Abdelkrim Khattabi: verslag Times magazine in de jaren 20

Gestart door amazighmaghreb, 09/10/2010 om 15:42:58

amazighmaghreb


Tired of fighting the Spaniards, Abd-el-Krim, able, active, alert leader of the Riff Berber tribes, began an onslaught on the French on the south side of that strip of territory over which the Spaniards claim sovereignty and Abd-el-Krim exercises it.

Over a 120-mile front, hordes of Riffians recklessly attacked French native troops. At most points, owing to their open tactics, they were repulsed with heavy losses while the French troops suffered comparatively few casualties. The Riffian chief was presumed to be making a bid to capture the town of Fez. Premier Painlevé disavowed all intention of extending operations to conquest of the Riff territory.

The Spanish troops woke up. A feeling of "now's the time" swept over the officers. An offensive was projected against the Riffians who, caught between two fires, must perish or surrender, or so thought the Spanish



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,728438,00.html#ixzz11s6jJWcN

amazighmaghreb


Following the capture of Raisuli, famed Moroccan Tribesman (TIME, Feb. 16), the forces of Abd-el-Krim, leader of the Riffian rebels, began to mass for a concerted attack of the Spanish lines.

In Spain, Dictator Primo Rivera shook his head, wrote to Abd-el-Krim, suggested a peace parley. Said he: "We are willing to go very far." He offered full autonomy to the Riff as a kingdom under the Shereefian Monarch, Sultan Mulay Yusef, but said that Abd must. thereafter demobilize his men and govern his country as "a peaceful state and not a warrior kingdom." The entire note, made known by Primo Rivera at Madrid, was couched in the most friendly terms.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,719893,00.html#ixzz11s6xyY4v

amazighmaghreb


From the scanty reports that escaped through the mesh of the Spanish censorship, the war between the Moorish rebels under Abd-el-Krim and the Spanish forces under Director Primo Rivera appeared to be going from bad to worse for the latter.

The Spanish evacuated several garrisons of great importance owing to the difficulty of maintaining supplies. No decisive fighting took place.

From a French source, the forces of Abd-el-Krim, "an able chief," were said to be inferior in numbers to the Spanish Army, which numbered approximately 60,000.

As far as could be ascertained, the tactics of the rebels is to avoid open attack on Spanish strongholds but to intercept communications, to rout Spanish convoys. Due to the fact that the Moors are excellent marksmen and that they are familiar with the country, their campaign plans were meeting with considerable success.

On the other hand, the forces under the ex-bandit Raisuli (subject of President Roosevelt's famed telegram: "Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead"), who was recently made a Spanish Governor, were being mobilized for attack on Abd-el-Krim's forces. The Spanish troops were also being concentrated near Tetuan, capital of Spanish Morocco



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,719152,00.html#ixzz11s79YXdJ

amazighmaghreb


Spanish troops in Morocco defeated the Moors in another episode of the spasmodic Moroccan War (TIME, Aug. 20, Aug. 27).

Abd-el-Krim, Chief of the Riffian tribesmen, with the aid of the Kabyles and Beni Said tribes besieged the Spanish Garrison at Tifaruin. Two relief columns, comprising in all 22,000 men, were despatched from Melilla. On arrival at Tifaruin the Spanish commanders found the Moroccan tribes holding fortified positions around the garrison. The two columns separated, one made a surprise attack from the rear, the other attacked from the front. After bloody fighting the Moors fled. The garrison had been relieved in the nick of time; their water supply had given out.

King Alfonso of Spain and the War Ministry at Madrid telegraphed their congratulations to the garrison.

The victory over the Moors is said to have averted a crisis in political affairs in Spain. The war has never been popular with the proletariat, but the honor of the Army was at stake. There was also an international, aspect of the war. Spain undertook definite obligations when the Algeciras Conference (1906) placed the zone under her rule, and she has never fulfilled them. Besides, Spain is confronted with an orderly rule in French Morocco and complaints from the Italians in Tripolitania, who declare that Spain's inability to quell the Riffians reacts with bad effect on her own natives. Both at home and abroad a victory in Morocco was indispensable to Spain.

