Battle of Sidi Bou Othman
31°54′12″N 7°56′32″W / 31.9033°N 7.94222°W
Battle of Sidi Bou Othman | |
---|---|
Part of the 31°54′12″N 7°56′32″W / 31.9033°N 7.94222°W | |
Result |
French victory
|
Supported by:
El Glaoui brothers
Merebbi Rebbu
23 wounded
>2,000 wounded
The Battle of Sidi Bou Othman was an important battle fought at
Background
French encroachment on
In early 1911, there was a massive uprising in
The event provoked uprisings across northern Morocco. Tribal armies in the north promptly besieged the French colonial forces, strung out on the line between Casablanca and Fez.[5] Changing course, the sultan Abd al-Hafid himself entered into contact with the rebels, prompting Lyautey to force him to abdicate the throne on 11 August 1912 in favor of his more pliable brother, Yusuf.[6]
In the south, Moroccan resistance rallied around
The rise of the new sultan in the south alarmed Lyautey, as al-Hiba undermined the legitimacy of the puppet-sultan Yusuf, and consequently threatened the French hold on the north.
Mangin's column
Deeming it the priority threat to the French protectorate, Lyautey peeled away French colonial soldiers from their hard-pressed positions in the north to assemble a new column to dislodge al-Hiba from Marrakesh. Lyautey placed the column under the command of Colonel
Initial skirmishes
Mangin set out with his column from
Al-Hiba dispatched an army to Ouham (west of Skhour), to ambush Joseph's column and prevent their junction. Hearing of this, Mangin launched a quick attack on the Hibist camp on 22 August, breaking it up and forcing them to disperse. The Hibists regrouped and attacked the French camp the next day, but were fended off after a brief skirmish.[17] Reinforced by Joseph, the Mangin column proceeded back towards Skhour, where they were instructed to stay put by Lyautey while negotiations continued. Regional tribesmen continued harassing the French camp at Skhour.[18]
Hearing that a great Hibist army under al-Hiba's brother, Merebbi Rebbo, was assembling to the south of them at Ben Guerir, Mangin, without consulting Lyautey, ordered an offensive. Mangin fell on the Hibist army at Ben Guerir on August 29, but with the terrain unfavorable to them, the Hibists broke off the engagement and retreated back towards Marrakesh. The French column returned to Skhour.[19]
On September 3, Lyautey received missives from Thami El Glaoui, informing him that the situation in Marrakesh had turned decisively against the Hibists. Al-Hiba's puritanical edicts - he famously ordered all unmarried women in Marrakesh to take a husband from among his mujahadeen - had already alienated much of the city's resident population.[20] The timidity and defeats of the Hibist armies in the skirmishes with Mangin now fostered doubts about al-Hiba's military judgment and leadership qualities, and began to disenchant his followers. Even the more fanatical ones who regarded him as a mahdi began feeling uneasy. Al-Hiba's mystical promise that "French bullets would turn into water and French shells into watermelons" had been tested and found wanting.[21] As al-Hiba's popularity was weakening, the qaids began feeling bolder. Should the French march on Marrakesh, El Glaoui promised, the qaids were prepared to pounce inside the city and secure the French hostages themselves.[22]
Digesting all this information, on the evening of 3 September, Lyautey dispatched a message by wireless to Mangin, famously stating only: "Allez-y carrément" ("Go straight ahead").[23]
Battle
On the morning of September 5, 1912, Mangin set out with his column of five-thousand men - six battalions, two
On the dawn of September 6, the French column reached
The French army was running out of water by this time, and another scorching hot day was ahead, so there was no question of avoiding or delaying engagement. Mangin maintained his battle square, placing his guns in the center of the infantry formations, offering a mere half-mile front, and began his march against the Hibist line.[29] The Hibists maintained formation as they marched forth to meet him, their longer line enveloping the advancing square like a crescent. The Hibists held their fire until around 1,400 meters. Mangin waited until they were around 800 meters distant to halt his square and open fire.[29] The cascading salvoes of French close-range artillery, machine guns and rifles devastated the ranks of the Hibist army. Nonetheless, the Hibists held formation and continued their enveloping approach. The French square held ground, reloading and firing relentlessly, decimating the Hibist ranks as they approached.[29]
