Battle of Annual

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Battle of Annual
Part of the Rif War
Carga del rio Igan.jpg
Carga del rio Igan by the Cazadores de Alcántara cavalry regiment, Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau
Date22 July – 9 August 1921
Location
Annual, Morocco
Result Rifian victory
Belligerents
Riffian tribes Spain
Commanders and leaders
Abd el-Krim Manuel Silvestre †
Strength
3,000[1] 20,000–23,000[2][3]
Casualties and losses
800 killed and wounded[4] 13,363 killed and wounded[5][6]

The Battle of Annual was fought on July 22, 1921 at Annual, in northeastern Morocco, between the Spanish Army and Rifian Berbers during the Rif War. The Spanish suffered a major military defeat, which is almost always referred to by the Spanish as the Disaster of Annual (Spanish: Desastre de Annual) which is widely considered to be the worst defeat suffered by the modern Spanish Army.[7]

It led to major political crises, the fall of several governments, a military dictatorship, the abdication of King Alfonso XIII and a complete redefinition of Spanish colonial policy toward the Rif as the entire Spanish colonial enterprise was at one point threatened.

Background[]

In early 1921, Spanish forces commanded by General Manuel Fernández Silvestre started an offensive into northeastern Morocco from the coastal regions that they already held. The advance took place without extended lines of communication being adequately established or the complete subjugation of the areas occupied. In the course of the Spanish offensive, the Spanish had penetrated almost 130 kilometres (81 mi) into the enemy lines, but during the hasty advances, neither defensible forts nor accessible water supply points had been put in place. The territory newly occupied by the Spanish was garrisoned only by small makeshift blockhouses (blocaos), each manned by a handful of soldiers (typically 12-20). The outposts were widely spread, typically located in high places, distant from water sources and lacking good communications with the main positions.[8] The ultimate goal of the campaign was to establish a permanent military presence at Al Hoceima bay, a strategic point between the western and the eastern Moroccan coast.[9]

The Rifian irregular forces were commanded by Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi (usually known as Abd el Krim), a former civil servant and translator in the Spanish Office of Indigenous Affairs in Melilla and one of the leaders of the tribe of the Aith Ouriaghel.[10]

Annual[]

Diorama showing the Spanish fortified position at Igueriben

On 15 January 1921 the Spanish forces under Silvestre occupied the small village of Annual in the valley of Beni Ulicheck, and established their main forward base for completing the occupation of eastern Morocco. Silvestre was considered an impetuous and aggressive personality, who was known to be a favourite of King Alfonso XIII. During his year in military command of the Melilla headquarters, Silvestre had doubled the amount of territory held by the Spanish in the central Rif.[11]

Annual was situated about 80 miles (130 km) to the south-west of Melilla. Surviving photographs show the Annual encampment itself to have been a sprawling tented encampment spread over several slopes in a starkly empty landscape.[12]

On 1 June 1921, a Spanish outpost set up just hours before on Mount Abarrán, a 525 mt high position east of Annual, was attacked and captured by Rifian guerrillas. The Spanish lost 24 soldiers killed and 59 wounded.[13]

On 5 June, Silvestre met General Dámaso Berenguer Fusté, Spanish High Commissioner in the protectorate, aboard the Spanish cruiser Princesa de Asturias off Sidi Idris. Berenguer rejected Silvestre's request for reinforcements.[13]

Two days later, Silvestre decided to establish a new forward position, this time south of Annual, at Igueriben. The post was besieged by the Rifians on 14 July. The shortage of fresh water and the use of artillery by the Rifians forced the Spanish army to evacuate the position on 21 July, under heavy fire. Only 33 soldiers survived from a garrison of 300.[13]

Battle[]

On July 22, after five days of skirmishing, 5,000 Spanish troops occupying the advanced encampment of Annual were attacked by 3,000 Rif fighters.[8] With ammunition low and the support base at Igueriben already overrun, General Silvestre, who had arrived at Annual only the day before, decided upon a withdrawal along the line of the previous Spanish advance. Just before 5 a.m. a last radio message was sent, reporting Silvestre's intention to evacuate Annual later the same morning. At about 10 a.m., the garrison began to march in column from the encampment in the direction of Melilla,[14] but poor leadership and inadequate preparation meant that any hope of a disciplined withdrawal quickly degenerated into a disorganised rout.[8] The Spanish conscripts, under heavy fire and exhausted by the intense heat, broke into a confused crowd and were shot down or stabbed by the tribesmen. Only one cavalry unit, the Cazadores de Alcántara, kept in formation and was able to conduct a fighting retreat, though suffering heavy casualties.[15]

