Xhemal Aranitasi

Who was Xhemal Aranitasi?

Xhemal Aranitasi - was a general and commander in chief of the Royal Albanian Army.

He was the son of Ibrahim Aranitasi, an army colonel of the Ottoman Empire and Esma Jahobegaj. He graduated from the military school in Monastir, Ottoman Empire, and then at the military academy in Istanbul, Turkey.

During the Balkan wars he fought in the Ottoman army, as the leader of machine guns.

During World War I, when most of the territory of Albania was invaded by the Austro-Hungarian Army, he served in the Aranitas municipality gendarmerie post as a commander.

In 1920 he joined the Royal Albanian Army and four years later he was a battalion commander. In 1925, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he became the general commander of the Royal Albanian Army. Although major decisions on the Army were taken by officers of foreign origin, such as Gustav von Myrdacz and Leon Ghilardi, Aranitasi was the only native Albanian nominally on the staff. In 1929 he was promoted to general. He served as aide-de-camp of Zog of Albania before this task was taken by Mehmet Konica.