The Italians faced a similar desperation in September 1940 and thus accepted Zog's supposed death on September 10 in the vain hope that it would mark a definitive end to an utterly embarrassing campaign. Not only had their failure to decisively bring an end to Zog's insurrection resulted in an international showcase of the Italian military's deficiencies, but the allocation of troops and shipping had prevented any steps from being taken towards securing other territories claimed by Mussolini's "New Roman Empire." Any dreams of directly incorporating Albania into the Kingdom of Italy had vanished beneath thousands of casualties. By September 1940, the prevailing attitude throughout the Fascist party and Italy in General was to bring a rapid conclusion to the issue and thus when presented with Zog's supposed death, they leapt at it.

Though this decision would end up haunting them in the long run, it is worth noting that for several months it seemed like the right one as Zog's death ripped the bandage off the festering sore of anti-Zogist discontent and paved the way for the formation of Vërlaci's first government. Standing in stark contrast to Zog's cabinet which had become increasingly meritocratic as his reign progressed, the first Regency government was filled with men of dubious skill but strong political connections. Ekrem Bej Libohova was chief among these appointees. As the largest landowner in the country, Libohova's appointment as Prime Minister combined with Vërlaci's position as Regent effectively guaranteed the support of the landowners for the new Regency despite his lack of political experience. Libohova also provided Vërlaci with political insulation in case Zogist sentiments persisted and made his initial tenure difficult. Though such a concentration of power ran against the "divide and rule" strategy favoured by Italy in her other colonies, Ciano believed that their desperate situation required desperate measures. Ciano also believed that Vërlaci, Libohova, and their allies could be balanced by bringing in more allies from the northern tribes. These too were in plentiful supply in September 1940 as not only were the Italians able to bring in the infamous Xhelal Zog and the Mati tribe, but several other key tribes such as the Dukagjins and the Miredita. Wooed as much by the pomp circumstance and outright bribery deployed by the Italians as the prospect of preserving their way of life, almost every northern bajraktar gave his besa to the new government.(10)

However, their greatest coup by far was the recruitment of Hassan Bej Prishtina, a founding member of the Committee for the National Defense of Kosovo (KMKK) and a staunch anti-Zogist. When combined with the wealth of the landowners and the arms of the bajraktars, it was hoped that Prishtina's irredentism would form the final component to guarantee stability in post-Zogist Albania. Despite proposals from both British Intelligence and Zogist agents to assassinate him, Prishtina made his way without incident from his estate outside of Thessaloniki to Elbasan where he took up his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs. This defection was surely stinging to Zog who, though an opponent of the Committee's brash foreign policy, nevertheless supported their aims and had tried to reconcile with the movement since his coronation to the point of helping thwart an assassination attempt against Prishtina in 1933. Despite these efforts, his failure to take what the Committee considered "sufficient" steps towards the liberation of Kosovo had convinced the vast majority that the only possibility for an Ethnic Albania lay in cooperation with the Axis.(11)[/U]

Hassan Bej Prishtina.jpg

Hassan bej Prishtina (b.1873) Former PM of Albania (1921), Leader of the Kosova Committee, and Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Vërlaci Regency

Figure 3. First Regency Cabinet (October 1940-June 1941)

King: Leka Zog

Regent/Head of State: Shefqet Vërlaci

Prime Minister: Ekrem bej Libohova

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Hassan bej Prishtina

Minister of the Interior: Mustafa Merlika-Kruja (12)

Minister of Justice: Xhafer Ypi (13)

Minister of Finance: Eqrem bej Vlora (14)

Minister of Agriculture: Qemal Vrioni (15)​

The ripple effects from the recruitment of nearly the entire Kosovo Committee were not only felt in Albania but throughout the Balkans. Though there was some concern that the Italians would turn south to Çameria next, in 1940 the largest reaction came from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia where anxiety over an Italian invasion had been growing since the outbreak of hostilities. Eager to present a united front to the prospect of Italian Imperialism, Prishtina's defection prompted Prime Minister Dragiša Cvetković and Vladko Maček to finalize their negotiations and sign the Cvetković–Maček Agreement on October 29, 1940. (16) Though the internal turmoil caused by this agreement seemed to be justified by Italy's failure to invade, the truth was far less spectacular. As much as Italy wanted to do so, its Yugoslav ambitions were thwarted by not only defeats in Africa and the Mediterranean but the unpleasant reality that the supposed death of Zog had not brought an end to the fighting in Albania.

