Part XXXII: Escalation

November 1, 1941. Genoa, Italy.

They called it Sfollamento. (1)

Vincenzo Bottai called it a pain in the ass and a humiliating one at that.

Why bother protecting your people when you could drive them off to the countryside and then drive them back?(2)

Even that description was kind. It didn't seem to matter which truck he got in, the suspension was always terrible. The drivers said he'd get used to it after a couple weeks. So far, it had been six and still no signs of getting used to it. From where he was sitting, the pain in his neck and the dull throb behind his eyes seemed to signal that utter madness was far more likely.

At least then I'll fit right in…

He chuckled bitterly at his silent joke as he forced his aching bones up from the bench and trundled down the walkway towards his small office in the shipyard. In such an absurd situation all one could do was laugh. The very trucks that were so desperately needed in Africa were too busy being used to ferry workers like him out of their homes every night because the aircraft that should have been overhead were either sitting on the bottom of the Mediterranean or bombing the shit out of some Albanian peasant's hovel. Every passing day revealed just how much of a farce Mussolini's "New Roman Empire" was becoming and in a very real sense had always been.

In his mind, no greater monument to that farce existed other than the very thing he'd spent nearly a year working on: the Vittorio Veneto.

With her sistership the Littorio having only just been raised from her resting place on Taranto's harbour floor, the Veneto and her 15-inch guns were the Regia Marina's best chance to contest British control of the Mediterranean. One would think this would merit a certain degree of priority and protection even in Mussolini's Italy but they would be wrong. The British raid on Taranto should have been the first signal that something was wrong, but the raid's revolutionary tactics took some of the onus off the military. What happened three months later was completely inexcusable. It was one thing to be caught off guard by a nocturnal torpedo bombers, but the French had bombarded the Genoese coast in June 1940. That had been bad enough, but the fact that the entire Italian military just let the Royal Navy sail up to Genoa and pound the living daylights out of the drydock was inexcusable. The dozen or so reconnaissance planes they'd sighted in the previous weeks should have clued them into something bigger happening, but it didn't and after February 6, 1941 not only did they receive nearly 50 15-inch Armour piercing and high explosive rounds, but rumor had it that the entire force escaped to Gibraltar without a scratch.(3)

The damage had been nothing short of catastrophic and particularly demoralizing considering that the Veneto's repairs had been slated for completion only a few weeks later. Moreover, the mixture of AP and HE rounds had landed all around the shipyard destroying dozens of buildings and slowing down the subsequent repairs even further. They'd been instructed to redouble their efforts, but the damage was just too great. Even with parts from her incomplete sister ships, the Veneto remained in drydock for another six months only to suffer yet another indignity.

Vincenzo still wasn't quite sure how this embarrassment stacked up against the previous ones or the ones suffered in Albania and Africa. In some ways it was better, in the sense that the damage inflicted and the numbers of lives lost paled in comparison, yet in other ways it was worse. The last six weeks of regular RAF bombing raids on Northern Italy had only inflicted minor physical damage on the city and a few minor hits on the Veneto and Goritza. In that way it was better, but in every other measurable way it was worse. The two bombardments had been bad enough, but they had been spaced apart. Now, every other night the people of Northern Italy were reminded of just how feckless their leaders were as they watched the British bombers come, drop their bombs, and leave with hardly a flak burst or interceptor in sight. Furthermore, they had to do so after being driven out of the city into the countryside by trucks that the papers said were desperately needed in Albania and Africa.

Africa wouldn't be a supply problem for the foreseeable future given Tripoli's coming surrender. But who really knew what the fall of Africa would mean for Italy? (4) The only real guarantee was that now bombers would be able to blanket the entire peninsula from bases in not only England but Tunisia. Whatever completely inadequate defenses Italy had would be stretched even further, allowing the British to drop more and more bombs. Even if they continued to not hit much of importance as they were in Genoa, the law of averages meant that the casualties would continue to mount. Moreover, unless something radical changed, the disastrous Sfollamento policy would continue to do far more damage to the country's morale and production.

