Kosovo Operation (1944)
Svetozar Vukmanović, who was charged with organising Communist forces, noted that "conditions for armed resistance in Kosovo were worse than in any other region of the country" and that most of "the Albanian population had an unfriendly attitude towards the Partisans".[citation needed] As a result of the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944, the Pro-German monarchist regime in Bulgaria was overthrown and replaced with a government of the Fatherland Front led by Kimon Georgiev.[3][4] This development significantly altered the balance of power in the region and the Bulgarian troops were immediately thrown into action alongside the Soviet and Yugoslav Partisan forces.[5] These forces were assisted by air sorties of the Western Allies and the Soviets against units of Generaloberst Alexander Löhr's Army Group "E" as the latter retreated from Greece.[7] The SS Skanderbeg was extensively utilised by the Germans, advancing into the mountains and engaging Partisan troops on a daily basis, to cover the flanks of the Wehrmacht.