The Spanish have 56,000 men in Morocco and are said to be opposing an enemy of not more than 11,000 Moors. The question of Spanish inefficiency has consequently been raised. The following notes are excerpted from explanations given by competent officers:

The Spaniard cannot make headway against the Moor because of: 1) the long line of weak positions, mostly without intercommunication, stretching across a broken country 30 miles on a straight line from Afrau along the seacoast to Dardrius;

2) the ability of the Moors to penetrate through the deep ravines between the positions and isolate any one of them from the remainder whenever they feel so inclined; 3) the innumerable advanced posts of the front line, containing small garrisons which must be kept constantly supplied with fresh food and ammunition. Taking these forward means the frequent employment of strong convoying columns, which always are open to attack from a lurking enemy lying in wait in rocky fastnesses where it is impossible to locate them by means of airplanes; 4) malaria and dysentery.

It is reported that 10,000 casualties have occurred among the troops since July, 1921, exclusive of those taken ill with malaria and dysentery.

The Riffian version of the " victory " of Tifaruin is that 739 Spanish were killed, while it took two days to remove the enemy wounded. Furthermore, the communiqué states that it will take several days to remove the vast quantities of supplies captured from the Spanish forces.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,716542,00.html#ixzz11s7LpszP

amazighmaghreb

Abd-el-Krim: link naar de beroemde cover van abdelkrim op de Times Magazine van 17 augustus 1925

http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19250817,00.html

amazighmaghreb

From South and West Africa, Morocco, Mesopotamia, Transjordania, Tripoli, Tunis, Syria, Libya, Java, India there came to Cairo last week grave and potent Mohammedans, who solemnly entered and squatted within the mosque of Islam's most ancient university, El Azhar
The Grand Sheik of El Azhar called this assembly to order. It began to debate: 1) Who shall be recognized or elected Calif of Islam? 2) What shall be held to be the true and orthodox qualifications of the Calif? 3) If Islam is to have an elected Calif, who may be deemed at present eligible?
The wise and venerable representatives of Islam who debated these momentous issues were given pause by the following considerations: 1) In 1922 the Turkish Parliament abolished the Sultanate, deposed the Sultan-Calif Mohammed VI and conferred the Califate upon his cousin, Prince Abdul Mejid. Subsequently (1924) it abolished the Califate and banished from Turkey all members of the House of Osman, which had ruled as Sultan and Calif since 1517. Thereupon King Husein of the Hejaz was somewhat irregularly "elected" Calif by his adherents, but abdicated as King in favor of his son Ali, who was subsequently conquered and deposed by Sultan Ibn Saud of Nejd. 2) None of these three disgruntled Califs possesses all three of the traditional qualifications: descent from Mohammed; the status of an independent sovereign; possession of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. 3) None of the at present outstanding Mohammedan potentates possesses all three qualifications. 4) Should one or more qualifications be waived, the following potentates might well precipitate innumerable struggles in an effort to obtain the Califate: King Fuad of Egypt, King Feisal of Irak, President Mustafa Kemal of Turkey, Shah Reza of Persia, the Aga Kahn of Bombay, the Sultan of Morocco, King Abdulla of Transjordania, Imam Yahya of Yemen, the Idrisi of Asir, Sultan Ibn Saud of Nejd and the Hejaz, Sheik Achmet of the Senussites and Abd-El-Krim. ... 5) The Califate Congress which met last week has already been repudiated by Sultan Ibn Saud, who has summoned a rival Califate Congress to meet at Mecca, next month â€" presumably on the theory that he seized the Califate from the Kings of the Hejaz when he overthrew them last year.
Significance. In these circumstances it appeared unlikely that the deliberations at Cairo will have any immediate effect. The Calif or Khalifa is, of course, the "Successor" or "Representative" of Mohammed, and is theoretically the temporal and spiritual sovereign of all Mohammedans. Strictly orthodox Mohammedans contend that the Turkish Sultans were never "true califs," charging that they were not actually descended from Mohammed. Since the Sultans of Turkey "assumed" (bought) the Califate in 1517, it may fairly be said to be "extinct" or "lost," at present, if their claims were invalid.
Possibilities. The extreme nebulosity of the Califate, in a legal sense, does not prevent thousands of ignorant Mohammedan peasants from manifesting a desire to fight in the name of the Prophet under the banner of almost anyone who is judiciously proclaimed and trumpeted as Calif
The danger that a well propagandized new Calif would become the focus of troublesome "holy wars" might well cause the following Great Powers to "take steps": Great Britain, if the "Green Mantle of the Prophet" should descend upon King Fuad of Egypt, King Feisal of Irak or the Aga Kahn; Italy, if Sheik Achmet of the Senussites should receive the "Sacred Sword" and begin swishing it near Italian Tripoli; France, if the "Holy Standard" (the third emblem of the Calif) should be unfurled in the Riff by Abd-El-Krim, or by one of the Sultans in the vicinity of Syria.
Host. Tranquil, intellectual Ahmed Fuad, Sultan of Egypt, Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, extended formal hospitality to the Califate Congress, but entertained no credulous hopes that he is likely to become temporal and spiritual overlord of Islam should the Conference indorse his claims. Though the British "protectorate" over Egypt terminated in 1922, Britain will tolerate no uprisings in Egypt which might threaten the Suez Canal â€""the route to India."
Ahmad Fuad therefore bestirred himself little during the week. Upon his knee he caressed now and then the Princesses Fawzieh and Faiza, aged five and three, his daughters.
Mohammed VI. At San Remo, Italy, the deposed Sultan Mohammed VI kept in close touch with the doings of the Cairo conference. When he ascended the Turkish throne (1918) his subjects numbered 12 millions. His realm embraced both Turkey in Europe and Turkey in Asia â€" nearly half a million square miles, including Anatolia, Arabia, Palestine, Mesopotamia and Kurdistan. The Turkish Republic now holds in Europe only the zone of Constantinople, and in Asia little more than Anatolia and Kurdistan.
As the deposed Sultan pondered these matters at San Remo last week, a long-standing illness of the heart stole upon him and he died.
Of the 270,000,000 Moslems in the world, perhaps 50 millions mourned him as the "True Calif."