General Silvestre and staff 1921

The overstretched Spanish military build-up in the Eastern Spanish Protectorate in Morocco crumbled. After the battle, the Rifians advanced eastward and overran more than 130 Spanish blockhouses.[16] The Spanish garrisons were destroyed without mounting a coordinated response to the attacks. By the end of August, Spain had lost all the territories that it had gained in the area since 1909.[16] General Silvestre disappeared and his remains were never found.[11] According to one report, Spanish sergeant Francisco Basallo Becerra from the Kandussi garrison, an outpost east of Annual,[17] identified the remains of Silvestre by his general's sash.[18] A Moorish courier from Kaddur Namar claimed that eight days after the battle, he saw the corpse of the general lying face down on the battlefield and still recognizable by his sash and epaulettes.[19]

Spanish retreat[]

See also: Massacre of Monte Arruit
Spanish officers inspecting the remains of the garrison at Monte Arruit in January 1922.

At Afrau, on the coast, Spanish warships evacuated the garrison. At Zoco el Telata de Mtalsa, in the south, Spanish troops and civilians retreated to the French Zone. Spanish survivors of the battle retreated some 80 kilometres (50 mi) to the spread-out fortified base of Monte Arruit, which was built between 1912 and 1916 and located south of Melilla. There, a stand was attempted under the leadership of General Felipe Navarro.[20] As the position was surrounded, and cut off from water and supplies, General Berenguer authorised its surrender on August 9. The Rifians did not respect the conditions of surrender and killed 3,000 Spanish soldiers.[21] General Navarro was taken prisoner, along with 534 military personnel and 53 civilians;[19] they were ransomed some years later.[21]

Melilla was only some 40 kilometres (25 mi) away, but the garrison there was in no position to help since the city was almost defenceless and lacked properly-trained troops. The exhausted and demoralised survivors of Annual who reached Melilla were in no condition to reinforce the existing garrison effectively. However, the Rifian forces had largely dispersed following the capture of Monte Arruit, leaving Abd-el-Krim with insufficient men to lay siege to Melilla. In addition, citizens of other European nations lived in Melilla, and he did not wish to risk international intervention.[22] Abd-el-Krim later stated that to have been his greatest mistake.[23]

Spain quickly assembled about 14,000 reinforcements[22] from elite units of the Army of Africa, which had been operating south of Tetuan in the Western Zone. They mainly comprised units of the Spanish Legion who had been newly raised in 1920, and Moroccan regulares. Transferred to Melilla by sea, the reinforcements enabled the city to be held and Monte Arruit to be retaken by the end of November.

Retreat of the Spanish troops to Melilla after the battle of Annual

The Spaniards may have lost up to 22,000 soldiers at Annual and in the subsequent fighting.[5] The German historian Werner Brockdorff states that only 1,200 of the 20,000 Spanish troops escaped alive,[3] but that estimate of losses is contradicted by the Spanish official inquiry.[11] Rifian casualties were reportedly only 800.[4] The final official figures for the Spanish death toll, both at Annual and during the subsequent rout which took Rifian forces to the outskirts of Melilla, were reported to the Cortes Generales as 13,192 killed, including Moroccan colonial forces.[11]

Materiel lost by the Spanish, in the summer of 1921 and especially in the Battle of Annual, included 11,000 rifles, 3,000 carbines, 1,000 muskets, 60 machine guns, 2,000 horses, 1,500 mules, 100 cannons, and a large quantity of ammunition. Abd el Krim remarked later: "In just one night, Spain supplied us with all the equipment which we needed to carry on a big war."[24] Other sources give the booty seized by the Rifians as 20,000 Mauser rifles, 400 Hotchkiss machine guns, and 120 to 150 Schneider artillery pieces.[25][26][27]

Aftermath[]