For despite its impressive paper credentials such as impressive landholdings, tribal militias, and a compelling irredentist cause, the Vërlaci government quickly found that wars are not fought on paper. Even before the first cabinet meetings were held in Elbasan, the new Regency government found itself beset by not only an implacable foe in the LNÇ but a host of problems which were often beyond the capabilities of its Italian masters to solve never mind its own. At their roots, a common thread wove these problems together: a lack of skilled personnel. Much to the surprise of both Vërlaci and Zog, the initial deluge of anti-Zogist defections quickly dwindled to a trickle and left the new Regency's "celebrity cabinet" unable to fill crucial middle and ground level positions. This shortage was only further exacerbated by increasing partisan attacks coupled with the unsuitability of so many of the defectors for the positions they were trying to fill. As a result, the supposed "autonomy" granted to Vërlaci began to rapidly dissipate mere weeks after it was granted.

The experience of the Regency's Carabinieri is particularly enlightening in this regard. Though Vërlaci had always suspected the majority of the Royal Albanian Gendarmerie would follow Zog to the mountains if given the chance, he still believed that a sufficiently large number would remain behind and be happy to collaborate. When combined with the thousands Zog, Stirling, and Musa Juka had drummed out of the organization, these collaborators would form the basis of a new organization which under Italian guidance would create the necessary environment for what Vërlaci considered proper Albanian flourishing. Though the Italians had far more sober estimates, even their projections proved to be hopelessly optimistic in the aftermath of the botched invasion attempt. Instead they found themselves with less than half their initial estimated personnel, all of whom were far more interested in recouping what they saw as lost profits during the Zogist era than restoring law and order. Attempts to bolster this force with tribal militias proved to be even more disastrous as these forces proved even more corrupt and often refused to serve outside of their home districts. Rising partisan attacks on Carabinieri posts and meetings also proved to sap the newfound organization of desperately needed recruits.

The Gendarmerie's manpower shortage aggravated another problem caused by a similar issue: undoing Zog's tax reform. Long a grievance of the upper classes who felt that the flat tax unfairly targeted them while leaving the employees of FMSh alone, the prospect of returning to a more Ottoman style taxation system had been a major selling point during Ciano and Vërlaci's recruitment efforts. To this end Vërlaci invested a considerable amount of effort into the project and planned to sell it as a tax cut reflective of Albania embracing a more natural relationship with Italy in an attempt to bolster his legitimacy. Just like Zog's Tax reform had played a massive role in establishing a strong base of support, so too did Vërlaci hope to use his program to strengthen his new coalition. Once again, initial responses were extremely positive, particularly among the initial upper-class defectors who were eager to cover their collaboration using whatever means presented itself.

However, Vërlaci's reform quickly floundered due to a lack of personnel as nearly every tax collector and Caribinieri detachment sought to manipulate it for personal gain. Though most of the Regency's upper-class supporters had the means to shield themselves from such exploitation, the vast majority of Albanians did not, and the regime's popularity plummeted. Furthermore, rather than wait until 1941 to enact the reform gradually, by making it his first legislative act Vërlaci effectively unleashed his followers to plunder the Albanian countryside. Instead of taking a portion of the harvest, Vërlaci's Caribinieri stole whatever wealth they could get their hands on and often confiscated desperately needed seed crops. Undoubtedly, this strategy had a calculated element to it, as Vërlaci aimed to deter continued Zogist support by demonstrating his newfound power, but it backfired spectacularly. For in addition to being plundered by brutes in Italian uniforms, most Albanians had come to accept Zog's tax reforms having seen the benefits first-hand. Any additional taxes they paid had been almost immediately reflected in the new roads, hospitals, and schools Zog had invested in. With the Albanian education and medical system in tatters and the Italians focused on building roads to support an invasion of Greece, few believed their taxes were going to anything other than the Italian war machine and the pockets of the beys.

This reaction was not completely unexpected by the Italians, as Ciano had anticipated this early failure but had allowed Vërlaci to proceed in order to entrench their control over the Regency. However neither had anticipated just how vehemently the Albanian people would react nor how difficult it would be for them to pursue an alternate course of action. Even if Vërlaci had been willing to reverse course, his tax collectors and Gendarmes were all victims of Zog's anti-corruption efforts and thus had not received the training necessary to administer a modern tax system. With nearly the entire civil service and Gendarmerie remaining loyal to Zog and fleeing to the mountains, the Regency was left with no other choice than to continue with its new policy and attempt to reduce the corruption associated with it. Unsurprisingly, renewed anti-corruption campaigns were met poorly by the Regency's recruits causing even more headaches for the nascent government.

