Battle of Gjorm

Part of Albanian Resistance of World War II

Date	January 1–2, 1943
Location	Gjorm, Albania
Result	Decisive Albanian victory

Belligerents

Balli Kombëtar
Albanian National Liberation Front
Civilian volunteers from the area of Vlorë

Kingdom of Italy

Commanders and leaders

Hysni Lepenica
Skënder Muço
Mehmet Shehu

Franco Clementi †

Strength

initially 1,600 Balli Kombëtar troops
ultimately 2,200 troops

initially 2,000 troops
ultimately 5,600 troops
5 field guns
tanks

Casualties and losses

Few

186 KIA
several hundred wounded
80 POW
2 tanks
29 machine guns
3 field guns

The Battle of Gjorm (Albanian: Beteja e Gjormit) was a battle of the Albanian Resistance of World War II against the Kingdom of Italy. The battle took place on January 1–2, 1943, in the areas of Gjorm, Vranisht, Dukat, Tragjas and Tërbaç in south-western Albania.

After the occupation of the Kingdom of Albania by the Kingdom of Italy in 1939, several resistance groups were formed. The most important of these groups were Balli Kombëtar, a nationalist organization formed by Mit'hat Frashëri and Ali Këlcyra and the Albanian National Liberation Front, which later became a communist group led by Mehmet Shehu and Enver Hoxha.

Dukat and Gjorm became two of the centers of Balli Kombëtar, whose forces in the region were led by Hysni Lepenica, a military commander, and Skënder Muço, a prominent lawyer from Tragjas. Mehmet Shehu, a commander of the Albanian National Liberation Front, created a partisan unit in the wider region of Mallakastër.

Beginning in mid-1942, there were frequent minor attacks against the Italian troops located in the area. In November 1942, these attacks intensified. The commander of the heavily armed Italian troops in the area, which initially numbered 2,000, was Colonel Franco Clementi.

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