Battle of Annual

The Battle of Annual was fought on 22 July 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]

Battle of Annual
Part of the Rif War
Carga del rio Igan: charge by the Cazadores de Alcántara cavalry regiment at the Igan River, Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau
Date 22 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]	13,192 killed[5][6]

It resulted in major political crises, the fall of several governments, a military dictatorship led by Miguel Primo de Rivera, the abdication of King Alfonso XIII and a complete reassessment of the 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 platoon 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 on the shores of 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 [es], a 525-metre-high (1,722 ft) 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 the heights of 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 the eve of battle the Spanish garrison occupying the advanced encampment of Annual numbered 5,000 men. These were mostly Peninsula conscripts from the Ceriñola, Africa, Alcantara and San Fernando Regiments. In addition there were four batteries of artillery and about two thousand indigenous troops (Regulares) under Spanish officers.^[14]

On 22 July, after five days of skirmishing, the Spanish force was 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,^[15] but poor leadership and inadequate preparation meant that any hope of a disciplined withdrawal quickly degenerated into a disorganised rout.^[8] Hitherto reliable Moroccan regulares, native police and tribal allies deserted to the Rifian forces, depriving the Spanish column of flankers and rear guard.^[14] 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 (see painting above), though suffering heavy casualties.^[16]

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.^[17] 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.^[17] General Silvestre disappeared and his remains were never found.^[11] According to one report, Spanish sergeant Francisco Basallo Becerra from the Kandoussi garrison, an outpost east of Annual,^[18] identified the remains of Silvestre by his general's sash.^[19] A Moorish courier from Kaddour 'n Amar said 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.^[20]

Spanish retreat

See also: Massacre of Monte Arruit

Spanish officers inspecting the remains of the garrison at Monte Arruit in January 1922

At Afraou, on the coast, Spanish warships evacuated the garrison. At Zoco el Telata de Metalsa, 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.^[21] 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.^[22] General Navarro was taken prisoner, along with 534 military personnel and 53 civilians;^[20] they were ransomed some years later.^[22]

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.^[23] Abd-el-Krim later stated that to have been his greatest mistake.^[24]

Spain quickly assembled about 14,000 reinforcements^[23] from elite units of the Army of Africa, which had been operating south of Tetouan 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."^[25] 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.^[26][27][28]

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 the decline of Spain. 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 local auxiliaries about whom rumors of armed uprisings started to circulate.^[29] 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.^[30][31]

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.^[22] 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;^[32] other sources render the quote as "Chicken meat is expensive".^[22]) 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 significant resistance during the battle was the General Felipe Navarro who was forced to surrender and was 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 the 18 months of captivity before eventually being released following negotiations undertaken primarily by members of the Indigenous Affairs Delegation, most prominently Gustavo de Sostoa and Luis de la Corte Luján, with the final conditions settled 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. Once the ransom was received, the captives were released on 27 January 1923.^[20]

Most of the area occupied by the Rifian tribes was taken back by an expedition led by General Damaso Berenguer in 1922.^[33]

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.^[34]

See also

• Picasso file
• Battle of El Herri, a similar battle during the Zaian War in which a French colonial force was defeated by the Zayane Berber confederation
• Battle of Wolf Ravine, another Spanish defeat similar to Annual

