Italian invasion of Albania
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Italian invasion of Albania | |||||||||
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Part of the interwar period | |||||||||
Italian forces in Albania. | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Italy | Albania | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Benito Mussolini Alfredo Guzzoni Giovanni Messe | |||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
40,000 soldiers[1] 400 aircraft[2] 2 battleships 3 heavy cruisers 3 light cruisers 9 destroyers 14 torpedo boats 1 minelayer 10 auxiliary ships 9 transport ships |
8,000 soldiers[3] 5 aircraft 3 torpedo boats | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Possibly 700 dead (according to Fischer)[4] 12–25 dead (Italian claim)[4][5] 97 wounded[5] |
Likely more than 700 dead (according to Fischer)[6] 160 dead and several hundreds wounded (according to Pearson)[5] 5 aircraft 3 torpedo boats |
Events leading to World War II |
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The Italian invasion of Albania was a brief military campaign which was launched by the
Background
Culturally and historically, Albania was important to the nationalistic aims of Italian Fascists,[
When Mussolini seized power in Italy, he turned to Albania with renewed interest. Italy began to penetrate Albania's economy in 1925, when Albania agreed to allow Italy to exploit its mineral resources.[13] That action was followed by the signing of the First Treaty of Tirana in 1926 and the signing of the Second Treaty of Tirana in 1927, which enabled Italy and Albania to form a defensive alliance.[13] Among other things, the Albanian government and economy were subsidised by Italian loans and the Royal Albanian Army was not only trained by Italian military instructors, most of the officers in the army were also Italians; other Italians were highly placed in the Albanian government. A third of Albanian imports came from Italy.[14]
Despite strong Italian influence, King
As
The Albanian government tried to keep news of the Italian ultimatum secret.[
Invasion
The original Italian plans for the invasion called for the deployment of up to 50,000 men who would be supported by 51 naval units and 400 airplanes. Ultimately, the invasion force grew to 100,000 men who were supported by 600 airplanes,
On the other side, the regular Albanian army had 15,000 poorly equipped troops who had previously been trained by Italian officers. King Zog's plan was to mount a resistance in the mountains, leaving the ports and the main cities undefended; but Italian agents who were placed in Albania as military instructors sabotaged this plan. As a consequence, the resistance was mainly offered by the Royal Albanian Gendarmerie and small groups of patriots.
In Durrës, a force of 500 Albanians, including gendarmes and armed volunteers, led by Major Abaz Kupi (the commander of the gendarmerie in Durrës), and Mujo Ulqinaku, a naval sergeant, tried to halt the Italian advance. Equipped with small arms and three machine guns and supported by a coastal battery, the defenders resisted the Italians for a few hours before they were defeated by Italian naval fire.[21] The Royal Albanian Navy stationed in Durrës consisted of four patrol boats (each armed with a machine gun) and a coastal battery with four 75 mm guns, the latter also being involved in the fighting.[23] Mujo Ulqinaku, the commander of the patrol boat Tiranë, used his machine gun to kill and wound many Italian troops until himself being killed by an artillery shell from an Italian warship.[23][24] Eventually, a large number of light tanks were unloaded from the Italian ships. After that, resistance began to crumble, and within five hours the Italians had captured the city.[25]
By 1:30 pm on the first day, all Albanian ports were in Italian hands. King Zog, his wife, Queen
The number of casualties in these battles is disputed. Italian military reports stated that at Durrës 25 Italians were killed and 97 wounded, while the local townspeople claimed that 400 Italians were killed.[5] Casualties for the Albanians were given as 160 dead and several hundreds wounded.[5]
On April 12, the Albanian parliament voted to depose Zog and unite the nation with Italy "in personal union" by offering the Albanian crown to Italy's King
In general, the Italian invasion was poorly planned and badly executed, and succeeded only because Albanian resistance was weak. As Filippo Anfuso, Count Ciano's chief assistant sarcastically commented "...if only the Albanians had possessed a well-armed fire-brigade, they could have driven us into the Adriatic".[28][29][30]
Aftermath
On April 15, 1939, Albania withdrew from the
Upon the occupation of Albania and the installation of a new government, the economies of Albania and Italy were merged by a customs union which resulted in the removal of most trade restrictions.[31] Through a tariff union, the Italian tariff system was put in place in Albania.[31] Due to the expected economic losses in Albania from the alteration in tariff policy, the Italian government provided Albania 15 million Albanian leks each year in compensation.[31] Italian customs laws were to apply in Albania and only Italy alone could conclude treaties with third parties.[31] Italian capital was allowed to dominate the Albanian economy.[31] As a result, Italian companies were allowed to hold monopolies in the exploitation of Albanian natural resources.[31] All petroleum resources in Albania went through Agip, Italy's state petroleum company.[32]
Albania followed Italy into war against Britain and France on June 10, 1940. Albania served as the base for the
During the Second World War, the Albanian Partisans, including some Albanian nationalist groups, sporadically fought against the Italians (after autumn 1942) and, subsequently, they sporadically fought against the Germans. By October 1944, the Germans had withdrawn from the southern Balkans in response to military defeats which they had suffered at the hands of the Red Army, the
Cultural references
The events which surrounded the Italian annexation of Albania formed part of the inspiration for the eighth volume of The Adventures of Tintin comics titled King Ottokar's Sceptre, with a plot based on a fictional Balkan country Syldavia and uneasy tensions with its larger neighbour Borduria.[36] The author of the Tintin comics Hergé also insisted that his editor publish the work to take advantage of current events in 1939 as he felt "Syldavia is Albania".[36]
See also
- Adriatic campaign of World War II
- Albanian Fascist Militia
- Albania–Italy relations
- Royal Albanian Army
- Royal Italian Army
References
- ^ "HALL OF THE ANTI-FACHIST NATIONAL LIBERATION WAR – Muzeu Historik Kombëtar" (in Albanian). Retrieved 2022-12-24.
