21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (1st Albanian)
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| 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg | |
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| Active | Raised March 1944, Disbanded Nov. 1944 |
| Country | Albania |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Waffen SS |
| Type | Mountain |
| Size | about 6,000 - 6,500 |
| Nickname | Skanderbeg |
The 21st SS Division Skanderbeg was a Waffen SS Mountain division set up by Heinrich Himmler in March 1944, officially under the title of the 21st Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS Skanderbeg (Albanische Nr. 1). It was named after George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, the national hero of Albanians who resisted Ottoman invasion for 25 years.
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[edit] Formation
Hoping to form an "army, which will be able to safeguard the borders of Kosovo and liberate the surrounding regions"[1] the names of 11,398 recruits were submitted to Berlin. Of these, 9,275 were deemed suitable for drafting, and about 6,000 were actually drafted into the Waffen SS. The number however plunged quickly and morale deteriorated, forcing the Germans to disband it just 8 months after its creation.
Albanians in Kosovo saw the invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by Axis Powers as an opportunity to secede from the kingdom, and eventually merge with Albania. In 1941 Albania, Western Macedonia, and majority of Kosovo were under Italian control. Following the surrender of Fascist Italy in 1943, the territories under discussion, inhabited largely by Albanians were handed over to Nazi Germany.
In 1943 a number of Albanians from Kosovo and the Sandžak region were recruited into the Waffen-SS Handschar Division. They were teamed up into Battalion I/2 (later I/28) and on 17 April 1944 transferred from combat in Bosnia to Kosovo via rail.
The 21st Waffen SS Mountain Division was the only fully ethnic Albanian division to be recruited during the Second World War. It was established originally to combat partisan activity with the promise that the territories with a majority Albanian population were to become an independent and unified state to include Albania, Kosovo and Western Macedonia or what is called Natural Albania (or Ethnic Albania).doubtful, add reference
In February 1944 the decision was taken, following the modest success of the Handschar Division in Bosnia, to raise a parallel unit inside Albania. According to Bernd Fischer, the Division included 1500 Pows, "natives of Kosovo who had served in the Yugoslav army, plus remnants of the failed Albanian army and gendarmerie, volunteers from both old and new Albania." (Bernd Fischer "Albania at War", page.185). Xhafer Deva, an Albanian from Kosovo and Interior Minister under the Nazi puppet regime, helped with recruitment.
The division was placed under the command of SS-Standartenführer August Schmidthuber, later promoted to SS-Oberführer. It fought against the Communist partisan forces of Enver Hoxha who were on the increase and consolidating their actions, both in Albania and Yugoslavia as the Second World War was drawing to an end. The Division was very poorly led with a serious dearth of instructors, Albanian officers or NCOs.
The division was operational for a few months (February 1944 – November 1944), with a strength of about 6,000 - 6,500 rather than the normal strength of a division (10,000-20,0000). Given that most of the recruits deserted, it was declared a failure and disbanded. By October 1944, their number had dwindled to 3500, they refused to fight or to take orders, and it never became a significant force. [2]
"The Germans were forced to disarm battalions at Pec and Prizren, arresting the Albanian officers and sending them to the camp at Prishtina." (Bernd Fisher, "Albania at War", page. 185)
SS-Brigadefűhrer August Schmidthuber, one of the commanders of the 21st SS Mountain Division "Skanderbeg”, was captured in 1945 and turned over to Yugoslav authorities. He was put on trial in February 1947 by a Yugoslav military tribunal at Belgrade, on charges of participating in massacres, deportations and atrocities against civilians. The tribunal sentenced him to death by hanging. He was executed on 27 February 1947. [3]
[edit] Insignia
The division arm patch consisted of a white double-headed eagle on a black background. The recruits wore the white traditional Albanian highlander cap (pileus), and later the SS issued grey headgear in the same style, with the Totenkopf sewn on the front.
[edit] Participation
Led by German officers, in May 1944, some troops from the division were stationed in the Đakovica area to guard the mines there. In the middle of the month, under German direction, they participated in rounding up 281 Jews who were subsequently deported north to certain death.[4]. Lasting just a few months, this Waffen-SS division was "militarily useless[5]" and declared a "fiasco.[6]". Members of the division were used, either as attachments to Nazi units conducting sweeps for partisans, or to terrorize the local non-Albanian population in the areas of Greater Albania which were not part of Albania proper. The Division participated in the Wehrmacht Operation "Fuchsjagd", known to the Communists as the "Battle of Dibra", over 18 to 27 August 1944. The Division fought alongside Albanian government soldiers, tribal bands from the Roman Catholic Mirdita clan, a nationalist "ceta" from Dibra itself and approximately 800 men from Colonel Abaz Kupi's Zogist-Legality faction. The camapign against Communist partisans in central Albania was a failure and only led to further desertions. The only other "action" partaken was assisting the orderly Wehrmacht withdrawal over October to November 1944. Over 700 men of the former SS Division, along with approximately 5000 local Kosovar-Albanians recruited by Xhafer Deva, aided the Germans evacuating through Kosovo (in exchange for arms and munitions), and successfully resisted incursions by both Communist partisans and Bulgarian incursions.
[edit] Order of battle
- Waffen Gebirgsjäger Regiment of SS 50
- Waffen Gebirgsjäger Regiment of SS 51
- Waffen Gebirgs Artillery Regiment 21
- SS Reconnaissance Battalion 21
- SS Panzerjäger Battalin 21
- SS Gebirgs Pionier Battailon 21
- SS Versorgüngs Battalion 21
- SS Signals Battalion 21
- SS Medical Battalion 21 [7]
[edit] Further reading
- List of German divisions in WWII
- Waffen-SS
- Hermann Neubacher, Sonderauftrag Sudost (1953)
- Haroey Samer, Rescue In Albania: One Hundred Percent Of Jews In Albania Rescued From Holocaust, Brunswick Press, California (1997). Available at: http://www.aacl.com/index11.html
- Noel Malcolm, Kosovo: A Short History, New York University Press; New Update edition (November 2000).
- Chris Bishop, Hitler's Foreign SS Divisions (2005)
- Bernd Fischer, Albania at War (1999)
[edit] References
- ^ Ailsby, Christopher J. 2004. "Hitler's Renegades: Foreign Nationals in the Service of the Third Reich," Brassey's Press. ISBN 1574888382. P. 169
- ^ Elsie Robert ,historical dictionary of Kosovo
- ^ History of the United Nations War Crimes Commission and the Development of the Laws of War p. 528, United Nations War Crimes Commission, London: HMSO, 1948)
- ^ Elsie, Robert. 2004. "Historical Dictionary of Kosovo," Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810853094. P. 169
- ^ Ailsby, Christopher J. 2004. "Hitler's Renegades: Foreign Nationals in the Service of the Third Reich," Brassey's Press. ISBN 1574888382. P. 169
- ^ Ailsby, Christopher J. 2004. "Hitler's Renegades: Foreign Nationals in the Service of the Third Reich," Brassey's Press. ISBN 1574888382. P. 169
- ^ Wendel, Marcus. "21. SS Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Skanderbeg (albanische Nr. 1)". Axis History. http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=1927. Retrieved on 2009-15-03.
