During World War I, in 1915, the Serbian army had no other option but to retreat from their territory, over Albanian mountains, to Greece, who was an ally. Just to note that it was in winter, and people were generally really poor (meaning that there was not so much food, horses etc.), so it was quite a challenge.
Some sort of a deal was made that many Italian, French and British ships will wait on the coast of Albania, to transfer those exhausted people to a safe haven, but the actual situation was a little bit different, because mentioned countries had other activities at that time, so the number of ships was below needed.
Here we come to a question of mine. I came across various articles that say that Nicholas II of Russia, when hearing what is going on at the shores of Albania, sent a telegram to the other entente allies demanding that they get more ships and transport every single person to Greece, or he (Russia) will leave the war. Some say that this message never happened, and some say that it did, so my question is about the authenticity of the telegram written about above.
One version states this telegram was never sent:
The story that the last Russian tsar loved the small Balkan country so much that he threatened the British with a telegram that he would withdraw from the First World War is also popular among historians.
The ultimatum was - "withdrawal, if the Serbs who withdrew through Albania are not helped." "That apocryphal [sic!] story about the telegram to the British is not true," Markovic explains. "Apart from the fact that the telegram was never found, such a text would not be in the spirit of the then diplomatic military correspondence." BBC.com (Google translation link is not stable; still searching for an English translation)
While another version states that it was sent and was even somewhat effective:
SR.Wikipedia.org: 'Albanian Golgatha' My translation:
Nikola Pasic (Serbian PM at the time) sent a letter on 15th of January 1916 to Russian Tsar, seeking for help. Nicholas II received the letter on January 18 and sent a telegram to the British King on the same day, as well as the French President, in which he stated that if the Serbian army doesn't get saved, Russia will cancel all the relationships with GB and FR. The intervention of the Russian tsar accelerated the allied aid, and the Italian government allowed the Serbs to enter [the Albanian port of] Vlorë.