It hadn't taken long for Vincenzo to see the policy's effects. He'd been noticing increasing absenteeism and decreasing worker participation for weeks, but he couldn't blame his workers. Lately, the cumulative exhaustion of being driven back and forth every night was beginning to wear on him too. How could he encourage his men to come in on time, work a full shift, and volunteer for overtime when he was barely able to do the same? Quality control was even more of an issue, everyone was so tired, they were finding far more mistakes than ever before. Moreover, the British bombers seemed to be dropping more and more powerful bombs with more accuracy every time they appeared. Rumor had it that several workers with family in the countryside were thinking of returning to agriculture at least until the war was over. With the emergence of a thriving black market following the implementation of a ridiculous rationing system last month, the prospect of further earnings meant that even his shipyard would be hard pressed to match the tangible benefits of farm hands.(5)

But those problems paled in comparison to the political unrest which had sprung up in the past few weeks. Coming on the heels of a disastrous Albanian campaign, massive naval defeats, and the loss of the entire African empire, the sustained bombing of Northern Italy seemed to be the straw that was breaking the back of the Italian war industry. Reaching into his pocket he could still feel the crumpled flyer he'd found a few days ago. Commissioned by the Comituto d'azione per l'unione del populo italiano the broadsheet called for peace, emphasizing that "Mussolini and his government are the most responsible for these bombings... Mussolini has drawn the RAF bombers on to our cities and has knowingly left our population without defence."(6) If even half of the stories from Milan were true, and they likely were given what Vincenzo knew of the situation here in Genoa, the Duce's government might not be long for this world. Then again, who was to say if his successor would be any better? In fact, the way things were going, Vincenzo had a nasty feeling that things were about to get worse.

Shaking his head, Vincenzo tried to physically transition to the day ahead. Frankly, he was sick of working on the Veneto and knew that every day past the anniversary of the raid on Taranto they needed to finish was exposing all of them to intense political pressure. He could already feel the stress headache setting in as his hands reached around the crumpled flyer and found the keys to his locker.

One day at a time…

Notes:

1. OTL term.

2. All of this was done in OTL as well but later. As noted in the last update, instead of redirecting their bombers to Germany, the British choose to use them to support Operation Crusader much like they did in OTL around the Second Battle of El Alamein/Torch. This also means that Germany gets a bit of a reprieve in TTL compared to what they experienced in OTL.

3. The bombardment of Genoa in February 1941 is from OTL. Known as Operation Grog, it proved to be more a blow to Italian morale than anything else, though they did sink a number of ships in Genoa's harbour. In TTL, more reconnaissance flights from Malta's superior airfields and heavier damage to the battleships at Taranto mean that the Veneto is sent there and sighted by the RAF. With more information to prepare, the British focus their efforts and are subsequently rewarded.

4. Due to censorship, Vincenzo isn't quite up to date with the recent developments in Africa. Remember, Tripoli surrendered on October 31, 1941.

5. All of this happened in OTL albeit a bit later due to the later date of intensive bombing.

6. The committee and the pamphlet are from OTL only a year earlier.

(Excerpted from Cornelius Reese "Europe's Last Warrior King" 2011))

Contrary to the revisionists' claims, Italian intelligence reports declassified in 2010 in demonstrate that the casualties suffered during Roatta's offensive played a significant role in shaping Fascist occupation policies. Though not as favourable as the immediate post-war Zogist hagiography, these reports note that, in addition to the factors cited by revisionists such as the defeats in Africa, British Naval raids on Vlora, and the strains caused by increased strategic bombing, Italian casualties played a significant role in their decision to adopt a more defensive posture in Albania. Roatta's insistence that his additional forces were insufficient, and that an additional 100,000 men would allow him to at last crush Zog played poorly in a Rome overwhelmed by other obligations and looking at their Albanian holding's meagre contributions. Even if some believed Roatta's contested claim that he had finally addressed the logistical and doctrinal issues plaguing the Italian occupation forces in Albania, allocating even more precious resources to obtain diminishing returns became politically untenable following the surrender of Tripoli.

Even before his removal in December 1941, both Mussolini and Ciano had privately begun discussing a pivot away from the "debacle albanese" towards the new regions Germany had awarded Italy following its occupation of Vichy France.(7) Any additional resources sent to Albania would need to be drawn from those forces earmarked for the occupation of these regions, Italian contributions to the Eastern Front, homeland defense, and finally efforts to retake Libya. To weaken such operations all in the name of "arresting some Albanian bandit" in Mussolini's words seemed folly given recent defeats. Roatta had scored a victory in securing the Greco-Albanian border. Now was the time for consolidation not expansion.

Roatta was understandably less than enthused with Mussolini's response but found himself without many reasonable avenues for recourse. His practice of overstating Italian victories and encouraging his subordinates to do the same had succeeded in building his reputation and excusing heavy casualties but had come at a high price. According to his own reports, Zog's men were effectively beaten, disorganized, and demoralized. To shift now and report the uncomfortable reality that Albanian resistance had dropped in intensity but not organization might have strengthened the Italian position but would likely have come at the cost of Roatta's own career if not his life. So instead, he chose to expand his web of lies by emphasizing minor concerns in Northern Albania, hoping that this tactic would secure enough men and materiel to crush Albanian resistance.

