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| Anglo-American-French invasion of Communist Albanian | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theCold War | |||||||
 Top left: American forces recruiting paramilitary soldiers in Munich, Germany Top right: US Colonel F. H. Dunn inspecting the anti-communistCompany 4000 during training in Hohenbrunn, Bavaria in November 1950 Bottom left: TheSigurimi with a captured CIA agent Bottom right:Josip Broz Tito with US General John C. H. Lee, charged to take down fellow communist rulerEnver Hoxha | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
Hoxha's regime: Communist Albania | Western Bloc:  Albanian exilesSeparatists: KEVA Poland | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Enver HoxhaMehmet Shehu |
 Josip Broz Tito | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| UDBA | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Initial operation: Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | 1949–1954 33 Yugoslav agents of the UDBA were captured or executed[5]60 agents killed[b][6] | ||||||
| 400 civilians executed | |||||||
Operation Valuable was a failedcovert operation conducted during theCold War byFrance, theUnited Kingdom and theUnited States in collaboration with otherWestern Bloc nations. The operation aimed to overthrow thecommunist regime of Albanian rulerEnver Hoxha as part ofbroader efforts to countercommunist influence around the world and install pro-Western leaders. It involved strategic military actions, incorporating air, naval, and ground assets in pursuit of its objectives.[7]
As part of the operation,DGSE,MI6 and theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched a joint covert operation usingAlbanian expatriates as agents. Other anti-communist Albanians and Europeans from other nations worked as agents for Greek and Italian intelligence services, some supported by MI6 and the CIA.
Many of the agents were caught, put on trial, and either shot or condemned to long prison terms ofpenal labor.[citation needed]
Albania was in an unenviable position afterWorld War II,[8] asGreece claimed Albanian lands.[8]The Western Allies recognized neither KingZog I nor a republicangovernment-in-exile, nor did they ever raise the question of Albania or its borders at major wartime conferences.[8] No reliable statistics on Albania's wartime losses exist, but theUnited Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration reported about 30,000 Albanian dead from the war, 200 destroyed villages, 18,000 destroyed houses, and about 100,000 people made homeless.[8] Albanian official statistics claim higher losses.[8]
British plans for the overthrow of Hoxha and the communist regime in Albania had existed since 1946.[9] The Russia Committee, established in 1946 by the British Foreign Office, was created to oppose the extension of Soviet control by promoting civil strife in Russia's western border nations.[10]
On 6 September 1949, when NATO met for the first time in Washington,Foreign Secretary of the United KingdomErnest Bevin proposed that "a counter-revolution" be launched in Albania. US Secretary of State Dean Acheson was in agreement. NATO, established as a defensive military alliance for Western Europe and North America, was now committed to launching offensive covert operations against a sovereign nation in the Balkans. The US and UK, joining with their allies, Italy and Greece, agreed to support the overthrow of the Hoxha regime in Albania and to eliminate Soviet influence in the Mediterranean region. Bevin wanted to place King Zog on the throne as the leader of Albania once Hoxha was overthrown.[11]The plan called for parachute drops of royalists into theMati region in Central Albania. The region was known as a bastion of Albanian traditionalism and moreover praised for their loyalty to King Zog, himself an offspring of one of the regional clans.[citation needed] The original plan was to parachute in agents, in order to organize a massive popular revolt, which the allies would supply by air drops. In time, this revolt would spill out acivil war. The trouble that this would cause Soviet politics was considered by the British to be worth the risk, and if it did succeed, then it could be the starting point of a chain reaction ofcounter-revolutions throughout theEastern Bloc.[citation needed] The chief ofMI6,Stewart Menzies, was not enthusiastic about the paramilitary operation but saw it as a way to appease the former SOE "stinks and bangs people."[citation needed]