These headaches were further amplified by the exhaustion of captured Zogist granaries in Spring 1941. Founded in the aftermath of the 1931 famines, the Hambarët e Mbretit(17) aimed to address the distribution problems which arose during Zog's personal intervention. Though the subsequent events of the First Albanian Economic Miracle prevented them from being used prior to 1940, Zog nevertheless continued to not only maintain but expand the program with an eye towards its' integration into his asymmetric strategy. By 1940 nearly every major village and mountain valley had a granary containing between 6-12 months of rations and other critical supplies for the surrounding population. Ideally these would have all remained under Zogist control during the Italian invasion, but even Zog's most optimistic calculations maintained that at best he could expect to hold 80% given the divided loyalties of the Albanian population. When the dust had settled in October 1940, Zog's more realistic projections proved to be correct as 45% of the Hambarët e Mbretit had been handed over to the Italians or Regency aligned forces.

The capture of Zog's granaries proved to be a much-needed windfall to the Regency's government. Contrary to the King's intentions, rather than feeding the surrounding area, the Italians insisted that the Regency redistribute the stockpiles and met no resistance. In a key measure meant to not bite the hand that feeds, the Italian troops installing the Regency received the lions share of the stockpiles. In addition to addressing the logistical problems still facing the Regio Esercito, in agreeing to this measure the Regency temporarily managed to offset the occupation transfers Vërlaci agreed to in exile. Without the need to ship additional food from Italy, the swelling ranks of Italian Army in Albania finally began to receive the long-awaited motorized transport and other equipment. The remainder of the stockpiles was given to the Regency to sell on the open market which provided much needed liquidity to the nascent government while at the same time helping offset the increasingly felt effects of the Italian blockade. However due to the amount sequestered by the Regio Esercito, the Regency's share of the windfall dwindled rapidly and forced them to turn to their fragile tax system to make up the difference.

Without the supplementation provided by the Hambarët e Mbretit, the agricultural tithe and livestock taxes bit even deeper and drove even more people into the arms of the resistance. As damaging as they were to the Regency's popularity, Vërlaci's decision to agree to a restoration of the pre-war monetary status quo and an accelerated currency union timeline with the Kingdom of Italy continued to deny Albania full control over its monetary policy. Without the ability to print additional money, the Regency continued to squeeze the population it controlled to achieve some degree of autonomy. These efforts were further complicated by the fact that the punitively high taxes on FMSh associates failed to bring in anything close to the expected revenue and only served to solidify that portion of the Zogist coalition. Even though these policies' disastrous effect on Italian anti-partisan campaigns were apparent from the start to General Soddu, his pleas for their replacement fell on deaf ears. Pressed on every side, the Finance Ministry was loathe to pour even more money into Albania yet that was exactly what they had to do in early 1941 as Italian casualties in Albania continued to mount and threatened to surpass those suffered during the four months of open warfare. From February 20, 1941, the Regency would continue to collect taxes, but the vast majority of its funds came from Italian subsidies.(18)

In a stark contrast to their experience under Zog, not a single qindarkë(19) of these funds ever trickled down to the average Albanian taxpayer in a meaningful way. Whatever funds were not spent on the maintenance of the growing Italian presence and outright bribes were spent on foolish programs to build Elbasan into a "suitable" capital and repair the damage to Albanian infrastructure done during the war. As a result, numerous areas of pre-war Albanian life rapidly atrophied. A burgeoning manufacturing sector disappeared overnight and forced Albanian agriculture to largely revert to pre-Zogist subsistence trends as inflation caused increasing numbers to withdraw from the market. The construction industry also atrophied as the evacuation of its best workers to Malta and North Africa coupled with the recruitment of the rest into Zogist çetas forced the Italians to import workers and experts to supplement local Albanians impressed under the Regency's renewed corvee labour policies.(20)

As unpopular as the return of corvee labour was, the Regency's disastrous education policies arguably played an even more decisive role in pushing Albanians into Zog's increasingly radical movement. Vërlaci's intense suspicion of the pre-war Albanian education system stemmed not only from the defection of the entire teachers college and roughly half of the pre-war teachers to the resistance and his daughter's jealousy over Zog's affair with Parashqevi Qiriazi, but also a stark difference in priorities. For Vërlaci, education was simply unnecessary for most peasants and as a result that particular ministry had its budget slashed dramatically. The remaining funds were shifted heavily towards Italianizing what remained of the existing system and replacing the pre-war teacher college with an exchange system which sent candidates to Italy for training.