To be fair, Zogist penetration units had begun operations in Northern Albania roughly a month prior to Roatta's pivot in November 1941, but their actions had paled in comparison to the ongoing low intensity fighting in the south. Outside of a handful of pinprick attacks on Italian positions and loyal tribal militias, the vast majority of Northern and Central Albania remained comfortably neutral if not Italian aligned under the previous arrangements negotiated with the Regency. Only Shkodra saw a significant turn towards Zogism due to the Liberal Catholic community's growing disenchantment with the Regency's failure to restore their city's political and economic prominence but even this only resulted in a hundred people joining Ndoc Çoba's network of cells.(8) Though Roatta correctly predicted Zog's decision to move his headquarters north in 1942, his use of this prediction to secure additional forces from a perilously resource strapped Rome proved to be disastrous in the aftermath of the Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor.

Hitler's decision to declare war on the United States of America on December 10, 1941, came with a strongly worded "suggestion" that Rome follow suit which proved to be the straw that broke the back of Mussolini's tenuous hold on power. Unlike the Germans, many Italians had no illusions about American fighting ability and several figures within the Fascist government dreaded the prospect of needlessly antagonizing Washington. Coalescing around Italo Balbo, whose reputation had experienced a resurgence since October 1941 due to his attempted reorganization of Italian air defenses, these figures sought to extricate Italy from the conflict or at least not expand it.(9) This faction's rise had the unintended effect of mobilizing their opponents, most notably General Pietro Badoglio who felt increasingly maligned by the contrast between Balbo's recent rehabilitation and his continued status as the scapegoat for the Italian defeats in 1940. Despite his initial opposition to the war, Badoglio's personal rivalry with Balbo, whom he saw as the true reason behind the Italian defeat in Cyrenaica, his underlying fascist tendencies, and his blatant opportunism led him to align with Roberto Farinacci's proposals to salvage the Italian war effort through more intensive collaboration with Germany. This timely defection provided Farinacci with the perfect figure to advance his radical vision for Italy as Badoglio covered for Farinacci's personal unpopularity, attracted moderate Fascist voices such as King Vittorio Emmanuele III, and allowed him to seize the initiative. Before Balbo's faction could properly organize, Farinacci's men worked through back channels to convince Mussolini to call a meeting of the Grand Council of Fascism which he did on December 11. (10)

Believing that Farinacci's faction meant to "embalm him in power" and pursue total war, Mussolini sat dumfounded when they turned the tables on him and called for Badoglio of all people to replace him instead. A grand revision of recent Italian history followed which exonerated Badoglio for the failures in Albania, Abyssinia, and Cyrenaica that led Mussolini to make him a scapegoat and replace him in December 1940. In each of these defeats as well as the subsequent reverses in Tripoli, and, most recently, the bombing of Italy, Farinacci highlighted the deleterious effects of Mussolini's interference to illustrate the need for new leadership and the adoption of a total war mentality. Only then, he averred, could Italy's contributions to the Axis victory be sufficient to merit German aid in regaining and expanding its Empire in Southeastern Europe and Africa following their impending victory over the Soviet Union. The only realistic alternative according to Farinacci, attempting to leave the war, would throw away the massive sacrifices made to date and subject the entire Italian peninsula to likely permanent German occupation.

Having caught Balbo's faction off guard, Farinacci's rhetoric, planning, and German support, as well as Badoglio's opportunistic collaboration swayed the Council's moderates, securing a comfortable though not absolute victory. Badoglio and Farinacci's men moved rapidly following the vote, consolidating power in Rome and arresting not only Mussolini but any of his perceived loyalists or Balbo's faction. Balbo himself only narrowly escaped by using his personal aircraft to fly to Spain and narrowly missing the squad sent to arrest him.

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Mussolini's Successor: General Pietro Badoglio​

By 10:25pm the following night the situation had stabilized enough for Giambattista Arista voce littoria to announce that:

Attention. Attention. His Majesty the King and Emperor has accepted the resignation from office of the Head of Government, Prime Minister, and Secretary of State His Excellency il Cavaliere Benito Mussolini, and has named as Head of Government, Prime Minister, and Secretary of State the Marshal of Italy, Pietro Badoglio. La guerra continua. L'Italia tiene fede alla parola data.(11)

Contrary to the bombastic propaganda which followed, contemporary accounts conflict with some recording a long and dread filled silence while others recounting the sounds of soft weeping through many Italian cities. The next day, Italy declared war on the United States.

