New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-07-24
10000 Morocco
Tribes1l1enRout
Spanish Forces
General Silvestre Reported
as Having Killed Him
self After His Army
Meets With Disaster
Native Soldiers Quit
Additional Troops Will Be
Sent 10 Melilla Dis
trict, Where Rebels Rage

MADRID, July % (By The Associated
Press).-The Spanish army in Mo-
rocco, operating against the outlaw
bands which for years have terrorized
the Barbary Coast, has been severely
defeated in a battle against over
whelming odds near Melilla, 100 miles
east of the Straits of Gibraltar.
From conflicting reports from the
battle front it is apparent that more
than 10000 rebel tribesmen, we'll
equipped and constituting a far larger
force than the Spanish command ever
dreamed was in that area. launched a
surprise attack against small Spanish
force at Iberguen. General Silvestre,
| commander of all the Spanish forces
in that district, ordered the Spaniards
to fall back to Annual.
Natives Surrender
When the retreat might have been
halted there and the positions stabi-
lizcd a corps Of native auxiliary troops
surrendered to the Moors. This greatly
| weakened the Spanish defense, and
when the tribesmen resumed their at
toSh WIFI SIcut NIOlGuCG LUc SQaulafQS
were compelled to fall back in full
retreat fleeing before an enormously
larger army of rebels.
The Spanish forces, in their opera
tions against the Moors, had been
moving north and west toward the
coast city of Alhucemas, which lies
fifty miles west of Melilla and is
dominated by a fortified island. Cen
eral Silvestre had been hoping to cap
ture Alhucemas, but was proceeding
slowly, preferring to use methods of
peaceful penetration rather than force.
After considerable resistance, the
Spanish wrested Mount Albarran from
the Moors and were pushing beyond it,
when the first blow was struck by the
trlbesmen at 1beriguen, on the Spanish
flank. 1t was then that the retreat
began and the natives in the Spanish
army deserted.
Spaniards Make Stand
AT Annual the Spanish made a bril-
liant stand. General Silvestre had
come up to place Colonel Manella in
command of the column that was NOV
ing on Alhucemas, but when he real
ized the seriousness of the situation,
ne took personal command, sent calls
by wireless telephone for reinforce
ments, and ordered an immediate eva
cuation of the Annual position. The
Spanish ammunition had become ex-
hausted and in the face of crushing
odds the Spaniards fled from the
scene. Only General Silvestre and his
staff remained behind, planning to be
the last ones to leave. In the fighting
that followed, General Silvestre, Colo
mel Manella and Colonel Morales,
either committed suicide or were
shot by the enemy, along with mem
bers of their stats.
The retreat was a gigantic disaster.
desperate hand-to-hand fighting en-
sued, Ia which hundreds were killed
or wounded. The Moors had cut the
Spanish lines of communication, and
one report from the front was that
had been surrounded and cut off some
distance from the main body of the
Spanish army and committed suicide be-
cause they didn't want to fall into
rebel hands.
Several Positions Lost
The Spanish gave up not only An
had captured in their campaign against
the Moors. The Spanish took up a new
line of defense at Dardris, where, with
the help OF some reinforcements, they
succeeded in repulsing some attacks.
The Spaards beat off the harassing
Moors, but the position at Dardris soon
became precarious and the Spanish
troops took up their second line of
defense before Mellla, which is hold
ing strongly with other reinforcements
that had come to their assistance
The government now is maintaining
direct communication with the com
mander in chief, General Berenguer,
who reports absolutely no danger with
regard to Melilla.
Two thousand Spanish troops were
urgently dispatched from Ceuta, oppo-
site Gibraltar, and from Melilla. More
troops are being dispatched from Spain
to maintain the garrisons at these two
places.
King Alfonso, who had been spend
ing the season at his summer home at
San Sebastian, returned hastily to
Madrid to-day and regards the situa-
ton as so serious that he will remain
here indefinitely. He visited with the
Minister of War, and later presided at
a meeting of the Cabinet The Cabi-
net decided to send several warships
to Morocco, and one report says that
the battleship Alfonso XIII and some
gunboats have already left San Sebas-
tian for an unnamed destination