quipment available includes small numbers of Soviet-designed
armored personnel carriers, command cars, and a few types of trucks.

Before 1961 training was based on Soviet methods, and specialized
schools were scaled-down copies of those in the Soviet army. Training
manuals were translated from the Russian. Although external support of
the forces has been transferred from the Soviet Union to Communist
China, the Chinese have apparently not required basic changes in the
training programs. Most conscripts have been exposed to a considerable
amount of drill and elementary basic training in school and in Communist
youth organizations, permitting the forces to concentrate on tactical
exercises. These consist mostly of small unit activities and involve
fighting techniques appropriate to the defense of the mountainous
interior. Physical conditioning, tactics involving light weapons, and
operations using a minimum of materiel support are emphasized on a
continuing basis. Political indoctrination, conducted or supervised by
the political commissars, is heavily administered in all training
programs.

Naval Forces

Naval units are subordinate to the Coastal Defense Command which,
although a part of the People's Army, is operationally responsible
directly to the Ministry of People's Defense. None of the pre-World War
II navy survived the occupation and, as with the other branches of the
service, the navy forgets any earlier ancestry and celebrates August 15,
1945, as its founding date. The senior naval officer is commander of
naval forces, a deputy commander of coastal defense, and deputy minister
of defense for naval affairs. In late 1969 Ymer Zeqir held these
positions. As deputy commander of coastal defense he coordinated naval
operations with those of the air defense and ground forces that would
participate in defense of the coastal area. As deputy minister of
defense he represented the naval forces in national defense planning and
coordinated personnel, logistic support, and matters that are common to
other branches of the armed forces.

Naval forces are divided into three commands: the Submarine Brigade, the
Vlore Sea Defense Brigade, and the Durres Sea Defense Brigade. All
combat ships are assigned to one of the three. The Submarine Brigade is
based at the Pasha Liman anchorages south of the city of Vlore, at the
extreme southwestern point in the bay. Main facilities of the Vlore Sea
Defense Brigade are located on the