Royal Infantry of Albania

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Royal Albanian Infantry Forcat Mbretërore e Këmbsorisë
Active	1925 - 1939
Disbanded	1939
Country	Albania
Allegiance	Royal Albanian Army
Branch	Infantry
Type	Defence force
Role	Protection of the Country
Size	441 officers, 740 NCOs and 8,000 soldiers
Headquarter	Tiranë
Engagements	Italian Invasion of Albania
Commanders
Commander on April 7, 1939	Cpt. Hamdi Jusufi
Commander on April 7, 1939	Maj. Kastriot Bajraktor
Commander on April 7, 1939	Maj. Sabe Gjilani

The Royal Albanian Infantry (Albanian: Forcat Mbretërore e Këmbsorisë) existed from 1928 to 1939 and was part of the Royal Albanian Army.

Structure

The original plan was for the army to have three "infantry groups"(="Grupit Këmbsorisë"), each of three infantry battalions, three mountain batteries (2 x 65mm L/17), an engineer company and supporting elements such as transport, logistics and signals. Grupit I seems to have never been formed, but Grupit II and Grupit III did exist before 1939, both headquartered at Tiranë. Apparently, these were no longer constituted on April 7, and the former commander of Grupit II had, by that date, become commander of Zona I.

In 1939, only seven of the nine planned infantry battalions were active:

Battalion *Recruiting Center *Commander, 1939
Tarabosh *Shkodër *Cpt. Hamdi Jusufit
Korata *Tiranë
Deja *Tiranë *Maj. Kastriot Bajraktori
Daijti *Tiranë
Kaptina *Elbasan
Tomori *Berat *Maj. Sabe Gjilanit?
Gramos *Korçe

Battalions were named for mountains A full-strength battalion (="batalion", abbreviation "Baon.") documented partly by film footage, was organized as follows:

Hqs
3 infantry companies (="kompani")
Co Hqs ca. 15-20 men
3 platoons (= "togë") 35 men
Platoon Leader (= "toger")
NCO (="nëntoger")
3 squads (="skuadra")
NCO (="nënoficerë")
10 corporals and soldiers
1 machine gun company
Plt Hqs
3 machine gun platoons
Plt Hqs
4 Fiat or Schwarzelose machine guns
battalion train
wagons/mules

Contrary to reports, there were no light machine guns at squad level. A reported strength of 21 officers, 37 NCOs and 422 corporals and privates was almost certainly the light establishment. A light establishment battalion had only two rifle companies with the third in cadre, and on paper, its machine gun company had only two platoons, but in practice there were only enough machine guns in service for two platoons in any situation.

Category:

Royal Albanian Army

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