The political crisis brought about by this disaster led Indalecio Prieto to say in the Congress of Deputies: "We are at the most acute period of Spanish decadence. The campaign in Africa is a total, absolute failure of the Spanish Army, without extenuation." The Minister of War ordered the creation of an investigative commission, led by General Juan Picasso González, which developed the report known as Expediente Picasso. The report detailed numerous military mistakes, but the obstructive action of various ministers and judges made it not go so far as to lay political responsibility for the defeat. In all, the defeat is often thought of in Spain as the worst of the Spanish army in modern times.[7]

The disaster damaged morale among the remainder of the Spanish forces in Morocco, with officers starting to distrust their native auxiliaries about whom rumors of armed uprisings started to circulate.[28] Among the Spanish people, there was despair and anger with the government over the defeat. Many Spaniards started to demand that Spain completely pull out of its remaining African colonies.[29][30]

The reasons for the crushing defeat may lie with Silvestre's tactical decisions and the fact that the bulk of the Spanish army was formed by poorly trained conscripts.[21] Popular opinion widely placed the blame for the disaster upon King Alfonso XIII, who, according to several sources, had encouraged Silvestre's irresponsible penetration to positions far from Melilla without having adequate defenses in his rear. Alfonso's apparent indifference to Abd el-Krim's demand for ransom for the prisoners led to a popular backlash against the monarchy. (Vacationing in southern France, he reportedly said "Chicken meat is cheap" when informed of the disaster;[31] other sources render the quote as "Chicken meat is expensive".[21]) The crisis was one of the many that over the course of the next decade undermined the Spanish monarchy and led to the rise of the Second Spanish Republic.

The last Spanish military commander to mount any significative resistance during the battle was the General Felipe Navarro who was forced to surrender and captured along with 534 military personnel and 53 civilians, all of whom were held by Abd-el-Krim at his headquarters in Axdir; of these, 326 survived 18 months of captivity and were eventually released after a rescue mission undertaken by, among others, members of the Indigenous Affairs Delegation, most prominently Gustavo de Sostoa and Luis de la Corte Luján, with the final negotiations between Abd el-Krim himself and Horacio Echevarrieta. The terms of release included the payment by Spain of 4 million pesetas, a huge amount for the time, and the captives were thus released on January 27, 1923.[19]

Most of the area occupied by the Rifian tribes was taken back by an expedition led by General Damaso Berenguer in 1922.[32]

