Area Handbook for Albania Part 22

The People's Army

The army claims no antecedents in the forces of the pre-Communist regimes and dates itself from July 10, 1943, when a General Staff was formed within the guerrilla forces resisting the Italian occupation.

Petrit Dume, its chief of staff in 1970, had commanded the People's Army for about twenty years. He was second only to Balluku in the defense hierarchy and was also a candidate member of the Politburo of the Party organization. Enver Hoxha, first secretary of the Albanian Workers'

Party, held the rank of general of the army until rank designations were abolished but, although he could exercise personal direction of the armed forces as their commander in chief, he was not considered a member of the defense establishment.

All of the regular military forces are within the People's Army. The air and naval arms are usually treated separately because of their distinctive functions and equipment, but their men are sometimes referred to as naval and air soldiers. Major subcommands, such as the army's directorates of Political Affairs and Rear Services (Logistics), serve all service components. The same is the case with such organizations as the medical service that have functions applicable to all of the armed forces.

At lower levels, where the functions of the forces are specialized in relation to their weapons, organizational patterns appear to be similar to those in most of the other armed forces throughout the Communist world. During the post-World War II formative years, force structures were adapted from those of the Soviet Union. Realignments after 1961 to cooperate with the Communist Chinese are not believed to have affected them to any appreciable degree. Some unit designations, such as army division, are not used in the peacetime organization and, in other situations, the sizes of units may be scaled down somewhat from normal international practice.

Rank designations were abolished in 1966. Since then, according to the governmental decree that effected the change, position in the military hierarchy is based on the responsibilities stipulated in the relevant tables of organization of the armed forces. Most of the personnel who would have fallen into the lower rank categories are acquired by conscription. Men without highly skilled specialties are retained for two years; noncommissioned officers and others who receive special training are required to serve for longer periods.

The stated mission of the armed forces in general and the ground forces in particular is to defend the country and to secure its governing system. The stated mission notwithstanding, support of the system is primarily the responsibility of the security police forces and, against an external opponent, the armed forces are believed to have only a defensive capability. Unless Albanian forces engaged an enemy that was also committed against a third party in a more general conflict, they would, of necessity, revert to guerrilla fighting. Most of the training and much of the propaganda directed at the local population indicate that the leadership antic.i.p.ates the possibility of guerrilla warfare.

The Party slogan, "the pick in one hand and the rifle in the other,"

also ill.u.s.trates the dual use of service personnel in peacetime. They a.s.sist in the construction of industrial enterprises and hydroelectric plants and in land reclamation projects, crop harvests, and the like.

They were used during the early 1960s, for example, in the construction of the oil refinery at Cerrik; in building a sugar factory, a lumber combine, and a textile factory; and in the draining of Lake Maliq to acquire additional agricultural land in a marshy lake district area north of Korce (see ch. 8, Economic System).

Ground Forces

The ground forces contain about three-quarters of the regular personnel and are the backbone of the armed forces. Consequently, many of the People's Army functions that apply to all of the service components are administered within the ground force organization.

Because the active personnel strength of the ground forces is around 30,000--sufficient to man only about two divisions--the brigade has been chosen as the basic tactical unit. The brigades are manned with approximately 3,000 men each, and there are probably one tank and five infantry brigades. The infantry brigades are believed to contain three infantry battalions and a lightly equipped artillery regiment. The tank brigade has Soviet-built weapons. Most of them are World War II T-34 medium tanks, but there are a few of the later model T-54s.

Almost all artillery is light and small caliber, since movement of heavy equipment is nearly impossible over much of the terrain. In addition, heavy weapons, their transport, or even their ammunition could not be produced locally, and little resupply from external sources could be expected in any lengthy conflict. In so small an area the rapid movement of forces would serve little purpose. The minimal amount of transport equipment available includes small numbers of Soviet-designed armored personnel carriers, command cars, and a few types of trucks.

Before 1961 training was based on Soviet methods, and specialized schools were scaled-down copies of those in the Soviet army. Training manuals were translated from the Russian. Although external support of the forces has been transferred from the Soviet Union to Communist China, the Chinese have apparently not required basic changes in the training programs. Most conscripts have been exposed to a considerable amount of drill and elementary basic training in school and in Communist youth organizations, permitting the forces to concentrate on tactical exercises. These consist mostly of small unit activities and involve fighting techniques appropriate to the defense of the mountainous interior. Physical conditioning, tactics involving light weapons, and operations using a minimum of materiel support are emphasized on a continuing basis. Political indoctrination, conducted or supervised by the political commissars, is heavily administered in all training programs.

Naval Forces

Naval units are subordinate to the Coastal Defense Command which, although a part of the People's Army, is operationally responsible directly to the Ministry of People's Defense. None of the pre-World War II navy survived the occupation and, as with the other branches of the service, the navy forgets any earlier ancestry and celebrates August 15, 1945, as its founding date. The senior naval officer is commander of naval forces, a deputy commander of coastal defense, and deputy minister of defense for naval affairs. In late 1969 Ymer Zeqir held these positions. As deputy commander of coastal defense he coordinated naval operations with those of the air defense and ground forces that would partic.i.p.ate in defense of the coastal area. As deputy minister of defense he represented the naval forces in national defense planning and coordinated personnel, logistic support, and matters that are common to other branches of the armed forces.

