45 Thailand has recently released 10 first publicly available
Defence White Paper and Malaysia is eonsideiing doing
likewise Balcman S. & MeCaflne J MCSBMs in Asia Pacific:
Challenges, Prospects and Rains Implications Issues m
Maritime Studies. DPUBS. I5SI4/9.5. (i 911
Jawhar M, The Making of a New Southeast Asm Popei presenlerl al ihc Inaugural Asia-Paeilie lleleuee Conference Singapore. February 1992 pll
Mak J.N. ASEAN Defence Reorientation 1975-1992 Th Dynamics of Modernisation and Structural Change. Suatcgir and Defence Siudies Centre, ANU. Canberra. 1993. p 153
4k Hean. 0/11 it. p 14.
Ball D Strutegit Culture in tin■Amii-Ra, ij'n Region, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. Working Papei No 270. AM Canberra. April 1994 p I
Cheung, op I it. p 16.
Cordner. Op vil. p 54
Hean. op eft, p 15.
s 1 Cordner, op eit. p 57
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1 Journal of the Australian Naval Institute
Corfu Incident
HM Ships Saumarez and Volage in the
Corfu Straits 22 October 1946
Graham Wilson
I
n a shady grove on the Greek island of Corfu is a small, well tended cemetery. There are twelve headstones and a memorial stone in the cemetery. The inscriptions on the stones are in English and each bears the anchor of the Royal Navy. This is the British Cemetery and the headstones, dating front 194b. commemorate 44 sailors of the Royal Navy who lost their lives 50 years ago as a result of attempts by Albania, one of the more bizarre regimes of recent limes, to establish its pre-eminence in the region. The 12 headstones mark the graves of 12 sailors, while the memorial stone commemorates 52 others whose bodies were never recovered.
Corfu, a Greek owned island, lies just off the Albanian coast, separated from its neighbour by a narrow passage of water known as the Corfu Straits. Quiet today, fifty years ago. the channel was a scene of devastation and tragedy as two destroyers of the Royal Navy unknowingly stumbled into a mine field sown by Communist Albania in contravention of international law and custom.
Albania is an ancient country, once a bastion of the Roman Empire, then for centuries a vassal state of the Oltomon Empire. Emerging as an independent state from the First Balkan War. the country was a battle ground during the First World War. being occupied at various times by Austro-Hungarians. Serbs. French and Italians. The Italians, who had long had territorial claims on Albania, remained until I920 when they were forced to depart by a combination of Albanian protest and foreign pressure. Ahmed Beg Zogu seized power in 1925 and was installed as the first president. In 1928. he assumed the title of King Zog I and ruled the country as a relatively benign despot for eleven years. Zog married a Hungarian countess in I958 and his best man was the Italian Count Ciano who, on his return to Italy, advised his father-in-law. Mussolini, that ltidy should annex Albania. This was duly done and Zog was expelled from his country which then became a province of the Italian Empire.
When Italy surrendered to the Allies in 1945. the Germans moved in to occupy Albania. Various resistance groups struggled against the occupiers and against each other. Eventually, the Communist National Liberation Front under the control of Enver Hoxha gained supremacy over the other groups and when the Germans were driven out in 1944. Hoxha
whs installed as head of government. I'nder Communist rule. Albania became a closed police state, introverted, xenophobic nationalistic and with a political system built around an intense personality cult centred on Hoxha.
In 1946. no more than a year alter the end of die war and little over two years from the establishment of the new state. Albania became involved in a dispute with the United Kingdom over free passage of the seas. The dispute centred around the Corfu Straits, the narrow stretch of water which separated the Greek island of Corfu from the Albanian mainland. This passage had traditionally provided free passage for all peaceful shipping hut Albania now claimed it as territorial waters and demanded the right ol controlling shipping in the Straits.
Compounding the problem was the fact that the Corfu Straits had been heavily mined during the recent war. A narrow channel had been swept but this passed within 125km of the Albanian port of Saranda. Ships sailingthe Corfu Straits therefore had to enter waters which were indisputably Albanian, making the question of free passage extremely blurred. In the lace of Albanian posturing and protestations, the British government decided to clarify the matter and gave the job to the Royal Navy, hoping to establish by precedent the rule of maritime law.
On 15 May. 1946. the cruisers Orion and Superb entered the Straits from the south and proceeded up the mine free channel. When they passed close to Saranda. Albanian shore batteries fired on the iwo ships, which were, luckily, undamaged and which did not return lire. A British note of protest to the Albanian government, demanding an apology, was answered with the statement that the ships were lired on as they were unidentilied and acting aggressively in Albanian waters. Needless to say. no apology accompanied the Albanian reply. Britain now decided to send a special naval force through ihe straits, apparently with Ihe intention of provoking an attack which could then be used to condemn Albania before the world.
In late October, the special force, consisting of the cruisers Mauritius and LiandtT and Ihe destroyers
Saumarex and Volage gathered at Corfu harbour. The force was under the command of Rear Admiral H.R.G. Kinahan. Hying his Hag aboard Mauritius