Ideally, Vërlaci would have liked to replace the entire ministry of Education but delays in the teacher training system and Italian recalcitrance to allocate additional funds left him with little other choice than to rely on the pre-war personnel who had been left behind. In an attempt to exert an additional level of control, Vërlaci involved the newly formed Albanian Fascist Party in both creating the new curriculum and executing it. However, rampant corruption combined with the aforementioned paucity of funds prevented this from becoming an effective strategy. Most teachers who did not join Zog in the mountains became focal points for resistance activities in their respective regions often by recruiting or blackmailing the very Fascist officials sent to monitor them. Throughout the country education languished, leading many to prefer the schools set up by the resistance. This was particularly true among Albanian minority communities which found Zog's policy of linguistic tolerance far preferable to the Albanianization/Italianization policies pursued by the Regency…(21)

Notes

8. In OTL this number was less than 10% and only rose during 1944 due to Abas Kupi's reluctance to collaborate with the Germans making him one of the last non-Communist resistance leaders left.

9.Village south of Elbasan.

10. The Italians pursued a similar policy in OTL with the Bajraktars. However in OTL they were unable to recruit Libohova or the Kosovo Committee. In TTL, Ciano's been busier and the upper class a bit more desperate so there is a real "class consciousness" among the Albanian upper class which brings together a number of very different personalities and results in a much stronger government than OTL.

11. Prishtina was assassinated in 1931 in OTL. This doesn't happen in TTL and leaves him open to be recruited by the Italians. Given Zog's refusal to engage with the Kosovo issue and increased power in TTL, I think Prishtina would be desperate enough to seize on Italy's encouragement of Albanian irredentism as the only chance for "Ethnic Albania" to come into being. In OTL, Xhemil Bej Dino (Behije's OTL husband) was given the post.

12. Kruja was an ally of Noli's who went into exile in 1925 and was given a stipend by the Italians until 1939 in OTL when he returned to Albania and later was appointed to become Minister of the Interior under Vërlaci before replacing him as PM in 1941.

13. Ypi was a longtime Italophile and one of the first collaborators in OTL. He served in a similar capacity during Vërlaci's OTL collaborationist government and was seen as a traditional conservative and thus an "honorary northerner" despite coming from Korça in the south. In OTL he was killed by a Greek bomb during the Italo-Greek War but obviously in TTL Greece is still neutral, so he lives.

14. Vlora was one of the major landowners in the south but had significant personal differences with Vërlaci and others so despite having good relations he never collaborated in OTL until the Germans arrived. In TTL, the Albanian upper classes are much more unified so he's brought on board earlier.

15. Vrioni collaborated in OTL during both the German and Italian periods and was known for his cruelty towards his tenants as a landowner. His appointment helps round out Vërlaci's "Star cabinet" and is a clear signal that Land Reform is definitely off the table.

16. OTL's version of this agreement was heavily influenced by fears driven by Italy's invasion of Albania in 1939. In TTL the later invasion means that the agreement gets delayed as well. More on Yugoslavia in upcoming updates.

17. "The King's Granaries."

18. Unlike OTL where the Italians had 14 months to pour money into Albania in an attempt to win hearts and minds, the timing of TTL's invasion, the disastrous campaign, and subsequent Italian defeats means that TTL's occupation of Albania only gets a fraction of the funds they did in OTL.

19.Roughly equivalent to the American cent.

20. A large number of Italian workers arrived in Albania in OTL as well.

21. Albania's Greek and other minority communities had similar attitudes towards the new Italian inspired fascist education system in OTL. The biggest difference is that in TTL they have a more positive example to look to in Zog's system.

(Excerpted from "In the Mountains with King Zog: The Diaries of Parashqevi Qiriazi 1940-41" published 1988)

November 30, 1940. Drenova

No clearer testament to the Relindja's(22) incomplete nature exists than the increasing number of defections to Vërlaci's so-called "Regency." With every passing day it seems like even more opportunists are joining their ranks just like Ahmet said they would. Today's news was particularly disheartening as it seems like the Italians are now taking a page out of the Ottomans' book and using religion to divide the Albanian people. Perhaps there is a small blessing in Protestantism's small following in this country: if there is no hierarchy for the Italians to coopt, they cannot betray us. Sure, individual Protestants might collaborate but surely that will sting far less than the parallel structures being set up right now.