Naval forces are divided into three commands: the Submarine Brigade, the Vlore Sea Defense Brigade, and the Durres Sea Defense Brigade. All combat ships are a.s.signed to one of the three. The Submarine Brigade is based at the Pasha Liman anchorages south of the city of Vlore, at the extreme southwestern point in the bay. Main facilities of the Vlore Sea Defense Brigade are located on the island of Sazan, in the mouth of the bay about ten miles west of Vlore. This was the site of the Soviet submarine base before 1961. The Durres Sea Defense Brigade controls the units stationed at Durres and those that are locked within Lake Scutari.

The Buene River is navigable between Lake Scutari and the Adriatic, but only the smallest of the ships in the lake can pa.s.s beneath the Shkoder city bridges.

The officially stated mission of the naval forces is to provide for the military security of coastal waters; to prevent smuggling; to prevent submarines from approaching the coast or harbors; to lay and sweep mines; to intercept enemy forces; to escort convoys along the coastline; and, together with police patrol boats, to control entries to, or exits from, the country. Original Soviet support for the navy was provided in order to secure a submarine and minelaying base with access to the Mediterranean Sea.

Forces available are considerably weaker than those of any one of the potential enemies and, with the exception of Vlore, Albanian harbors provide little natural protection. It is therefore probable that the leadership thinks in terms of peacetime sh.o.r.e patrols and would hope, in wartime, to use what units they were able to preserve to prevent totally uninhibited use of the seas adjacent to the country.

In mid-1970 naval ships included three or four submarines, eight minesweepers, twelve motor torpedo boats, one or two oilers, and perhaps twenty-five or thirty more ships, about one-half of which were cla.s.sed as coastal patrol and one-half as auxiliary types. The submarines are obsolescent medium-range boats. Two of the minesweepers are oceangoing vessels; the other six can sweep harbors or insh.o.r.e seas only. Most of the miscellaneous vessels were formerly Italian, of World War II and earlier vintages. Albanian sources claim that a dozen newer torpedo boats have been supplied by the Chinese, six of them hydrofoil types.

Naval personnel number approximately 3,000. Since many of the ships put to sea infrequently, many of the navy men do part-time fishing or agricultural work. Familiarity with ships helps a new conscript get a naval a.s.signment, and many of those drafted are from the vicinities of Vlore or Durres and may serve their three years being only rarely out of sight of home. Their morale is only fair.

Officers are required to have a general education that includes at least some university credits. They receive specialized courses before going to sea. Before 1961 most officers and some of the higher noncommissioned officer ratings received some training in the Soviet Union. Without this training or a Chinese subst.i.tute for it, there has probably been some degradation in the technical capabilities of the officer and noncommissioned officer personnel.

Air Force

The Albanian Air Force is the youngest of the service branches, founded on April 23, 1951. As is the case with the navy, the air force is also a part of the People's Army, having organizational and logistic individuality only insofar as its equipment is different and requires different techniques and skills in its use. Arif Hasko, chief of the air force in mid-1970, was also a deputy minister of defense and, as was the case with his naval counterpart, advised on problems peculiar to his force and coordinated on matters of general interest to all branches of the service.

Air defense artillery and missile units are usually included with the air force and account for about two-thirds of its 5,000 to 7,000 personnel. Air defense units received Soviet equipment between 1948 and 1961, including that required at a few surface-to-air missile sites.

Their Guideline missiles were paraded in Tirana on Army Day of 1964 and have been shown on occasion since. The original missiles supplied by the Soviets would have outlived their storage lifetimes by 1970. If a surface-to-air missile capability did exist at that time, the Chinese would have supplied the necessary replacements.

Aircraft in 1970 included sixty to seventy fighters and fighter-bombers and about the same number of transports, trainers, and miscellaneous noncombat types. All were of Soviet design. Fighter-bombers or ground attack aircraft were the jet MiG-15s and MiG-17s provided by the Soviet Union before 1961. Spare parts necessary to keep them operating since then have been supplied by Communist China. MiG-19s for the air defense interceptor role have also been furnished by the Chinese.

It is believed that the 1970 force included four ground support squadrons and probably two interceptor squadrons, with about ten or twelve aircraft per squadron. Air-to-air missiles are an integral part of the MiG-19 armament and are presumably being furnished in small quant.i.ties by the Chinese. Transport squadrons contain a few Soviet-built piston-engined Il-14s and AN-2s, some Soviet-built helicopters, and possibly a few helicopters built by the Chinese.

