Italian invasion of Kosovo

Italian invasion of Kosovo
Part of the Invasion of Yugoslavia of World War II
Italian Bersaglieri during the invasion
Date 5–18 April 1941 Location Kosovo, at the time Yugoslavia Result Italian-Albanian victory Territorial changes Italian occupation of Kosovo and Metohija
Belligerents
Italy Albania Supported by:  Nazi Germany	Yugoslavia Local Slavic residents
Commanders and leaders
Vittorio Ambrosio Alessandro Pirzio Biroli (WIA) Ugo Cavallero Prenk Pervizi Enno von Rintelen	Dušan Simović  Danilo Kalafatović  Milorad Petrović  Petar Nedeljković  Dušan Trifunović
Units involved
Fast Army Corps 2nd Army 9th Army Albanian Volunteers from Northern Albania[1]	1st Army Group 4th Army 7th Army
Strength
c. 300,000 men[2] in 22 divisions[3][4] Around 600 aircraft[5]	c. 700,000 men on all fronts[6] 110[7]–200 tanks[8] (50[8]–54[7] of which were modern) 460[9]–505 aircraft (including 103 modern bombers[8] and 107 modern fighters[10])
Casualties and losses
800 killed[11] 2,500 wounded[12] c. 10 aircraft shot down 22 aircraft damaged	c. 30,000 captured[13][14] 49 aircraft shot down[15] 210–300 aircraft captured[16]

The Italian invasion of Kosovo, also called Operation "Marita",^[17] was an invasion that took part during the Invasion of Yugoslavia in World War II, when Italian soldiers marched through Kosovo and occupied the region.^[18] After the invasion, a conference was held in Vienna (21–24 April 1941)^[18] which decided that the majority of Kosovo would have been given to Italian-controlled Albania, including Pristina after the Germans withdrew from taking the city.^[19]