875.00/583: Telegram
The Counselor of Mission at Algiers (Chapin) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:25 p.m.]
2060. From Murphy.8 General Wilson9 has commented to British Chiefs of Staff on Foreign Office proposal mentioned in my 1947 June 11, 2 p.m.10 that AFHQ11 considers reconciliation between Zogists12 and Partisans13 to be an essential prerequisite to the extension of any military aid to Zogists since without such a reconciliation the suggested support would merely encourage development of civil strife.
He adds that despite the obvious desirability of unifying elements within Albania it is considered doubtful that the Zogists and Partisans will agree to shelve political issues and join in resisting the enemy.
He describes main characteristics of Zogists as loyalist Albanian patriotism and antagonism to Communist Partisans whose strength [Page 273] and organization is increasing rapidly and who already constitute an effective instrument for action against the enemy in the South where the enemy’s main commitments are to be found.
Repeated as 88, to Cairo for MacVeagh.14 [Murphy.]
- Robert D. Murphy, United States Political Adviser on the Staff of the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater.↩
- Lt. Gen. Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater.↩
- Not printed; it informed the Department of British proposals for stimulating the Zogist Party in Albania to undertake active resistance against the Germans (875.00/582).↩
- Allied Force Headquarters.↩
- Basi Canit, the group currently supporting King Zog, who was in Great Britain.↩
- The Communist-led National Liberation Movement in Albania, the FNC (Fronti Nacional Clirimtare), or as it was commonly known outside Albania, the LNC (Levizia Nacional Clirimtare).↩
- Lincoln MacVeagh, Ambassador to the Governments of Greece and Yugoslavia, established in Cairo.↩