Albanian Kingdom (1943-44)

Kingdom of Albania
Königreich Albanien Mbretëria Shqiptare
Client state of Nazi Germany
1943–1944
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Motto "Shqipëria Shqiptarëve, Vdekje Tradhëtarëvet" "Albania for the Albanians, Death to the Traitors"
Anthem Himni i Flamurit Hymn of the Flag
The Albanian Kingdom in 1943
Capital		Tirana
Languages		Albanian
Religion		Sunni Islam Bektashism Roman Catholicism Albanian Orthodoxy
Government		Constitutional Monarchy (regency)
Regent
•	1943–1944	Mehdi Frashëria
Prime Minister
•	1943	Mehdi Frashëri
•	1943–1944	Rexhep Mitrovica
•	1944	Fiqri Dine
•	1944	Ibrahim Biçakçiu
Legislature		Regency Council
Historical era		World War II
•	German takeover	8 September 1943
•	German defeat	29 November 1944
Currency		Franga (1943–1944)
Preceded by Succeeded by Albanian Kingdom (1939–1943) Democratic Government of Albania Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Today part of		Albania  Serbia  Montenegro  Macedonia  Kosovo
a.	Chairman of the High Regency Council.
b.	^ Partially recognised state.

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The Albanian Kingdom (Albanian: Mbretëria Shqiptare, German: Königreich Albanien) existed as a de jure independent country, between 1943 and 1944. Before the armistice between Italy and the Allied armed forces on 8 September 1943, Albania had been in a de jure personal union with and was de facto under the control of the Kingdom of Italy. After the armistice and the Italian exit from the Axis, German military forces entered Albania and it came under German influence.

The Germans favoured the Balli Kombëtar over King Zog I's Legalists and therefore put Balli Kombëtar in charge of Albania under German rule. Albania under the Balli Kombëtar included most of Kosovo, as well as Western Macedonia, the town of Tutin in Central Serbia and a strip of Eastern Montenegro. It was the policy of the Balli Kombëtar to have all Albanian populated territories under one state.

In anticipation of such invasion, the Wehrmacht drew up a series of military plans for action against Italian holdings in the Balkans code-named Konstantin. And for a more direct nature, units of German Military Intelligence (Abwehr) section II were sent to Mitrovica (present day Kosovo) in April 1943 in an attempt to gain some influence among the growing number of Albanians disaffected with the Italians. Even more directly, in July and August 1943, the German army occupied Albanian airports and ports, ostensibly to protect Italian Albania from the possibility of an Allied invasion. By mid-August there were some six thousand German troops in Albania.