First combat operations of FASH

The first combat operations of FASH (Albanian: Operacionet e para luftarake të FASH) were operations of the Albanian Air Force and Anti-Aircraft Regiment against Greek fighter pilots and soldiers who violated Albanian airspace during the Greek Civil War in 1949 also known as the August Provocations 1949[1][2] Also from an incident that was described as a covert Greek CIA operation

First FASH combat operation
Part of the Cold War and Albanian-Greek border incident
Date1949-1952
First Operation: August 1948
Second Operation:August 1949
Last Incident:April 1952
Location
Albania, Albanian-Greek border, Greece
Result

Albanian victory

Belligerents
 Albania Greece Greece
Commanders and leaders

First Operation:
People's Socialist Republic of Albania Unknown

Second Operation:
People's Socialist Republic of Albania Memo Nexhepi

Last Incident:
People's Socialist Republic of Albania Unknown

First Operation:
Greece Unknown

Second Operation:
Greece Unknown

Last Incident:
Greece Nikos Akrivoyiannis
Units involved
Ali Demi Anti-Aircraft Regiment Hellenic Air Force
CIA
Strength

First Operation:
Spitfire fighter-jet[3]

Second Operation:
3 battalions, 15 Spitfire fighter-jets

Last Incident:Unknown
Casualties and losses

First Operation:
none

Second Operation:
6 soldiers were killed

Last Incident:
none

First Operation:
The Greek plane was destroyed and the pilot was found dead

Second Operation:
6 wounded and 100 Greek soldiers were killed, 1 Greek pilot POW

Last Incident:
The Greek pilot was executed[4]

Background

Towards the end of the Greek Civil War, the Soviet Union who had previously been supporting and supplying the Greek communist rebels,[5] cut all incoming supplies to the rebels in line with the percentages agreement. This move left the Greek communist rebels weakened and after Yugoslavia withdrew support to the rebels in July 1949, their only safe haven to launch attacks against royalist forces lay in Albania.[6][7]

Operation

First Operation

The first operation of FASH were undertaken by the Albanian anti-aircraft regiment units and they hit and shot down a Greek Spitfire type plane that had violated Albanian airspace for a spying mission. The Greek plane was destroyed and the pilot was found dead.[8][9][10]

Second Operation

In August 1949, the anti-aircraft units of the same Regiment hit and shot down another Greek plane during the August Provocations. The Greek plane, damaged by the Ali Demi anti-aircraft regiment fire, was forced to land in the field where it was captured by Albanian combat units. The Greek pilot was captured and imprisoned as a prisoner of war.[11][12]

Last Incident

In April 1952, a Spinoage Greek pilot Nikos Akrivojanis of the CIA is captured by Albanian Air Force soldiers. He is said to have landed as he wanted to flee Greece because of the government but he was in Albania for a covert operation. The Albanian soldiers arrested him while he was spying on the Albanian authorities while in captivity, so he was arrested[13] during the trial on December 13, 1953 and on August 16, 1954 he was executed by an Albanian execute commando.[14][15]

References
  1. "HOW THE GREEK WAR PLANE ARRIVED IN ALBANIA IN 1949". KDPolitik.com (in Albanian). 2021-03-13. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  2. Bashkurti, Lisen (2003–2005). Diplomacia shqiptare. Lisen Bashkurti. Tiranë: Geer. ISBN 99943-789-4-5. OCLC 70840077.
  3. Revista Mbrojtja 2016, p. 30.
  4. Kourēs 1997, p. 52.
  5. Kort, Michael (1998). The Columbia guide to the Cold War. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-52839-9. OCLC 785782145.
  6. "12 Aug 1949 - ALBANIA ALLEGES GREEK INVASION - Trove". Trove.nla.gov.au. 1949-08-12. Retrieved 2022-07-06.
  7. "«Η αποτυχημένη απόπειρα κατάκτησης της Βορείου Ηπείρου από την Ελλάδα το 1949» - αλβανική άποψη". Ανιχνεύσεις (in Greek). 2022-08-03. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  8. Revista Mbrojtja (2016). "Organ Qendror i Ministrisë së Mbrojtjes" (PDF). Organ Qendror i Ministrisë së Mbrojtjes. 52: 30.
  9. """"SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM""": La Forca Ajrore (Forza Aerea in italiano), spesso abbreviata in FASH, è l'attuale aeronautica militare albanese". """SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM""". 2020. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  10. "When Albania's fighter MiGs exterminated every Greek and Yugoslav 'fly' flying in Albanian airspace". Orikumi News. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  11. "A Greek plane flying to the villages of Hoxha and Markat was shot down by Albanian forces in the field of Finiq and the pilot". Memorie.al (in Albanian). 2021-09-06. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  12. "The Greek plane flying over the Albanian villages was shot down by the forces..."/ How the press of Tirana reported the clash with Greece in 1949". www.gazeta-shqip.com. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  13. Kourēs, Nikos (1997). Hellada-Tourkia : ho pentēkontaetēs "polemos". Athēna: Ekdotikos Organismos Livanē "Nea Synora". ISBN 960-236-847-0. OCLC 44425832.
  14. "Το Netflix και η σειρά που δεν έκανε για τον Έλληνα κατάσκοπο που εκτελέστηκε στην Αλβανία". Pentapostagma (in Greek). 2019-09-24. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  15. "Ο κατάσκοπος Ν. Ακριβογιάννης είχε μεγαλώσει στον Βόλο και εκπαιδεύτηκε από τη CIA". e-thessalia.gr (in Greek). 2019-09-29. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
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