Monday, Sep. 22, 1924

Moroccan War

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.