Battle of Taghit

The Battle of Taghit was the siege of a fort held by a contingent of the French Army of Africa against Moroccan tribesmen during the South-Oranese Campaign.

Battle of Taghit
Part of South-Oranese Campaign
Monument to the French Foreign Légionnaires who died during the South-Oranese campaign
Date 17–20 August 1903 Location Taghit, Algerian-Moroccan border Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Harka tribal coalition[1] Various Moroccan volunteers
Commanders and leaders
Captain de Susbielle	Mouley Mustapha Ba Sidi
Strength
470	9,000[2] 4,000 warriors 5,000 non-combattants
Casualties and losses
9 dead, 21 wounded	close to 200[1]

Background

In the 1890s, the French administration and military called for the annexation of the Touat, the Gourara and the Tidikelt,^[3] a complex that had been controlled by tribes under the domination the Moroccan Empire for many centuries prior to the arrival of the French in Algeria.^[4]

An armed conflict opposed French 19th Corps Oran and Algiers divisions to the Aït Khabbash, a fraction of the Moroccan Aït Ounbgui khams of the Aït Atta confederation. The conflict ended with the annexation of the Touat-Gourara-Tidikelt complex by France in 1901.^[5]

In the aftermath, France faced numerous incidents, attacks and looting by uncontrolled armed groups in the newly controlled areas to the south of Oran.^[6] Under the command of General Lyautey, the French army's mission was to protect these areas newly occupied in the west of Algeria, near the poorly defined Moroccan boundaries.^[6] This loose boundary, between French Algeria and the Sultanate of Morocco, promoted incursions and attacks by tribesmen.^[6]

France also sought to expand their territories westwards towards Bechar, and these attacks gave them a casus belli to do so. In turn several tribes around the region decided to form a pan-tribal alliance called "Harka", led by a man called Ba Sidi, and a member of the Alaouite dynasty called Mouley Mustapha, who sought to gain prestige out of this attack.^[1]

The battle

The tribal coalition, armed mainly with breech-loading and muzzleloading guns, composed of 4,000 warriors,^[7] and 5,000 camp followers arrived at Taghit on 17 August. For four days they besieged the outpost and its French troop, but the fierce defense of the garrison and the several sorties ordered by Captain de Susbielle weakened the tribesmen. Finally on 20 August reinforcements arrived,^[8] which, along with other factors, forced the tribal coalition to disperse and flee into the desert.^[9]

French units involved

• 7th Company of the 2nd Regiment of Algerian Tirailleurs led by Captain Guibert
• A Platoon of the Battalions of Light Infantry of Africa led by Captain Mariande
• A Platoon of the 22nd Mounted Company of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment led by Lieutenant Pointurier
• 60 Horsemen of the makhzen of Taghit led by Lieutenant de Ganay
• 60 Horsemen of the makhzen of Béni-Abbés led by Lieutenant de Lachaux

Aftermath

A few days after the battle of Taghit, 148 legionnaires of the 22nd mounted company, from the 2e REI, commanded by Captain Vauchez and Lieutenant Selchauhansen, 20 Spahis and 2 Mokhaznis, forming part of escorting a supply convoy, were ambushed, on September 2, by 3,000 Moroccans tribesmen, at El-Moungar.^[6]

References

1. Various (9 July 2021). Routledge Library Editions: World Empires. Taylor & Francis. pp. 4–. ISBN 978-1-351-00225-7.
2. Jean François Six (1965). Witness in the Desert: The Life of Charles de Foucauld. Macmillan.
3. Trout, Frank E. (1970). "Morocco's Boundary in the Guir-Zousfana River Basin". African Historical Studies. 3 (1): 37–56. doi:10.2307/216479. JSTOR 216479. The Algerian-Moroccan conflict can be said to have begun in the 1890s when the administration and military in Algeria called for annexation of the Touat-Gourara-Tidikelt, a sizable expanse of Saharan oases that was nominally a part of the Moroccan Empire (...) The Touat-Gourara-Tidikelt oases had been an appendage of the Moroccan Empire, jutting southeast for about 750 kilometers into the Saharan desert
4. Trout, Frank E. (1969). Morocco's Saharan Frontiers. Droz. p. 24. ISBN 9782600044950. The Gourara-Touat-Tidikelt complex had been under Moroccan domination for many centuries prior to the arrival of the French in Algeria
5. Lefébure, Claude (1986). "Ayt Khebbach, impasse sud-est. L'involution d'une tribu marocaine exclue du Sahara". Revue de l'Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée. 41–42: 136–57. doi:10.3406/remmm.1986.2114. Les Divisions d'Oran et d'Alger du 19e Corps d'armée n'ont pu conquérir le Touat et le Gourara qu'au prix de durs combats menés contre les semi-nomades d'obédience marocaine qui, depuis plus d'un siècle, imposaient leur protection aux oasiens.
6. "Historique de la bataille d'El Moungar". French Ministry of Defence.
7. Hart, Ursula Kingsmill (1987). Two Ladies of Colonial Algeria: The Lives and Times of Aurélie Picard and Isabelle Eberhardt. Ohio University Center for International Studies. ISBN 978-0-89680-143-1.
8. Tiltman, Marjorie Hessell (1968). God's adventures. Books for Libraries Press. ISBN 9780836909456.
9. Montagnon, Pierre (15 December 2012). Histoire de la Légion de 1831 à nos jours. Pygmalion. ISBN 9782756409016.

Bibliography

• Mahuault, Jean-Paul (2005). L'épopée marocaine de la Légion étrangère, 1903-1934, ou, Trente années au Maroc. L'Harmattan. ISBN 9782747580571.

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