Many of the exact details of Badoglio's regime, the rise of Roberto Farinacci, the adoption of new economic practices, and most importantly the acceleration of Fascist antisemitic policies, are well known and beyond the scope of this book.(12) However, Badoglio's policy towards Albania ushered in a new and more terrifying reality for Zog and his followers. With both Mussolini and Ciano secured in Campo Imperatore, remaining proponents for continued Italian involvement in Albania were few and far between. This absence allowed Badoglio to enact his planned reorganization of the Italian War effort. Rather than send the reinforcements Roatta claimed were necessary to secure northern Albania, on December 15, Badoglio ordered the adoption of a defensive posture focused south of the River Mati. From this point onward, Badoglio focused Italian efforts on occupying French territories, countering Allied bombing raids, and fighting against the Soviet Union, all in the hopes of gaining sufficient German support for a "Return to Africa" in the future. Meanwhile the Albanians became pawns in the larger Axis wide reorganization of Southeastern Europe articulated by the Third Vienna Arbitration on December 21, 1941.

Though Badoglio took sole credit for this policy shift, in reality, the Italian turn away from Albania was rooted in Mussolini and Ciano's attempts to harmonize Italy's Southeastern policies with those of the Third Reich. Over the summer of 1941, Italian concerns about Albania dovetailed with German concerns about the stability of their allies in Yugoslavia to create an atmosphere for another attempt to "rationalize" the borders in Southeastern Europe. Eager to both prop up their failing Italian ally, and prevent a civil war between Stojadinović's increasingly unsteady Serbia and Maček's Croatia from endangering vital resource shipments, Ribbentrop initiated another phase of unravelling the multicultural Balkans at the expense of the only nationality who had nothing to offer the Axis: the Albanians.(13) Though Roatta's "successes" in Fall 1941 complicated Mussolini's initial plans to almost completely withdraw from Albania and Greece refused to be enticed by Italo-German offers of Northern Epirus, the fanfare which followed the announcement of the arbitration in not only Rome, but Zagreb, and Belgrade highlighted initial perceptions of the Third Vienna Arbitration's success.

Unlike the division of Transylvania which preceded it, the presence of "an Albanian relief valve" allowed Berlin to ensure that all of the major players walked away with something that they wanted. In exchange for surrendering any claim to Slovenia, Kosovo, and Albania north of the River Mati, Italy received lands in Dalmatia containing most of Yugoslavia's Italian population and some border adjustments. Surrendering a few peripheral regions proved to be all that was necessary for Marco Natlačen to form a Slovenian Banovina and re-establish their equality in the new Yugoslavia. Due to these losses falling entirely on Croatia while Serbia accrued the benefits, the Reich then compensated Croatia for these losses by dividing Bosnia between it and Serbia in a favourable manner. Hungary also benefited from this third Vienna Arbitration, receiving the Bačka, Baranja, Međimurje, and Prekmurje territories. Such losses, as well as the creation of an autonomous German dominated regime in the Banat, were expected to go over poorly in Belgrade but were seen as manageable given the creation of an additional "Serbian Banovina" as well as the prospect for the resettlement of Serbian refugees in Kosovo and Northern Albania. If not, Ribbentrop hinted that Serbia could easily be further divided by negotiating the presence of a Bulgarian "police force" in Macedonia.

When coupled with hints that this third Viennese arbitration would certainly not be the last, the German effort to divide and rule reached its fullest expression as every signatory sought to ingratiate itself with Berlin. Despite fears that he would reject the deal, Stojadinović not only accepted but announced the formation of a volunteer division to fight the Soviets hoping that doing so would secure further concessions for Serbia. Not to be outdone, Maček and Natlačen quickly followed suit and Italy outdid all of them under Badoglio's new strategic reorientation. Only Bulgaria held back from entering the war, preferring to deepen its economic relationship with the Third Reich instead, hoping that Germany would offer all of Macedonia to entice them to join the fight at a later date. Though every non-German signatory of the Third Vienna Agreement received something, from the Reich's perspective, it came away as the true winner, having surrendered nothing to gain renewed peace in the Southeast, additional allies against the Soviet Union, and a pair of autonomous regions around Maribor and the Banat. (14)

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The Kingdom of Yugoslavia Post Third Vienna Arbitration​