The British wanted theUnited States to finance the operation and to provide bases. Senior British intelligence officerWilliam Hayter, who chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), came toWashington, D.C. in March with a group of Secret Intelligence Service members andForeign Office staff that includedGladwyn Jebb,Earl Jellicoe, and MI6 Chief Peter Dwyer and aBalkans specialist.[citation needed] Joined by MI6 Washington liaisonKim Philby, they met with Robert Joyce of theUS State Department'sPolicy and Planning Staff (PPS) andFrank Wisner, who was the head of theOffice of Policy Coordination (OPC), and other US intelligence officials such as James McCargar andFranklin Lindsay. McCargar was assigned to liaise with Philby on joint operational matters. Unbeknownst to the MI6 and CIA, Philby was acommunist and aspy forSoviet foreign intelligence, and has subsequently been blamed for the failure of the operation.[12]
Anti-communist Albanians were recruited fromrefugee camps inGreece,Italy, andTurkey. The manpower for what MI6 codenamedVALUABLE Project and the CIAFIEND consisted of 40% from theBalli Kombëtar (BK), an Albanian nationalist and anti-communist organization formed during World War II, 40% from Albania's monarchist movement, known asLegaliteti and the rest from other Albanian factions.[13]
A dozen Albanianémigrés were recruited and taken toLibya to train for a pilot project that would become known as Operation Valuable. The MI6, with US Army Colonel "Ace" Miller as a liaison, trained these men in the use of weapons, codes and radio, the techniques of subversion and sabotage. They were dropped into the mountains ofMati throughout 1947, but failed to inspire the inhabitants of the region into a larger revolt. The operation continued into 1949. There were sabotage attempts on theKuçovaoil fields and thecopper mines inRubik but no real success in raising a revolt. Then, the US government weighing up the political situation, decided to lend a hand. In September 1949, Britishforeign secretaryErnest Bevin went to Washington, D.C. to discuss Operation Valuable with US government officials. The CIA released a report that concluded that "a purely internal Albanian uprising at this time is not indicated, and, if undertaken, would have little chance of success." The CIA asserted that theEnver Hoxha regime had a 65,000 man regular army and a security force of 15,000. There were intelligence reports that there were 1,500 Soviet "advisers" and 4,000 "technicians" in Albania helping to train theAlbanian Army.
British and US naval officials were concerned that the USSR was building asubmarine base at theKaraburun Peninsula near the port ofVlora. On 6 September 1949, whenNATO met for the first time in Washington, Bevin proposed that "a counter-revolution" be launched in Albania. US Secretary of StateDean Acheson was in agreement. NATO, established as a defensive military alliance for Western Europe and North America, was now committed to launching offensive covert operations against a sovereign nation in theBalkans. The US and UK, joining with their allies, Italy and Greece, agreed to support the overthrow of the Hoxha regime in Albania and to eliminate Soviet influence in theMediterranean region. Bevin wanted to place King Zog on the throne as the leader of Albania once Hoxha was overthrown.
This time a better quality ofcommandos were sought and an approach was made to King Zog in exile inCairo to recommend men for the job. However, British negotiatorNeil "Billy" McLean and American representatives Robert Miner and Robert Low were unable to bring Zog in because no one would name him head of a provisional government in exile. In August 1949, an announcement was made in Paris that Albanian political exiles had formed a multiparty committee to foment anti-communist rebellion in the homeland; actually the"Free Albania" National Committee was created by American diplomatic and intelligence officials for political cover to a covert paramilitary project, with British concurrence. The British made the first organizational move, hiring on as chief trainer MajorDavid Smiley, deputy commander of acavalry (tank) regiment stationed in Germany. The leaders of the Balli Kombetar, an exile political group whose key policy was to replace the Albanian communist regime with a non-royalist government, had already agreed with McLean and his cohort,Julian Amery, to supply 30 Albanian émigrés, some veterans of World War II guerrilla and civil wars, as recruits for the operation to penetrate Albania
In July 1949, the first group of recruits, were transported by British special operations personnel toFort Binġemma, on theBritish crown colony ofMalta. Labeled as "The Pixies" by theSIS, they spent two months training as radio operators, intelligence gatherers, and more sophisticated guerrillas than they had been as members of cetas (guerrilla bands) during World War II. On 26 September 1949, nine Pixies boarded aRoyal Navy trawler which sailed north; three days later, a Greek style fishing boat, known as acaïque and namedStormie Seas, sailed from Malta.
