The Albania Gambit - 1915

Arising out of a discussion on my own board...

How about instead of the Dardanelles/Gallipolli in 1915, the ANZAC forces gathered in Egypt are inserted into Northern Albania ? This will serve both to bolster Serbia and Montenegro, and to act as a demonstration of Entente power and will to Italy, Greece and the other Balkan nations. It also of course threatens the Habsburgs underbelly.

Whilst it doesn't have the intended aim of the Dardanelles campaign of opening the Straits to Russia, it would serve to relieve some pressure as the Habsburgs will need to move a large number of forces to deal with the threat. Even if the new force doesn't do much more than hold the line, and threaten Dubrovnik (long a Montenegrin dream) or Bosnia, the potential for a Habsburg disaster is greater than simply having the OTL Serb armies stay alive as in OTL in this time period.

I was thinking mainly of a landing at Shkoder, and perhaps Durazzo. What needs to be covering such a landing ? Would a mixed bag of French and British pre-dreadnoughts, including the Dantons be enough ? Or would the KuK fleet actively attack ? How many dreadnoughts are worked up in this period ? Would France deploy its own dreadnoughts ? They aren't doing much elsewhere...

Grey Wolf
 
I think it could lead to some interesting naval battles in the Adriatic...

As for the offensive it would probably get further than the Dardanelles campaign... but not much IIRC that region is quite mountainous and easily defendable.

But it will draw Austrian forces away from Russia and Italy which could make things interesting.

However my knowledge of this theatre of WWI is vague so I'd have to do some more research...
 
Fearless Leader said:
As for the offensive it would probably get further than the Dardanelles campaign... but not much IIRC that region is quite mountainous and easily defendable....

Not to mention Albania at this time isn't exactly equipped with a stellar infrastructure. Not sure you could supply a large enough force to keep a sizeable chunk of the Austrian army busy.
 
This proposal relates to my Operation Unicorn TL. The original suggestion for this option comes from Grey Wolf. I am thinking the initial force to be ANZAC Corps plus a yeomanry regiment. A French division may follow as reinforcements. There is some hope that it might stimulate Romania and Greece to join the Entente and discourage Bulgaria from joining the CP. If the Greeks join or at least becomes chummy then Salonika could also be used.

One thing about the Unicorn TL is that the RN will not commit a naval force as large as it did OTL for the Dardanelles. I am thinking that it may send 6-8 of its oldest PreDN's. And Churchill is not around due to events of Dec 16.
 
B_Munro said:
Not to mention Albania at this time isn't exactly equipped with a stellar infrastructure. Not sure you could supply a large enough force to keep a sizeable chunk of the Austrian army busy.

Gallipoli wasn't known for its infrastructure either. And, a large Serbian army was able to march across to the sea through Albania. The Entente will be able to seize Corfu as a useful base from which to maintain supply in Albania.

A landing in Albania would be a disastrous distraction for Austria and could even save Serbia.

It's interesting that the Entente did not ever really recognize that the Hapsburgs were the weak link that they should have concentrated upon.
 
But its also important to remember that there is less potential gain than attacking the Dardanelles. The ANZACS can't push from Albania to Vienna, but it's a relatively short distance from Gallipoli to Constantinople. And the strategic assistance to Russia is immense in the best-case Gallipoli scenario. To be honest, the Russians don't need help to defeat the Austrians. To weaken the Austrians, you need to weaken the Germans. If you don't, you're just gonna be fighting a German Army, rather than an Austrian one.
 
When you Necromance a thread by accident (as I have done a couple of times), and you realize the problem, you can go back to your post and delete it. Then you don't have apologize.
 
This would be remembered as one of the most confusing campaigns in history and would make for interesting blackadder sketches.

Enter a very frantic Baldrick
Sir sir, there are Australians all over the trench

Blackadder
They're on our side

(Cue large explosion

Blackadder
Austrians Baldrick, the trench is full of Austrians!
 
This would be remembered as one of the most confusing campaigns in history and would make for interesting blackadder sketches.

