Talk:Battle of Drashovica

Number of German Casualties

The alleged number of German casualties in this battle can be traced back to Ramadan Marmullaku (1975). Albania and the Albanians. London: C. Hurst. p. 52. ISBN 9780903983136.. Marmullaku's description is almost verbatim reproduced by Mr. Pearson. (Owen Pearson (11 July 2006). Albania in Occupation and War: From Fascism to Communism 1940-1945. I.B.Tauris. p. 274. ISBN 9781845111045. Retrieved 22 July 2011.) According to Bernd Jürgen Fischer, it is certainly exaggerated. (Bernd Jürgen Fischer (1999). Albania at war, 1939-1945. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. p. 190. ISBN 9781557531414. Retrieved 22 July 2011.) Other recent German secondary literature does not mention the battle at all. (See, e.g., Hubert Neuwirth (2008). Widerstand und Kollaboration in Albanien 1939-1944. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 9783447057837. Retrieved 22 July 2011.) Maybe this issue can be cleared up. --Assayer (talk) 12:36, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

I just reckon that the number of German guards in the barracks of Drashovicë and Mavrovë was, according to Marmullaku, about 1,000 Germans (see reference above, same page).--Assayer (talk) 12:40, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Communists claimed that only the ANLF fought and that all the casualties were inflicted by them, which is what Fischer considers an exaggeration and is correct since BK took part in the battle. Unfortunately neither Marmullaku nor the the second source give the total numbers, as he only mentions the number of soldiers that were located in the fortifications and the other work only documents the number of soldiers that died in the last days within the two forts/barracks. I tried to check to check the total numbers Frasheri gives, but google snippet didn't allow any kind of view beyong the chapter title, so I ordered it.--— ZjarriRrethues — ^talk 11:18, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

Well, I think that Fischer does indeed consider the number of casualties inflicted to be exaggarated. I consulted Bernhard Kühmel (1981), Deutschland und Albanien 1943-1944: Die Auswirkungen der Besetzung auf die innenpolitische Entwicklung des Landes, Ph. D. diss. Ruhr-Universität Bochum{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link). He mentions Drashovicë only in passing while describing the first encounters of the partisans with German troops. According to him the Germans retaliated sporadically with 'purges' ("Säuberungsunternehmen"), since the power of the German military was initially absorbed by the removal of the Italians (p. 184). In note 73 on page 184 he writes:

"The Albanian military historiography lists a large number of armed skirmishes. (Drashovicë, Bilisht, Pogradec, Berat, Krujë, Burrel, Peshkopi, Zerqan, Delvinë, Gjirokastër, Tepelenë, Sarandë and so forth). On some occasions these operations are confirmed by German accounts. (e.g. Hermann Frank (1957), Landser, Karst und Skipetaren: Bandenkämpfe in Albanien, K.Vowinckel, p. 171). English testimony of this time casts doubts on the effectiveness of these acitivities. With certainty they are heroically glorified by the Albanian side. See Edmund Frank Davies (1952), Illyrian venture: the story of the British military mission to enemy occupied Albania, 1943-44, London: Bodley Head, p. 55ff; Peter Kemp Kemp (1958), No colours or crest, London: Cassell, p. 94." (all translations are mine)

He also refers to Walther Hubatsch; Helmuth Greiner.; Percy Ernst Schramm (1963), Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht (Wehrmachtführungsstab) 1940-1945. (Bd. 3.2): Band III.2: 1.Januar 1943 - 31. Dezember 1943, Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help). Apparently this battle is not mentioned in that diary.--Assayer (talk) 19:19, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

E. F Davie's memoirs couldn't contain anything about those events, because he arrived in Albania later that year. What does Kühmel's say about the battle? Maybe we could use it, if it offers any new details.--— ZjarriRrethues — ^talk 00:55, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

That's my point! I have quoted everything Kühmel says about the Battle, which indicates that there was no such battle. Kühmel doesn't mention Hysni Kapo or Tasim Murati (just one Mato Murati from Gjirokastër). As I said Hubert Neuwirth doesn't mention the battle either. Neither does Gerhard Schreiber in his study of the Italian POWs' fate - surprising, given that allegedly 7,000 Italian POWs were freed in the course of the battle. In fact, the number of 3,000 German soldiers killed is astonishingly high. To put that into perspective, Schreiber describes "Unternehmen 505" undertaken by a German division south of Tiranë in November 1943. Within one week the Germans claimed to have caught 1,700 Italian soldiers, killing 19 Italians and 123 partisans, themselves loosing 2 dead, 27 wounded and one missing. (Gerhard Schreiber (1990), Die Italienischen Militärinternierten Im Deutschen Machtbereich 1943-1945, Munich: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, p. 205, ISBN 9783486553918, retrieved 30 July 2011) Kühmel writes that the battle of Tiranë in November 1944 involved the most losses of German troops on Albanian ground, citing Mehmet Shehu, according to whom 2,000 Germans were killed and 300 captured. (pp. 434-5) Is Albanian historiography the only source on the battle of Drashovica?--Assayer (talk) 02:08, 30 July 2011 (UTC)