This was intended to control the Sultanate, that it was deeply indebted to European countries, and at the same time satisfy some of the demands of Kaiser Wilhelm II, its main creditor, who did not see with good eyes the growing French interventionism in North Africa (this last circumstance would lead in 1911 to the Second Moroccan Crisis, with the sending of the German gunboat SMS Panther to Agadir). In 1912 the sultan Abd al-Hafid suffered a series of internal revolts and definitively ceded the sovereignty of Morocco to France, which in turn shared it with Spain, thus giving rise to the French (to the south) and the Spanish (to the north) protectorates.
The Spanish Protectorate of Morocco it was divided into five regions with capital in Tetouan. The Spanish presence in the territory served to carry out an incipient modernization of the sultanate, drawing up the first roads and railways. Although the always rebellious tribes of the Rif (who only accepted the religious power of the sultan but not the political one) soon formed a common block against the foreign occupation of their territory, giving rise to the so-called Rif War, which would last until 1927.
The time has come to go back in time to narrate one of the least known episodes of the African conflict, which represents the embodiment of the ideals of the most iconic contemporary force in the world. Spanish army, created precisely to fight this war, and which is none other than the Legion:
This Wednesday, November 19, 1924, he woke up cold and wet. The rain falls hard and furiously on the huge column of Spanish soldiers that barely covers the more than 40 kilometers that separate Cheruta from Tetouan. They are withdrawing to reorganize the battlefront of the Ceuta Military Command and thus reduce the number of forces in combat in the war against the Rif people.
The evacuation occurs by steps, always defended by garrisons that watch the road from advanced positions raised on the hills and that abandon their posts once the column has safely crossed. The last to leave Cheruta was the troops of General Serrano Orive , who has just paid with his life for the successful evacuation of all forces from this camp. And it is that the Kabyles of Cheruta, Chauén and Dar-Acoba have joined together and chase the soldiers at a certain distance, shooting at them from time to time, without haste, as if they were a pack of wolves that move along the cliffs and hills that border the Mitzal river valley, through which the highway passes. The Spanish rearguard did not take their eyes off them, also examining the terrain in search of high positions to, when the time came, confront them. The wind blows strongly in the valley and the clouds hide the escarpments of Jebel Izmamene with their thick and whitish mantle. If the circumstances were different, the Bristol F-2 planes from the Tetouan air base could provide them with support from the skies, but this is not the reality and they are alone down here. Along the muddy road advances a procession of roaring trucks loaded with wounded and materials, of mules carrying dismounted mountain cannons and tents, and also of frozen, exhausted soldiers, suffering from the incessant rain and the whistles of stray bullets. The Kabyles prefer to harass the enemy intermittently to tire him out and gradually reduce his forces, it is the same tactic that the Numidian horsemen of Massinissa used against the Romans twenty-one centuries ago.
The Spanish column has just arrived at the Hámara Gorge , which is dominated by a small hill where there is a blockhouse that someone has recklessly abandoned too soon. In their place, the Mausers of the Rif Kabyles are already emerging from their sandbags and, suddenly, almost hidden by the thunder of the storm, the first detonations are produced. The Spanish column quickly left the road when they heard the paqueo and threw themselves face down in the ditches, sheltering from the Rif bullets that whistled and burst against the rocks like a hailstorm of lead. The rearguard suffers from incessant enemy fire and some soldiers try in vain to reconquer the heights occupied by the Rif people.
A few meters ahead, Lieutenant Colonel Early's Regulars are busy defending the al-Hamara bridge to allow the last troops in the column to pass. For his part, Captain Arredondo, who commands the I Company of the I Flag of the Tercio de Extranjeros , he has managed to expel the Rif people from the blockhouse and now it is occupied by his legionnaires who open fire with their rifles while the captain, wounded in the leg, gives the orders leaning on a soldier. Following this last defense tactic , the I Company has managed to concentrate the enemy's shots on them and not on the legionnaires of the VI Flag, nor on the Ceuta Regulars who are more or less under cover on the other side of the river, protecting the passage of the rest of the the spine. When the last company of machine guns finally manages to cross the al-Hámara bridge, Arredondo's legionnaires find themselves fatally overwhelmed by the enemy; there are wounded who lie on the ground dying, many have already died, but the Legionary Creed says never abandon a man on the battlefield until all perish, that's why those who are still alive do not hesitate to fight fierce irons and sell expensive skin before leaving for the other world.
