Mehmet Gradica (1913 – 21 February 1945) was a Fascist Albanian nationalist who fought during World War II. He had a pathological hatred for communism because, according to him, it was a dangerous Slavism and brought nothing but misfortune to Albanians.
Early life
Mehmet Gradica was born in 1913 in the village of Gradica, Drenica, in a poor fighting family. His parents, Isufi and Fata Gradica (daughter of Brahim Luta of Gllanasella), had three children: Uke, Mehmet, and Shahiden Gradica.
He went to Dobrashec school, where the teaching was conducted in Serbian. He was an excellent student but failed to finish it because he was expelled as "stubborn" and "inappropriate."
At sixteen, he ended up in Mitrovica prison for unknown reasons but managed to escape later. He hid in the Mountains of Kosovo and later spent some time in London.
World War II
In 1941, he returned to Kosovo with twenty-five other fighters. They were initially stationed in Samadrexha. Two days later, they attacked the Vushtrri prison, where Serbs were keeping many Albanians imprisoned. Two days after the attack, they helped drive out Chetniks from Kalichanin.
He later entered service with the Albanian government as the chief of the gendarmerie in Vushtrri, Skënderaj, Mitrovica, Podujevë and Stan Tërg. In November 1941, he and many other Albanian fighters from different parts of Kosovo, such as Rugova, Drenica, Shala, Llap fought Serbian forces in Rashka. Famous Albanian fighters like Shaban Polluzha and Ahmet Selac also took part in the battle. During the Battle of Novi Pazar Mehmet launched several successful attacks around Novi Pazar. During the winter of 1941-1942, he took part in several attacks on Serbian chetniks in the village of Koloshin.
In 1943, he earned the rank of lieutenant after numerous successful battles. He was also a member of Xhafer Deva's regiment. As the publicist Idriz Lamaj expressed it, he was a "man of the ethnic Albanian state," and at that time, Xhafer Deva was the Minister of Interior of Albania. The main reason for his enlistment in the regiment was to fight the spread of communism. Together with Ahmet Selac they formed the gendarmerie and volunteer armed groups.
In February 1945, Mehmet and Shaban Polluzha and sixty of their fighters were positioned in the three towers of Dvorane. From the towers, they chanted "Freedom or Death" Peter Brajervic, commander of the 52nd Division of the Yugoslav People's Army ordered an artillery strike on one of the towers the artillery hit the top of the tower. The beams fell on Polluzha, and the shrapnel tor Mehmets leg both of them survived the incident. Mehmet dragged his leg and riding his horse. He circled the towers one last time, where he left many dead and wounded. He returned to his hometown where he saw himself in a mirror and said, "Hey Mehmet, it's better to eat dogs than to be eaten by Serbian Chetnik communists." He was later buried by his comrades in his uncle's orchard.