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Author Topic: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif  (Read 5867 times)

Offline Abrasapuentes

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The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« on: November 20, 2022, 01:08:51 PM »
At the beginning of the 20th century, the European powers were locked in a struggle to control large parts of the African continent.

In North Africa, a recently created kingdom, the Sultanate of Morocco, was experiencing a period of instability, which forced it to ask for help from foreign powers, specifically the UK and France. These powers convened the Algeciras Conference in 1906, agreeing that France would take over the Protectorate of Morocco, ceding a part of it to Spain.

That situation gave rise to a series of events, which in Spain we know as The African War, or The Rif War. With acts of arms that represented a turning point in the history of Spain: "Barranco del Lobo", "Annual Disasters", "Alhucemas Landing", etc...

This historical period was very unknown to me. We always study it at school, institute, etc..., as a transition period between the loss of the last Spanish overseas colonies in 1898 (Cuba and the Philippines) and the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

The truth is that many of the insurgent commanders, who rose up against the legitimately constituted government in 1936, spent a large part of their military career in this African War, acquiring the necessary skills to carry out the subsequent uprising and coup.

That is why this historical period has caught my attention and I have decided to start a miniature project that reflects those turbulent years, before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Project, which I also want to prepare later.

In order to carry out the same, I am using the miniatures of a recently created Spanish company, Baraka Games and Miniatures:

https://barakagm.com/

At the moment, they have a wide catalog of Rif miniatures, Spanish legionnaires and they have just released the Alcántara cavalry regiment. Soon, they are going to release the units of regular soldiers, Spanish indigenous troops, etc... The miniatures are a delight to work with and they are giving me a lot of joy, in the painting process.

As of today, the project is very advanced, I have been working for several months, since the end of May 2022, in the Rifian part of the army. I have practically finished this part, I think that by the end of the year, I will be able to consider it closed and start preparing the Spanish legionnaires.

Next, I am going to show you a few photos of the state of my project, which I have been posting on a blog, with many more photos and where I talk about interesting aspects and moments of the Rif War in each of the entries. I will put a link to each of the entries, in case you are interested in seeing more photos.


Offline Abrasapuentes

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2022, 01:12:35 PM »
First of all and contrary to what I was talking about, the first thing I will show is a miniature corresponding to the Spanish troops, the 75 mm Schneider cannon

https://pincelesydadoswargames.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2022-08-08T01:00:00-07:00&max-results=7&start=4&by-date=false
« Last Edit: November 20, 2022, 01:18:08 PM by Abrasapuentes »

Offline Abrasapuentes

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2022, 01:14:26 PM »
First of all and contrary to what I was talking about, the first thing I will show is a miniature corresponding to the Spanish troops, the 75 mm Schneider cannon

https://pincelesydadoswargames.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2022-08-08T01:00:00-07:00&max-results=7&start=4&by-date=false

Offline Abrasapuentes

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2022, 01:23:23 PM »
Next, I will show you the reason why I decided to start this project, the Rifian cavalry, some magnificent miniatures, which made me fall in love:

https://pincelesydadoswargames.blogspot.com/2022/08/los-rifenos-se-levantan-en-armas-su.html

https://pincelesydadoswargames.blogspot.com/2022/09/mando-caballeria-rifena.html

« Last Edit: November 20, 2022, 01:25:43 PM by Abrasapuentes »

Offline Abrasapuentes

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2022, 01:30:56 PM »
The Rif support weapons, Schneider 75 mm cannon captured from the Spanish troops and an MMG. The Riffian troops were short of this type of weaponry, they practically equipped themselves with the pieces captured from the Spanish and a few, which they could acquire on the black market, smuggled:

https://pincelesydadoswargames.blogspot.com/2022/09/ametralladora-mmg-rifena.html

https://pincelesydadoswargames.blogspot.com/2022/10/canon-schneider-75-mm-rifeno-asalto.html

Offline Abrasapuentes

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2022, 01:49:13 PM »
Finally, so as not to continue bombarding you with more photos and links, I will show you the Rifian riflemen. They were irregular troops, with little or no military training, but accustomed to raids and fighting between the different kabilas that dominated the territory. To make the miniatures showy, I have decided to paint the tunics and djellabas with very striking colors (usually they wore brown, light, white, etc... colors, reserving the most striking ones for special occasions). In my case, I have sent them in their best clothes to combat:

https://pincelesydadoswargames.blogspot.com/2022/10/rifenos-pie-la-caida-de-abarran.html

https://pincelesydadoswargames.blogspot.com/2022/10/nuevos-rifenos-pie-benitez-y-la-defensa.html

https://pincelesydadoswargames.blogspot.com/2022/11/granaderos-rifenos-la-caida-del.html

To play with these miniatures, I will use a regulation created by the Baraka brand, for now, there is a free version to download on their website. Soon, from what we have been told, at the end of this year 2022, if there are no problems, a larger printed edition will be published on paper, with numerous lists: Rifians, bandit cabals, legionnaires, regulars, French legion, Berbers , etc...