The concentration of continuous French firepower, particularly the artillery and machine guns, on the approaching, tight human mass caused horrific casualties in the Hibist ranks. The Hibists' Krupp guns, in inexperienced hands, did little damage in response, their aim being off.[29] The Hibist charges fell consistently short of the French square, the attackers never getting closer than a hundred meters before being mowed down. The French thereby avoided the hand-to-hand engagement in which the Hibists's superior numbers might have tipped the balance.[30]
By nine o'clock, the battle was over. Hibist volley fire began to falter, with the army breaking up in retreat. Mangin sent out his cavalry under Captain Picard to disperse the remainder and sweep through the Hibist camp and cut down survivors. It had been a veritable massacre. The Hibists had suffered two thousand dead and thousands more wounded. Mangin's forces suffered merely four (or two) dead and twenty-three wounded.[31]
The battle of Sidi bou Othman was the first ranged battle fought by the French in North Africa since the Battle of Isly of 1844.[32] The Hibists employed much the same archaic tactics – tight regiments in a firing line, infantry charges, auxiliary cavalry and light cannon – as might be found in an early 19th-century Napoleonic battle.[33] These proved ineffective when confronted by modern French technology. Mangin credited the victory to the judicious application of the superior speed and power of massed artillery and machine guns.[34]
Aftermath
A few hours after the battle, Mangin assembled a flying column under Lt.Col. Henri Simon to race to Marrakesh (some 105 kilometers away) and break the French hostages out before the Hibists could reorganize. Simon's column was composed of two cavalry squadrons, the goums, and a section of the 75mm guns, in all some 600 horsemen.[35] Avoiding Hibist strongpoints, Simon's column arrived at the Tensift River that same evening, and entered into communication with the qaids inside the city.
At first light, 7 September 1912, on a pre-arranged signal, as Simon's column left the Tensift's banks and approached the city, the qaids pounced. Forces loyal to the qaids Madani and Thami El Glaoui, al-Gundafi, al-Mtouggi and Driss Menou overwhelmed the Hibist garrison posts inside the city. By the time Simon reached the Bab Doukkala gate at 10 o'clock, it was all over. The qaids were in control of Marrakesh, the French hostages were safely in their hands, and al-Hiba himself had fled the city with his remaining supporters.[36]
Mangin arrived with the rest of the army that afternoon, and set up his camp at Gueliz, northwest of the city, where he received the Marrakeshi qaids and their oaths of allegiance to the sultan Yusuf.[37] Two days later, on 9 September 1912, the French army finally entered and took possession of the city of Marrakesh.[38]
Al-Hiba fled to the
The qaids proved their worth almost immediately, El Glaoui and al-Goundafi led an invasion of the
A monument was erected by the French at the site of the battle of Sidi Bou Othman. It was destroyed after Morocco gained independence in 1956.[42]
Notes
- ^ Ferré (2000: p.170)
- ^ Lévi-Provençal (1913-36: p.57); Abun-Nasr (1987: p.370), Ferré (2000: p.176-7)
- ^ Cana (1913: p.1106); Burke (1976: p.200), Park and Boum (1996: p.133-34)
- ^ Cana (1913: p.1106); Burke (1976: p.190)
- ^ Gershovich (2000: p.94); Burke (1976: p.190-93)
- ^ Porch (1982: p.259-61)
- ^ Burke (1976: p.200)
- ^ Cornet (1914: p.1, 11); Verlet-Hanus (1913:p.45); Burke (1976: p.203-04); Porch (1982: p.264); Mangin (1986:p.115); Hoisington (1995: p.45); Park and Boum (1996: p.153-54)
- ^ a b Burke (1976: p.204)
- ^ Verlet-Hanus (1913: p.44-45)
- ^ Burke (1976: p.200-201)
- ^ Verlet-Hanus (1913: p.48); Simon (1930: p.254); Burke (1976: p.204); Porch (1982: p.264)
- ^ Composition as reported in Antony Muñoz's Sidi Bou Othmane website, which may need confirmation.
- ^ Cornet (1914: p.3); Verlet-Hanus (1913: p.43)
- Skhour Rehamna. Confusingly, there is another Souk El Arbaanearby, a little further west. Skhour Rehmana lies directly south on the road between Mechra ben Abbou and Marrakesh.