Roatta's confusion at the sudden policy change dissipated when news of the Third Vienna Arbitration arrived at his headquarters in Vlora and was immediately replaced with dread. Though both Berlin and Rome had convinced themselves that the Albanian regency would barely feel the effects of losing "a few tribal regions," the abandonment of Albania's 1912 borders and the city of Shkoder devastated the Regency's remaining legitimacy. Another cabinet shuffle followed as did a wave of pre-emptive arrests and seizures, but the damage had been done. Desertion in the reformed Albanian gendarmerie skyrocketed to the point that it effectively only existed on paper and corruption, sabotage, and absenteeism spiked yet again. Southern Albania seemed perched on the verge of yet another revolution and with no reinforcements to handle the expected storm, Italian morale plummeted leaving Roatta to vainly hope that Zog's humanitarianism would induce him to focus his attentions on the North. As well founded as these hopes eventually proved to be, they failed to account for the conflict's growing radicalization and left both the Italian Army in Albania and the Regency completely unprepared for the violence that would come to define the remainder of their existence.

Notes:

7. In OTL, the Italians never really exploited these regions as they were awarded in November 1942. The short lived Italian occupation was incredibly light largely due to a lack of troops. In TTL they have both the time and resources to take a vastly different course.

8. See Part XIV. More on the Çobas will follow. In OTL Shkoder was also the site of early resistance in Northern Albania for similar reasons.

9. All of this, save Balbo, is largely from OTL but exacerbated in TTL due to the loss of Africa outweighing the lack of a Greek campaign.

10. I'll admit this is a bit of a different take on Badoglio than most I've seen but remember that he committed war crimes in both Libya and Ethiopia and was one of the most Fascist members of the Italian Army in OTL which is why VE III appointed him to succeed Mussolini in OTL. Badoglio's opportunism, TTL's alternate reason behind his scapegoating aggravated by Balbo's continued presence, Mussolini's unpopularity, and VE III's historical disdain for the US also factor into this development. Initial drafts had Farinacci taking Mussolini's place but that was just too unrealistic given his unpopularity.

11. "The War continues, Italy will be true to it's oath." Arista's words are from OTL only they were spoken on July 25, 1943.

12. Farinacci was by far the most aggressive proponent of antisemitism and Germanophilia in the Italian Fascist Party.

13. German nationality policy in the Balkans was notoriously opportunistic. Though they did belatedly claim in OTL that the Albanians were "the last Aryans in the Balkans." This was due to perceived strategic necessity in 1943/44. In TTL the Albanians are a headache and thus receive no such racial designation. It's also worth noting that tensions between Serbia and Croatia occurred in OTL prior to March 1941 and were a major factor behind the coup of March 27. Finally, keep in mind that the presence of Yugoslavia in the Axis has led to smaller but still troubling Chetnik and Partisan movements.

14. Please Forgive the rough map. Take a look at OTL's division of Yugoslavia for reference. Basically, Italy gets far less (no occupation of Split, several islands, Croatian littoral regions, no Montenegro, but still receives some land in Dalmatia). Serbia and Slovenia do much better, Croatia slightly worse/same, and Hungary the same, and Bulgaria only gets some limited sovereignty in Macedonia to ensure that the Serbs resettle all their refugees in Northern Albania. It is also worth noting that according to Ciano, Stojadinović was quite willing and eager to divide Albania with Italy and entered into negotiations to that end in OTL's 1939 before his removal. Due to different circumstances in TTL he is still in country when Yugoslavia joins signs the Tripartite Pact and thus becomes a key candidate to lead the new government as he has an excellent relationship with Hitler. Regarding the settlement of Serbian refugees in northern Albania and Kosovo this too was proposed in OTL, albeit much later. Milan Nedić pushed for some kind of accommodation along these lines when Hermann Neubacher took over in Summer 1943 but was turned down due to Neubacher's strategy of a "Serbo-Albanian Bulwark" aimed at preventing Greek and Yugoslav Partisans from reinforcing each other. Much more on this will follow.

(Excerpted from Elliot Daniel's "Balkan Travelblog")

Albania Off the Beaten Track Part 2, Day 1: Vlora

To be honest, both my wife and I were completely blown away by the success of "Albania Off the Beaten Track." At most we were expecting around a hundred thousand views, but over a million in a few months? Unthinkable at the time. Hundreds of comments came with those views and we are happy to report that the overwhelming majority were positive. In addition to thanking us for discovering and promoting these often overlooked places, another common thread stood out through many of the comments: were there less known aspects of the more commonly visited cities and locations? The answer to that is most emphatically: YES! Now that our blog no longer risks joining the plethora of travel writing on the more popular Albanian travel destinations, we're happy to begin Part 2 of Albania Off the Beaten Track to explore the lesser known aspects of all your favourite Albanian travel destinations. We hope that incorporating these restaurants, cafes, and attractions into your trip will result in an enriching experience far beyond the usual beach or mountain getaways that so many tourists relegate themselves to.

