Operation Mercerised
| Operation Mercerised | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Germany |
United Kingdom Albanian partisans | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Alexander Löhr |
Edward Usherwood Thomas Bell Lindsay Churchill Henry Maitland Wilson Islam Radovicka | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| Heeresgruppe E |
No. 40 (Royal Marine) Commando No. 2 Commando 111th (Bolton) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| ~2,000 |
700-1000 British troops unknown ammount of Partisans | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 1,000 (POW) |
81 killed 57 wounded | ||||||||
| Amphibious landing at Sarandë, coordinated with local Albanian partisans; German surrender on Corfu on 12 October 1944 | |||||||||
Operation Mercerised was a British military operation in the Second World War involving British Commandos and supporting units aimed at capturing the Albanian port town of Sarandë to cut off withdrawing German forces in the Balkans. It was closely linked to the broader Allied campaign in the southern Adriatic and played a role in the liberation of both Sarandë and the nearby island of Corfu from German occupation in late 1944.