gimes and dates itself from July 10, 1943, when a General Staff was
formed within the guerrilla forces resisting the Italian occupation.
Petrit Dume, its chief of staff in 1970, had commanded the People's Army
for about twenty years. He was second only to Balluku in the defense
hierarchy and was also a candidate member of the Politburo of the Party
organization. Enver Hoxha, first secretary of the Albanian Workers'
Party, held the rank of general of the army until rank designations were
abolished but, although he could exercise personal direction of the
armed forces as their commander in chief, he was not considered a member
of the defense establishment.

All of the regular military forces are within the People's Army. The air
and naval arms are usually treated separately because of their
distinctive functions and equipment, but their men are sometimes
referred to as naval and air soldiers. Major subcommands, such as the
army's directorates of Political Affairs and Rear Services (Logistics),
serve all service components. The same is the case with such
organizations as the medical service that have functions applicable to
all of the armed forces.

At lower levels, where the functions of the forces are specialized in
relation to their weapons, organizational patterns appear to be similar
to those in most of the other armed forces throughout the Communist
world. During the post-World War II formative years, force structures
were adapted from those of the Soviet Union. Realignments after 1961 to
cooperate with the Communist Chinese are not believed to have affected
them to any appreciable degree. Some unit designations, such as army
division, are not used in the peacetime organization and, in other
situations, the sizes of units may be scaled down somewhat from normal
international practice.

Rank designations were abolished in 1966. Since then, according to the
governmental decree that effected the change, position in the military
hierarchy is based on the responsibilities stipulated in the relevant
tables of organization of the armed forces. Most of the personnel who
would have fallen into the lower rank categories are acquired by
conscription. Men without highly skilled specialties are retained for
two years; noncommissioned officers and others who receive special
training are required to serve for longer periods.

The stated mission of the armed forces in general and the ground forces
in particular is to defend the