Albanian military at time of Italian invasion in 1939

[Larry D.]

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

The Germans withdrew from Albania between October and December 1944. All serviceable Luftwaffe aircraft were long gone by then because the Allied air forces in Italy had absolute air supremacy over Albania. Any Luftwaffe aircraft that remained at any of the 6 or 7 airfields that were used in Albania would have been nothing but wrecks and scrap.

--Larry

[Korbius]

Larry is right, the only things that littered the airfields were wrecks of the Fiat C.50's that had been destroyed in Sept. 43 by partisans in sabotage acts, while the Germans used occasionally the Storchs for recce purposes, but none were captured after the final withdrawal which ended in November 29th, 1944.

[Mario Raguz]

Thanks

Any photo of those planes?

[Larry D.]

Thanks

Any photo of those planes?

Sorry, no, and I've never seen any either. Photos of wrecked aircraft on Albanian airfields would be a real rarity, I think.

[Serbian boy]

[
Hi Serbian Boy:

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

Regards,
Allen/

Thanks!

[Korbius]

Here's a photo from my collection of a Storch in Albania being refueled, where you can see Italian bombers in the background. I've had the chance to see some photos of the Italian G50 wreckages for sale in the past, and it seemed like they kept Germans busy for a while as they tried to clear the landing strip.

[Larry D.]

Good photo.

Störche and Nahaufklärungsflugzeuge operated from Albanian airfields, and Ju 52 transports flew back and forth between the Banat, Belgrade-Pancevo, Zemun, etc., and Tirana, but they weren't based there. It's this relatively low level of activity and the small number of Luftwaffe personnel stationed in Albania that makes photos of aircraft so hard to find.

[Billy]

Korbius:

You said that the Albanian uniforms were a similar colour to the Italian grigio-verde; was there any difference at all in coulour, as in were the Albanian uniforms a little darker or a little lighter etc.? Also, did their officers have a noticably different shade of uniform than enlisted men, because this was the case with the Italian Army, the Italian enlisted having a grey-green while the officers had a lighter colour that appeared to be much more strictly grey. Just wondering.

[Korbius]

Hi Billy,

It is hard to judge from black and white pictures if they were or not the same color. I haven't seen any pictures where both officer or enlisted were together, which could make it easier to distinguish any differences.

[gotenhafen]

1) Before 1939 Albania had no planes at all - although it was planned to establish Air Force. As I know, first planes of Albanian AF were some Yak-s delivered c. 1948.

2) Albanian Navy before 1939:

base: Durres
manpower: 141 (17 officers)

2 gunboats (ex-German minesweepers type FM=Flachgehende Minensuchboote)
170 t, 43/6/1.7 m, 14 kn., 76 mm gun, 2 MG
Bulit in 1918/19, bought c. 1925.
"Shqipnja" (ex-FM 16) & "Skanderbeg" (ex-FM 23), both sunk or withdrawn c. 1935/37

4 patrolboats of Italian MAS class
Built & bought in 1926 in Venice
46 t, 17 kn., 76 mm gun, 2 MG
"Tirana", "Saranda", "Durres", "Shengjin"
In 1939 into Italian Navy, in 1943 probably German, in 1945 Albanian: two cannibalized, other two withdrawn in 1970-ties. (?)

1 royal yacht
654 t, 42x8x4 m, 4 MG
Bulit 1918 as French patrolboat "Gardon", later Italian civil steamship "Citte d'Arheno", bought by Albania in late 1920-ties.
"Ilirja"
1939 Italian (as gunboat "Illiria", 1943 probably German, 1945 Albanian, scrapped in 1958.

3) Gendarmery (Xhandarmerje): 131 (officers) + 3000 (soldiers), 4-5 battalions

4) Armoured forces:

One company.

- Few light tanks FIAT 3000B (bought in 1929)
- Six tankettes CV.33 (bought in 1938)
- Few armoured cars: Bianchi, Lancia IZ (bought in late 1920-ties)

5) Army (Ushtria Kombetare)

780 (of) + 13800 (so) (1932)

9 military districts
12 infantry battalions
2 motorized infantry squadrons
9 engineers companies

arms (1932):
204 HMG (probably Breda, Maxim...)
10700 carbines (Carcano M1891, Mannlicher, Mosin)
1104 revolvers (probably Glisenti M1889)

5b) artillery (1937)

- 12 batteries of 65 mm Italian
- 6 batteries of 75 mm Skoda (Austrian from I WW)
- 2 batteries of 105 mm Italian
These three types contained 48 guns.
Also: 2 batteries of 149 mm Italian (8 guns)

Added in 1938:
- 1 coastal artillery battery in Durres
- 3 AA artillery batteries

[gabriel pagliarani]

....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')...

There is no obvious link between fez and catholicysm. Italian troops wear the "red fez of Mameluks" till Crimea War , 1855 and italians are 99% catholics. Turkish Imperial Army gave this honour to Bersaglieri for the bravery shown against Russians.

[BIGpanzer]

Thanks, gotenhafen, for your interesting post.
A very similar info I`ve already posted in this thread, but I couldn`t find the info about the types and specifications of Albanian vessels.

As for the Albanian Air Force. Different info exists. Some sources mention that the first Albanian airfield was built by Italians after the occupation, another - that Albania had one small airfield and several training aircrafts in 1930s. Probably, the first info is more correct.
What I know for sure that Albania ordered 3 Lohner Pfeil aircrafts in 1914, but they were never delivered. After WWII Albania bought 12 Yak-3 fighters in 1947.

Regards, BIGpanzer

[gjs]

Hello,

Does anybody know where was the ex Albanian gun boat Illiria located at the time of Armistice (9th of September 1943). As I know she was in Taranto in 1944 but I do not know what happend before (how did she menage to reach Taranto).

Thanks

gjs

[Einheriar]

Here the grades of the Albanian army :

from 1929 to 1936 :

http://www.uniforminsignia.net/index.ph ... 9&sid=2433

from 1936 to 1939 :

http://www.uniforminsignia.net/index.ph ... 0&sid=2320

Interresting thing : The grade system between 1936 to 1939 seems to be influenced by the German army : you can see the general's shoulder straps which are nearly similar to the german generals . Moreover, albanians use the same german system of Waffenfarbe with colors around shoulder straps .

This is the system of "Albanian Waffenfarbe" :

Yellow : ???
Purple : ingeneer
Blue : artillery
Green : infantery
Red : Royal Guard (The red was the color of the skanderbeg's flag . Therefore, it has became the symbolic color of Albany )

This german influence might came from the implantation in Albania of a prussian prince , Guillaume of Wied , in 1914 . This prince has gave to the Albany the german symbol of the eagle .

Here the grades of the albanian police state :

http://www.uniforminsignia.net/index.ph ... 0&sid=1766

I think those grades are the same for the King Zog , due to the fact Zog was influenced by Italians and the albanian grades are similar to the Italian's police grades :

http://www.uniforminsignia.net/index.ph ... 08&sid=861

You can see for the officer the similar tower's diagram



[/u]


The Albanian decorations from 1914 to 1943 :

http://perso.numericable.fr/~semoeric/D ... LBANIE.htm

(see the section : 1/ Royaume d'Albanie)

[Einheriar]

I have forgotten another interresting thing :


Albanian army still using an old material dating WWII , as :

.T-34 (!!!)

.Artillery m42

....

Just have a look on this page, which is about the present albanian army :

http://www.stormloader.com/albanianarmy/GTroops.htm