Goumier
is a term used for Moroccan soldiers, who served in auxiliary units attached to the French army, between 1908 and 1956. The term has also occasionally been used to indicate native soldiers in the French army of Sudan French and Upper Volta during the colonial era.
The word comes from the Moroccan Arabic d word qum, which means "rise". Later a goum was a unit of 200 soldiers. Three or four goums have composed a tabor. One group consisted of three tabors.
Each goum was a mixture of different tribes. At the beginning they were recruited mainly in the regions of Chaouia de Sidi Boubaker, Ouled dit, Settat, Kasbeth Ben Ahmed, Dar Bouazza, and Sidi Slimane.
origins
The designation "goumiers" was originally given to tribal irregular soldiers used as allies by the French military during the early 1900s in southern Algeria. These mounted allies operated under their own tribal leadership and were entirely separate from the regular Muslim cavalry (Spahi) and infantry (Tirailleur) regiments of the French Army of Africa.
Morocco, 1908-34
Algerian goumiers were used during the initial stages of the French intervention in Morocco, beginning in 1908. After their enlistment times expired the Algerians returned to their homeland but the benefits of the levies of irregular natives were such that they were replaced by levies of Moroccans. Now the designation of goumiers, Moroccans served in units under French command, which were usually supported by Spahis.
These semi-permanently used Moroccan goumiers were initially augmented by General Albert D'Amade to patrol recently occupied areas. The Goumiers also served as scouts and in support of regular French troops. In 1911 they became permanent units. Nominally they were under the command of the sultan of Morocco but in practice they formed an extension of the French army and later fought for France in third countries. However, their greatest involvement was in Morocco itself during the period of French "pacification".
Initially the Moroccan Goums wore tribal dress with arm bands but as they achieved permanent status they adopted the distinctive brown and gray striped jellaba (a hooded Moroccan coat) which was to remain their trademark. throughout their history with the French army. Their normal headdress was turban. The Goums included infantry and cavalry elements. Their traditional and favorite weapons were sabers or long daggers.
An equivalent force known as Mehal-La Jalifiana was raised in Spanish Morocco using the goumiers of France as a model.
First World War
The Goumiers did not serve outside Morocco during 1914-18. Their existence, however, enabled Marshal Hubert Lyautey to withdraw a substantial part of the French forces to Morocco to serve on the Western Front. Remaining separate from the regular Moroccan regiments of the French Army Africa, the Goumiers served France honorably during the Rif Wars of the 1920s. They later became a form of gendarmerie maintaining order in rural areas of Morocco. /P>
the second world war
Four Moroccan groups served in the Allied Forces during World War II. They specialized in night operations, and fought against the forces of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany during 1942-45.
Tunisia, 1942-43
an anonymous officer of the 26th Infantry Regiment of the United States, who fought alongside the Goumiers in Tunisia, wrote this:
Two companies of Goums...were posted beside our pc, and these had sent two raiding parties the same night...Mostly the mountain men of Morocco, those silent, fast-moving thieves were excellent in night raids, and in surprise attacks. How successful they had been was attested by the two [French officers] who commanded Goumiers' companies. The companies lacked most of the clothing, equipment and weapons needed for war. Several incursions had remedied this. Inspection of their clothing revealed many German articles of clothing under their conventional brown and white vertical striped robes. Their guns were mixed German and Italian, with some old French guns equipment, and much of the food was also of enemy origin, as were the knives, guns, blankets and toiletries. From the interrogation of the Italian prisoners, it was evident that they had heard or experienced the ruthless incursions of the Goums, and they wanted no part of them. Part of the reason for the success of the Goums is in their silent progression, and in their advanced art of camouflage. An anecdote worked that a warrior had so successfully camouflaged himself all day in full view of the Germans that a German officer had wandered over to what he thought was a bush, and urinated on his motionless head. of the Moroccan soldier who bore the trial well, but who marked this particular officer down for particular attention that night. Goums took no prisoners, and it was well known to the Germans and Italians what happened to anyone who ran afoul of these Moroccans. There was certainly no desire to have our battalion tangle with either of the two plundering parties dispatch the same night.
Italy, 1943-45
The Italian campaign of World War II is perhaps the most famous and controversial in the history of Goumiers.
In Italy, the allies suffered a long stalemate at Gustav's German line. In May 1944, three Goumier groups, under the name Corps de Montagne, were the vanguard of the French Expeditionary Corps (CEF or FEC) attack by the Aurunci Mountain Diadem during the operation, the fourth battle of Monte Cassino. “Here the Goums more than proved their worth as light, highly mobile, mountain troops who could penetrate the most vertical terrain in combat order and with minimal logistical requirements. Most military analysts regard the Goumiers maneuver as a critical victory that finally paved the way to Rome. »
Allied Commander, General Mark Clark of the United States also paid tribute to the Goumiers and the Moroccan professional Tirailleur units:
In spite of stiffening enemy resistance, the Moroccan 2nd Division penetrated Gustave's [sic] line in less than two days' fighting. The next 48 hours on the French front were decisive. The knife-use Goumiers swarmed over the hills, particularly at night, and General June's entire force showed hour after hour of aggression that the Germans could not resist. Cerasola, San Giorgio, Mt. D'Oro, Ausonia and Esperia were seized in one of the most brilliant and audacious advances of the war in Italy... For this execution, which was to be a key to the success of entire command over Rome, I will always be a grateful admirer of General June and his magnificent FEC.
However, Goumiers' military accomplishments in Italy were accompanied by widespread allegation of war crimes:"...exceptional numbers of Moroccans were executed—many without trial—for allegedly murdering, raping, and plundering their way through the Italian countryside. French authorities sought to defuse the problem by importing numbers of Berber women to serve as "camp disciples" in rear areas set aside exclusively for the Goumiers. According to Italian sources, more than 7,000 people were raped by Goumiers. the victims, later known in Italy as Marocchinate, included women, children and men, including some priests. The mayor of Esperia (a comune in the province of Frosinone), reported that in his town, 700 women out of 2,500 inhabitants were raped and some died as a result. In northern Lazio and in southern Tuscany, it is alleged that the Goumiers' women and young men raped and occasionally killed after the Germans retreated, including members of partisan formations. (the film Two Women, based on a novel La Ciociara by Alberto Moravie, and directed by Vittorio De Sica and star Sophia Loren, who won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance portrays the character rape of Loren and her daughter by a group of Goumiers.)
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Goums was an important part of the French forces that took Elbe from the Germans in June 1944. The operation was called Operation Brassard. The island was more heavily defended than expected, and there were many casualties on both sides due to the heavy fighting.
Indochina, 1948-1954
After war goum units saw service in French Indochina until the fall of Dien-Bien-Phu in 1954, participating in the Hoa Binh campaign against Viet Minh forces. With Moroccan independence in 1956, the Goums were incorporated into the new Royal Army of Morocco.