Only obeying orders
Sir: In his review (Books, 12 February) of David Smiley's latest book, Simon Cour- tauld describes me as writing dismissively of Smiley and his companions in Albania. On the contrary, I wrote about them at length in my book on the war there. It is, however, true that much in my narrative is incompati- ble with the hyperbole used by Simon Cour- tauld when he deploys the word 'paladin'.
LETTERS
There were no paladins in Albania, only opportunists. We were under orders to be opportunists. We were supposed to foster resistance to the Italians and Germans wherever we could find it. Those of us who helped the National Liberation Army did so for that purpose. It can of course be said, loosely and in retrospect, that we contribut- ed to the communist takeover of Albania. But in that case Billy McLean and David Smiley can be said to have made the biggest single British contribution to the communist cause in Albania in that, as good opportunists, they armed and equipped Nehmet Shehu's 1st Brigade in 1943. That brigade became the spear-point of Enver Hoxha's drive to power.
When they returned to Albania in 1944 accompanied by Julian Amery, an ideologi- cal element entered into their calculations and they concentrated on trying to bring into being a non-communist resistance movement. But by then it was too late. The National Liberation Army was in the ascendant and Enver Hoxha's opportunism was outsmarting everyone else's. In another sense, it was also too early: the western Allies' prime concern was still to defeat Nazi Germany and not yet to form an anti-communist front. As a result, it is a simple statement of historical fact to say that Smiley and his companions backed the losing nationalist side. This is not a matter of political controversy but a difference between myth and reality.
Sir Reginald Hibbert
Frondeg, Pennal, Machynlleth, Powys
Previous page