References

1. Woolman 1968, p. 97.
2. Gill, M. S. Immortal Heroes Of The World, Sarup & Sons, 2005, ISBN 8176255904, p. 242.
3. Brockdorff, Werner. Geheimkommandos des Zweiten Weltkrieges, Verlag Welsermühl, 1967, p. 168.
4. 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) [The Great World History Chronic: The First World War and its Consequences (1914–1932) – Volume 15]. Große Chronik-Weltgeschichte (in German). Vol. 15. Munich, Germany: Wissen Media Verlag GmbH. p. 203. ISBN 978-3577090759 – via Google Books.
5. Long, David E.; Bernard Reich (2002). The Government and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa. p. 393.
6. Altisent, Martha Eulali. A Companion to the Twentieth-Century Spanish Novel, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2008, ISBN 1855661748, p. 259.
7. 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. 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 978-1850652731.
11. Woolman 1968, p. 91.
12. Albi, Julio (2011). El Alcantara 1921. La Caballeria en el desastre de Annual (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Almena Ediciones. pp. 49–50. ISBN 978-84-92714-25-4.
13. Caballero Poveda, Fernando (1 July 1983). "Marruecos. La campaña de 1921. Cifras reales". Revista Ejército: Revista de las armas y servicios (in Spanish). XLIV (522): 81–94. ISSN 0013-2918. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-08-10. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
14. Garcia de Gabiola, Javier (2022). The Rif War Volume 1. Helion. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-914377-01-3.
15. BOE, Editorial (2021). 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.
16. Albi, Julio (2011). El Alcantara 1921. La Caballeria en el desastre de Annual (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Almena Ediciones. p. 62. ISBN 978-84-92714-25-4.
17. Sassen, Dirk (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). Vol. 74 (3rd ed.). Munich, Germany: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH. p. 40. ISBN 978-3486579833 – via Google Books.
18. Sgt Becerra was a survivor of the Dar El Kebdani massacre, where 900 Spanish soldiers were reportedly killed in cold blood after they had surrendered
19. Mayordomo, Joaquín (22 March 2016). "Annual: Horror, masacre y olvido". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 0213-4608. Archived from the original on 20 September 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
20. 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 978-8448724696.
21. Albi, pp. 65–67
22. 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.
23. Sassen, Dirk (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). Vol. 74 (3rd ed.). Munich, Germany: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH. p. 41. ISBN 978-3486579833 – via Google Books.
24. Roger-Mathieu, J.; el-Krim, Abd (2012) [1927]. Banon, Gabriel (ed.). Mémoires d'Abd-el-Krim: Recueillis par J. Roger-Mathieu (in French) (15th ed.). Casablanca, Morocco: Editions Frontispice. ISBN 978-9954440629. OCLC 929611388.
25. Sassen, Dirk (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). Vol. 74 (3rd ed.). Munich, Germany: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH. p. 157. ISBN 978-3486579833 – via Google Books.
26. Peil, Margaret; Oyeneye, Olatunji Y. (1998) [1990]. Boahen, A. Adu (ed.). Consensus, Conflict, and Change: A Sociological Introduction to African Societies. Heinemann Frontline Series. Vol. VII (4th ed.). Nairobi, Kenya: East African Publishers/UNESCO/James Currey Limited/University of California Press. ISBN 978-9966467478. LCCN 98981437. OCLC 632679096. Retrieved 24 August 2021 – via Google Books.
27. Windrow, Martin; et al. (Illustrations by Mike Chappell) (1999). French Foreign Legion 1914–45. Men-at-arms. New York City, New York, United States of America: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Osprey Publishing). ISBN 978-1855327610.
28. Lepage, Jean-Denis G.G. (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 978-0786432394 – via Google Books.
29. 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.
30. 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). 20 (32). Vitoria, País Vasco, España: Fundación Sancho El Sabio: 146–166. ISSN 1131-5350. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
31. 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.
32. Woolman 1968, p. 102.
33. BOE, Editorial (2021). 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.
34. de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, Juan Carlos; Morenés Eulate, Pedro (2 June 2012). 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] (PDF) (Royal decree 905/2012, Other dispositions III) (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. (1968). Rebels in the Rif: Abd El Krim and the Rif Rebellion. Stanford, California: 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 978-8493559250.

External links

• The Disaster of Annual (in Spanish).
• "La Guardia Civil en el Desastre de Annual", an article on this topic from the official site of the Spanish Guardia Civil (in Spanish).
• Rif War of 1919–1926 on OnWar.com

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