Written by: Pëllumb Vreka
Year 1992. While in Greece on business, I had lunch with the former General of the Patras Police and at the same time my friend, Angelo Paskalas, the former pilot of the personal plane of Prime Minister Papandreou (the old one). During lunch we discussed several topics, especially about Albania which was emerging (waking up) from the communist dictatorship. One of the topics and the most interesting was the topic of the Bunkers or as we called them at that time, the “Fire Center”.
-You, Peristeri candle (Mr. Pigeon), you should have one thing clear - Angelo turned to me, those fire centers that you have wasted money on, are of no use to you, because, with a five hundred kilogram aviation bomb exploded next to it, it turns over with… its feet up! In fact, Angelo's statement turned out to be correct, because during the bombing of Serbian aircraft in the Kosovo war, there was also an explosion on our border, where the Serbian aircraft bomb threw the bunker (fire center) upside down. Lunch was over and we parted ways. Angelo then started a business by building a "Mander" (giant scrap collection point) on the outskirts of Patras. So much for curiosity about the value of a bunker! Now let's move on to bunkers. In Albania, the history of bunkers (fire centers) was not unknown, it was known since the time of the war when the Germans and Italians built bunkers here, of course rare and only at strategic points of the crossings. Among them, the most special was a bunker at the entrance to Pogradec.
It was built on the side of the cliff, a few meters above the road and cast in concrete and iron, with two turrets, and controlled not only the entrance and exit road of Pogradec but also part of the shore of Lake Ohrid. The concrete cast by the Italians was typical of those of the telephone poles built by them, this type of concrete, according to specialists, after fifty years turns into… stone. The experience of our bunkers, according to the engineers of that time, was obtained after studying several bunker lines in Europe, such as the Mazhino line in France, the Gustav line in Italy, the Manheim line in Finland, and the famous one, with a variety of obstacles in addition to bunkers, “ZIGFRID” in Germany, to hinder the advance of the allies towards Germany. Following the orientation given by the Political Bureau of the Party of Labor of Albania, working groups were created with specialists, engineers, concrete engineers from the “Josif Pashko” Combine, ironworkers and iron turners for their realization. We did not build a line of bunkers but groups and rows of bunkers that started from the mouth of the Buna, along the entire coast, along the border with Greece, with Yugoslavia and ended with the border with Montenegro. “No hiç po habili”, a line that crossed the defense lines of Europe, emitting our country with the expression “Albania bunker”, complementing this with “political bunkerization”, thus “the lid was put on the pot”, a totally isolated country.
BUNKER GENERATION
Each bunker belt consisted of five pieces, including machine gun bunkers and a half bunker for RPGs and seventy-five millimeter anti-tank guns. Then there were also special bunkers such as artillery bunkers built with concrete parts like watermelon pits, as well as smaller mountain bunkers, not to mention the mountain artillery tunnels, such as at Shkëmbi i Kavajës, in Mallakastër or on the island of Sazan. The composition of the materials of a bunker was made of imported materials, such as special cement Poland-700 imported from Poland, reinforced iron imported from East Germany.
We only had river gravel, water and concrete mixers for mixing concrete. The iron of the bunkers is iron and not steel, as some analyst on TV said today. Steel iron does not rust but is brittle. Whereas reinforced iron is several times more resistant to the explosion of bombs on them. However, during the construction of the bunker structure (the metal skeleton, i.e. the armor) there was an extraordinary case, where about eight ironworkers took the initiative and did not place all the iron bars in the armor, winning, both in time and in money. Because the principle was “fulfilling the norm is a duty, while exceeding it is an honor”, but they were paid. This is how these liars deceived and won. But the vigilant eye of the State Security, which was investigating every hole, was notified of the case in question. The arrest was immediately carried out with the motive of “sabotage”. All were sentenced to six to eight years in prison, making an example for others to remember. The question arises (as stated by Anxhelo), why did the bunker with a bomb next to it, turn upside down? This is very simple, because it had no foundation or connecting base.
A hole was simply dug the size of the bunker, and after the site was leveled and leveled, cranes were used to place the components, which were a total of two arch blocks at the front, two columns connecting the fronts, domes above them, and an arch at its exit for square-shaped protection. It is strange why these components of the bunker were not connected by welding as is the case everywhere, but… with bolts! While in mountainous areas, the elements that made up the bunker, in the absence of a road for transport vehicles, were transported… by mules!
BUNKER ALSO FOR ACCOMMODATION
Another special case. The giant artillery bunkers, which in terms of financial value were worth as much as an apartment with a bedroom and a kitchen, were in many cases used as warehouses or storage facilities. On Ndroq Street, a family of five people took shelter in one of these bunkers. Foreigners who came to Albania to see the jewels of the communist system also went to the bunker where the family was sheltered. There were also those who gave them gifts or some symbolic financial assistance. But a couple of tourists from France not only gave them quite good financial help, but they asked that their eldest son, about fifteen years old, be taken to France and employed. And so it was done, they employed him on their farm in Bordeaux.
Imagine the situation the people of Albania were in for shelter, when two or three couples from a family slept in an environment of two rooms and a kitchen. There were also many bunkers installed in public spaces, which activists later painted as works of art. The large number of bunkers in Albania caused such a stir in Europe that artistic production companies, due to the numerous requests, produced imitation bunkers in alabaster, which are still on the market today. Situated in a work service in East Germany, in the middle of a conversation, talking about the repair of war damage, and the heroic work of the German people, which made sure that in 1985 there was no trace of war, the German of Albanian origin, Shaban Yldirimm, told me: -According to the German press, today we still have seven families in East Germany who are homeless, but they will soon be sheltered too. Good Lord, in those years (and even today), Albania had almost half of its population without shelter, but money was spent on fire stations and bunkers with no value.
