Abd el-Krim

Amongst the natives, the Germans had little difficulty in winning over persons of position.

Perhaps the most important were Abdel Malak El Mahen, and the Abdel Krim family, father and two sons, one of the latter of whom is now famous, Si Muhammad, or Mohand as the Riffis call him.

Some record of Abdel Malak's strange life may be of interest.

He was the grandson of the famous Abdel Kader, who resisted the French so long at the time of their conquest of Algeria, and who subsequently won the approbation of the civilized world by the courageous manner in which he saved the lives of so many Christians during the massacre of Damascus in 1860.

After being educated in Syria, Abdel Malak and his brothers were eventually allowed to return to Algeria, where they entered the French army.

abdel malek himself was appointed to the chief command of the sherifian police force in tangier which had come into existence under the terms of the act of al hasiras it was a position of no particular influence but it gave its holder a certain precedence among the dignitaries of tangier the failing of all the moheddin family has been pride and abdel malek felt this appointment was not sufficiently important for a man of his sherifian birth and the reputation of his ancestors he became discontented and nursed a secret hatred against the french whom he believed to be purposely thwarting his ambitions on the outbreak of war in nineteen fourteen the representatives of the enemy powers were expelled from tangier later on abdel malek communicated to me the reasons for his subsequent actions the secret preparation for the hurried expulsion from tangier of the enemy ministers in august nineteen fourteen necessitated the intervention of the police and abdel malek as chief of that force was naturally informed he secretly telephoned to the german charge d'affaires to warn him and thus give him time to destroy certain incriminating documents from abdel malek's frank communications i gather that he himself was incriminated by these documents as he had become in fact a german agent no trace of those papers seems to have been discovered during the subsequent search of the german legation by the french authorities and evidently they were burned but abdel malek was haunted by the idea that his telephone message to the german legation had been tapped and that his life was in danger whether his secret warning to the germans was ever known i am unaware at this moment abdel malak's eldest son still a boy committed suicide and his father was in despair it is said that the knowledge of his father's treachery had caused him to take his life abdel malek disappeared crossed into the spanish zone and declared a holy war on the french his extradition as a french deserter was demanded but was refused by the spanish authorities offers were made to the tribes to tempt them to hand him over to the french but failed abdel malek was well provided with german gold and bought immunity from capture he passed into the rift became an acknowledged german agent and from within the spanish zone in the region northeast of fez waged war on the french in nineteen seventeen he was a serious menace towards the end of the war his influence diminished though he still caused the french considerable anxiety and losses from time to time as soon as the campaign was over his adventures began afresh he had quarrelled with abdel krim the riffi leader and was forced to pass an existence of some danger and hardship in the remoter districts of the spanish zone from time to time he made proposals to the spanish authorities to be put in command of native troops The Spaniards accepted his offer, and in May 1925, Abdel Malak was in Tetouan enlisting native soldiers.

It was not, perhaps, unnatural that the French protectorate authorities drew the attention of the Spanish government to the fact that Abdel Malak was a deserter who had preached holy war and carried on an active campaign against the French.

this french protest brought an immediate reply from the spanish directory to the effect that abdul malek would in no circumstances be employed by the spanish authorities and an official communique in this sense was immediately published by the entire madrid press notwithstanding this abdul malek left tetuan for melilla a few days later with tribal contingents to take command of a large native force of the spanish army in the rift the dreariness and discomfort of this life amid barren and desolate mountains the uncongeniality of his surroundings and doubtless some regrets about the past rendered abdul malek very unhappy i received a long communication from him in which he gave the whole story of his actions from the secret telephone message to the german legation to his unhappy plight in the desolation of the rift he acknowledged having fought during the war against the french whom he then regarded as his bitterest enemies but since the armistice had been signed he stated that he had ceased all action against france he was weary of this life of adventure and desired to be allowed to finish his days in egypt or elsewhere in the east in this communication he informed me among many other details of the instructions he had received from the spanish authorities on taking over command of their native forces these instructions could not have been more correct or more honorable abdel malek was strictly forbidden to do any harm either by word or deed to french interests in the neighboring zone abdel malak's communication ended with the expression of his desire to receive the pardon of france and of the sultan of morocco and to be allowed to end his days in a foreign country on july thirty first nineteen twenty five i brought the matter to the knowledge of marichal liutte who expressed his readiness to obtain the pardon of france and the sultan for abdel malak if he would leave morocco and never return i was authorized to convey this message to abd el malak's family at tetouan and to acquaint him with the fact that in return for his complete abandonment of morocco the french protectorate government would grant him an allowance before i was able to return to tetouan abd el malak had been killed in battle his family were however informed that his pardon had been promised previous to his death and it was a great comfort to them he never knew it himself though on the morning of his death he said to his son that he was sure that his prayer for pardon would be answered he died two or three days too soon Besides the persons of importance, the Germans had in their employ a large number of natives engaged in contraband.

Never, probably, in the history of their country have the Rifis abandoned their quarrels and stayed their vengeful hands as they have done during this late campaign against France and Spain.

Tribes whose animosity was a byword, whose hatred was proverbial, made peace in order to obey, and to obey blindly, the first Rifi who has ever been able to unite them, Abdelkrim.

