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French and Montengrin troops on Mount Lovćen. From Mount Lovćen, Montenegrin artillery were able to bombard the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Cattaro, and began doing so in August, 1914. They conducted an artillery duel with Austro-Hungarian guns on land and on the armored cruiser Kaiser Karl VI, which was joined by three more battleships in September. The French supported the Montenegrins, landing four 12 cm and four 15 cm naval guns in September and moving them into position in the following month, opening fire on October 19. With the addition of SMS Radetsky, the Austro-Hungarian battery was able to overcome the Montenegrin position, which was abandoned by November, 1914. From a painting by Alphonse LaLauze, 1915. Text: Batailles des Monts Lowsen, 29 Août 1914. Français et Monténégrins. Signed A[lphonse] LaLauze, 1915 Battle of Mount Lovćen, August 29, 1914 French and Montenegrins

French and Montengrin troops on Mount Lovćen. From Mount Lovćen, Montenegrin artillery were able to bombard the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Cattaro, and began doing so in August, 1914. They conducted an artillery duel with Austro-Hungarian guns on land and on the armored cruiser Kaiser Karl VI, which was joined by three more battleships in September. The French supported the Montenegrins, landing four 12 cm and four 15 cm naval guns in September and moving them into position in the following month, opening fire on October 19. With the addition of SMS Radetsky, the Austro-Hungarian battery was able to overcome the Montenegrin position, which was abandoned by November, 1914. From a painting by Alphonse LaLauze, 1915.

Image text

Batailles des Monts Lowsen, 29 Août 1914.

Français et Monténégrins.



Signed A[lphonse] LaLauze, 1915



Battle of Mount Lovćen, August 29, 1914

French and Montenegrins

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Tuesday, November 23, 1915

". . . On 22 November [1915] the Italians occupied the Albanian town of Valona, on the other side of the Otranto Straits from Brindisi. To the north of Albania lay Montenegro, whose partially blocked port of Antivari was unsuitable, given its location close to Cattaro. Sixty miles to the south of Cattaro in Albania was the port of San Giovanni de Medua, 30 miles north of Durazzo, which was a further 30 miles north of Valona. Supplies were now to be transported across the straits primarily to San Giovanni de Medua, in support of the hard-pressed Serbians, as they made their retreat.

An Austrian naval force attempted to disrupt operations and attacked and sank a number of schooners on 23 November. . . ."

Quotation Context

Although Serbia was defeated it did not surrender, and its army retreated westward through Albania to the Adriatic coast for evacuation by the Allies. Albania was newly independent in the Second Balkan War of in 1912. Italy was interested in not only in the city of Trieste, but in additional territory along the coast of Bosnia-Herzegovina, including the city of Valona. Austria-Hungary would soon make clear it had designs not only on Serbia and Montenegro, but also on Albania. Cattaro was a major port for the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

Source

A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, page 212, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994

Tags

1915-11-23, 1915, November, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Austrian Navy, Austro-Hungarian Navy