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,751465-2,00.html#ixzz11sC2ZqTR



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,751465,00.html#ixzz11sBsev6p


amazighmaghreb


A dark-bearded portly man, whose flowing garments billowed opulently, wandered through the gaudy Spring Fair at Fez last week, buying here a mechanical piano, there a thoroughbred stallion, a typewriter, jeweled sandals. . . .

He was the Sultan, Mulai Yusef, a big indolent man, who is supported by the French and Spanish as the puppet sovereign of Morocco. Venerable Moroccans were scandalized by his appearance at the fair en foot. Traditionally he should have arrived either on horseback or upon a portable throne, and heavily guarded in any case. Instead he dismissed his strapping Negro bodyguard at the gate of the fair and entered "practically unattended" â€" accompanied by only 32 Caids, four Pashas, two French Generals, and the French Resident General in Morocco, Jules Steeg.

War. While the Sultan stolidly watched an exhibition of Arabian trick riding at the fair, the Franco-Spanish war against Abd-El-Krim, who also claims to be Sultan of Morocco, continued less than 50 miles away.

Events of the week: 1) The Spaniards claimed to have captured the important Riffian city of Cafras, the village of Buhalema.

2) After a heavy bombardment, the French advanced to new positions north of Ouezzan and along the Taza front. Meanwhile French airplanes bombed Tarquist, Krim's onetime stronghold. 3) The Spanish fleet continued to steam up and down the Riffian coast, pot-shotted.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,751457,00.html#ixzz11sCbRt48

amazighmaghreb


Into the Quai d'Orsay (Foreign Office) there strolled last week one Captain Gordon Canning, Britisher. Negligently leaning upon one corner of the desk of an undersecretary, he flipped open the following interesting document, which he claimed to have brought from the war area in Morocco:

"Amersine, Near Ajdir.

"In the name of God, humility, praise and thanks.

"May it be known by these presents that we, by the grace of God, authorize the bearer to receive for us the conditions which France and Spain offered in July last, which may serve as a base of negotiations for peace, so that we may take them into our consideration, examine them and accept or refuse them.

"Let peace be with you.

"Sixteenth Jornada, 1344.

"MOHAMMED BEN ABD-EL-KRIM."

At once a notable stir was created in Paris. Numerous papers, led by Le Matin, demanded that Captain Canning should be fully heard and every effort made to put an end to the expensive and unpopular war which France is waging in Morocco (TIME, Dec. 28 et ante). Meanwhile the Foreign Office coquetted with the idea of giving official cognizance to a purely self-styled envoy.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,728778,00.html#ixzz11sCwLVUV

amazighmaghreb


At a dinner tendered to members of the "Sheriffian Escadrille"*by the American Club in Paris, Colonel Charles Sweeney, Commander of the Escadrille, commented upon the activities of his airmen. "Flying in the Riff is hard, distasteful work and not adventure. . . . When the war started we knew . . . that Morocco was on top of an abscess ... a revolt of brown subject races against European civilization. ... So we went in. ...