MEHMET'S INITIATIVE
Later, over time, the machine gun bunkers were made some changes (again, spending money directly on the well), placing a visor on top of the turrets. This initiative of an engineer technician, Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu supported and demonstrated with great zeal in the hills of Kamza. Thus, in the presence of dozens of senior officers and the Minister of the Interior, Kadri Hazbiu, Mehmeti, wearing a pair of boots and after taking off his Chinese jacket, lined with fur on the inside (all army officers were later equipped with these jackets because they were extremely good), took a belt from the soldier and after digging a fold of grass, placed it on the visor previously welded on the bunker turret. After squeezing it several times with his fist, he turned and said: -This is how all machine gun bunkers will be made and the barrel of the machine gun will not be visible from above. There were also other initiatives that later became law for the units near the fertile fields and hills, such as the creation of NBUs, military agricultural enterprises where the soldiers of the units, (because they had no other work), planted tomatoes, leeks, onions, potatoes, etc., to ease the burden of maintaining the army. The world had neither seen nor heard of this invention, oh communists! Each unit was tasked with building fire centers around it, supported by engineer troops with German “TADANO” cranes with a weight capacity of up to eight tons. While for the bunkers with parts, Chinese “Red Flag” cranes were used.
Tunnel-bunkers, in our country, were widespread in many strategic areas where there was a field of view for artillery. Among them, the most complete was the island of Sazan, which controlled the entrance to the Adriatic or the exit to the Mediterranean. Sazan was so fortified that from an uninhabited island, with engineering constructions, apartments, schools, ambulances and sports centers were built for the island's soldiers. Enver Hoxha even once wrote that "Sazan is a rock covered with iron and concrete, it is a fortress that controls the entrances and exits to the Adriatic Sea". The statement was made when the American Sixth Fleet was moving in the Mediterranean. The "myteberi" forgot that an air flotilla of hundreds of bomber planes with bombs over five hundred kilograms turned the concrete island of Sazan into ... plowed land. Just like the "Lancaster" planes did over fortified Germany or like America did in Iran!
SUBMARINE TUNNELS
This diverse range of bunkers also included the submarine bunkers (shelters) in Pashaliman or the aircraft bunkers in Gjadra. The submarine shelters, which in agreement with the Soviets were eight pieces, and that by agreement we kept four pieces, are not, as some analyst on TV says, or some "submarine commander" that those tunnels are among the best in the world. Extraordinary and unrepeatable shelters, a miracle of human strength (read, of concentration camp prisoners) is unimaginable with the German submarine shelters built on the coast of France where, the concrete thickness is five meters, then a seventy-centimeter gap, was covered again with a two-meter layer of concrete. So, seven meters of concrete and iron! For this, the British built a five-ton bomb called "little boy" to destroy them. The British received information about the tunnels from a French militant (today Hero of France) who shortly before the end of the war was captured, tortured and executed by the Gestapo. The tunnels of the submarines in the water, we built them, but the engineers and specialists were…Chinese!
In 1974, I was on vacation at the “Volga” hotel in Durrës, exclusively for foreigners. There were about 50 Chinese engineers and technicians who had arrived on the Chinese steamer named “VAMPO”. The Albanian government bought this forty-five thousand ton transoceanic steamer and named it “VLORA”, which in the 1990 exodus was filled to the top of the masts with Albanians to Italy. I got this secret information about the Chinese engineers and technicians from one of the Chinese chefs (they cooked separately at the hotel) when I asked him where these Chinese tourists go every day by bus? It happened that he knew Italian and he answered me: - They go to the Vjosa River where they search for and obtain river stones to make fake eyes for the blind! Chinese! And the chef with whom we became closer by giving and receiving gifts, answered me: -They are engineers and technicians who have been working for a long time on the construction of your tunnels for submarines, because you Albanians have no experience in that sector. Exactly! We had no knowledge of underwater construction, which is a specific technology for such works. The year 1976 also marked the end of the "honeymoon" with China. Their aid was reduced to a minimum. Spare parts for the plant and factories were no longer coming as before.
They no longer showed interest in Albania. Their eyes were turned to Yugoslavia with which they had strengthened their ties, ties that continue today with Vučić. So, the economy was going downhill, rations and tolonas had begun to appear. The economy was going downhill in all sectors. It is known that it is linked in a chain. A tractor without spare parts is worthless, when this tractor is missing in the field, this lack leads to a lack of wheat production and so on. But not the bunkers, for them Enver would keep the money bag open.
We had to show the world that we are armed but also bunkered in every corner of Albania, along the entire maritime and land border. Pompous parades with tanks and missiles have lost their primary role, this is due to the fact that the technology used has become outdated. Our combat vehicles from the 1980s-1990s in supplier countries like China had long since become obsolete. Without discussing replacement parts, because when a T-54 tank plant goes out of use while producing the (automatic) T-90 tank, the production of parts automatically closes. By the way, the bunkers (neighborhood shelters) of which there were also in strategic places built with concrete bar sections with wire (not iron) inside. You have the model near the Presidency of the People's Assembly (former Central Committee of the Albanian People's Liberation Army) because in addition to sheltering the population of cities, these were also used in large numbers in mines as tunnels for protection from rocks! In Albania, it is said that there were seven hundred thousand bunkers (700,000) of various types, but there is no exact figure because the documents for the bunkers, like many other documents, were destroyed by the Ministry of Defense in 1992.
Author, director of the magazine "Hosteni"
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