With a stop at an Italian port, the two vessels sailed 3 October, rendezvoused at a point in the Adriatic Sea, and transferred the Albanians to the caïque. Hours later that same night, the Pixies landed on the Albanian coast, some distance south of Vlora, which was the former territory of the Balli Kombetar, others further north. Albanian government security forces soon interdicted one of the two groups on commandos. The Communists killed three members of the first group, and a fourth man with the second group. The first three deaths and disappearance of a fourth man to join his family wiped out one group, while the surviving four from the covert landing exfiltrated south toGreece.
For two years after this landing, small groups of British-trained Albanians left every so often from training camps inMalta,Britain, andWest Germany. Most of the operations failed, with Albanian security forces interdicting many of the insurgents. Occasionally, the Albanian authorities would report on "large but unsuccessful infiltrations of enemies of the people" in several regions of the country. Some American agents, originally trained by Italian or Greek officials, also infiltrated by air, sea, or on foot to gather intelligence rather than take part in political or paramilitary operations. The most successful of these operatives was Hamit Marjani, code nameTiger, who participated in 15 land incursions.[13]
The last infiltration took place a few weeks beforeEaster 1952. In an effort to discover what was going on Captain Shehu himself, withCaptain Branica and radio operator Tahir Prenci, were guided by veteran gendarme and guerrilla fighter Matjani and three armed guards to the Mati region northeast of Tirana. Albanian security forcesmilitia were waiting for them at their rendezvous point, a house owned by Shehu's cousin, a known supporter of Zog. The militia forced Shehu's operator to transmit an all clear signal to his base in Cyprus. The operator had been schooled to deal with such situations, using a fail-safe drill which involved broadcasting in a way that warned it was being sent under duress and therefore should be disregarded. But the militia seemed to know the drill. The all clear signal went out and, nearly a year later, four more top agents, including Matjani himself, parachuted into an ambush at Shen Gjergj (Saint George), near the town ofElbasan. Those not killed were tried in April 1954.
The 1950 Albanian coastline ambushes involved clashes between theAlbanian secret police (Sigurimi) and multiple teams of MI6 agents.[14][13]
In preparation for the landing of the agents, severalC-47 aircraft and boats were used, the planes were piloted by CIA and ex-Polish Air Force colonels. Dwyer was in charge of the MI6 agents involved in the raids.[15][12] It was one of the most disastrous parts of the covert operation as all of the MI6 agents were killed or captured by Albanian forces.[14]
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Operation Valuable was a failure, with 300 MI6 and CIA agents killed during its duration.[9]
Present OPC plans for operations in Albania envisage the recruiting and training of an additional guard company, making a total of two (500 agents), and the infiltration of 50 agents by 30 June 1952. Given the widespread although at present uncoordinated opposition to the regime, it should be possible to recruit initially at least 2,000 guerrillas from opposition elements now awaiting outside assistance.
Radio Tirana raportoi më 27 tetor se 33 spiunë jugosllavë u kapën ose u vranë nga forcat shtetërore të sigurisë. Asnjë prej tyre nuk ishte agjent i OPC. Këto tre lajmërime tregojnë për suksesin e forcave qeveritare në ndalimin e infiltrimeve nga jashtë. Aktualisht, vetëm dy grupe të OPC janë operativë në Shqipëri, por meqënëse ende nuk është vendosur kontakti radio, statusi i operacioneve nuk njihet. (Albanian) Radio Tirana reported on October 27 that 33 Yugoslav spies were captured or killed by state security forces. None of them were OPC agents. These three announcements show the success of government forces in stopping infiltrations from abroad. Currently, only two OPC groups are operational in Albania, but since radio contact has not yet been established, the status of operations is unknown.
The next OPC team was parachuted in October 1951, just when in Tirana British, American, Greek, Italian and Yugoslav agents captured at different times were on trial. In general, during 1951, 60 Western agents were parachuted into Albania. None of them survived.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.Despite the above development, in September and November 1950 three more British teams landed on the Albanian beach. The results were disastrous. The Albanian Security Service, Sigurimi, ambushed the MI6 agents and almost all of them were killed or captured.
