Forsaken Albania

By Artan lame
Tirana, October 1943. It is now one month since Italy capitulated. The Germans have installed themselves in Albania, the authorities have lost all legitimacy, the mountains are filling up with partisans on the one hand, and members of the National Front, (known as Ballists), on the other, ready to strike one another at any time; the forests are infested with gangs of thieves that raid whatever they can wherever they can. In these circumstances, with a little instigation from the Germans who didn’t want to expend their troops on maintaining law and order in the country, following the creation of a provisional government, the meeting of a National Assembly was initiated, which was to set up the new institutions.This meeting took place from the 16th to the 22nd of October 1943, in the principle hall of the Royal Palace, today the Palace of Brigades.
The first photograph is a shot of some of the delegates to the National Assembly entering the Royal Palace. It is about half past eight in the morning and the proceedings were to open at nine o’clock. Standing amongst the delegates is Ibrahim Bi被u, provisional Prime Minister and re-appointed Prime Minister in 1944. The main door into the Palace is wide open and on both sides stand armed guards. In the left hand corner of the photograph, you can see a Palace waiter dressed in tails, still there from the time of the Itallian occupation and who continued to discharge duties in the new situation too.
The second photograph was taken only a few hours later. One hour after the Assembly had begun proceedings, the III Partisan Brigade, which, during the night, had stealthy installed itself on one of the hilltops of Sauk, on the outskirts of Tirana, swung a field gun into position, and at ten o’clock on the dot they opened fire. Several shells hit the Palace.
The third photograph shows precisely the field gun used, now on display in a Museum. One of the shells fell into the grounds of the Palace and served to correct the settings, the next shells ram into the walls of the Palace close to the outside entrance and into the windows of the second floor. For some time the Assembly interrupts its activity, the partisans withdraw with lightening speed back into the higher grounds of the mountains, a detatchment of militia are sent out into the area from where the artillery shots were fired, the Police open up new case files and the Germans remained stupified as to why the Albanians try to wipe one another out by opening up artillery fire against the National Assembly.
The second photo also shows some of the damage done to the wall of the Palace. Standing beside the cavity is the young waiter from the first photograph. The tails and starched collar are still in place, but the expression of eager curiosity has gone and there is a sad look about him, of a person who understands that the world is being shaken to its very foundations, and that a time is approaching when, to discharge your duties diligently and to keep your collar spotless, is not sufficient to avoid a shell from exploding over your head.