Battle of Durrës (1939)
| Italian invasion of Albania | |||||||||
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| Part of the Italian invasion of Albania | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Kingdom of Italy
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 Albanian Kingdom
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Alfredo Guzzoni Giovanni Messe Ettore Sportiello
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Abaz Kupi Mujo Ulqinaku †
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| Strength | |||||||||
| ~4700 troops 4 cruisers 4 destroyers 4 torpedo boats 10 transport and auxiliary ships |
500 troops 4 patrol boats 1 coastal battery |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Disputed; see Aftermath section | 160 killed 4 patrol boats captured 1 coastal battery captured |
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The Battle of Durrës was one of the main confrontations during the April 1939 Italian invasion of Albania. It took place on 7 April, the first day of the invasion, between the Italian invaders and the Albanian defenders and resulted in an Italian victory.
The Italian Armed Forces committed 22,000 troops under General Alfredo Guzzoni to the invasion of Albania. The main force, tasked with capturing the capital Tirana, was placed under the command of General Alfredo Guzzoni and was to be landed at Durrës; it consisted of two battalions of the 3rd Regiment "Grenadiers of Sardinia", one battalion of the 47th Infantry Regiment, five Bersaglieri battalions (two belonging to the 2nd Bersaglieri Regiment and one each from the 3rd, 7th, and 11th Bersaglieri Regiments), two battalions of L3/35 tankettes, one 65/17 mm battery and one 20/65 anti-aircraft battery, all under the command of General Giovanni Messe. The force, numbering about 4,700 men, was carried by ten transport ships (the requisitioned merchants Adriatico, Argentario, Barletta, Palatino, Toscana and Valsavoia, the repair ship Quarnaro, the seaplane carrier Giuseppe Miraglia, used in this instance to carry tankettes, and the tankers Adige and Tirso, that could also operate as landing ships), and the landing was supported by a naval force commanded by Admiral Ettore Sportiello and consisting of the heavy cruisers Zara, Pola, Fiume, and Gorizia, the destroyers Alfieri, Oriani, Gioberti, and Carducci, and the torpedo boats Lupo, Lince, Libra and Lira.
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