Forsaken Albania

By Artan Lame
Shkodra, Autumn 1913. In April 1913, after some 450 years and a six-month siege the Turkish flag was put down from the Shkodra castle and Montenegrins achieved their dream of conquering Shkodra to make it their capital. The dream continued only for a month because in May that year, under the pressure of the Great Powers (nowadays we would say NATO) they were obliged to withdraw and turn back Shkodra to newly created Albania. After Montenegrins’ withdrawal and while waiting for the creation of a legal Albanian government, the city passed under the administration of an international force known as the International Commission of Control. During those days at the head of the international forces made up of units from six powers (Austro-Hungarian, German, English, Italian and monitoring French and Russian officers) there disembarked at the Buna port English Admiral Sir Cecil Bourney, who was replaced some months later from Colonel Philips (later a general). Philips, a real British of the Victorian epoch, an old career military man, committed successfully and with devotion his duty laying, among others, the foundations of the Albanian gendarmerie in Shkodra, a unit that had such a strong identity that it managed to survive during the years of the World War (1914-1918) and during the years of transition (1918-1920) until the final joining of the city with the Government of Tirana in 1920. Philips left Shkodra with the start of the World War in September 1914.
The picture shows General Philips between two English officers at his office. At his feet there have sat two English soldier, their lieutenants. Behind the general there stands ready a unit of his Albanian gendarmes. Albanians raise their nose in front of the photographer, wearing all different clothes from each other and the only emblem uniting them is the emblem at the collar. The irregularity of their uniforms: jackets with different colors, some with pockets some without, fez on their heads remained from the Turkish army, some with Turkish some with English rifles and so on, testify the financial strain of the city’s administration. The commander of the gendarmes, the mustache lieutenant with a pistol at his belly, wears the Turkish uniform not having a better one (!).
The contrast between our Albanians and the cute Englishmen with ironed uniforms and nice shoes is evident in each picture, but nevertheless it pays honor and respect to these men who served with devotion their newly founded nation.