Italians land at Vlorë

The British chronology of the war records under 26 December 1914 that an Italian detachment landed in the Albanian port of Vlorë, and that the government in Rome notified Austria-Hungary of the temporary occupation of the town. According to Italian sources the first sailors went ashore as early as 25 December, and a few days later they were joined by a regiment of Bersaglieri with a battery of mountain artillery. The Italians met no resistance.

The key to the Adriatic

Vlorë lies on a bay at the entrance to the Strait of Otranto, less than a hundred kilometres from the Italian coast. Whoever controlled it could close the exit from the Adriatic. For years both Italy and Austria-Hungary had sought it. Each fearing the other, the two states supported the creation of an independent Albania, which was to keep the rival away from the strait.

After the departure of Prince Wilhelm of Wied in September the country sank into chaos. In Durrës Essad Pasha ruled, backed by Serbia and Italy; Muslim rebels were active in central Albania; and Greek troops had entered the south. Rome feared that Vlorë would fall into Greek hands or become a pretext for intervention by Vienna.

From Sazan to Vlorë

The Italians acted step by step. On 30 October 1914 a detachment of Regia Marina sailors occupied the small island of Sazan, which closes the entrance to the Bay of Vlorë. An Italian medical mission was already operating in Vlorë at that time. The government presented these steps as temporary, intended to protect the mission, restore order and prevent arms smuggling. When in December the mission came under threat from Greek bands from the south, the ships of a special naval division put a landing party ashore in the town itself.

The landing was decided by the government of Antonio Salandra, in which Sidney Sonnino had been in charge of foreign affairs since November. Sonnino was just beginning difficult talks with Vienna about compensation for Italy. Rome assured Austria-Hungary that the occupation was temporary and did not violate the neutrality of Albania established by the great powers in 1913. Vienna, absorbed by the war with Serbia and Russia, did not protest. The Entente also accepted the Italian step without objection.

A long occupation

The “temporary” occupation lasted almost six years. In the secret Treaty of London of April 1915 the Entente granted Italy full sovereignty over Vlorë and Sazan. At the end of 1915, after the defeat of Serbia, a large Italian expeditionary corps arrived in Vlorë, and the port became the main base of the Italian fleet and army on the eastern shore of the Adriatic. The Italians left the town only in 1920, after fighting with Albanian insurgents. They kept only the island of Sazan, which formally remained Italian until 1947.