Pre-WWI Albanian Gendarmerie

A postcard of the Albanian Gendarmerie prior to the outbreak of WWI.

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An Albanian Officer, in fact the King.
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Sean wrote:A postcard of the Albanian Gendarmerie prior to the outbreak of WWI.

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No doubt Italian uniforms with ex-Turkish Mauser rifles and cartridge belts, probably Balkan Wars booty.

I belive that these uniforms are of post wwI or during it . I belive the man in black is an Italian Carabinieri officier . During WWI italian raised a Gendarmerie uniformed in italian gray-green with also grey green fezs . The color of fezs is the differece from Albanian Militia in italian service that had withe fezs .

Perhaps they are WWI vintage but given the uniformity I would have said pre-war. Certainly the post war uniform was different. Didn't the Carabinieri train the pre-war Gendarmerie, or have I got that wrong. I believe the Italians were fairly heavily involved in the new Albania of 1913.
Having said that though, I'm not sure the guy in black is Italian, could be Dutch given the cap.

The only description of Gendarmerie uniforms is in "Police uniforms of the world" FG Blakeslee 1934, which mentions  khaki uniforms with stand collars and scarlet collar gorget collar patches with a cap like the WW! US  overseas/side cap piped scarlet around the top.
Not too sure when these  khaki uniforms were introduced or even the original uniform. The photos seem to show scarlet collar patches.

Pat.

Sean wrote:Perhaps they are WWI vintage but given the uniformity I would have said pre-war. Certainly the post war uniform was different. Didn't the Carabinieri train the pre-war Gendarmerie, or have I got that wrong. I believe the Italians were fairly heavily involved in the new Albania of 1913.
Having said that though, I'm not sure the guy in black is Italian, could be Dutch given the cap.

Actually the Gendarmerie were trained by the British. In fact the Gendarmerie were the only ones to put up any real resistance when Mussolini invaded the country on Good Friday, 1939.