Though it might make sense for Part 2 to begin at Mbreti Zogu I Madh Airport, considering that's where our last series left off, we're going to start in an entirely new location and one we've never covered before: Vlora, the tourism centre of Albania. Located south of Durres, Vlora has long been one of Albania's main ports and continues to serve in that capacity, with only Durres handling more cargo daily. It similarly continues to maintain a vibrant industrial sector and but unlike Durres has come to rely on its vibrant tourism industry since the 1960s. Though it continues to compete with Saranda for the title of "Gateway to the Albanian Riviera," its size, Ismail Kemal University,(15) and rail connections have established it as the favourite by far in recent years. A vibrant and growing student population coupled with the city's industrial heritage gives it an edge that Saranda, as charming as it is, can't hope to match especially with roughly half the population.

If you've visited Albania before, none of the above is new to you. However, given that most tourists flock to the beaches, the clubs on the edge of the old industrial district, the restaurants in the university district, or the main rail station, what follows might be new to you. Most of this update is going to take place in the little known historic old town of Vlora. Located deep in what is now the modern city's suburbs, the old town contains some of the few pre-war buildings left in Albania and remains the city's best kept secret: an oasis amidst a sea of students and tourists.

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Vlora's Old Town in OTL​

Getting here

Obviously, if you're reading this blog you know how to get to Vlora. Flights to Enver Hoxha airport have grown so common that work has begun on a new terminal. Assuming nothing drastic happens in the rest of 2019, daily landings at Enver Hoxha should outstrip Mbreti Zogu I Madh by early 2020.(16) Rail is a bit less popular but not by much with easy connections from all directions. A ferry also exists, connecting Vlora with Bari via 4 daily sailings. Sailings are a bit pricy, particularly in the summer, but they are worth the money. Finally, for the auto enthusiasts, the city is well served by both the Coastal Highway and Highway 8, the latter of which parallels the Southern Railway Extension and will take you as far as Ioannina.

Getting to Vlora's "Old Town" is a bit more obscure but equally simple. Any taxi in the city will take you to the Old Town if asked, and failing that there is always the reliable, if often overlooked #2 tram. Both will take you away from the coast towards the mountain but will stop short when you notice the streets and buildings begin to change. The modern Vloran "grid" of North-South "Boulevards" and East-West "Roads", bends to accommodate one of the last remnants of Ottoman Albania and a time when one of Albania's largest cities was a shadow of itself. Though it's hard to imagine, particularly when one takes the tram from Vlora's vibrant, modern, city center, the city of nearly half a million was largely a coastal swamp for most of its history. Other than a small port, the bulk of the city was located to the north, closer to the mountains and was home to, at most, 25,000 people.

Though it was the site of Albania's declaration of independence in 1912, the city remained a backwater for the next 18 years until the onset of the First Albanian Economic Miracle. Even then it played second fiddle to Durres and despite the establishment of an industrial district, the Old Town remained largely untouched. This development proved to be a blessing in disguise during the Italian invasion in June 1940 as the fierce and bloody Battle of Vlora similarly avoided heavy fighting during the war's opening weeks. Contrary to popular myth, the occasional bullet holes that still mar a few of the buildings are solemn markers of subsequent battles which fortunately also left many buildings intact keep reading for more detail. The result is one of Albania's oldest neighbourhoods and a true gem off the beaten track in Albania's most popular tourist destination.

Places to Stay

Unless you're travelling to Vlora in the winter, we highly recommend you find another neighbourhood to stay in. Unlike most Albanian neighbourhoods, most buildings in Vlora's old town lack AC or "Albanian Conditioning" as it is often jokingly referred to by many European travellers. A combination of the buildings' age and the local population's desire for an oasis away from throngs of tourists likely keeps the requisite upgrades from happening. There's a single "Classic Albanian Bed and Breakfast" with knock out prices, but don't expect too much. You truly get what you pay for. Fortunately, the rest of the neighbourhood makes up for what it lacks in accommodations…(17)