On 2 July 2012, the cavalry regiment Cazadores de Alcántara was awarded the Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand by the Council of Ministers for its rearguard action in Annual.[33]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Woolman 1968, p. 97.
  2. ^ Gill, M. S. Immortal Heroes Of The World, Sarup & Sons, 2005, ISBN 8176255904, page 242.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Brockdorff, Werner. Geheimkommandos des Zweiten Weltkrieges, Verlag Welsermühl, 1967, page 168.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Ebert, Johannes; Jahnel, Christian; Minisdorfer, Alexandra; Schuhmacher, Stefanie; Dultz, Michael; Husemann, Dirk; Lückemeier, Kai; Römer, Barbara; Solka, Michael; Herkt, Matthias; Schulz, Martin-Andreas (2008). "21. Juli 1921: Marokko - Kabylen gegen Spanier". In Wieneck-Janz, Detlef; Grunwald, Annette; Schmid, Andreas; Görich, Knut; Körner, Hans-Michael; Leinfelder, Reinhold; Schulze, Winfried; Vollkommer, Rainer; Wirsching, Andreas; Pekowski, Wolfgang (eds.). Die große Chronik Weltgeschichte: Der Erste Weltkrieg und seine Folgen (1914–1932) - Band 15 [The Great World History Chronic: The First World War and its Consequences (1914–1932) – Volume 15]. Große Chronik-Weltgeschichte (in German). 15. Munich, Germany: Wissen Media Verlag GmbH. p. 203. ISBN 9783577090759 – via Google Books.
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  6. ^ Altisent, Martha Eulali. A Companion to the Twentieth-Century Spanish Novel, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2008, ISBN 1855661748, page 259.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Olmo, Guillermo D. (19 July 2011). Quirós, Julián (ed.). "La derrota más amarga del Ejército español". ABC (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Diario ABC, S.L. (Vocento). ISSN 1136-0143. Archived from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c Villatoro, Manuel P. (10 August 2016). Quirós, Julián (ed.). "Los 16 héroes de la Legión que defendieron el «Blocao de la muerte» contra cientos de rifeños". Diario ABC (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Diario ABC, S.L. (Vocento). ISSN 1136-0143. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016.
  9. ^ Luna, Joaquín (21 July 2021). Juan, Jordi; Godó, Javier (eds.). "Silvestre, vida y muerte del general frívolo". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain: Grupo Godó. ISSN 1133-4835. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  10. ^ Pennell, C. R. (2000). Morocco since 1830: A History. London: Hurst. p. 634. ISBN 9781850652731.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Woolman 1968, p. 91.
  12. ^ Albi, Julio (2011). El Alcantara 1921. La Caballeria en el desastre de Annual (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid, Spain: Almena Ediciones. pp. 49–50. ISBN 978-84-92714-25-4.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b c Caballero Poveda, Fernando (1 July 1983). Jarnes Bergua, General; Villanueva Fernández, Coronel; Areba Blanco, Coronel; Perez Teijeiro, Capitán; Boza de Lora, Coronel; Blanco, Federico (eds.). "Marruecos. La campaña de 1921. Cifras reales" (PDF). Revista Ejército: Revista de las armas y servicios (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Servicio de Publicaciones del Estado Mayor del Ejército Español. XLIV (522): 81–94. ISSN 0013-2918. Retrieved 24 August 2021 – via Biblioteca Virtual de Defensa (Virtual Defence Library of the Spanish Ministry of Defence)
    *Only the military rank of the editors was available instead of the first names    CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  14. ^ BOE, Editorial (2021-03-01). El Expediente Picasso: edición de su resumen publicado en 1931: Conmemoración del centenario del desastre de Annual (1921-2021) (in Spanish). Boletín Oficial del Estado. ISBN 978-84-340-2704-6.
  15. ^ Albi, Julio (2011). El Alcantara 1921. La Caballeria en el desastre de Annual (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid, Spain: Almena Ediciones. p. 62. ISBN 978-84-92714-25-4.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b Sassen, Dirk (20 February 2014) [2006]. "2. Die Hintergründe [2.4 Das » Desaster von Annual« und seine Folgen]". In Paravicini, Werner; Vollmer, Veronika (eds.). Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921-1926: Spekulanten und Sympathisanten, Deserteure und Hasardeure im Dienste Abdelkrims [French, British and Germans in the Rif War 1921-1926: Speculators and sympathizers, deserters and gamblers in the service of Abdelkrim]. Pariser Historische Studien (in French). 74 (3rd ed.). Munich, Germany: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH. p. 40. ISBN 9783486579833 – via Google Books.
  17. ^ Sgt Becerra was a survivor of the Dar Quebdani massacre, where 900 Spanish soldiers were reportedly killed in cold blood after they had surrendered
  18. ^ Mayordomo, Joaquín (22 March 2016). Estefanía, Joaquín; Mónica Ceberio; Polanco Moreno, Ignacio; Cebrián Echarri, Juan Luis (eds.). "Annual: Horror, masacre y olvido". El País (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Ediciones El País, S.L. (Promotora de Informaciones, S.A. (PRISA)). ISSN 0213-4608. Archived from the original on 20 September 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b c Pando Despierto, Juan (2008). Historia secreta de Annual. Memorias de guerra (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain: Ediciones Altaya (Editorial Planeta DeAgostini, S.A.U.). pp. 335–336. ISBN 9788448724696.
