Royal Border Guard (Albania)


The Royal Border Guard was a border protection force of the Royal Albanian Army responsible for protecting Albania's territorial borders from smuggling activities and foreign interference.

History

Shortly after the establishment of Albania's borders was officially recognised at the Ambassadors Conference in Paris on 30 July 1926, the need for a border protection force suddenly emerged. The Royal Border Guard was created on 25 February 1929. It was a military-financial organization which was tasked with stopping, suppressing and preventing smuggling and criminal activity along the country's newly formed borders. Its operations continued until 7 April 1939, the day Albania was invaded by Fascist Italian Forces.

Structure

The force consisted of five battalions :
  • Border Battalion Korçë
  • Border Battalion Delvine
  • Border Battalion Durrës
  • Border Battalion Shkodër
  • Instruction Battalion Korçë
The Border Guard had a statutory strength of 91 officers, 222 NCOs and around 1,500 men, in 14 companies of 48 platoons subdivided into 119 squads, and probably had more or less that strength on the eve of the invasion. The Guard was more of a fiscal or customs police than a military arm, and was incorporated into the Italian Guardia di Finanza after the invasion.