Eastern High Atlas · July-August 1933
Five months after Bougafer, the last fighters of the eastern High Atlas (Ait Merghad, Ait Hdiddou and survivors of Tazizaout) shut themselves in the Baddou. Another resistance, other communities, the same French command.
Aït Yafelman
The Ait Merghad and the Ait Hdiddou belong to the Ait Yafelman confederation, formed in the 17th century against Ait Atta expansion. They are not Ait Atta.
Actors
The eastern High Atlas is the land of the Ait Yafelman confederation (Ait Merghad, Ait Hdiddou, Ait Izdeg, Ait Yahya), formed in the 17th century to check Ait Atta expansion. Its tribes are not Ait Atta: they are their historical rivals.
From 1929 the conquest met fierce resistance there: fighting at Ayt Yaâqoub (1929), Tarda (1930), Tounfit (1931), the siege of Tazizaout (August-September 1932). Survivors of Tazizaout joined the Ait Hdiddou, then the Baddou.
Assisted translation, not validated
Sources — 3 sources cited · 3 independent documentary line(s)
The sources name the Ait Merghad, in particular Zayd ou-Skounti's Ayt Ayssa Izem, the Ait Hdiddou (deprived of their leader Ou-Sidi, killed in June according to Peyron) and survivors of Tazizaout and the Assif Melloul. The Moroccan press also names Ali ou Termoun, of the zawiya of Assoul.
Yabiladi claims that Ait Atta fighters joined them: no consulted academic source confirms it. The Ait Merghad had been part of the Ait Atta before splitting from them around 1645; in 1933, attaching them to the Ait Atta would be an anachronism.
Assisted translation, not validated
Cautions
⚠ Participation of Ait Atta fighters: unverified press claim.
Sources — 5 sources cited · 4 independent documentary line(s)
On 1 May, at Msedrid, the Ait Hdiddou surprised a Legion detachment; on 8 June Ou-Sidi was killed in an ambush. From late July, the mobile groups of Marrakech, the Confins, Tadla and Meknès converged on Aghbalou n-Kerdous. On 5 and 6 August, at the Tizi n-Hamdoun and in the Ghriss defiles, Ait Hdiddou and Ait Merghad fighters inflicted heavy losses on the Legion and the tirailleurs.
Falling back from the gardens of Itto Fezzou to the caves and ksour of Aghbalou n-Kerdous, the last fighters shut themselves in the Baddou and defended the Ouksersou peak. Peyron writes that thirst was made worse by machine-gun fire on the few water points, where women were killed at night trying to bring back water.
Assisted translation, not validated
Cautions
⚠ Most of these dates rest on a single text (Peyron 2013), without footnotes; they remain to be cross-checked in military archives.
Sources — 3 sources cited · 3 independent documentary line(s)
Wikipedia and the Moroccan press date the final assault to 25 August and the end of the fighting to 29 August; according to Peyron, Zayd ou-Skounti “ended up surrendering” after a last attempt to break out (details in the chronology). About a fortnight later the Kousser, among the Ait Sokhman, fell in turn.
Alone, with two or three companions, Zayd ou-Hmad carried on the struggle until spring 1936. Ou-Skounti, placed under house arrest, later became caïd; his death in 1943 remains disputed.
Assisted translation, not validated
Cautions
⚠ Dates of 25 and 29 August: Wikipedia and press only.
Sources — 4 sources cited · 3 independent documentary line(s)
No consulted source gives the forces engaged on either side, nor a toll of the defenders' and civilians' losses; the only figure (13 killed and 31 wounded on the French side on 25 August) is a second-hand quotation from Voinot. The terms on which the fighting ended are known from no consulted document. A Reuter dispatch of August 1933, relaying L'Humanité, speaks of 2,000 to 3,000 dead on both sides on the Baddou: a campaigning estimate, without a source (see the international press).
The sources to exploit first are identified: General Huré's book (1952), the archives of the Service historique de la Défense, Ahmed Skounti's thesis (1995), Captain Henry's paper on the Ait Merghad (1937) and the testimonies of families in Assoul and Aghbalou n-Kerdous.
Assisted translation, not validated
Sources — 5 sources cited · 5 independent documentary line(s)
The High Commission for Former Resistance Fighters commemorates the “battles of Jbel Baddou” every 29 December. Peyron observes that the fighters of the “djebel”, once called imɣiwwuɣ (“dissidents”) or imsubren (“unsubdued”), are now called imžuhad: the words of memory have changed with those who carry it.