"The Moroccan war is the most humanitarian war I have ever seen. The least harm possible is done to the enemy, and it is astonishing how much care is taken to deal as mildly as possible with the tribesmen in order to bring them back to peace and prosperity. It is a war of medieval times.

"It is also a war between the

French and individual tribes, each a unit in itself. . . . Whenever a tribe surrendered to the French, the procedure was as follows. ... At first a few old 'prehistoric' rifles would be laid at the feet of the French and a sickly bull brought up for a peace offering. The French commanders would wave them away. Then more and newer rifles would be brought and a better bull prepared as an offering. The French still waved them away. At last many modern rifles would be piled at the feet of the French commanders and a fine bull would be led to slaughter. Then the French would grant the peace.

" . . . . We were asked to come in uniforms to this luncheon, but we didn't want to, because we have no right to wear them. We are nobody. We are just Americans and only ordinary men now."

It was recalled that U. S. Secretary of State Kellogg warned the Sheriffians that they were violating U. S. statutes in fighting against a foreign power (TIME, Sept. 28, THE CABINET). But President Percy Peilotti of the American Club at Paris toasted his much criticized guests as follows: "As friends of France we are grateful to you; as Americans we are proud of you."


*"The Sheriffians," U. S. volunteer aviators, fought with the French against Abd-el-Krim until the present torrential rains in the Riff made air warfare impossible until spring (TIME, Nov. 16).



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,786560,00.html#ixzz11sDIha1D

amazighmaghreb


Spanish operations against the Riffs became notably spectacular when several Spanish battalions made a dash in motor trucks southeastward from Ajdir, covered some 20 miles across the plain, and established themselves at Syan on the east Moroccan front. Thus they linked up with their allies the French forces, which have advanced into that region from Kifane, and apparently the Spanish thrust came as a complete surprise to both French and Riffians. If the move is consolidated into a strong series of military positions, it may well forestill the possibility of French forces attempting to operate in the so-called Spanish zone."

Spaniards, upon taking stock of Abd-el-Krim's former general headquarters at Ajdir, became aware that the Riffian war lord had furnished himself with many of the commonplaces of European existence. A French-made telephone was discovered, in good working order, and was promptly connected up with the Spanish base at Morro Nuevo. In a room filled with maps and various documents were neat-filed clippings from Spanish, French and German newspapers. At Abd-el-Krim's residence, a short distance away, was found an extensive library containing numerous works on international law. And a hospital of two rooms fitted up with modern surgical instruments had also been at the disposal of Abd-el-Krim.

Reports from Fez indicate that on retiring from Ajdir before the Spanish advance, Abd-el-Krim fled to the all but inaccessible Beni Arous Mountains, the most rugged of the Atlas Range. There, with his brother, Sidi Muhammed, and some tens of thousands of faithful tribesmen, he is reported to be resting and attempting to engineer more tribal alliances against the French and Spanish.

At Tangier, it was reported that Sidi Muhammed Zeziane, Foreign Minister in Abd-el-Krim's Government, was bound to the muzzle of a cannon and blown to atoms by Riffians who believed that he had betrayed them.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,721293,00.html#ixzz11sDwumU8

amazighmaghreb


For most of the past week a sirocco (hot, dry, enervating east wind) swept the battlefront where French and Riffians fight for supremacy in the Moroccan War (TIME, May 11, et seq.). Fighting slackened and what was done ended in success for the Riffians, proving that the French successes of the previous week had in no sense discouraged or reduced the resistance of their enemies. A number of tribal desertions to the Riffians was also reported. Marshal Petain, his face bronzed by the African sun, landed at Ceuta, en route to Paris from the front (TIME, Aug. 3) conversed long and secretly with General Primo Rivera, head of the Spanish military directory. Later, the Marshal disembarked at Marseille. Said he:

"Those waging war against France in Morocco are making a commercial affair out of it. Our troops have all necessary material and their morale is very good. The surprise attack launched against us in April could not be possible again. The Moors are aware of the valor of our forces."

