Editing History of Albania (section)

=== Italian invasion ===
{{Main|Italian invasion of Albania}}

[[File:Map of Albania during WWII.png|thumb|180px|right|A map of [[Albania]] during WWII.]]

On 7 April Mussolini's troops invaded Albania. The operation was led by General [[Alfredo Guzzoni]]. The invasion force was divided into three groups, which were to land successively. The most important was the first group, which was divided in four columns, each assigned to a landing area at a harbor and an inland target on which to advance. Despite some stubborn resistance by some patriots, especially at [[Durrës]], the Italians made short work of the Albanians.<ref name="LoC2" /> Durrës was captured on 7 April, Tirana the following day, Shkodër and Gjirokastër on 9 April, and almost the entire country by 10 April.

Unwilling to become an Italian puppet, King Zog, his wife, Queen [[Geraldine Apponyi]], and their infant son [[Leka, Crown Prince of Albania (born 1939)|Leka]] fled to Greece and eventually to London. On 12 April, the Albanian parliament voted to depose Zog and unite the nation with Italy "in personal union" by offering the Albanian crown to Victor Emmanuel III.<ref>Fischer, B. J: ''Albania at War, 1939–1945'', page 36. Hurst, 1999</ref>

The parliament elected Albania's largest landowner, [[Shefqet Bej Verlaci]], as prime minister. Verlaci additionally served as head of state for five days until Victor Emmanuel III formally accepted the Albanian crown in a ceremony at the [[Quirinale]] palace in Rome. Victor Emmanuel III appointed [[Francesco Jacomoni di San Savino]], a former ambassador to Albania, to represent him in Albania as "Lieutenant-General of the King" (effectively a [[viceroy]]).