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Albanian military at time of Italian invasion in 1939

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ALFA ROMEO GIULIA ESTREMA

Billy
Member
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Albanian military at time of Italian invasion in 1939

#1

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13 Nov 2005, 07:24

First allow me to say this is an excellent forum, by far the best WWII forum out there. I'm new here, and interested in all
aspects of WWII, and since I've been interested in it for years I've had time to look into a lot of the well-known areas of the
War, nowadays however I'm most curious about the smaller, more obscure aspects of it. In this vein I have a question
regarding the Albanian military under King Zog at the time of the Italian invasion. Does anyone have any photos of the
uniforms of the Albanian Army of that period, as in the Albanian soldiers that resisted the Italian invasion? I can find really
nothing anywhere about this. I know it's a small topic, there wasn't a great deal of fighting and technically it was not part
of the War as it occurred just a teeny bit before the outbreak, but it is a curious matter, one that I've been wondering about
for some time.
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BIGpanzer
Member
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#2


13 Nov 2005, 18:16

Hello, Billy!

AFAIK in 1938-1939 small Albania with 1 million population had the following army:

I) Land Army (Royal Guard + 6 battalions of Royal Frontier Guard + 12 (only 9 of them were permanently organized)
infantry battalions + 1 section of armored cars and tanks with several obsolete Italian Lancia IZ and Fiat 3000 + 22
batteries of artillery: 12 of 65mm, 6 of 75mm, 2 of 105mm and 2 of 149mm guns + 9 companies of engineers)

In 1935 Albanian Army had 11581 rifles, 204 machine-guns, 56 guns less than 120mm, 8 guns over 120 mm, 8 armored
fighting vehicles.

II) Gendarmerie (10 district HQ, 31 subdivisional HQ, 251 post HQ - near 2000 gendarmers with rifles)

III) Police Forces (near 200 policemen)

IV) Air Forces (very small, 1 airfield with several training aircrafts)

V) Navy (one flotilla of light patrol motor boats, total tonnage 184 t, 141 seamen)

Photo of Albanian infantrymen in 1914 (in 1920s-1930s the Albanian uniform didn`t change a lot)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v513/ ... oldier.jpg

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Billy
Member
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#3


13 Nov 2005, 22:06

Thanks a lot BIGPanzer! Was the fez cap worn in combat or just ceremonial?

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BIGpanzer
Member
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#4


14 Nov 2005, 01:21

I believe that fez caps were worn by Albanians in combat also, as they were worn by Croatian (
http://www.waffen-ss.no/Bilder/handschar.jpg ), Turkish, etc. soldiers as well as by Albanian volunteers of German SS
troops (Scanderberg).
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 Allen Milcic
Member
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#5


14 Nov 2005, 02:21

 BIGpanzer wrote:
I believe that fez caps were worn by Albanians in combat also, as they were worn by Croatian (
http://www.waffen-ss.no/Bilder/handschar.jpg ), Turkish, etc. soldiers as well as by Albanian volunteers of German SS
troops (Scanderberg).

Small clarification - the Fez was not warn by the Croatian armed forces (the Fez being a particularly Muslim piece of
headwear, the Croatians being predominantly Roman Catholic). Rather, the Fez was worn during WW2 by Bosnian
Muslims of the nominally Croatian "Handschar" SS Division (Bosnia-Herzegovina being part of the WW2 era puppet
'Independent State of Croatia').

Regards,

Allen/
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BIGpanzer
Member
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#6


14 Nov 2005, 12:52

Thanks for the clarification, Allen!

I meant Croatian "Handschar" SS division in my letter above

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Korbius
Member
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#7


15 Nov 2005, 19:21

Actually Albanians did not wear fez in combat, unless you're talking about the ceremonial uniform of the Royal Guard, or
they were usually worn by local militias and collaborators of the Italians and Germans during WWII. Below are some
pictures of the first two decades after the Great War.

photos taken from the "Albanian Armed Forces" book.

