21st Waffen Mountain Division of The SS Skanderbeg (1st Albanian) - Participation

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. Lasting just a few months, this Waffen-SS division was "militarily useless" and declared a "fiasco". Insubordination, poor discipline, looting and violence against unarmed civilians (especially Serbs but also Albanians deemed Communistic) were constant problems. Members of the division were used, either as attachments to regular Wehrmacht units conducting sweeps for partisans, or to terrorize the local non-Albanian population in the areas of Greater Albania which are not part of Albania. The Division participated in the Wehrmacht Operation "Fuchsjagd", known to the Communists as the "Battle of Debar", over 18 to 27 August 1944 (during the first week of Ramadan). The Division fought alongside Albanian government soldiers, tribal bands an Albanian nationalist četa from Debar itself and approximately 800 men from Colonel Abaz Kupi's Zogist-Legality (Royalist) faction. The town of Debar was not captured and the campaign against Communist partisans in central Albania was a failure, only leading to further desertions. The only other action partaken was assisting the orderly Wehrmacht withdrawal over October to November 1944. Over 700 men of this SS Division, along with approximately 5000 local Kosovo-Albanians recruited by Xhafer Deva, aided the Germans evacuating through Kosovo and resisted incursions by both Communist partisans and Bulgarian incursions.