Enter a very frantic Baldrick
Sir sir, there are Australians all over the trench

Blackadder
They're on our side

(Cue large explosion

Blackadder
Austrians Baldrick, the trench is full of Austrians!

Excellent, I wrote a Blackadder sketch without knowing it!

I'm guessing the mountains are the problem, tho it would serve some porpoise to keep Serbia and Montenegro in the fight

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
Gallipoli wasn't known for its infrastructure either. And, a large Serbian army was able to march across to the sea through Albania. The Entente will be able to seize Corfu as a useful base from which to maintain supply in Albania.

A landing in Albania would be a disastrous distraction for Austria and could even save Serbia.

It's interesting that the Entente did not ever really recognize that the Hapsburgs were the weak link that they should have concentrated upon.

Excellent, I wrote a Blackadder sketch without knowing it!

I'm guessing the mountains are the problem, tho it would serve some porpoise to keep Serbia and Montenegro in the fight

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

Wow...talk about a blast from the past! The Blackadder sketch is hilarious!

But on a more serious note, the logistics of this campaign are going to be wretched to say the least. Port facilities in Northern Albania at the time (and even today) are non-existent. The closest "real" port, and I use the term loosely, is Durres/Durrazo and that's more in the middle of Albania, separated from Shkoder by a long and winding road. It should also be noted that "roads" in Albania, particularly northern Albania during this period and to an extent even today, are more akin to goat paths than actual roads.

True enough, the Serbians did manage to march their army across the terrain, but it should be noted that this was in the face of little actual resistance, and that a large percentage of them starved. Launching an offensive across Northern Albania is an entirely different kettle of fish.

Furthermore one runs into the issue of Albanian independence. What's the Entente's stance on this matter in TTL? For a long time the UK/France actively supported partitioning Albania. Assuming these attitudes don't radically change this isn't going to make them too terribly popular with the locals (A-H was pretty popular in Albania during the war due to it's pre-war policy of promoting Albanian independence.)

That being said, I have played around with a different scenario. Namely that British MP Aubrey Herbert accept's Albania's offer to become King of Albania. IMO Herbert was the best possible choice for Albania at the time and according to his papers he was quite tempted by the offer. Unlike his OTL counterpart Wilhelm of Wied, Herbert already knew Albanian and was quite familiar with it's major political players and society. This means that upon being crowned, he stands a fairly good chance of bringing some semblance of order to the country. I think that in such a scenario, come World War I, Herbert could convince the Albanians to join the Entente in exchange for economic/military aid and the recognition of it's borders. Such an offensive, as posited by Grey Wolf could conceivably occur in TTL as the Albanian forces alone could not prop up the Serbians. However assisted by a small Entente force they could probably stop any offensive cold in the Albanian Alps.
 
That being said, I have played around with a different scenario. Namely that British MP Aubrey Herbert accept's Albania's offer to become King of Albania. IMO Herbert was the best possible choice for Albania at the time and according to his papers he was quite tempted by the offer. Unlike his OTL counterpart Wilhelm of Wied, Herbert already knew Albanian and was quite familiar with it's major political players and society. This means that upon being crowned, he stands a fairly good chance of bringing some semblance of order to the country. I think that in such a scenario, come World War I, Herbert could convince the Albanians to join the Entente in exchange for economic/military aid and the recognition of it's borders. Such an offensive, as posited by Grey Wolf could conceivably occur in TTL as the Albanian forces alone could not prop up the Serbians. However assisted by a small Entente force they could probably stop any offensive cold in the Albanian Alps.

Albania was at the time in complete anarchy, basically Somalia light so there is no official goverment to prop up and by the Treaty of London was promised to Italy (for obvious strategic reason) and btw the italians already occupy the southern parts of the nations and are working in build some infrastructure to easy the logistic situation.
If the diplomatic situation is not sorted out earlier Italy can be slower in join the entente
 
Perhaps it might have one other change post war, if the Allies win and one or more of the Western Allies is on the ground in Montenegro, the latter maynot be dubiously incorporated into either *Serbia/*Yugoslavia
 
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