To successfully achieve this goal, the Germans needed to weaken the Albanian Partisan resistance, which had posed a significant challenge to their control in the region.

In early August 1943, representatives from the Balli Kombëtar and the National Liberation Movement (LANÇ) met in the village of Mukaj, near Tirana, to discuss a potential alliance against the Axis powers and to outline the future of an ethnic Albanian state.

The conference was facilitated by British emissaries, who aimed to unify Albania’s political factions in resistance to fascist occupation, inspired by similar anti-fascist unity efforts, such as the AVNOJ in Yugoslavia.

[1] After the Armistice of Cassibile in September 1943, which marked Italy’s surrender to the Allies, Germany swiftly moved to occupy former Italian-controlled areas in the Balkans and southern France.

[3] After continuous harassment by Albanian Partisans and the need to secure southern Albania in the event of a retreat, the German Wehrmacht launched a massive offensive during the winter of 1943–1944.

On November 8, Balli leaders provided a written commitment but requested recognition, an Albanian committee in London, and a post-war Kosovo referendum.

On 19 December, German and Balli Kombëtar forces launched a joint operation against Albanian Partisan leaders and British SOE officers in Çermenikë and Martanesh, where Edmund Davies and his team were located.

[15][16] By 23 December, they managed to open a narrow corridor for retreat, but the German and Ballist forces had nearly annihilated Partisan resistance,[17][18][19] shattering its military and political power north of the Shkumbin River, leaving less than three demoralized small chetas intact.

[20] In December, another SOE group led by Tony Northrop landed in Albania to aid the resistance but went into hiding due to the ongoing German offensive.