REPORTS ON CONDITIONS IN ALBANIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600360434-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2011
• Sequence Number: 434
• Publication Date: November 20, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/22 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600360434-0
W11~II1Ci~ I IRL Q~ P
~ICATION CONFIDENTIAT. ~~,ti. .~ ? , r
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO L'ROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY Albania
SUBJECT Military; Economic; Political
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspaper
WF;EF''
PUBL'15HED Zurich
DATE
PUBLISHED 21 Aug 1950
LANGUAGE German
iN13 OOCVY[NT CONTAIN! IN/ORYAl10N A//{CTINW TN[ NA710NAL 0[/t MSS
O! TNl UNIT[D {TATt! MITXIN TN[ Y[ANIN[ Ol [l /IONAO[ ADi SO
V. f. C., S 1 AND St, AS AY[ND[0. ITD TRANSYIl SION OR TN[ R[Y[LATION
0/ IT! COMTt NTt IN ANY YANN[R TO AN VNAYTNORIZ[D /[RtON I! /RO?
NISIT[0 ST LAW. A[/RODUCTION 0/ TN16 IORY It /AONIRIi[D.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1950
DATE DIST. ~ o Nov 1950
NO. OF PAGES 3
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
R~RTS ON CONDITIONS IN ALBANIA
The Pate of Albania is in the hands of about 100 Soviet political, military,
and defense specielista or instructors.
Reports that the 1st Soviet Marine Infantry Brigade is stationed on Saseno
Island are false. Only a Pew primitive bunkers for motor torpedo boats are on
Saseno.
At present, the Albanian fleet owns the armed yacht I11ira, of b54 gross-
registered tone, which was built in 1918; several Yugoslav-made mine sweepers
and wooden patrol boats de]ivered to Albania between 1945 and 1948 (the patrol
boats were later equipped ?nth motors in Albania); and several motor torpedo
boats and tags fY~om Italy and the USSR.
Batteries oP Russian-made guns have been emplaced along the coast from
Sheng~ia (south of. Shkoder) to Sarande. These batteries include medium-caliber
guns, but do not include Soviet s~Landard 30.5 and 45.5-centimeter guns.
The Soviets Have increased th9 production of the chromium~miaes near Kukes
in northern Albania, that of theformer Italian copper mines in Rrubig (40 kilo-
meters south of Shkoder), and that of the petroleum wells of Kucove in southern
Albania.
Every month, two or three Soviet ships leave Albanian ports with agricul-
tural products. Every third month the ship Plekhanov (formerly the Aaerican ship
Charles Christenson) of 5,630 gross-registered tons hauls chromium ore from Dur-
res and unloads it in Constants, from where it is shipped to Poland, Hungary, and
Czechoslovakia.
At present,. 130,000 to 135,000?men are under arms in Albania. The nucleus
of the Albanian troopri consists of special voluntary ~ti.ts, ca]1ed "Broites."
The discipline of the Albanian Army is good, its tsa3m~,ng is strict, awl its
officers make an excellent impression. The utf3.forms e:.rrespoad to Soviet vni-
forms, and the shoulder patches are imitations of Soviet shoulder patches, The
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/22 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600360434-0
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/22 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600360434-0
troops consist chiefly of infantry divisions, which are armed exclusively with
Soviet arms. Each company has great fire power, as every soldier is armed with
at least a ten-round automatic weapon. Virtually all the Broites, and the regu-
lar infantry to some extent, have the new light machine pistols with a double
magazine holding 40 rounds each. Anew Soviet weapon has replaced the old water-
ccoled 20-millimeter machine gun. The new Soviet weapon fires 2,000 rounds per
mi~,ste and resembles a modified German MG-42. The bolt and the gun barrel do
not have to be changed because they are made of steel, which is twice tempered.
Mortar companies equipped with 8.2, 12, anz 15-centimeter mortars have been as-
signed to every regiment. According to the latest Soviet pattern, such a mortar
battery is armed with at least 12 and at most 15 mortars.
The Albanian Army is well supplied with 7.5-centimeter caliber antitarilc gun:+
The antiaircraft defenses have been fortified. The chief antiaircraft weapon
used is the Soviet imitation of the Berman 8.8-cert~meter gun with a caliber of
85 millimeters. It is equipped with a muzzle flash brake.
When some time ago unindentified reconnaissance aircraft approached the
Albanian coast at an avproximate altitude of 6,500 meters, it was fired upon
by many antiaircraft bases in Albania.
The armored force is in the process of being formed. At present, only
training armored cars of the old KWI, KWII (Armored Car I and II) and T-34
types are to be seen. The motorization of the army is in its initial stage.
Thus far, three-axle General Motor trucks fYom UNRRA have been used. How-
ever, there is a shortage of spare parts for these trucks. During the past
few months, the USSR has been shipping 3.5- and 5-ton ZIS trucks to Albania.
