After Mussolini entered World War II on the side of Hitler, the British sent a colonel into Albania in April 1941 to help the resistance, but he was soon captured. It would not be until April 16, 1943, that two more SOE officers, Lt. Col. Neil McLean and Captain David Smiley, parachuted into northern Greece and crossed the border. | SOE operations in Albania during the Second World War Vol. 7 2020 A new decade for social changes ISSN 2668-7798 9 772668 779000 Technium Social Sciences Journal Vol. 7 289-294 May 2020 ISSN 2668-7798 SOE operations in Albania during the Second World War Marian Zidaru Romanian Society of Historical Science Constanta Branch Abstract. After Mussolini entered World War II on the side of Hitler the British sent a colonel into Albania in April 1941 to help the resistance but he was soon captured. It would not be until April 16 1943 that two more SOE officers Lt. Col. Neil McLean and Captain David Smiley parachuted into northern Greece and crossed the border. Others would follow including a former lieutenant in the Spanish Foreign Legion Peter Kemp Himalayan explorer Bill Tillman and Reginald Hibbert whose view of events in Albania in the years to come would put him bitterly at odds with his fellow SOE officers. SOE operations were hampered by woeful British ignorance about Albania. London had only a lower-level diplomatic presence there before the Italian occupation and the main source of information had been an elderly Englishwoman who had lived there for 20 years. This paper told the story of SOE operations in Albania. Keywords. SOE Albania guerrillas David Smiley 1 Guerilla War in Albania After Mussolini entered World War II on the German side the SOE sent a colonel to Albania in April 1941 to help the resistance but he was soon captured. Two other SOE officers Colonel Neil McLean and Captain David Smiley were parachuted in April 16 1943 into northern Greece and crossed the border. Others will follow including a former lieutenant in the Spanish Foreign Legion Peter Kemp Himalayan explorer Bill Tillman and Reginald Hibbert whose vision for events in Albania in the years to come will enter in conflict with his SOE colleagues. The first part of the mission was to get to Albania. quot The next .