Meals

Finding traditional Albanian food in Vlora is a challenge, and in most neighborhoods, frankly not worth it. In such a vibrant, multicultural city there are simply too many other options available. Not so in Vlora's Old Town. Here the handful of restaurants all hearken back to a time when modern Albania was only a glimmer in King Zog's eye. Thus, if you're looking for the amazing seafood and sushi Vlora has become famous for in recent years in this neighbourhood, you'll be disappointed. Instead, we recommend that you try the lamb, a dish eaten by Albanians for centuries and perfected by the chefs at Kolona Grill. Despite its non-existent curb appeal, once you're inside you'll be treated to amazing service and the best example of traditional Laberian cuisine in the region…(18)

…

A Bloody History…

For better or worse, the city of Vlora has chosen to deal with the painful parts of its past by concentrating the memorialization of the Kasaphanë(19) on Sazan. This approach is most notable in the National Museum of Independence where visitors are invited to take a complementary ferry to the island after viewing exhibits chronicling Albanian history up to 1940. That entire experience has been covered by far better travel bloggers than I, so I won't attempt to re-invent the wheel, particularly because this post is all about things off the beaten track and particularly those in Vlora's Old Town.

In this neighbourhood and this neighbourhood alone, observant history buffs will come across the only Kasaphanë memorial in the city proper. Tucked away in an alley off the Rruga e Hebrenjve,(20) there's a small memorial dedicated to the events of December 29, 1941, and their bloody aftermath. Though often overshadowed by what happened on Sazan, in Northern Albania, and in Kosovo, I found this story especially poignant given its intimate connection to the neighbourhood and its environs. I don't want to spoil too much, but for whatever reason I found the portrait slideshow at the end of the exhibit far more impactful than the grander displays elsewhere. I won't try to explain too much more because I feel that this exhibit really has to be experienced in person to be fully appreciated. What I will do is provide a little bit of background for those of you who aren't Albanian history buffs…yet.

Don't worry, I'm not going to go into detail on the history and background of the Kasaphanë. It is well known by even casual observers that from 1940-1944 the Italians and the Serbians murdered 150,000 Albanian civilians, roughly ten percent of the pre-war population of Albania and Kosovo. To their credit this memorial's creators don't try to do so either, instead choosing to focus on the stories of the roughly 10,000 pre-war residents who stayed behind in Vlora after the Italian invasion. It begins by telling some of their stories, highlighting the numerous reasons all of them had for staying in the city rather than joining the partisans in the mountains. It then proceeds to paint a picture of life in Vlora under the Italian occupation. Tensions, sabotage, attacks, massacres, rationing, all play a role but so too does the continuation of community life and the creation of a sense of solidarity.

This solidarity proceeded to shape their community's response to the rapid succession of events in late 1941. Elation over the Allied victory in Africa and the entry of America into the war mixed with despair over news of Italian Fascist radicalization and the loss of Northern Albania to the Serbs in the Third Vienna Arbitration. These larger events highlighted a particular local development: the seizure of all formerly Jewish property in Vlora. Though the city's small Jewish community had legally entrusted their businesses to their neighbours in an to prevent this very development when they had been among the first to join Zog in the mountains, this proved to be little obstacle to the Italian occupation. When placed in the larger historical context, the wave of despondency over their helplessness created a veritable tinderbox in Vlora's Old Town. The only thing missing was a spark.

Queen Behije Vërlaci, mother of Prince Leka, at the time estranged wife of King Zog, and daughter of Regent Shefqet Vërlaci, knew nothing of this on December 29, 1941 when she ordered her entourage to stop in the old town while enroute to celebrate the new year with her father in Elbasan.(21) Having spent most of the preceding year living comfortably in her family's Roman villa, Behije reluctantly came to Albania to take part in a vain plot of her father's to demonstrate his family's commitment to Albania. Though it is still not clear why she stopped in Vlora's old town, whether it was to pick up sweets as Zogist propaganda later claimed, or whether the revisionist claim that she wanted to donate to the growing number of refugees is right doesn't matter. The fact remains that her entourage and their guards stopped in Vlora's Old Town and lingered long enough for 15 year old Theo Sulli to take action.

Enraged at the growing illegality of the Italian occupation and feeling a growing solidarity with his family's Jewish neighbours, Theo took aim with a grenade launcher he'd purchased from a local smuggler. A common weapon early in the war, by the end of 1941, fierce fighting had all but exhausted supplies of ammunition even within the resistance. The only reason Theo had been able to afford such a weapon was because it only came with a pair of converted 6.5mm rounds and a single crowd dispersal smoke grenade or so he thought. In reality Theo had a miss-labeled round, something that was tragically not altogether uncommon and led to numerous casualties in the resistance.(22) What was intended to be a mere prank, albeit a poorly thought out one, became so much more. For instead of smoking the Queen and her entourage out of their car, Theo's round punched through the windshield of Behije Vërlaci's Fiat before detonating and spraying blisteringly hot white phosphorous on all its occupants.

