SPAIN AND MOROCCO.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2630, 12 October 1909, Page 5

SPAIN AND MOROCCO.

CABLE NEWS.

INDISCREET FRENCH GENERAL

Unituo Pniißß Association —Copyright MOROCCO, Oct. 10.

M. Briand has placed General D’Amade, late commander-in-chief in Morocco, on the retired list for stating in an interview that the Spanish were making the situation for France extremely perilous. The Spanish had already seized Nador which would be a Moroccan Faslioda. The Spanish success had aroused the Spanish military party and Iving Alfonso had not concealed his desire to seek compensation for the lost colonial empire.

MOORS’ STYLE OF FIGHTING

“The Moors are adepts at fighting on horseback (says a writer in an English journal), and are extremely mobile; but they are incorrigibly ffizy, and seldom indulge in night attacks. When they attack in force they usually give a lift to the foot soldiers w r lio accompany them, or allow them to run alongside and hold on to a stirrup-lion. The mounted men then make a charge, wheel round and retire, and make way for the footmen, who craw'l along the around, almost invisible, and who rise to the attack if they come within striking distance of the enemy. As a rule the Rifferos prefer to lure detached parties into an ambush or defile, and thus inflict heavy loss upon them. Tho mounted men seldom dismount to fire, consequently their firing from the saddle is very inaccurate. Should tho advance of the white troops lie slow or hesitating, the Moors effect a bold combination between horsemen and footmen, and generally succeed m inflicting heavy losses on their enemy. “The prime tactics of the Moors are to delay the advance of an enemy as much as possible by mounted rifle fire, until they can discern its extent and direction, and subsequently to try and envelop the advancing force. lfie tribes also indulge in sniping, but not to a very great extent, and they also fight individually. They do not neglect opportunities for stratagem, and can effect some very clever ruses. They are also guilty of abusing the services of the white flag in action, as the French troops found to their cost during the operations around Casa Blanca. The Moorish intelligence system is an excellent one, and the tribes are seldom without information regarding the movements of an enemy. They have also an excellent system of signalling at night bv means of small fires dotted about the hills and ravines, and which are obscured and revealed in accordance with . an ingenious code of signals known to themselves.”