Barmash incident

The Barmash incident was an ambush executed by Albanian Partisans in early July 1943 the village of Barmash on a convoy with German forces. The ambush led to the Borovë massacre, in which 107 civilians were killed by the Wehrmacht.^[1]

In July 1943, Albania was still under Italian occupation. The German forces of the 98th Regiment of the First Mountain Division, then based in Montenegro following Case Black operations, were passing through Albania to regroup with the main forces in Ioannina, in Nazi-occupied Greece. They entered into the Korçë region from the Yugoslav Macedonian Skopje by way of Florine.^[2]

Before they could cross back into Greek territory, they were attacked on two sides near the village of Borovë by Albanian partisans of the Albanian National Liberation Movement, led by Riza Kodheli. After the battle, which lasted for several hours, the German convoy was able to rest and then continue to its destination after Italian reinforcements joined.^[3] The Partisans may have inflicted heavy losses on the Germans, destroying most of the vehicles and military equipment and killing more than 60 men.^[1]

After the report of the attack, a German expedition was sent from Greece to the place where the attack happened. In reprisal, the German forces, armed with flamethrowers, set every house in the village on fire.^[1] The German forces massacred all the inhabitants of the village of Borovë that they could find on that day. Some of the victims were shot and killed, while many were grouped inside the village church and burned alive. The death toll amounted to 107 civilians: mostly old, children and women.^[3] The neighbouring village of Barmash, also suffered from the reprisal, with the Nazis massacring 18 civilians, before departing to Greece.