Next morning he was in Paris, was for long closeted with Premier Painlevé, whom he urged to take stronger action against the Riffians. Premier Painlevé subsequently issued a statement:

"Our energy in the conduct of the war will not be less than our desire for peace. Every precaution is being taken to prevent heavy losses to our troops, but the Riffians and Djebalas must submit and accept the just and generous terms which France and Spain are offering them."

At Fez, military headquarters of the French, General Naulin, Commander-in-Chief of the French troops, entertained newspaper correspondents at dinner. Said he:

"Gentlemen, you will be wanting to interview me after dinner. After dinner is the orthodox time throughout the world for speeches. I do not know why. It prevents many people who fear they may have to speak from enjoying their food.

"What is more, we are in war time now. In war any good soldier takes the offensiveâ€"as Abd-el-Krim has done. I am going to take the offensive right now"â€"he paused a second, smiling whimsicallyâ€""against that interview you are expecting. I am giving no interview. I have nothing more to say than Clemenceau said: 'Je fais la guerre'."

At Manhattan, arrived a boat carrying 129 enthusiastic recruits for the Spanish Foreign Legion of every hue and numerous nationalities. The sight of the Statue of Liberty imbued them with a mad desire to see America. The captain of the ship forbade them to go ashore. As answer, they mutinied. Fists, feet, clubs, chairs, crockery were used. One man drew a knife, was promptly bumped on the head with a club. Eventually police restored order and the ship sailed for Spain.

Writing in The Atlantic Monthly, Mr.

Vincent Sheean said of Abd-el-Krim:

"I venture to offer the opinion . . . that the qualities and character of Abd-el-Krim and his associates are formidably high, as high as those of Mustapha Kemal Pasha and his associates; and that any underestimation of their force would be fatal to the European course in North Africa."



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,720688,00.html#ixzz11sEKoOCg

amazighmaghreb


Morocan War

In Morocco. Heavy engagements in the war between the Riff tribesmen and the French (TIME, May 11 et seq.) were reported from Fez, the military headquarters of the French.

Riff troops, joined suddenly by tribes hitherto friendly to the French, pounded their enemies along a 120-mile front, forcing them to retreat in many places.

Fez and Taza came within an ace of being captured, but a strong counteroffensive relieved the former, and a hectic battle was continuing for the latter, from which all females were evacuated. Marshal Lyautey, the President General and Commander-in-Chief, telegraphed Paris that, unless more troops were sent, he would decline to be responsible for any situation which might develop. Losses suffered by both sides in the fighting were heavy.

In an effort to counteract the stream of propaganda launched by Abd-el-Krim, supreme commander of the Riffs, who last week fell from a mule and broke a leg, Sultan Mulai Yusef ordered investigation of the tribes faithful to himself.

At Paris. The Senate approved without a dissenting voice the Government's Moroccan policy, by which is meant credits for the conduct of the War.

The Cabinet appointed General Stanislaus Naulin in charge of military operations with the object of relieving Marshal Lyautey of the intolerable burden of administering the country and directing the war, and to enable him to concentrate on nullifying the disconcerting Riffian propaganda.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,720481,00.html#ixzz11sEwECRS

amazighmaghreb


A terrific heat wave greatly interfered last week with the prosecution of the war in Morocco (TIME, May 11, et seq.). Minor engagements were reported in the Spanish sector in the south, but nothing decisive was effected by any engagement. In general, the Riffians continued to dominate Fez* and Taza behind the Wergha River and a new offensive against the former was developing.

At Madrid, Franco-Spanish conversations, inaugurated several weeks ago by French Deputy Louis Malvy (TIME, May 25), came to an end with the signing of two accords: one to begin a land blockade,of the Riff territory, the other a political agreement designed to secure the coordination of aims and policy.

The most important part of the political accord, aside from an agreement not to conclude a separate peace, was the offer of peace terms to Abd-el-Krim, "Sultan" of the Riff State, which are to be presented to him at his capital, Ajdir, by Horacio Echevarrieta, millionaire shipowner who has several times negotiated with the Riff Chief on behalf of his Government. According

to Mr. Malvy, the plenipotentiary of the French Government who returned to Paris from Madrid, Abd-el-Krim is offered autonomy of the Riff area under the nominal sovereignty of Sultan Mulai Yusef, with an agreement to demark the frontiers in such wise as will guarantee the "province" full economic and political security.