The Durres-Tirana and the Durres-Pegin railroad lines are of military signi-
ficance. The government has not begun to build new strategic highways, but
it has begun to repair some of the old highways, especially the `Pixana-Elbasan
highway.
In addition to transforming monasteries into permanent military barracks
(such as the Franciscan monastery in Shkoder in 1948), other permanent barracks
have been erected. At present, three large permanent barracks are under con-
struction for a regiment in Tirana. There are no important defense plants in
the country, but only accessory and repair shops, which work on military and
civilian orders. Such ~stablishmenta include the Automobile and Tractor Repair
Shop in Durres with 400 workers, a recently completed fou:.dry, and a spinning
mill, which is equipped with Soviet machines. The last two establi:,:~ments are
in Tirana.
There is a hydroelectric power plant in the mountains and a distributing
station in the vicinity of Tirana.
The war economy i.n Albania exerts :3.n especially strong pressure on the
population, because of the high cost of maintaining the Albanian Army and the
experiments is planned economy of the Communist Party. These experiments es-
pecially affect the small farmers, who usually possess only a few sheep and
goats.
On the pretext of agrarian reform, the Communist Party has established eight
state farms, each of 800 to 1,000 hectares of land. The most significant state
farms are the Ferma Skutch ~ku~], Ferma Luahn~e, and Ferma Kamsa ~Kamze?]. On
these eight Parma the area under cultivation varies from as little as 200 or'300
hectares tc not more than half of the total area. The harvesting is usually'be-
hind schedule. Farmers are forced to deliver their products to cooperative stores,
and are not able to obtain salt sand certain other items unless they deliver their
goods to the cooperative stores.
~~6~~~~R~ ~ ~~,
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/22 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600360434-0
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/22 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600360434-0
~~~1~~~~~~ ~.
In the factories, there is a constant shortage of raw material and skilled
labor. The percentage of tools ruined by insufficiently skilled apprentices is
very high. Thus far, the Scviets have not succeeded in exploiting the Albanian
industrial potential.
Officially, heavy workers are allotted 900 grams of dark bread per day, and
400 grams of sugar, 700 grams of meat, and 400 grams of olive oil per month. In ~
the spring, only corn bread is available. Meat has not been available on ration
cards for many months.
Last year, after the government failed in its compulsory delivery program,
it introduced the free market in addition to state stores, with the intention
of exhausting inflationary buying power. One kilogram of bread costs 5 lek with
cards and 40 to 50 1ek without cards, one .liter of oil 150-200 lek with cards
and 500 lek without, and one kilogram of Czechoslovak st+gar costs 35 lek with
cards and 250 without. In general, meat is available only on the free market.
One kilogram of lamb costa 125 lek and one. kilogram of pork 200 lek. One suit
of clothes made of Czechoslovak cloth theoretically may be purchased every year
on a ration card for 600 lek, but it ca.n be obtained only on the free market,
for 2,000 lek. The chief contraband articles are cigarette lighters. For one
lighter a perso-~ can get one chicken, one kilogram of butter, or 20 eggs. Salt
costs 800 lek per kilogram. In comparison with the above pri.:es, the daily wage
of a worker?s helper is 90 to 120 lek, that oP a bricklayer 150 lek, and that of
a special worker 200 lek.
The population gives the impression of being undernourished; anal well Dyer
50 percent of the children suffer from tuberculosis.
The supporters of Communism in Albania are the youths between 20 and 30.
They include students and, to a lesser degree, artisans, such as tailors, shoe-
makers, etc., who have not as yet been sub,~ect to state interference. The other
strata of the population are either indifferent to the Communist Party or are
hostile to it. The political dissatisfaction among the Albanian peasants has
spread to factory foremen within the past year. Every day 2 or 3-hour confer-
ences are held in the factories. The workers complain about the bad living
conditions.
Because of sabotage, the repair of tractors for state farms takes 6 or 7
months, so that they are never available during harvesting.
For security reasons, the government was forced to introduce the "Lea CaYolini "
i.e. s permit similar to the Soviet "r:opusk" for travel between any two places. ~
Northern Albania, bordering on Yugoslavia, is much move against the regime
than southern Albania, bordering on Greece. The center of the resistance move-
ment is the Catholic city of Shkoder. The Communist retaliated against the city'
by dismantling factory machinery and installing it in other places.
After Koci Xoxe was sentenced to death in 1949, many Albanians fled to Yugo-
slavia,~~here thef are being re-educated and indoctrinated by Gani Bed Kryeziu, e
Ti?co agent.
Albania is an undernourished but well-armed country. Its assignment is not
to attack Yugoslavia single-handed, since it is too weak. However, it is strong
enough to keep Yugoslav forces bt+^-~ is the rear, while Yugoslavia is attacked from
the front. Allaania is staging s a:resa rehearsal for this role by obstructing
the reclamation of Lake Shkoder ~erbo-Croatian, Skadar; Italian, Scutari] with
machine-,,.,. fire and acts of sabotage.
3-
coNFmErrrlAL
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/22 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600360434-0