The *Battle of El Herri* (also known as*Elhri*) was fought between France and the Berber Zaian Confederation on 13 November 1914. It took place at the small settlement of El Herri , nearKhénifra in the French protectorate in Morocco . The battle was part of theZaian War , in which the confederation of tribes sought to oppose continued French expansion into the interior ofMorocco . Having captured the strategic town of Khénifra earlier in the year, the French, under General Hubert Lyautey , entered negotiations with Mouha ou Hammou Zayani , who led the Zaian. Lyautey thought that peace could be achieved and ordered Lieutenant-Colonel René Laverdure , who commanded the garrison in Khénifra, to not launch any offensives. Laverdure became frustrated with the lack of action and, on 13 November, led almost his entire garrison in an attack on the Zaian encampment at El Herri. The attack initially went well, with his artillery and cavalry clearing the tribesmen from the camp, looting the Zaian tents and capturing two of Hammous wives. However, the French encountered a significant Zaian force during its withdrawal to Khénifra. This force engaged the French with harassing fire, forcing them to move only under the cover of their artillery. Laverdure then ordered his wounded back to Khénifra with a guard of a company of infantry, which were joined by large numbers of other troops who broke ranks to join the column. Whilst making a river crossing, Laverdures rear guard and artillery were overrun and annihilated. Laverdures remaining troops then formed square and fought a desperate last stand against several thousand tribesmen before they were also overrun and killed. The French losses were significant, some 623 men (including Laverdure) were killed and 176 wounded. The Zaian lost around 182 men killed. The column of wounded reached Khénifra just ahead of pursuing Zaian forces and the town came under siege. Lyautey was dismayed at Laverdures actions and was briefly of the opinion that he had cost him the war. However, a relief force reached Khénifra within a few days and the situation stabilised. The Zaian War lasted until 1921 when negotiations secured the submission of much of the confederation to French rule and a military offensive pushed the remainder into the High Atlas mountains. Background Frances protectorate of Morocco was established after French intervention in the Agadir Crisis of 1911.[5] Resident General Louis-Hubert Lyautey served as the head of government and one of his main aims was to secure the Taza corridor in the Middle Atlas mountains linking Tunis to the Moroccan Atlantic coast.[6] He was opposed by the Berber tribes in the area, amongst them theZaian confederation led by Mouha ou Hammou Zayani .[7] Hammou had opposed the French intervention since 1877 and led between 4,000 and 4,200 tents (the tribal unit of measurement) of people.[8] French attempts to persuade Hammou to submit had failed and in May 1914 Lyautey authorised General Paul Prosper Henrys to take command of all French troops in the area and launch an attack on Taza and Khénifra , vital parts of the corridor.[8] [9] [10] Despite some fierce engagements with the Zaian in the Khénifra area, Henrys secured the two towns by the middle of June and inflicted substantial losses on the tribes.[11] As part of the defence of the area, Henrys established threeGroupes Mobile, mobile columns of troops who could react quickly to threats. A Groupe Mobile was established at Khénifra underLieutenant-Colonel René Laverdure , another to the west under Lieutenant-Colonel Henri Claudel and a third to the east under Colonel Noël Garnier-Duplessix .[12] July saw increasing attacks on Laverdures command and the outbreak of the First World War which significantly reduced the number of French forces based in Morocco.[13] Lyautey was determined to hold Khénifra to use as a bridgehead for further expansion of French territory and referred to it as a bastion against the hostile Berber masses upon which the maintenance of [his] occupation depended.[10] Successfully repulsing additional attacks on Khénifra, Henrys thought he had the upper hand, having proven that the reduced French forces could resist the tribesmen.[14] The Zaian were now contained within a triangle formed by the Oum er Rbia , the Serrou river and the Atlas mountains and were already in dispute with neighbouring tribes over the best wintering land.[14] BattleLaverdures attack Laverdure had been in Khénifra for five months when Hammou set up camp atEl Herri , a small village 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) away, for the winter.[3] Hammou had been promised peace talks and had just lost control over five tribes who began negotiations for submission to French rule.[3] Henrys believed that Zaian resistance was near its end and that the war would soon be over.[14] Lyautey wished to keep the situation calm and twice refused Laverdure permission to attack the camp at El Herri, for fear that it would affect the peace talks and that Laverdure had insufficient forces available for the assault.[15] He was instead ordered to keep to the French bank of the Oum er Rbia and had permission only to send troops out for convoy protection, wood gathering and road building.[14] However Laverdure decided to disobey his orders to remain in Khénifra and marched on El Herri with almost the entire garrison.