ВОЈНОЗДРАВСТВЕНА ИНТЕРВЕНЦИЈА ИТАЛИЈЕ У ИЗВЛАЧЕЊУ СРПСКЕ ВОЈСКЕ ИЗ АЛБАНИЈЕ 1915/1916.
MILITARY‐MEDICAL INTERVENTION OF ITALY FOR RESCUE OF SERBIAN ARMY FROM ALBANIA 1915/1916

Summary/Abstract: From December 12, 1915 to February 29, 1916 the Italian Navy evacuated from Albania: 260,895 Serbian soldiers and refugees, 24,000 Austrian soldiers ‐ prisoners of war of the Serbian Army ‐ 10,153 horses, 68 cannons and 300,000 tons of food and supplies. The Serbian government, military leaders, King Petar I Karadjordjevic and Regent Aleksandar I were also evacuated with the army. A to‐tal of 248 water crossings were conducted utilizing 350 ships. The accomplishment of the Italian Navy remained almost unknown de‐ spite its efforts to save the Serbian and Montenegrin people under extreme cir‐cumstances and because Italy, of all the Allies, bore almost the entire burden and responsibility for the undertaking. This maritime operation can be compared with what occurred during World War II at Dunkirk in northern France between May 25 and June 3, 1940 when over 300,000 English and French soldiers were evacuated. That evacua‐tion was decisive for the Allied victory, just like this one which occurred during the winter of 1915/1916. After long years of grueling trench warfare, only the Serbian Army was able to break through the Salonika Front during an assault September 15, 1918 and with continuous progress determined the victory of the Allies in less than two months. At the same time, the evacuation of the Serbian Army and people is a precursor ante literam to today’s humanitarian operations and still remains recorded as the most important and most complex operation of international humanitarian assistance and rescue of all time.

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