Moroccan War

Morocan War

In Morocco. Heavy engagements in the war between the Riff tribesmen and the French (TIME, May 11 et seq.) were reported from Fez, the military headquarters of the French.

Riff troops, joined suddenly by tribes hitherto friendly to the French, pounded their enemies along a 120-mile front, forcing them to retreat in many places.

Fez and Taza came within an ace of being captured, but a strong counteroffensive relieved the former, and a hectic battle was continuing for the latter, from which all females were evacuated. Marshal Lyautey, the President General and Commander-in-Chief, telegraphed Paris that, unless more troops were sent, he would decline to be responsible for any situation which might develop. Losses suffered by both sides in the fighting were heavy.

In an effort to counteract the stream of propaganda launched by Abd-el-Krim, supreme commander of the Riffs, who last week fell from a mule and broke a leg, Sultan Mulai Yusef ordered investigation of the tribes faithful to himself.

At Paris. The Senate approved without a dissenting voice the Government's Moroccan policy, by which is meant credits for the conduct of the War.

The Cabinet appointed General Stanislaus Naulin in charge of military operations with the object of relieving Marshal Lyautey of the intolerable burden of administering the country and directing the war, and to enable him to concentrate on nullifying the disconcerting Riffian propaganda.