French fleet bombards Kotor

On 19 September 1914 French warships shelled the fortifications of the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Kotor, known in Italian as Cattaro. The base lay deep inside the Bay of Kotor, at the southern end of the Austro-Hungarian coast, right by the border with Montenegro.

A sortie into the Adriatic

Since August the Allied fleet in the Mediterranean had been commanded by the French Vice-Admiral Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère. His battleships had already sunk the cruiser Zenta and on 1 September had for the first time shelled the forts at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor. The French hoped in this way to provoke the Austro-Hungarian fleet into leaving port and giving battle.

On 18 and 19 September the French fleet again entered the Adriatic, reaching as far north as the island of Vis, then called Lissa. On the way back several French cruisers came within range of Kotor’s coastal guns. The battleships Patrie and Démocratie then opened fire on the batteries to silence them and cover the withdrawing cruisers. Once again the Austro-Hungarian fleet did not put to sea.

Guns on Lovćen

At the same time the French tried to attack Kotor from the land side. On 18 and 19 September a detachment of naval artillery with eight guns was landed at the Montenegrin port of Bar. With great difficulty the guns were hauled up the slopes of Mount Lovćen, which rises above the bay. On 19 October they opened fire on the Austro-Hungarian positions. Austria-Hungary responded by bringing the battleship SMS Radetzky into the bay, and her heavy guns quickly gained the upper hand. After a few weeks the French withdrew their surviving guns, and Kotor remained in Austro-Hungarian hands until the end of the war.