Forsaken Albania

By Artan Lame
Albania,1917. What we call World War I today today was known at the time as “The Great War.” However, on seeing that another World War of even larger proportions followed, Mankind decided to apply numbers. WWI found Albania a newly formed State, not at all consolidated, torn asunder by internal strife and belligerent parties. The result is known and is easy to imagine. Albania holds a record in that war for the number of belligerent armies which violated its territory, Italian, French, Austro-Hungarian, German, Bulgarian, Serb, Montenegrin, Greek and who knows what else. In the midst of this chaos, the Albanians themselves were compelled to adapt to the situation of the day and the armed forces of the moment. All the invading armies set up Albanian units under their command, both to be used on the Front against their enemies, or to help keep order inside the country. However, it is well worth while to stress (and this is actually to their merit), that in the majority of cases, the Albanians, irrespective of which army they served in, never once lost sight of what was to occur after the War regarding the outcome of the war. Perhaps for the first time in their history, during the Great War, in those cases when the Albanians mobilized by conflicting armies found themselves facing one another across the top of trenches, always found a way around opening fire against one another. They didn’t rise in rebellion but they resorted to all manner of complicated maneuvers to avoid this, which only common suffering to survive acknowledge. In the first photograph are a group of Albanians mobilized in the Austro-Hungarian Army which had invaded the North of Albania, as far as Vjosa-Pogradec. The Albanians mobilized in these armies wore Austrian uniforms in general and were armed with weapons confiscated from Serb munitions depots following the collapse of Serbia in 1916. The second photo takes us to Korca. A French officer is trying to discipline a unit of Albanians mobilized into the French Armed Forces. The French has invaded the South-Eastern part of the country, including Pogradec, Kor衬 Erseka and Leskovik. The Albanians wear simple French uniforms and woolen caps with the insignia of the double headed eagle. In the third photograph, an Albanian officer mobilized in the Italian army is handling the mobilization of several other Albanians. It appears that this is a promotional photograph but nonetheless this does not lessen its value. The Albanians, now in Italian uniforms are registering the names of the new recruits, being read out by another Albanian dressed in a magnificent fustanella (men’s pleated kilt ), the whiteness of which creates a contrast with the mud caked on the uniforms of the others. The Italians controlled the south of Albania along the front line, from the River Vjosa to the positions of the French Armed Forces. These three photographs were taken in the same year in 1917, the three photos show Albanians and in three cases they are in the service of different foreign armies.