The bootlicking Bishop Visarion's appointment to become the new head of the Albanian Orthodox Church had been bad enough. That betrayal had at least been somewhat expected. The man had never forgiven Zog for passing him over for Kisi. The defection of dozens of other priests and another bishop was what really stung. Apparently, all the concerns over the man's debauchery which had made him such a controversial ally prior to 1929 were no longer valid now that the political climate had changed. Nor was his encouragement of the Uniate movement within the Church. Similarly, the Catholic betrayal had been both equally expected and discouraging in its decidedly unexpected scope.(23)[/U]

Visarion_Xhuvani.jpg

Bishop Visarion Xhuvani head of the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church under occupation. Like Verlaci, also a native of Elbasan.​

The recent defections from the ulema were particularly disheartening to seemingly everyone. I'm trying to keep my personal emotions from exacerbating my feelings to the point that it impacts my work but it has been difficult. The prospect of Ahmet securing a "legitimate" divorce from Behije seems impossible now and even though it is just one in a series of barriers between a "proper" relationship, I nevertheless find myself longing for a kind of "legitimacy." Perhaps Mira is right, and all of this doesn't really matter. After all, even if the ulema granted the divorce, our relationship would still be seen as nothing more than a torrid affair by most of the country. Even Albania's Christian communities would reject a Protestant queen never mind the fanatical Muslims in Central Albania. Perhaps what really matters is the fact that no one in the resistance has any real problem with us being together.

Still, what use was all of Ahmet's pandering to Muslims if the ulema treat him like this during an imperialist invasion no less? All of the religious performance, dress, diet which made him a model Muslim ruler to the rest of the world obviously was not enough for them. All of the prosperity he brought to the Albanian people and the prestige he brought to them simply could not counterbalance his refusal to allow religious instruction in state schools and his adoption of a more modern Western legal system? Moreover now you have respected leaders like Mirakaj saying that Fascism is far closer to Islam than Zogism ever was?(24) Needless to say, Ahmet is furious. He'd made preparations for the divisions within the Catholic and Orthodox churches, but he'd genuinely been counting on near unanimous support from the Sunnis and the Bektashi. Now he has to start from the ground up with at least the Sunni community, hopefully the Bektashi's officially neutral stance changes soon.(25)

Not to say that there is not a silver lining to this cloud. Seeing Ahmet make a mistake is somewhat comforting for the rest of us. He's always quite understanding and never expects anything unreasonable, but his record of success puts a certain pressure on everyone. It is nice to have a reminder that even the best of us falls short sometimes. Furthermore, as hard as it is going to be to rebuild a loyal ulema perhaps it is what is needed to remove another barrier holding Albania back. A truly liberal, modern, and European Islam would truly be a contribution with global implications. (26) If I need to sacrifice some personal comfort for that to happen so be it. Still, the prospect of the new Albania Ahmet wants to create is as daunting as it is exciting.

Ahmet's recovery makes everything a bit easier. His broken leg, the last lingering reminder of the Battle of Tirana, has all but healed and he finally feels strong enough to go without the cane. It seems like everyone, not just me, can pick up on his palpable excitement. Sometimes its hard to believe that the man I am with is the same Ahmet Zog I knew before the war. It certainly is not just the new "more martial" look either. It took me a bit of time, but the new uniforms, shaved head, and full beard are beginning to grow on me.(27) No, his entire attitude and demeanor has changed. The way he describes it, all the pressure of preparing for war is gone, now all that is left is the matter of fighting it. Though he recognizes that his actions at the Battle of Tirana were foolish, he maintains that he cannot quit fighting altogether. I can only hope that his preparations are sufficient and that he will indeed choose his battles carefully as he has promised. At the very least I do not have to worry for a few more months while he gets himself into "fighting shape."