Generally speaking, the Rifi is extremely poor.

In no part of Morocco is life more difficult.

Towards the end of the war his influence diminished, though he still caused the French considerable anxiety and losses from time to time.

As soon as the campaign was over his adventures began afresh.

He had quarreled with Abdelkrim, the Riffi leader, and was forced to pass an existence of some danger and hardship in the remoter districts of the Spanish zone.

From time to time he made proposals to the Spanish authorities to be put in command of native troops.

The lives of everyone here depend on you, he screams.

At the Battle of Anual, a Spanish outpost outside Melilla, a Berber warrior named Abdelkrim scored a decisive victory against the occupiers.

His men killed nearly 10,000 Spanish soldiers.

They did not take Melilla itself, but it spelled the beginning of the end of both the Spanish and French protectorates in Morocco.

This is a recording of Abdelkrim years later.

It's dated 1952.

He says it's only natural that once Moroccans achieve their independence, a life of harmony will take its natural course with all Europeans, even with those who were once colonizers.

In 1954, Morocco gained that independence, except, of course, for the two tiny Spanish enclaves.

but silvestri supported it was rumored by influential personages in spain was determined that the credit and success of this expedition should be his and his alone his aim was ajdir the collection of villages that forms the capital of the beniguri geltribe of the rift situated near the excellent beach of the neighboring bay for years this bay had been the goal of spanish ambition as a base for expeditions into the heart of the rift there was little resistance to the earlier part of his advance from the valley of the wad curt the tribes received presents in money and were not disarmed having installed posts to the west of the curt valley general silvestri turned northward and reached the sea at sidi Here again posts were constructed, but they were hastily extemporised, insufficiently held, and badly supplied, and in every detail of this part of the campaign there seems to have been a totally unwarranted disregard of danger and an absence of the most elementary precaution.

It was at this period that the family of Abdelkrim came into public view.

There were three important members of the family.

abdel krim el khattabi the father and his two sons mohammed or mohan as the riffis call that name and mohammed the distinction between the two names both common in morocco mohammed and mohammed is so slight that to the european ear it is almost inappreciable both names are written alike in the arabic character with the exception that the former has the accent dama above the initial letter m and the latter the accent fatha these accents give the pronunciation mo and ma respectively the elder abdul krim father of the well-known riffi leda and his brother appears to have been a man of intelligence in any case he procured for his two sons a far better and more modern education than probably ever fell to the lot of riffi boys before he was himself in close touch with certain mining groups particularly that of the mannesmann brothers and he seems to have realized the possible value of the minerals of the rift he did not however confine his relations with the germans to prospective minerals for he was also actively engaged in the introduction of arms into the rift in this his two sons assisted him the elder mohand who was destined to play a little later on so important a part in moroccan history was at that point employed in the service of the spanish government in where in addition to his duties in the bureau of native affairs he also edited the arabic columns of the local newspaper el telegrama del He was a proficient Arabic scholar, though the Rifi dialect of Tamazerth was his native tongue.

The enemy did not react until September 28th, when a series of attacks were made upon the Spanish convoys between Soquelaba and the base at Darben-Karish.

news reached the relieving forces that szechuan was holding out with no great effort but that difficulty was being experienced in provisioning the outlying posts and blockhouses meanwhile in the loraiche region no very serious attempts to reach szechuan from that direction seem to have been made the concentration of the enemy on the tetuan szechuan front was however taken advantage of to relieve a number of the spanish posts that were in difficulties further to the west was still at tazrut but it was proposed owing to the spanish withdrawal from the neighbouring region that he should retire to arzila under the protection of the spanish troops it was considered very undesirable that he should be left exposed to the direct attack of abdelkrim's riffis no matter if the aid that resuli was actually rendering to the spaniards was insignificant the very fact of his prestige and that he still declared himself a friend of spain was an asset of considerable value and the spanish authorities were desirous that no ill should befall him he however in spite of much pressure refused to abandon partly no doubt because he was very ill partly because he refused to separate himself from the vast stores of grain and arms and ammunition that he possessed there the transport of which to the coast was out of the question and partly very likely because he had no real confidence in the spanish authorities he liked to pretend too that his position was such that no one would venture to molest him and that if they did he was invincible as the distance between the spanish columns advancing on szechuan and their base increased the enemy pressure became more marked general primo de rivera and general hordana visiting the troops near darcariche were ambushed and nearly lost their lives on september thirtieth general serrano entered szechuan he found the town sufficiently provisioned and the garrison in tolerable spirits but the number of sick and wounded had been and was a great strain on their resources the same day that szechuan was successfully relieved the larache troops fought a serious engagement in the beniaros during the evacuation of a series of posts three spanish columns were engaged and the losses were heavy the enemy claimed to have captured guns and a large quantity of arms and ammunition and the important spanish camp of soc el camas was completely isolated So serious was the situation of these surrounded troops that the Spanish authorities of Tetouan had to resort to the expenditure of large sums of money in order to procure their retirement.

Immediately after the Spanish troops had entered Szechuan, the tribesmen led by Abdelkrim's riffies occupied the heights above the road leading to Tetouan.

There had been little resistance to the Spanish advance, but the enemy was determined to render their retirement very difficult, if not impossible.