Southern Albania clashes

After Italy's surrender, vicious fighting occurred between MAVI and combined armed groups of Germans and Albanian nationalists of Balli Kombëtar in the Northern Epirus Region. MAVI also had fought with the Albanian Partisans in that period.

Background

In May 1942, the first Northern Epirote resistance groups appeared in the area of Delvinë led by two locals and former officers of the Greek army: Spyridon Lytos and Ioannis Videlis. Soon several resistance groups were formed by the local Greek population all over southern Albania. They were operating in the regions: Pogon, Lunxhëri, Riza, Himara, Vlorë, Përmet, Leskovik and Korçë. In June 1942 these groups were organized under one leadership and the MAVI (also called EAOVI) was formed. The leader of the MAVI was Vasileios Sachinis, a native from Douvian (Dropull). The organization was a branch of the right-wing EDES that operated in Greece and its headquarters moved from place to place in southern Albania.

Clashes

German-Ballist clearing operations

In the Fall of 1943, the Wehrmacht and Balli Kombëtar launched an offensive in Southern Albania against the MAVI to crush the Northern Epirote resistance. In some occasions the operations were observed by German officers, in Moscopole the historic monastery of Saint John Baptist was destroyed as a result of these actions, while Ballist bands under Safet Butka cleared the areas of Bilisht and Leskovik, which resulted in heavy destruction and executions.

Communist raid in Gjirokastër

On 17 November 1943, Albanian Partisan forces had raided and captured Gjirokastër, where the Northern Epirote Insurgent leader Vasileios Sachinis was captured, tortured and executed one day later.

Defeat of the Northern Epirote Resistance

In February 1944 the Albanian Partisans had launched an Operation to clear out the remaining MAVI rebels from the Regions of Himarra, Santi Quaranta, Vlora and many others, which were eventually taken over by the Albanian partisans.

Aftermath

The last recorded action of the Northern Epirus Liberation Front was during October 1944 when an Epirote band ambushed German troops and captured their officers, but due to diplomatic failure of the British mission and unprovoked actions of the communist resistance (of Enver Hoxha), MAVI was doomed. In Axis-supported Balli Kombëtar attacks and crimes against villages and towns, over 2,000 Greeks were killed, 5,000 imprisoned, and 2,000 taken hostages to concentration camps. Moreover, 15,000 homes, schools and churches were destroyed.