Before the queen had even stopped screaming, her bodyguards began spraying the nearby buildings with submachine gun fire, cutting down anyone who happened to be too close to their window, but not Theo who was too busy scurrying to the basement. After emptying their magazines, the guards proceeded to reload and attempted to search for the assassin only to be met with return fire as the enraged citizens of Vlora fought back with whatever they had. A hail of shotgun, rifle and pistol rounds, some of which fired from weapons over a hundred years old accompanied by bricks and rooftiles pinned the Regency guards in the street and forced them to adopt a defensive posture until Italian troops could arrive. By then it was too late to save Behije or anyone caught in the car with her, but it was not too late to take vengeance by raking the buildings with machine gun fire.

Despite being horrifically outgunned, the citizens of Vlora continued to resist bravely as more and more of them joined the fight. For the next thirty minutes they went toe to toe with trained Italian soldiers in a battle that went from street to street, house to house, and often room to room. By the end, nearly 400 Albanians and 62 Italians had lost their lives. However, the trials of Vlora's Old Town were only beginning as Behije's assassination had convinced both Shefqet Vërlaci and General Roatta that the entire population was "politically unreliable." In a fit of rage, Vërlaci convinced Roatta to deport the entire city's population to Sazan and hand their properties over to the growing mass of refugees huddled in tents by the coast. Though such reprisals had been commonplace in the countryside, deporting an entire city seemed to be too much for even Roatta. However, eventually the prospect of transforming the city into a strategic hamlet proved to be too much to pass up.

In most history books the story of Vlora stops there and doesn't resume until after the war when the "Kthimi I Madh"(23) and postwar reconstruction transformed into the thriving metropolis it continues to be today. If it is given any attention at all, December 29, 1941, is seen as a key moment in the radicalization of the Albanian resistance because its legitimization of violence against civilians on both sides. From this point on, the Regency began to employ more and more "kill squads" which elicited a similar response from decentralized Albanian çetas much to Zog's dismay.(24) What is so often overlooked and what makes this memorial so powerful is the focus on those who were deported, most of whom were murdered on the Island of Sazan. Fearful of such a large mass of potentially violent prisoners, the Italian guards immediately singled them out for beatings, impossible work details, and systematically deprived them of both food and water. As dark as these experiences are, the continued thread of solidarity, compassion, and empathy displayed in this memorial kept my faith in humanity alive. This memorial alone makes a stop in Vlora's Old Town worth while in my opinion…

Notes:

15. OTL University Name. Ismail Kemal is seen as one of Albania's Founding Fathers in both OTL and TTL.

16. It's worth pointing out that the only reason there's not an airport in Southern Albania today is due to the deal struck with the German company to manage the airport in Tirana. As soon as that lease is up there's going to be a race between Saranda and Vlora to build an airport PDQ.

17. With Jack being an American and Albania being much richer, I could definitely see AC taking off, particularly as he tries to make factory work more appealing to Albanians.

18. Much of Vlora's traditional cuisine centers around Lamb in OTL. There aren't too many traditional Albanian seafood dishes.

19. "Massacre" or "Hecatomb" I was looking for something equivalent to Holocaust but less Greek due to Greek attempts to Hellenize Albanians. I'm not wedded to this however so feel free to suggest alternatives.

20. "Road of the Jews" This road exists in Vlora's Old Town in OTL but it's an unofficial name. In TTL it's official due to the increased numbers and higher status of the Jewish community.

21. Prior to the Fall of Communism, New Years was the major winter celebration in Albania and in many ways still is as it's one day that everyone can agree on regardless of religion.

22. Remember that the grenade launchers were initially claimed to be police weapons for the Albanian Gendarmerie. Miss-labelling rounds happened to be a great way to prevent the Italians from realizing just how many "offensive" weapons the Gendarmerie had. It's well within the realm of possibility that mistakes along these lines were bound to follow.

23. "The Great Return." More on this later…

24. Similarly, Ioannis Rallis' government in Greece used "kill/terror squads" to cow the population into submission during its final months in OTL. Given that the German army managed to retreat relatively intact in 1944 this strategy likely had some effect.