"I am naturally afraid," admitted Mr. Malvy, "that Abd-el-Krim has become very difficult to satisfy. People with whom he has surrounded himself since his recent military successes have certainly stimulated him to desire things entirely beyond reason. However, when he becomes apprised of the fact that, among other things he is being offered the fullest possible liberty for commercial development and every reasonable opportunity to utilize to the best advantage the resources of his country, I believe he will think twice before inviting upon himself a real war in which France and Spain will call no halt until a decisive victory shall have been achieved."

General Stanislas Naulin, the recently appointed director of military operations in Morocco (TIME, July 13), was to take up his new duties on July 18. He will be under Marshal Louis Lyautay who, apart from being French Resident General, is Minister of War to the Sultan.

General Naulin is 55 years old and was educated at Saint-Cyr, school founded by Mme. de Maintenant, wife of Louis XIV, and now the West Point of France. As lieutenant and captain, he saw service in Morocco under the famous General d'Amade. At the beginning of the War, he, was a major and was rapidly promoted to be General for his brilliant work. At the last German offensive on Rheims, he had under his command the U. S. "Rainbow Division" (42nd) as well as the 2nd and 36th U. S. Divisions, whom he commended in army orders for their valor, spirit, ardor.

Circumstances forced Premier Painlevé to go before the Chamber of Deputies to ask for a new war credit. "How much do you need?" jeered the Communists. The Government asked for and obtained 183,000,000 francs ($9,150,000) by a vote of 411 to 29, the So
A Lafayette Escadrille was formed in Paris for service in Morocco. Granville A. Pollock of New Orleans and Charles W. Kerwood of Philadelphia volunteered to pilot bombing airplanes, and Charles Sweeney and Paul Rockwell, U. S. veterans of the Foreign Legion, volunteered as observers. Much comment was heard regarding the efficient and up-to-date methods by which Abd-el-Krim is conducting his campaign. His staff work seems of a high order, each attack evidently being-planned with great care and almost invariably at the weakest point of the French positions, made weak, of course, by the staff's strategy.

The greatest work is done by what is called "infiltration," which is used with considerable success to stir up the Moorish tribes in the rear of the French lines or actually in them: A single Riffian regular crawls in the night past the French outposts, visits villages in the rear to urge war upon the French and to promise rewards from his Chief, Abd-el-Krim. The visits are repeated nightly; and if kind words fail, threats are used, and occasionally an assassination is committed to terrorize the petty chieftains into submission. The Valley of the Wergha, along which the fighting is taking place, is noted for its rich iron deposits; and in the views of some the war is in reality for their possession, Abd-el-Krim supposedly being under the thumb of Germany, who has promised to import all the ores which the Riff chief can deliver.

Rire, Paris comic paper, takes a slightly different view. In a double cartoon called Tracts et Tractions (Ideals and Deals), it shows a Communist in Paris holding the Communist paper L'Humanite and shouting Le Rif aux Rifains (the Riff for the Riffians). In the other picture is an Englishman in conference with a Riff and the inscription beneath runs: "... et, bien entendu, les mines de Ouergha á une société anglaise!" ( . . . and, of course, the Wergha mines for an English company).

A story which made considerable bruit in Paris: The ferocity of the Riff attacks was accounted for by the part played by tribeswomen who, hands smeared with henna, race after their warriors shrieking hysterically and smearing any who hold back or in any ether way display cowardice. After each attack, the men are examined and those with henna stains upon them are summarily shot.

M. Charles Maurras, writing in the Royalist newspaper, L' Action Francaise, urged the use of poison gas against the Riffians. By dropping poison gas bombs, he said, France would have the Riffians begging for mercy within a few weeksâ€"and "think of the expense in life and material that would be saved."

One thing that the war has done is to give an impetus to the French aerial medical services. Numberless lives have been saved by the transference of wounded soldiers (most of the French troops in Morocco are natives) by airplane from the front line to the base hospitals in the rear.


* Fez is sometimes called the capital of Morocco, whereas it is more correctly a capital. Morocco has four capitals, depending on where the Sultan maintains palaces. They are Fez, Marrakesh, Meknes, and Rabat, the last of which is the most important; for it is there that the Sultan spends most of his time and where the Resident General resides.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,881514-2,00.html#ixzz11sFNLuoEcialists abstaining and the Communists alone forming the opposition



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,881514,00.html#ixzz11sFDjd8T