Alhucemas landing

Alhucemas landing
Part of Rif War
Spanish troops landing at Al Hoceima Bay on 8 September 1925
Date 8 September 1925 Location Alhucemas (Spanish protectorate in Morocco) Result Decisive Spanish-French victory
Belligerents
Spain  France (1925-1926)	Republic of the Rif
Commanders and leaders
Miguel Primo de Rivera José Sanjurjo Leopoldo Saro Marín Francisco Franco Manuel Goded Llopis Philippe Pétain	Abd el-Krim
Strength
Army • 13,000 soldiers • 24 artillery pieces • 11 FT-17 tanks • 6 CA1 tanks Navy • 3 battleships • 6 cruisers • 1 seaplane tender • 36 smaller ships • 58 transports Air • 160 aircraft	Riffian forces • 9,000 Riffians • Specialist mercenaries • 14 artillery pieces • Machine gun nests
Casualties and losses
200 dead 109 wounded	~700

The Alhucemas landing (also known as Al Hoceima landing) was a landing operation which took place on 8 September 1925 at Alhucemas of the Spanish Army and Navy and, in lesser numbers, an allied French contingent, that would put an end to the Rif War. It is considered the first amphibious landing in history supported by seaborne air power.

The operations consisted on disembarking a force of 13,000 Spanish soldiers transported from Ceuta and Melilla by a combined Spanish-French naval fleet. The commander of the operation was the then dictator of Spain, general Miguel Primo de Rivera, and, as the executive head of the landing forces at the beach of Alhucemas bay, general José Sanjurjo, under whose orders were the columns of the chief generals of the brigades of Ceuta and Melilla, Leopoldo Saro Marín and Emilio Fernández Pérez, respectively. Among the participating officers, there was the then colonel Francisco Franco who, for his leadership of the Spanish Legion troops, was promoted to brigadier general.

After the disaster of Annual, the Spanish army was unable to regain lost territory. Therefore, a containment policy was taken, aimed at preventing the expansion of the rebel zone, executed by limited military actions of local nature. In parallel, the Minister of War ordered the creation of an inquiry commission, led by General Juan Picasso González, which developed the report known as Expediente Picasso, while political forces, public opinion and even the army were divided between supporters of leaving the Protectorate and advocates of restarting the military operations as soon as possible.

In September 1923, the insurrection of general Primo de Rivera occurred, who at first supported the abandonment of the Protectorate but, in 1924 and after new attacks by Abd el Krim that required a new Spanish retreat to the areas of Tetuan, Ceuta and Melilla, became a strong supporter of going on the offensive to defeat the Riffian leader and restoring Spanish authority in the Protectorate.

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Wikipedia