Moroccan Rebels Inflict Major Defeat on Spanish Army in 1921 Battle of Anoual

The resistance to the dual French and Spanish protectorate established in Morocco in 1912 takes a major turn in 1921. For eight years, Spain has been trying to administer the northern region of Morocco, particularly in the Rif, under its authority, recalls Jeune Afrique. In 1920, the King of Spain, Alfonso XIII, appointed General Manuel Fernandez Silvestre, the king’s favorite aide-de-camp and hero of the Spanish-Moroccan war, who spoke Arabic fluently, as commander general of Ceuta and Melilla. His mission: to subdue the Rif once and for all. Another senior officer, Damaso Berenguer, will also be appointed high commissioner of the Spanish protectorate. He had just subdued Chefchaouen.

In the eyes of Manuel Fernandez Silvestre, this mission is only a "simple formality". "It is certain that the native, whose wretched life is maintained with difficulty only by hunger and abstinence in a state bordering on agony, hears the calls to combat only with indifference or even indignation against the feudal tyrants and the merciless usurers that are for him the chiefs in his traditional regime," he thus declares to his superiors. Illusion! The Beni Ouriaghel tribe, settled in the Alhoceima region, enters into open rebellion under the leadership of Mohamed Ben Abdelkrim El-Khattabi (30 years old), a young charismatic and intelligent leader. He studied in Fez and did his law degree in Salamanca (Spain) before becoming a journalist and civil servant in the Spanish administration. The Riffian resistance is forming and asserting itself. But the Spanish army trivializes. In December 1920, it already established a base of 6,000 men in Anoual, a mountainous town connecting the Melilla enclave to Ajdir, the stronghold of the Beni Ouriaghel tribe, Abdelkrim’s tribe.

On June 1, the Spanish army suffers a setback at Dar Ouberrane - a position just opposite el-Qama. The Riffians attack a contingent of the colonial army and kill more than 125 Spanish soldiers out of 250. Enough to undermine the morale of General Manuel Fernandez Silvestre. July 20: the army suffers a heavy defeat at Anoual. The next day, the Riffians attack the Anoual camp. Manuel Fernández Silvestre then orders his 15,000 men to leave the base and retreat to Melilla. The Regulares - Riffians enlisted in the colonial army - who represent a third of the soldiers, side with Abdelkrim. The vast majority of Spanish soldiers are killed, wounded or missing, sometimes reduced to slavery by the Riffian rebels. General Silvestre himself is said to have committed suicide or gone missing. On July 29, General Navarro replaces him. He will be captured.

After his victories over the Spaniards, Abdelkrim proclaimed on February 1, 1922, the Confederated Republic of the Rif tribes. 1925: turnaround. Thanks to the help of the French and the British, the region finally submits.