Normally, I'd be paralyzed by fear, but I find myself so busy these days with helping the teacher college and designing the new curriculum for the resistance's schools I am finding it hard to stop and obsess about things I cannot control. Needless to say, it is a far cry from what I had initially anticipated. Far from tutoring a handful of elite children, I find myself effectively in charge of a true attempt to ensure that all the hard work of the past decade does not go to waste under Mussolini and his lap dog Vërlaci. Ahmet was being deadly earnest when he insisted that education was going to be the cornerstone of his new Albania. As eager as some of the teachers are to take up arms, he would rather they continue to use chalk and slate to transform the next generation and he has entrusted me with organizing it all. Undoubtedly, a great deal of this emphasis is for propaganda purposes and to serve as the basis for more resistance cells, but beneath it lies the same genuine commitment which seemingly emerged out of the ether the moment he was crowned.

All of it is far more overwhelming now that the enemy patrols have all but disappeared. It used to be nothing more than a simple parlor game, planning the wartime education system while Ahmet lay in bed and Italian troops combed the mountainsides with their collaborators. Honestly, I did not notice it changing at the beginning. I was content to take care of Ahmet and tend to the handful of students on the base. Every new arrival seemed insignificant on their own but then a few weeks ago I realized that nearly the entire pre-war teacher training apparatus had remained loyal. (28) When coupled with all the messages from teachers around the country I find myself faced with a truly gargantuan task and I no longer have the excuse of being constantly harried by the enemy to not rise up to meet it. Moreover, with all of the defectors the children here at the "Mountain School" are more than adequately provided for, freeing me up for grander ambitions.

Though certainly the occupation forcing us to work clandestinely inhibits our efforts, the fact that we have been freed from the more traditional voices is truly exhilarating. With Ahmet's blessing we have been truly able to pioneer a new era for Albanian education here in the Mountain School and now we are about to spread it through the entire country. For all the damage that the invasion did, by scattering FMSh employees and their families across the country they might have inadvertently exponentially accelerated Ahmet's envisioned transformation of Albanian society. Some days I feel my age and wish I was younger so that I might contribute more and see more of the effects. Yet who knows? Ahmet's new energy is infectious. I feel younger now than I did a decade ago. He and I may not be able to have children but what is a birthing a biological child compared to birthing an entire nation?

Notes

22. A term used to refer to the Albanian National Awakening which most generally agree began in the 19th century.

23. All of this happened in OTL more or less. The Catholics were especially eager to collaborate given their tight ties with Italy, particularly the Jesuits (The Franciscans were more pro Austrian and thus collaborated more with the Germans.) Given Visarion's treatment in TTL I think he's even more likely to collaborate. The only real difference is that Kisi is firmly in the Zogist camp which provides Visarion the opening he lacked in OTL. In OTL Kisi also supported the Italians and encouraged the Uniate movement at their behest which effectively blocked Visarion.

24. Again the Muslim leadership was firmly pro-Italian in OTL despite Zog shifting gears and trying to get them onside after 1936. Mirakaj's article in TTL is basically the same as the one he wrote in OTL in Tomorri, the main newspaper in Italian occupied Albania. In TTL Jack is more observant but doesn't shift policies and enacts a number of reforms that push against Islamic interests in Albania making him even more unpopular than Zog was among the higher leadership.

25. The Bektashi were the most pro-resistance group in OTL but remained cautiously neutral to the point that the Italians assassinated the head of the movement, Nijaz Deda, in 1940 to guarantee compliance. Of course, this backfired as it led many Bektashi to join the Partisans in record numbers.

26. Despite its reputation for moderation, Albanian Sunni Islam within the interwar period was quite conservative, particularly among the leadership according to Dr. Natalie Clayer, the authority on Islam in Albania. Most of the reputation comes from the Sufi groups like the Bektashi which grew substantially in popularity.

27. Jack's an American veteran so a certain aesthetic appeals to him. Normally he would be clean shaven, but to do so in 1940s Albania would seriously damage his reputation as it was unthinkable for most Albanian men in the mountains to not have facial hair. As Zog looks unable to grow a substantial moustache IMO (he didn't in WWI when it was in vogue) Jack goes with a full beard which he sees as more martial and easier to maintain than Zog's characteristic thin moustache. His shaved head not only appeals to his 21st century military experience but also the Albanian practice of mountain men shaving part or all of their heads for war.

28. Teachers formed the backbone of the Partisan movement in OTL with minimal investment from the government. In TTL Zog's been building them up for precisely this reason.

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Back to Albania for this update. More on the rest of the war in Part XXVI. Needless to say the war is about to deviate more from OTL, but the heart of this story is still in Albania so I want to keep bringing us back there from time to time.