Albanian Regiment (France)
The Albanian Regiment (French: Régiment albanais) was a military unit of the First French Empire formed in 1807 in Corfu. It was commanded by Colonel Jean-Louis Toussaint Minot and served mainly as defence unit in the Septinsular Republic, then a de facto protectorate of the French Empire. It was disbanded in 1814.[1]
History
In 1807 per the treaties of Tilsit the Russian Empire abandoned the Ionian islands, which had been captured by admiral Fyodor Ushakov at the Siege of Corfu (1798–99). During their rule the Russians maintained two units, one composed of about 3,000 (Muslim Albanian) refugees that had resettled in the islands after losing conflicts against Ali Pasha in the Pashalik of Yanina and another one that comprised 500 Greeks. After the French army took over the administration of the area the Albanians were enrolled as the Albanian Regiment (French: Régiment albanais) and the Greek refugees as theBattalion Greek Infantry Skirmishers (French: Bataillon de Chasseurs à Pied Grecs) sometimes known as the Indigenous Battalion of Ionian Islands (French: Bataillon indigène des îles Ioniennes) and after the enrolment of Albanian refugees also as the Pandours of Albania (French: Pandours d'Albanie).[2][3] In the Albanian Regiment later local Greeks, Italian and Dalmatians would be recruited but the desired total number of 3,254 soldiers was never reached.[3] The Albanian Regiment served as a garrison unit, while the Greek Infantry Skirmishers as an auxiliary unit.[4]
In July 1809 the latter unit was regrouped to the former one as a means to increase its stability as the troops of the Albanian Regiment responded only to the orders of their clans's leaders and often came into conflict with the inhabitants of the islands.[2] The reformed unit of about 3,000 men was divided into six battalions led by 160 officers. Auguste Boppe mentions that the regiment had a chaplain (Arsenio Yanucco from the Morea) and a surgeon (Ducca Zappa).[5]
In 1813 the Regiment was re-organized and its force was reduced from six to two battalions. Its staff was as follows:[6]
- 1 colonel, 2 battalion chiefs, 2 adjutant warrant officers, 2 French administrative officers , 1 quarter-master, 1 officer surgeon, 1 assistant surgeon, 1 priest, 4 adjutant sub-officers.
The same year some men from the Albanian Regiment were transferred to the newly reorganised Mameluke Regiment. After the islands came under the control of the British Empire in 1814 the regiment was initially reformed but in 1815 it was disbanded and many of the men were transferred to units organized by the British.
Notable members of the Regiment
According to Boppe the Albanian Regiment deserves some attention only because it had in its ranks many heroes of the subsequent Greek Revolution of 1821 (Boppe, p. 3). Among the persons noted by this author and others are:
- Christoforos Perraivos, officer (major) and author, fighter of the Greek Revolution (1821-1829) (Boppe, p. 11)(Perraivos, p. 77).
- Konstantinos Androutses from Cheimarra. Commander of the 1st Battalion. He had served the French since 1799 when they occupied Naples as a commander and instructor. He recruited other Cheimariotes for the French army. He was given the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was arrested by the forces of Ali Pasha while aboard a French ship. The French authorities requested from the Ottoman Porte his release but he was murdered in an Ioannina prison. Ali Pasha tried to present his death as suicide. (Pappas, p. 48)(Boppe, p. 13, 15, 20)
- Kitsos Botsaris, the leader of the Botsaris souliotic clan, commander of the 5th Battalion (Boppe p. 15, Kallivretakis p. 193).
- Fotos Tzavellas, colonel, commander of the 3rd Battalion. A leader of the Tzavellas Souliote clan. Before the Regiment had participated in many battles of the Souliotes – Ali Pasha wars. He had also served in Corfou under the Russians. He was assassinated by agents of Ali Pasha in Corfou in 1809 (Boppe, p. 15).
- Lambros Gousis from Souli, second lieutenant of the 5th Company ("lochos") of the 1st Battalion, awarded the Saint Helena Medal (.[7] Before the Regiment he had participated in many battles against Ali Pasha. After the Regiment he served in the foreign troops of the King of Naples, reason for which his compatriots gave him the nickname “Reginas”. He returned to Greece and formed his unit of Souliotes participating in the Greek Revolution of 1821-1829. After the Revolution he was promoted to Brigadier General and awarded the bronze “Aristeion of the War”, the first war medal (Cross) instituted by King Otto.
Further reading
- Fieffé, Eugène (1854). Histoire des troupes étrangères au service de France: depuis leur origine jusqu'à nos jours, et de tous les régiments levés dans les pays conquis sous la Première République et l'Empire (in French). Retrieved 3 October 2012.
- Christoforos Perraivos, History of Souli and Parga, Venice, 1815. vol. 2, pp 75 etc. In Greek.
References
- ↑ http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/infantry_Napoleon_3.htm
- 1 2 Elting, John R. (1997-03-22). Swords Around A Throne. Da Capo Press. p. 371. ISBN 9780306807572. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
- 1 2 McNab, Chris (2011-08-23). Armies of the Napoleonic Wars: An Illustrated History. Osprey. p. 416. ISBN 9781849086486. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
Despite additional recruitment among local Greeks, Italians and Dalmatian communities, it never reached its official establishment of 3,254. A battalion of Chasseurs à pied Grecs (Greek Foot Chasseurs), also known as Pandours de Albanie was raised by the French under an order of 10 March 1808 from Albanian and Greek refugees
- ↑ Pappas, Nicholas Charles (1982). Greeks in Russian military service in the late eighteen and early nineteenth centuries. Stanford University. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
Unlike the Legion of Light Riflemen, the Albanian Regiment was not used as an auxiliary force in campaigns, but rather served as a garrison unit. With the exception of Corfu, a minimum of French troops were deployed on outlying Islands
- ↑ Boppe Auguste, Le régiment Albanais (1807-1814), Paris, 1902, p. 22
- ↑ Boppe, p. 26
- ↑ Konstantinos N. Rados, The Greeks of Napoleon. Nikolaos Tsesmelis or Papazoglous (1758-1819) from Greek and Arabic sources. Athens, 1916. pp. 50-51. In Greek. Ράδος Ν. Κωνσταντίνος, Οι Έλληνες του Ναπολέοντος. Νικόλαος Τσεσμελής ή Παπάζογλους (1758-1819). Εξ ελληνικών και αραβικών πηγών. Αθήναι, 1916. 50-51.