On 22 August 1916, Stabsfeldwebel (Staff Sergeant) Arigi ignored standing orders that an officer had to be aboard to command his plane. While flying on the Albanian front, Arigi sank an Italian steamboat in the port of Valona (now Vlorë). He escaped captivity on his sixth try in January 1916, however, by stealing an enemy staff car belonging to Prince Nicholas of Montenegro, and rejoining his unit which later moved to Albania. In October 1915, Arigi became a prisoner of war when he was forced down due to engine failure during a reconnaissance flight behind enemy lines in Montenegro. On 20 December 1914, Arigi and his observer, Leutnant Levak, crashlanded a Lohner 140 in the Adriatic Sea fortunately for them, in the shallow water. Initially during World War I, Arigi was assigned to Fliegerkompanie 6, based in southern Dalmatia, flying Lloyd Type LS 2 and Lohner biplane aircraft in operations against Serbian and Montenegrin forces. He trained as a pilot, passing final tests on 26 November 1914, to become Zügsfuhrer ( sergeant). In March 1914, he transferred to the Luftfahrtruppen (air service). He volunteered in October 1913 for Fortress Artillery Regiment No. Before joining the military, he was a waiter or an electrician (sources are unclear in that case). Julius Arigi was born in Děčín ( German: Tetschen), Bohemia, to a Sudeten German family.