- ^ Fischer 1999 (Purdue ed.), p. 21.
- ^ a b Fischer 1999 (Purdue ed.), p. 22.
- ^ a b Fischer 1999, p. 22:Reports on the number of casualties differed rather significantly. The townspeople of Durrës maintained that the Italians lost four hundred. Although Italian propaganda claimed that Italy only lost twelve men in the entire invasion, it is possible that approximately two hundred Italians were killed in Durrës alone and as many as seven hundred Italians may have been killed in total.
- ^ a b c d e Pearson 2004, p. 445.
- ISBN 9781557531414.
Albanian casualties may have been higher.
- ^ Fischer 1999 (C. Hurst ed.), p. 5.
- ISBN 960-7916-11-5. "Περιορίζοντας τις αρχικές του ισλαμιστικές εξάρσεις, το αλβανικό εθνικιστικό κίνημα εξασφάλισε την πολιτική προστασία των δύο ισχυρών δυνάμεων της Αδριατικής, της Ιταλίας και της Αυστρίας, που δήλωναν έτοιμες να κάνουν ό,τι μπορούσαν για να σώσουν τα Βαλκάνια από την απειλή του Πανσλαβισμού και από την αγγλογαλλική κηδεμονία που υποτίθεται ότι θα αντιπροσώπευε η επέκταση της Ελλάδας." "[By limiting the Islamic character, the Albanian nationalist movement secured civil protection from two powerful forces in the Adriatic, Italy and Austria, which was ready to do what they could to save the Balkans from the threat of Pan-Slavism and the Anglo French tutelage that is supposed to represent its extension through Greece.]"
- ISBN 9780813159959.
As a result of the Ottoman collapse, a group of Albanians, with Austrian and Italian support, declared Albanian independence at Valona (Vlorë) on 28 November 1912.
- ^ Albania: A Country Study: Albania's Reemergence after World War I, Library of Congress.
- ISBN 978-0-415-25455-7.
The invasion of Albania in 1939 resulted in the addition of territory on the Adriatic, a compensation for the territory Italy had not been given in the 1919 peace settlement. These policies were, however, carried out at immense cost, which eventually shattered the regime's limited infrastructure. There are also examples of direct
- ISBN 9780415216128
- ^ a b Albania: A Country Study: Italian Penetration, Library of Congress
- ^ p. 149 Smith, Denis Mack Mussolini's Roman Empire Viking Press 1976
- ^ Fischer 1999 (C. Hurst ed.), p. 7.
- ^ Albania: A Country Study: Zog's Kingdom, Library of Congress
- ^ Albania: A Country Study: Italian Occupation, Library of Congress
- ^ p. 151 Smith, Denis Mack Mussolini's Roman Empire Viking Press 1976
- ISBN 978-184511013-0.
- ^ Pearson 2004, p. 439.
- ^ a b Pearson 2004, p. 444.
- ^ a b La Regia Marina tra le due guerre mondiali.
- ^ a b "Zeqo">Zeqo, Mojkom (1980). Mujo Ulqinaku. Tirana, Albania: 8 Nëntori Pub. House.
- ^ Kore, Blerim (7 April 2009). "Kur mbreti italian Viktor Emanueli, vizitonte Gjirokastren". Koha Jone (in Albanian). Archived from the original on 8 October 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
- ^ Pearson 2004, pp. 444–5.
- ^ Pearson 2004, p. 454.
- ^ Fischer 1999 (C. Hurst ed.), p. 36.
- ISBN 0253341892.
- ISBN 9781850655312.
- ISBN 9780857729361.
- ^ a b c d e f Raphaël Lemkin. Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. Slark, New Jersey, US: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2005. Pp. 102.
- ISBN 978-184511104-5.
- ^ Fischer 1999 (C. Hurst ed.), p. 189.
- ^ Fischer 1999 (C. Hurst ed.), p. 223.
- ^ Albania: A Country Study: The Communist and Nationalist Resistance – Library of Congress.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-539759-8.
Sources
- Fischer, Bernd J. (1999). Albania at War, 1939–1945. Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-155753141-4– via Google Books.
- Fischer, Bernd J. (1999). Albania at War, 1939–1945. C. Hurst & Co Publishers. ISBN 978-185065531-2.
- Library of Congress Country Study of Albania