  20. ^ Albi, pp. 65–67
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Blasco, Pedro (9 October 2016). Cacho, Jesús; Pérez Giménez, Alberto; Tereisa, Manuel; Hernández, Chus (eds.). "Flores en homenaje a los tres mil españoles pasados a cuchillo por los árabes hoy hace 95 años en Monte Arruit". Vozpópuli (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Vozpópuli, S.A. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b Sassen, Dirk (20 February 2014) [2006]. "2. Die Hintergründe [2.4 Das » Desaster von Annual« und seine Folgen]". In Paravicini, Werner; Vollmer, Veronika (eds.). Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921-1926: Spekulanten und Sympathisanten, Deserteure und Hasardeure im Dienste Abdelkrims [French, British and Germans in the Rif War 1921-1926: Speculators and sympathizers, deserters and gamblers in the service of Abdelkrim]. Pariser Historische Studien (in French). 74 (3rd ed.). Munich, Germany: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH. p. 41. ISBN 9783486579833 – via Google Books.
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  24. ^ Sassen, Dirk (20 February 2014) [2006]. "5. »Beute und Scmuggel« [5.1 Der Nachschub aus der spanischen Zone Marokkos]". In Paravicini, Werner; Vollmer, Veronika (eds.). Franzosen, Briten und Deutsche im Rifkrieg 1921-1926: Spekulanten und Sympathisanten, Deserteure und Hasardeure im Dienste Abdelkrims [French, British and Germans in the Rif War 1921-1926: Speculators and sympathizers, deserters and gamblers in the service of Abdelkrim]. Pariser Historische Studien (in French). 74 (3rd ed.). Munich, Germany: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH. p. 157. ISBN 9783486579833 – via Google Books.
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  26. ^ Windrow, Martin; et al. (Illustrations by Mike Chappell) (26 March 1999). French Foreign Legion 1914–45. Men-at-arms (Osprey). New York City, New York, United States of America: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Osprey Publishing). ISBN 9781855327610.
  27. ^ Lepage, Jean-Denis G.G. (18 April 2016). "Chapter 5. The Foreign Legion Between World War I and World War II, 1918–1939". The French Foreign: An illustrated history (2nd ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina, United States of America: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers. p. 125. ISBN 9780786432394 – via Google Books.
  28. ^ Villatoro, Manuel P. (22 November 2019). Quirós, Julián (ed.). "El telegrama secreto que pudo evitar la mayor debacle militar de España en Annual". Diario ABC (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Diario ABC, S.L. (Vocento). ISSN 1136-0143. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  29. ^ Ruiz Llano, Germán (1 January 2010). Aulestia, Gorka; de Pablo, Santiago; Arana, Gurutze; Valencia, Inmaculada; Rojo, Gregorio (eds.). "Álava ante el Desastre de Annual" (PDF). Sancho el Sabio: Revista de cultura e investigación vasca (in Spanish). Vitoria, País Vasco, España: Fundación Sancho El Sabio. 20 (32): 146–166. ISSN 1131-5350. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  30. ^ Guerra Hernández, Jennifer (1 October 2015). "4. Canarias ante el Desastre de Annual: Los isleños participan en el conflicto (1921-1927)" (PDF). In Martínez Milán, D. Jesús (ed.). El Impacto de la Guerra de Marruecos en Canarias (1909-1927). Departamento de Ciencias Históricas (Doctorado). Disertaciones y tésis. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Islas Canarias, Spain: Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. pp. 159–212. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  31. ^ Woolman 1968, p. 102.
  32. ^ BOE, Editorial (2021-03-01). El Expediente Picasso: edición de su resumen publicado en 1931: Conmemoración del centenario del desastre de Annual (1921-2021) (in Spanish). Boletín Oficial del Estado. ISBN 978-84-340-2704-6.
  33. ^ de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, Juan Carlos; Morenés Eulate, Pedro. "Real Decreto 905/2012, de 1 de junio, por el que se concede la Cruz Laureada de San Fernando, como Laureada Colectiva, al Regimiento de "Cazadores de Alcántara, 14 de Caballería"" [Decree 905/2012, of June 1, by which the Cross of Saint Ferdinand, as a collective award, to the "Alcántara Hunters, 14th of Cavalry" Regiment]. Other dispositions III, Royal decree No. 905/2012 of 2 June 2012 (PDF) (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Council of Ministers/Ministerio de Defensa de España. p. 39749. ISSN 0212-033X. Retrieved 24 August 2021 – via Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE).

Further reading[]

  • Woolman, David S. (1 June 1968). Rebels in the Rif: Abd El Krim and the Rif Rebellion (1st ed.). Stanford, California, United States of America: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0804706643. OCLC 745697783.
  • Gómez Martínez, Juan Antonio (2007). Krim el-Jattaby el-Aydiri el-Urriagly. Según documentos oficiales españoles - Hasta 1914. Ed. Fajardo el Bravo. ISBN 978-84-935592-5-0.

External links[]

Coordinates: 35°07′12″N 3°34′59″W / 35.120°N 3.583°W / 35.120; -3.583

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