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CITIES and VILLAGES

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ENJOYMENTS and PAINS

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ALBANIA

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Page 2

Albania

Albania.jpg
ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

These are typical Albanian school boys in not exactly typical American clothes.

When they first came to the American Red Cross School at Tirana, Albania,

these youngsters had never worn anything in their lives but rags.

Every one of them had to be "deloused" and given a whole new outfit of clean American clothing.

The young gentleman in the center however refused to give up the gorgeous embroidered jacket,

the pride of his ancestors, and they all persisted in wearing the traditional fez

14 October 1919

Photographer : ARC. Paris Office

American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of Congress)

ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

An old Turkish bridge.

During the war when the Italians built a road for military purposes,

extending from Korcha in Albania to Valena, this ancient Turkish bridge had to be reconstructed

to get it on a grade suitable for auto traffic.

It required careful engineering and great skill to rebuild this old time structure that was beginning

to show signs of disintegrating.

The Italians were successful as is shown in this picture by the presence

at the top of the bridge of an American Red Cross camion truck on its way to carry relief

to the starving inhabitants of the Albanian mountains

between 1919 and 1929

Photographer : ARC. Paris Office

American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of Congress)

ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

A typical mountain village in the back country of Albania.

 Its natural beauty however, hides many a case of suffering as a result of the war. Food,

clothing and medicines are scarce.

To relieve this the A.R.C. has established stations throughout the country

which are caring for the destitute of all remote towns such as this one

5 December 1919

Photographer : ARC. Paris Office

American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of Congress)

ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

This is the junior class of champions at the Tirana School, Albania,

that Miss Charlotte Watrous of New Haven, Conn.

and Miss Beatrice L. Moore of Sandy Springs, Maryland, drill every morning.

These boys have known so many years of war and deprivation that they have never learned to play.

The first work for this Red Cross School is to give them the chance to be young

25 September 1919

Photographer : ARC. Paris Office

American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of Congress)

ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

When these boys recover from the distress and starvation of the war,

they are going to be champions.

This is the champion gym class at the Tirana American Red Cross School,

under the tutelage of Miss Charlotte Watrous of New Haven, Conn.,

every boy of which considers himself an aspirant for the Olympic games.

The physical training classes have been established in connection with the other Red Cross work,

the hospitals, dispensaries and dental clinics

25 September 1919

Photographer : ARC. Paris Office

American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of Congress)

ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

Every morning these boys do exactly what thousands of American boys are doing

at the same time across the Atlantic.

This is the class in physical training at the Tirana American Red Cross School,

under the direction of Miss Charlotte Watrous of New Haven, Conn.

Their lives have been spent under the pressure of such hard times that they are often physically unfitted for a sturdy boy's life, they are underdeveloped and undernourished

25 September 1919

Photographer : ARC. Paris Office

American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of Congress)

ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

New styles for hunting costumes.

This is not a group of Mexican bandits

but a number of Albanian peasants about to start on a boar hunt.

Their baggy trousers, embroidered "wes'kits" and fur-trimmed jackets

make a unique hunting costume.

They gathered for the hunt after a convoy of American Red Cross workers with relief supplies

had arrived in their mountain town and reported having seen boars on the trip

30 October 1919

Photographer : ARC. Paris Office

American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of Congress)

ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

Shade of Terpsichore.

Here's the "Woozle-Fooz".

First locate a boar or two, then get up a hunting party and go out and kill them,

donning embroidered vests and fur trimmed jackets.

Then you can dance the "woozle-fooz" properly.

 That's what these Albanian hunter-peasants are doing now, furnishing their own music by chanting.

Two American Red Cross workers, bringing relief supplies to their village,

located the boars for them, having passed a number on the lonely mountain roads

30 October 1919

Photographer : ARC. Paris Office

American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of Congress)

ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

The saints carved on the walls of a church at Moskopoulis, Albania,

recently received a baptism of fire when a quarrel between two tribes broke out in the town.

Machine guns were trained on the church and this shows part of the damage

that resulted to the ancient frescoes.

The riot was stopped by the arrival of an American Red Cross Unit,

both sides declaring a truce in order that the Americans might proceed

with their relief work in safety

11 December 1919

Photographer : ARC. Paris Office

American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of Congress)

ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

Headquarters of American Field Services Ambulance Section No. 10, at Visntza, Albania

1917

Photographer : ARC.

American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of Congress)

ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

Everywhere in Central and Eastern Europe American relief workers have penetrated,

and their work has received the hearty cooperation of Allied military chieftens.

Starvation and disease have been the enemies fought by the American Red Cross,

which sends units fully equipped with food, clothing and medical supplies

to fight the scourage resulting from the wide-spread destitution left by the war.

Among these who have proven themselves ardent friends of the Red Cross

is General Giacena Ferrero of the Italian Army in charge of the Albanian forces.

He was snapped for this picture in front of the Italian headquarters

with Major Robert C. Denison of New Haven, Conn., head of the Red Cross mission at Tirana

25 September 1919

Photographer : ARC. Paris Office

American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of Congress)

ww1 world war 14 18 albania tirana albanie premiere guerre mondiale shqiperia lufta e pare boterore

Italian gun on Adriatic

Photograph shows journalists inspecting a 15 inch gun battery

along the Adriatic coast in Albania after World War I.

(Source: Flickr Commons project, 2016)

1918 or 1919

Bain News Service, publisher

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C

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