Assisted translation, not validated
Sources — 3 sources cited · 2 independent documentary line(s)
The Ait Hdiddou led by Ou-Sidi of Tilmi and Zayd ou-Skounti's Ayt Ayssa Izem seriously maul the French forces, which are eventually victorious.
Sources — 2 sources cited · 2 independent documentary line(s)
Zayd ou-Skounti's harka (about 600 Ait Merghad and Ayt Hemmou) holds for three days under air and artillery fire, then withdraws; Tounfit is occupied. Peyron sees it as a turning point in the Atlas war.
Reported figures
| Zayd ou-Skounti's harka | ≈ 600 | Peyron, 2013 | Confirmed by a verified source |
|---|
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 2 sources cited · 2 independent documentary line(s)
About a thousand fighters (Ait Sokhman, Ait Yahya, Ait Hdiddou, refugees from the Middle Atlas) hold the Tazizaout for nearly a month; hunger and thirst overcome them. Dates vary by source.
Peyron (2013) dates the start to 22 August 1932 and the official capitulation to 13 September, some defenders holding out a week longer; Yabiladi gives “20 August to 10 September 1932”. Survivors join the Ait Hdiddou, then the Baddou. The French Wikipedia article associates Mouha ou Hammou Zayani, who died in 1921, with this siege: an anachronism.
Reported figures
| Entrenched fighters | ≈ 1 000 | Peyron, 2013 | Confirmed by a verified source |
|---|
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 3 sources cited · 2 independent documentary line(s)
According to Wikipedia, on 1 May 1933 the Aït Hdiddou inflicted a last defeat on colonial troops at Msedrid. Gérardin notes that after the Saghro, operations targeted “the unsubmitted islet of the High Atlas occupied by the Aït Hadiddou and the Aït Morrhad”.
Sources — 3 sources cited · 3 independent documentary line(s)
According to Peyron, the Ait Hdiddou leader was killed at dawn below the Tizi n-Inouzane during a reconnaissance; a single consulted source.
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
From late July 1933, military groups are ordered to advance on Aghbalou n-Kerdous; Peyron names the mobile groups of Marrakech, the Confins, Tadla and Meknès.
The 2021 commemorative dispatch speaks of “three military groups”; Yabiladi of five generals (Tadla, Meknès, Marrakech, Tinghir, Confins). No consulted source gives the exact number of units or men.
Sources — 3 sources cited · 2 independent documentary line(s)
Falling back from the gardens of Itto Fezzou to the Tizi n-Hamdoun and the caves of Aghbalou n-Kerdous, the fighters shut themselves in the Baddou and defend the Ouksersou peak; hunger and thirst prove decisive.
⌖ Jbel Baddou⌖ Aghbalou n-Kerdous
Peyron (2013) writes that thirst was “made worse by machine-gun fire on the few water points where devoted Amazigh women were killed at night while vainly trying to bring back the precious liquid”. Yabiladi reports that General Huré had the water points seized and the defenders taken from behind (Colonel Arnaud). No consulted source gives a toll of the defenders' or civilians' losses.
Sources — 3 sources cited · 2 independent documentary line(s)
On two consecutive days, as the vice tightens, Ait Hdiddou and Ait Merghad fighters inflict heavy losses on the Legion and the tirailleurs (Peyron 2013; single source, losses not quantified).
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
Yabiladi dates the final assault to 25 August and attributes to Voinot (1939) the French toll for that day: “13 killed and 31 wounded, including one officer”. Second-hand quotation, not verified in the original.
Reported figures
| French losses on 25 August (Voinot, as quoted) | 13 tués, 31 blessés | Voinot, 1939 | Unverified information |
|---|
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 2 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
After a last attempt to break the encirclement, Zayd ou-Skounti “ended up surrendering” (Peyron). The date of 29 August and his reception by General Giraud at Assoul are given only by Wikipedia and the press.
Sources — 3 sources cited · 2 independent documentary line(s)
About a fortnight after the Baddou, the Kousser stronghold, among the Ait Sokhman, falls in turn (Peyron 2013).
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
With two or three companions, this Ait Merghad man keeps up raids until spring 1936; the adventure ends at the ksar of Tadafelt (lower Todgha).
Sources — 2 sources cited · 2 independent documentary line(s)