The five princ.i.p.al airbases are located near Tirana, Shijak (about twenty miles west of Tirana), Vlore, Sazan Island (at the mouth of Vlore Bay), and at Stalin (about forty miles south of Tirana). The base on Sazan Island that was built and used by the Russians has been used intermittently, if at all, since the Russians evacuated it in 1961.

Helicopter bases have been, or are being, constructed at several inland cities as well as at Tirana, Shkoder, and as a part of the major base at Vlore. The forces had no surface-to-surface missile capability in 1970.

The missions a.s.signed to the combat elements of the air force are to repel an enemy at the borders and to prevent the violation of Albanian airs.p.a.ce. Because the force is small, could not easily be resupplied, has exposed bases, and possesses no appreciable area to retreat into, however, it could not be expected to contribute significantly to any sustained combat effort. It serves mainly to provide the regime with ostensive evidence of its power and technological progress.

Mobilization Potential

In the event of total mobilization there are just under 500,000 males between the ages of fifteen and fifty. Of the total group approximately 75 percent, or nearly 375,000, are physically fit. More than half of these have had some military service, and a sizable group partic.i.p.ates in military reserve activities (see ch. 4, The People).

Information as to how the existing establishment would be expanded is not available. Units active in 1970 could be enlarged to about double their peacetime strengths because all units are usually maintained at considerably below combat readiness strengths. New units would probably be created in infantry or guerrilla forces. Additional tank, air, and naval units would require more of their special equipment before they could become operational. Some women probably would be mobilized. The national economy, however, could not provide logistic support for the number of male personnel available, and external support would be necessary.

Political Indoctrination

At the time of the Communist takeover in 1944 and in the years immediately thereafter, political commissars were an integral part of the military organization. They were considered essential in order to a.s.sure that ideological beliefs were constant and were adhered to without deviation. As the years pa.s.sed they lost their early importance and were eventually done away with, but they were reinstated in 1966 when alignment with Communist China brought renewed revolutionary fervor.

How much their organization and operations in 1970 differed from what they were in 1944 is not clearly understood, but the fact that they were still called political commissars was a strong indication that they performed basically the same functions. There is no question but that the justification for their existence was the same--that is, to ensure that the ideological and political orientation of the troops and of their leaders did not deviate from the Party line. The decree that reinstated the commissars stated that they would be a.s.signed in all units, subunits, and military establishments. This presumably means that there are commissars in all base organizations and in tactical units down at least to the company level.

It is also known that Political Directorates in both the Ministry of People's Defense and the Ministry of the Interior control the commissars in the armed forces and the security forces, respectively. Political commissars are carefully selected from the standpoint of ideological reliability. Those appointed since 1966 must have had five years of unblemished Party membership. Those in the armed forces who are attached to the lower levels of the organizational structure are responsible to the Political Directorate and the Party organization rather than to superior officers within the military command channels. Hito Cako was chief of the People's Army Political Directorate in 1970.

In addition to the military court system, discipline is enforced as part of the educational and ideological training program by the political workers who act in conjunction with the Party organizations in service units. They are invited to take measures necessary against individuals whose att.i.tude or conduct is considered harmful to the effectiveness of, or discipline within, the army.

Military Schools

Other than those that are set up for specialized training, there are three military schools providing curricula aimed at producing officer personnel or offering advanced military theory. The Skanderbeg military school is a secondary or preparatory school. It is attended by children of top Party, government, and military leaders and prepares them for entrance into the Enver Hoxha United Army Officers School. The Hoxha school is the oldest military educational inst.i.tution in the country. It started a formal curriculum in 1945 but, according to Party claims, was in operation before the World War II occupation forces left the country in 1944. It is the military academy that provides a university level curriculum and whose students become commissioned officers upon graduation.

The Mehmet Shehu Military Academy is named for the man who in 1970 was premier (chairman of the Council of Ministers) and also a member of the Party Politburo. Shehu was a lieutenant general before 1966 and was considered one of the country's most capable military leaders. The academy is the advanced military inst.i.tution that offers career training equivalent to that of command and staff or war college inst.i.tutions in Western military establishments.

Military Medicine

The medical services were organized during the 1950s along the lines of those in the Soviet and East European Communist forces in order to facilitate cooperation among them. Although there has been no such cooperation since 1961, the basic organization was unchanged in 1963 and probably remained basically the same in 1970.

The head of the medical establishment has the t.i.tle of chief, Albanian Armed Forces Medical Service. He is responsible to the chief of the Rear Services, which is one of the unified directorates directly beneath the Ministry of People's Defense. Naval, air force, and ground force staffs are responsible to him, but the naval and air force groups appear to have a largely advisory capacity, except as they work to secure the services required by their branches of the service. The hospital, pharmaceutical, and personnel sections, however, are operated by the deputy chief of medical services, who is also head of the ground forces'

medical department.

Albanian sources state that there is close cooperation between the military medical service and the Ministry of Health. The forces' medical personnel, facilities, equipment, and medicines have been used to improve sanitary and medical conditions in less developed areas and to provide a.s.sistance in flood, earthquake, and other emergency situations.