- ^ Cornet (1914:p.11-12)
- ^ Cornet (1914: p.15)
- ^ Cornet (1914: p.17-18)
- ^ Cornet (1914: p.22-25); Burke (1976: p.206)
- ^ Burke (1976: p.205-06); Porch (1982: p.266)
- ^ Katz (2006:p.253); Burke (1976: p.200); Mangin (1986: p.116)
- ^ Cornet (1914: p.30-31)
- ^ Cornet (1914: p.31); Porch (1982: p.266), Mangin (1986:p.116) Ferre (2000:p.177)
- ^ Gershovich (2000:p.96)
- ^ Porch (1982:p.266)
- ^ Porch (1983: p.266); Mangin (1986: p.117)
- ^ Burke (1976: p.206) and Hughes (2001: p. 238) cite 10,000. Porch (1982:266) elevates the estimate to 15,000.
- ^ Ferré (2000: p.177)
- ^ a b c d Burke (1976: p.206); Porch (1982:266-67); Mangin (1986: p.117)
- ^ Mangin (1986: p.117)
- ^ Burke (1976: p.206) and Hughes (2001: p. 238) say four dead, Porch (1982:p.267) and Mangin (1986: p.117) say two dead.
- ^ Mangin (1986: p.118)
- ^ Mangin (1986: p.118-19); Hughes (2001: p. 238).
- ^ Mangin (1986: p.119)
- ^ Simon (1930: p.39); Mangin (1986: p.118)
- ^ Cornet (1914: p.49); Verlet-Hanus (1913: p.51) reports al-Hiba left Marrakesh at 5:30 AM on September 7.
- ^ Cornet (1914: p.53)
- ^ Cornet(1914: p.55)
- ^ Abun-Nasr (1987: p.371)
- ^ Hoisington (1995:p.94-95); Abun-Nasr (1987: p.371)
- ^ Hoisington (1995: p.100); Park and Boum (1996: p.153)
- ^ a b Hughes (2001: p. 238)
- ^ Hughes (2001); Hoisington (1995: p.100); Gershovich (2000: p.105)
- ^ a b Gershovich (2000: p.160)
References
- Abun-Nasr, J.M. (1987) A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. preview
- Burke, Edmund (1976) Prelude to Protectorate in Morocco: Pre-colonial protest and resistance, 1860-1912. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Google books preview Retrieved December 9, 2012.
- Cana, Frank R. (1913) "Morocco", in Chisholm, editor, 'Britannica Year Book, 1913 New York: Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p.1015-18
- Cornet, C.J.A. (1914) A la conquête du Maroc Sud avec la colonne Mangin, 1912-1913. Paris: Plon-Nourit. online
- Ferré, Jean (2000) Au Désert Interdit. Lausanne: L'Age d'Homme. preview
- Gershovich, Moshe (2000) French Military Rule in Morocco: Colonialism and its Consequences New York: Cass preview
- Hoisington, William A. (1995) Lyautey and the French Conquest of Morocco. New York: St. Martin's.
- Hughes, Stephen O. (2001). Morocco Under King Hassan. Reading: Garnet & Ithaca Press. preview
- Katz, Jonathan Glustrom (2006) Murder in Marrakesh: Émile Mauchamp and the French Colonial Adventure Bloomington: Indiana University Press preview
- Lévi-Provençal, Évariste (1913–36) "Ma Al-Ainain" in, vol. 5, p.56-58
- Mangin, Louis Eugène (1986) Le Général Mangin: 1866-1925. Paris: F. Lanore.preview
- Park, T.K. and A. Boum (1996) Historical Dictionary of Morocco, Lanham, Md: Scarecrow
- Porch, Douglas (1982) The Conquest of Morocco. 2005 edition, New York: Farrar Straus and Giraux. preview
- Simon, Henri (1930) Un officier d'Afrique: le commandant Verlet-Hanus: mission saharienne, pacification marocaine (1898-1912). Paris: Peyronnet
- Verlet-Hanus, Edmond Émile (1913) "La Révolte du Sud-Marocain en Juillet-Août 1912 et l'occupation de Merrakech; résumé de la conférence de M. le Commandant Verlet-Hanus 14 Février 1913, par M. Zimmerman." Bulletin de la Société de Géographie de Lyon, 2nd Sem. (Aug 1913), pp. 38–51 Gallica.
External links
- Recueil. Campagnes du colonel Mangin au Maroc at Gallica, BnF: collection of postcard photographs from the 1912-13 Mangin campaign.
- Sidi Bou Othmane website of Antony Muñoz (accessed November 22, 2012).