[3] [15] He was said to be frustrated with the lack of action on the front and may have been persuaded by a Makhzen soldier eager to avenge a personal affront he had received from Hammou.[3] [14] Laverdures column consisted of six companies of Algerian and Senegalese Tirailleurs , a party ofGoumiers , two batteries of 65mm and 75mm (the famous Soixante-Quinze ) cannon and a squadron of Spahi cavalry numbering 43 officers and 1,187 men in total.[1] [14] [15] [16] This amounted to less than half the troops he had had in September when he was first denied permission to launch an attack.[17] Laverdure marched at 2.30 am on the morning of 13 November 1914 without informing his superiors, only leaving behind a note saying he was going to annihilate Hammous camp.[3] [14] Laverdures column reached El Herri at dawn and found the encampment of 100 tents.[14] Most of the Zaian men were out of camp at the time, leaving behind the non-combatants, and Laverdure achieved complete surprise.[18] The first that many of the Zaian knew of the attack was when his artillery shells began exploding amongst the tents.[15] This was followed up by a cavalry charge which cleared the camp but was halted by a group of tribesmen who had rallied on a hilltop to the south and inflicted numerous losses on the horsemen.[2] Laverdure had to send in his infantry to remove these Zaian before looting the encampment.[15] Hammou escaped in time but two of his wives were captured before the French headed back to Khénifra at around 8.30 am, leaving the looting to tribesmen of the Aït Ichkern, formerly Hammous allies who assumed he was now beaten.[15] [16] Zaian counterattack Urged on by the shrieking of their womenfolk, all of them, even any who before may have been somewhat hesitant, appear all round the horizon; onward, through the rain of machine-gun fire and shells they rush, wedging in and out through the underbrush and rocks until they are right up onto the French units already hampered by having to carry their dead, whom they must preserve from mutilation, and their wounded whom they must save. In 1914, at El Herri, an entire French column was thus almost totally annihilated.“”A French staff officer describing the loss of the column at El Herri.[19] The return to Khénifra was initially hampered by attacks by small groups of tribesmen who were successfully beaten, but not before they discovered the relatively small number of troops in the French column.[15] Word was passed to others in the area and soon a force, estimated at 5,000 strong by the French, was assembled.[2] [15] These men consisted of almost the entire Zaian tribe and elements of the Mrabtin, Aït Harkat, Aït Ischak and Aït Ichkern (the latter, seeing the French falling back, had changed allegiance once more).[17] [20] Zaian tactics were to harass the flanks and rear of the column and to occupy any high ground available for sniping attacks.[19] The French found they could not move in safety without heavy covering fire from the artillery, which was reduced in effectiveness by the dispersal of the Zaian tribesmen and their use of cover.[2] [19] Hammous nephew, Moha ou Akka, led a force of several thousand tribesmen around the French to cut off their route to Khénifra.[16] At this point Laverdure ordered one company of his Senegalese infantry to leave the column with a convoy of wounded soldiers which he sent back to Khénifra.[2] [21] However many of his other troops, seeing the Senegalese leaving, broke ranks and followed in panic.[21] Laverdure attempted to continue his withdrawal but, just having crossed the Chbouka river, his rearguard was surrounded and attacked repeatedly from all sides, being quickly overrun.[2] [21] The gun batteries soon suffered the same fate, their crews also being killed.[2] The Zaian assembled on the ridges surrounding the remaining French troops, who had formed a defensive square, before launching a final attack with several thousand men.[2] [18] [21] This attack lasted just a few minutes and, after a desperate struggle, the square was broken and the remainder of the column was wiped out.[2] [18] The Zaian chased down and killed any of the survivors who attempted to hide in the scrub.[21] The wounded and their escort struggled into Khénifra at about noon, narrowly outpacing the Zaian who had stopped to loot the bodies of the French dead.[2] [3] These men, numbering 171 men and five officers wounded and 426 men and five officers able bodied, were the only French survivors of the battle.[2] A total of 623 Frenchmen had died, along with around 182 of the Zaian.[3] [4] French losses amounted to 218 Algerian or Tunisian Tirailleurs, 210 French soldiers and 33 French officers, 125 Senegalese Tirailleurs and 37 Moroccan Goums killed.[1] The French officers suffered the highest casualty rate of any group with 90% of them being killed or wounded (including Laverdure who died in the final attack); four of the five unwounded officers belonged to the cavalry.[1] [3] [22] Around 65% of the entire force had been killed or wounded and the French were forced to abandon 4 machine guns, 630 small arms, 62 horses, 56 mules, all of their artillery and camping equipment and much of their personal belongings on the battlefield.[1] [23] Hammou took much of this with him when he escaped to the mountains of the Middle Atlas.[24]
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 23:01:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015