ATTACHMENTS
gendarmerie.JPG (61.05 KiB) Viewed 23327 times

motorized art..JPG (46.96 KiB) Viewed 23366 times

 Royal Guard.JPG (65.47 KiB) Viewed 23391 times

Last edited by Korbius on 16 Nov 2005, 03:23, edited 2 times in total.

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Korbius
Member
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#8


15 Nov 2005, 19:26

The Gendarmerie was the only to put up resistance against the Italians, since they were British trained and were not
indoctrinated by the Italians as the rest of the Albanian army. They succeeded in repelling the main amphibious attack in
the city port of Durres, and were forced to withdraw a couple of hours later, after the Italians landed for the second time
with light tanks and armored cars.
Adrian helmets were the standard issue, and the uniforms look like as in the following pictures.

ATTACHMENTS
 gati-tu.jpg (29.5 KiB) Viewed 23267 times

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Victor
Member
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#9


15 Nov 2005, 20:55

Korbius, please mention sources photographs as required by the forum guidelines.

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Billy
Member
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#10


15 Nov 2005, 23:00

Wonderful!! Thanks Korbius!! The Royal Guard's ceremonial uniform looks similar to the Greek Evzones. I suspected the
Army might have Adrian helmets but I had nothing more to base that on than the fact that the Adrian was very popular
during the inter-war years in many armies and that as the Army was Italian-trained I figured they might have bought the
same helmet the Italians had before Italy adopted the Modello 1933, but this confirms thier usage. Any idea what colour
the uniforms were? Were they similar to Italian grigio-verde colour? Thanks again, great pictures.
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Serbian boy
Member
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#11


15 Nov 2005, 23:26
  Allen Milcic wrote:

 BIGpanzer wrote:
I believe that fez caps were worn by Albanians in combat also, as they were worn by Croatian (
http://www.waffen-ss.no/Bilder/handschar.jpg ), Turkish, etc. soldiers as well as by Albanian volunteers of German
SS troops (Scanderberg).

Small clarification - the Fez was not warn by the Croatian armed forces (the Fez being a particularly Muslim piece of
headwear, the Croatians being predominantly Roman Catholic). Rather, the Fez was worn during WW2 by Bosnian
Muslims of the nominally Croatian "Handschar" SS Division (Bosnia-Herzegovina being part of the WW2 era puppet
'Independent State of Croatia').

Regards,

Allen/

If I know correctly some Roman Catholic croats was in 13.Waffen-Geirgs-Division der SS.Warn they fez or not?
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Allen Milcic
Member
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#12


16 Nov 2005, 00:29

 Serbian Boy wrote:

If I know correctly some Roman Catholic croats was in 13.Waffen-Geirgs-Division der SS.Warn they fez or not?

Hi Serbian Boy:

No, they didn't, though some of the German officers did.

Regards,

Allen/
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Allen Milcic
Member
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#13


16 Nov 2005, 00:30

I also note that some of the Muslim battalions of the NDH Domobranstvo wore the Fez.

Allen/
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Korbius
Member
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#14


16 Nov 2005, 03:42

Greetings Billy,

The Royal Guard shared costume similarities with the Evzones, which in turn had been influenced by southern Albanian
insurgents in the 18th-19th century that went on to aid the Greek independence cause after the failed uprising of Ali Pasha
Tepelena. You're right about the uniform colors and also on the assumption of their helmets.

 Billy wrote:
Wonderful!! Thanks Korbius!! The Royal Guard's ceremonial uniform looks similar to the Greek Evzones. I suspected the
Army might have Adrian helmets but I had nothing more to base that on than the fact that the Adrian was very popular
during the inter-war years in many armies and that as the Army was Italian-trained I figured they might have bought the
same helmet the Italians had before Italy adopted the Modello 1933, but this confirms thier usage. Any idea what colour
the uniforms were? Were they similar to Italian grigio-verde colour? Thanks again, great pictures.


Mario Raguz
Member


#15


16 Nov 2005, 11:27

After WW II, did Albanians captured any German or Italian plane?

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