The last time we saw Captain Arredondo he was creeping up to the front, mortally wounded, firing his Ruby pistol alongside his legionnaire knights, who fell one after another with each rif download. From the improvised camp in the Zoco-Arbaa, located five kilometers from Hámara, we heard the silence of the shots announcing the fateful end of Captain Arredondo's I Company. He will never recover his body, nor the bodies of his non-commissioned officers, nor those of his soldiers, nor those of his signal personnel.
A small clearing then opens up between the thick clouds, enough for a slight ray of sunlight to hit the abandoned, broken heliograph, which has fallen along with its former custodians, and that sends us from a distance a timid farewell glow that barely lasts a few seconds. These braves have just died so that others may be saved and their companions from the Tercio seem to mutter in silence, with respect and some melancholy, the spirit of death that says:
Pablo Arredondo Acuña he commanded the I Company of the I Flag from its foundation until his death in 1924, thus being the first captain of the Legion. In 1913 (at the age of 23) he became a lieutenant in the 9th Battalion of Hunters of Arapiles, where he was decorated with the Cruz Laureada de San Fernando (the highest Spanish military decoration) for an action in Laucién. In 1914 he was assigned to the Indigenous Regular Forces of Melilla; in 1916 he passed to the 58th Alcántara Infantry Regiment where he would be promoted to captain and transferred to the 50th Vad-Ras Infantry Regiment. In September 1920 he was requested to command the I Company of the I Flag of the newly founded Tercio of Foreigners and moved back to Morocco; on June 29, 1921 he was fatally wounded at Muñoz Crespo's position. After many operations, the Army wanted to consider him invalid because his injuries prevented him from walking easily, but in 1924 he managed to get the courts to agree with him and he regained his position in the I Bandera del Tercio. Pablo Arredondo's military career was brilliant, but it was cut short by a Riffian bullet on a cold day in November 1924. His sacrifice earned him the second Laureate of San Fernando, something that only five soldiers have achieved throughout history.
Bibliography
- AA. VV. (2015) The landing at Al Hoceima, 1925 , Awake Ferro Contemporary , no. 11.
- Arredondo Gonzalo, P. (2011) «The service record of a hero:Captain D. Pablo Arredondo Acuña (1st Part)», in Infantry Memorial , no. 63, p. 59-65.
- Arredondo Gonzalo, P. (2012) «The service record of a hero:Captain D. Pablo Arredondo Acuña (2nd Part)», in Infantry Memorial , no. 65, p. 88-93.
- Corps of General Staff (1920-1925?) Sketch of Beni Ider, Beni Aros, Beni Hassan and Ajmás formed with partial works and reconnaissance carried out by the Geographical Commission of Morocco, Ceuta-Tetouan Section . Scale 1:100,000 . Geographical Commission of Morocco.
- Hemeroteca, newspaper ABC (1924) «The action of Spain in Morocco. A loose shot yesterday caused the death of General Serrano Orive. He has completed the retreat from Xeruta to Zoco el Arbaa », November 20, p. 9.
- Hemeroteca, newspaper ABC (1924b) «The action of Spain in Morocco. In sustained shooting on the Tifisuin front, the enemy has left eleven dead in our power”, November 28, pp. 7-8.
- Pando Despierto, J. (2018) «The Spanish-Moroccan cavalry demolishes the walls of Hámara», in Army , nº 929, year LXXIX, pp. 4-12.
- Geographical Service of the Army (1944) Map of northern Morocco, sheet 4, Chefchaouen . Scale 1:100,000 . Workshops of the Army Geographic Service.