At the game level, a Rif unit would be made up of a leader, "corporal", seven rifles and the possibility of adding two more soldiers with a grenade or dynamite, plus a rifle.

I hope you like it and I can show you the next advances over the next few weeks.

Offline Smokeyrone

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2022, 01:55:07 PM »
Just great!   I was always interested in the French and Spanish forts that were repeatedly attacked and overrun, (often they built small forts that were 100s of yards away from their wells???).   

Reigning USTA Florida, and National 50+ Singles Champion  (tennis)  TWO Time Florida 50+ Singles Champion!  Just won State 2019!

Offline Abrasapuentes

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2022, 02:42:59 PM »
In the Spanish case, calling them strong is too generous, ha ha ha. These were fortified positions, which the Spanish called "blocaos". In most of the cases, it was about positions used at the top of a small hill, to dominate the terrain.

In many cases, they had a perimeter formed by sandbags, wire fences, if the terrain allowed it (usually the terrain was stony and the wire fences could not be nailed to the ground). Being high positions, as you said, there was no access to water, so the garrison had to make exits to a nearby well, with the danger of falling into an ambush. Inside the position, there were normally no tents, the soldiers slept and protected themselves from the sun, with sheet metal or cloth roofs. And the supplies (food, ammunition, etc...) were carried out by columns of mules.

When the Annual Disaster struck, there were nearly 200 blockhouses scattered across the territory. But the really disastrous thing was not the positions, it was the level of the average soldier. For the most part, they were "fifths", forced recruits, who had to complete three years of service in the Spanish army. Without any motivation, in a place that was hostile to them and without understanding what Spain was doing in that place. The Spanish authorities paid the different Rifian cabils to be used in the front line of combat, leaving the Spanish troops, poorly trained and without combat spirit, in the blockhouses. Only the officers, the non-commissioned officers and some specific units had a true military vocation and were trained to fight, such as the artillery regiments, the engineering corps, the Alcántara cavalry regiment, or a newly created unit, the Legion, which It was used as a shock unit and had trained and well-equipped combatants.

When the Annual disaster occurred in 1921, Abd el Krim attacked the Spanish positions, a rout occurred: the blockhouses were abandoned or assaulted and around 7,000 Spanish soldiers died.

Offline Patrice

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2022, 03:27:23 PM »
Fascinating period and nice figures and painting, thanks for sharing.  :o :)

I never played this period but my grandparents lived in Casablanca in the 1920s (my grandfather was a civilian radio for the Aéropostale) it is far from the Rif but they heard a lot about it at the time.

Offline von der Tann

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #9 on: November 20, 2022, 03:48:56 PM »
Fascinating period and nice figures and painting, thanks for sharing.

I second that.

It's so hard to find literature on this conflict in English, let alone German. 99% seems to be in Spanish and unfortunately I can't understand that.  :(
Same for the Ifini War 1957/58.
Any advice?
« Last Edit: November 20, 2022, 03:52:27 PM by von der Tann »
"Viel Feind - viel Ehr!"
(Georg von Frundsberg, 1473 - 1528)

Offline marco55

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #10 on: November 20, 2022, 04:02:50 PM »
Have you tried this book?
Mark

Offline von der Tann

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  • "Viel Feind - viel Ehr!" - Georg von Frundsberg
Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #11 on: November 20, 2022, 06:44:01 PM »
Have you tried this book?
Mark

No, I haven't Mark. Thanks alot.

Offline Tom Dulski

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #12 on: November 21, 2022, 11:59:34 AM »
Remarkable paint job on those figures. Especially the guy leading the horses. WOW.

Offline Abrasapuentes

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  • Posts: 36
Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #13 on: November 21, 2022, 03:36:53 PM »
Just great!   I was always interested in the French and Spanish forts that were repeatedly attacked and overrun, (often they built small forts that were 100s of yards away from their wells???).

Thank you very much, it's a project that I hadn't planned to start and when I did, it was simply because I was infatuated with miniatures. Since then, it has given me many moments of joy and I still have not used the miniatures in any game.

The period of the Ifni war is also quite unknown to me. I know something more about the last stage, the decolonization of the Sahara, since my father was an aircraft mechanic for the Air Force and was stationed there for the last five years of the Spanish colony.

Offline Abrasapuentes

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Re: The Spanish African War or War of the Rif
« Reply #14 on: November 21, 2022, 03:42:01 PM »
I second that.

It's so hard to find literature on this conflict in English, let alone German. 99% seems to be in Spanish and unfortunately I can't understand that.  :(
Same for the Ifini War 1957/58.
Any advice?

In Spain, last year, coinciding with the centenary of the Annual Disaster, several quite good editions were published on the subject. But it is true, that it is a period of our history, that even in Spanish, has not been much treated.

 

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