11 February → 25 March 1933
February–March 1933, day by day — only for the days on which a source provides information.
18 documented days
The Saghro north of Handour (2013) — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
“In February 1933, the order arrived to proceed with the reduction of this dissident patch” (Gérardin). Two mobile groups converged: General Catroux's, from Marrakesh, to the west; General Giraud's, from the Confins, to the east.
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
The start of the battle is dated 11 February (Wanaim's title, 2024), 12 February (engagement of the 14th goum according to a unit history), 13 February (Wikipedia, Wikidata) or 15 February (Bounfour, 1989). These dates may refer to different moments: first movements, first fighting or investment of the massif.
Reported figures
| Start | 11 février 1933 | Wanaim, 2024 | Confirmed by a verified source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start (14th goum) | 12 février 1933 | les-tirailleurs.fr | Unverified information |
| Start | 13 février 1933 | Wikipédia (français) — « Bataille de Bougafer » | Unverified information |
| Start | 15 février 1933 | Bounfour, 1989 | Confirmed by a verified source |
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 8 sources cited · 6 independent documentary line(s)
According to Wikipedia, the day after the harkas moved off (night of 12-13 February), an Aït Atta group captured 117 loaded mules from a Legion company (six legionnaires killed), and an aircraft of the 37th aviation regiment was shot down, its crew killed. Not cross-checked.
Reported figures
| Mules captured | 117 | Wikipédia (français) — « Bataille de Bougafer » | Unverified information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legionnaires killed | 6 | Wikipédia (français) — « Bataille de Bougafer » | Unverified information |
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
“After eight days of delaying actions, the Aït Atta, pushed from all sides by converging columns, took refuge in the narrow Bou Gafer massif, a veritable natural fortress” (Gérardin).
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
According to Wikipedia, on 15 February fighting took place at Tizi n'Oulili; the goums suffered heavy losses, the harkas advanced towards the Imsadene basin and the Aït Atta fighters fell back on the Bou Gafer; some families asked for aman. Places not located; not cross-checked.
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
According to Wikipedia, faced with the cliffs of the “Needles plateau”, Huré took command on the spot and divided the deployment into two sub-sectors (Catroux, Giraud); after a conference, Giraud's plane overturned during a forced landing and the general was injured. Not cross-checked.
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
According to Saulay, some fractions made contact three times and then broke off talks; on 18 February, 120 Ait Yazza tents asked for and obtained the aman.
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
According to Wikipedia, on 20 February the attackers gained a foothold in the south-eastern part of the Needles plateau, for gains described as “insignificant”; 11 regulars and auxiliaries were killed. Not cross-checked.
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
Reported figures
| Regulars and auxiliaries killed | 11 | Wikipédia (français) — « Bataille de Bougafer » | Unverified information |
|---|
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
After “a climb worthy of mountaineering”, the Bournazel sub-group, spearhead of Giraud's troops, seized a steep peak topped by a pinnacle, “la Chapelle” (peak 1). One officer and two NCOs were killed (Gérardin).
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
Reported figures
| Killed on the French side (officers/NCOs) | 1 officier, 2 sous-officiers | Gérardin, 1987 | Confirmed by a verified source |
|---|
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 2 sources cited · 2 independent documentary line(s)
Bournazel launched Lieutenant de Charette's 21st goum, supported by Lieutenant L'Aridon's partisans, against an overhanging shoulder. The objective was reached after three attempts and hand-to-hand fighting; Charette was wounded, L'Aridon killed. This shoulder, some 400 m from peak 6, became the next starting base (Gérardin).
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
According to Saulay, the attack started at 6.30 a.m.: the fezzas of Lieutenant Benedittini and Sergeant Lepape (“about 300 rifles”), supported by the 21st goum of Lieutenant Aubert, came under Aït Atta fire as soon as the mist lifted and scattered; about fifty partisans reached a ridge almost at the foot of piton 6. Around 7.15, a counter-attack on the right flank caused a general rout; Sergeant Lepape was killed “very high on the piton”. Gérardin specifies that these partisans were “Aït Atta of Alnif and the Rteb”.
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)⌖ Alnif
This detail is a reminder that Aït Atta already rallied to the Protectorate fought in the French auxiliary ranks: the battle did not pit two homogeneous blocs against each other. English Wikipedia also states that the French used rallied Aït Atta against Assou Oubasslam's forces.
Correction (Saulay read on the image of page 57): the 21st goum was commanded that day by Lieutenant Aubert, not by Benedittini, who led the fezzas; the counter-attack was not “immediate” but came around 7.15. Saulay writes that the order of the 23rd targeted “piton 8” before placing the final effort at the foot of “piton 6”: this inconsistency in the source is left as is.
Reported figures
| Partisans engaged | 300 + 21e goum | Gérardin, 1987 | Confirmed by a verified source |
|---|---|---|---|
| French and auxiliary losses (Saulay) | 22 tués, 41 blessés, 3 disparus | Saulay, 1983 | Confirmed by a verified source |
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 3 sources cited · 3 independent documentary line(s)
In the west, the Catroux group launched three assaults on needles dominated by peaks 43 and 47. At dawn on the 25th, after a night climb “in the cold and the rain”, Second Lieutenant Sieurac's 34th goum was thrown back near the summits; Sieurac was killed and the goum lost half its strength. Huré judged these attacks “in no way studied” (Gérardin).
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
Reported figures
| Losses of the 34th goum | « la moitié de son effectif » | Gérardin, 1987 | Confirmed by a verified source |
|---|
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
Notables representing 400 fighters ask General Giraud for a truce so their jemaas can deliberate; when it expires, a letter affirms “the will of all to resist to the end” (Saulay).
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
Reported figures
| Fighters represented by the notables | 400 | Saulay, 1983 | Confirmed by a verified source |
|---|
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
According to Wikipedia, on 27 February Resident General Lucien Saint sent Lieutenant-Colonel Alphonse Juin to order Huré to resume the assault. Not cross-checked.
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
Two detachments (goums, partisans, mounted Legion companies) attacked peak 6 at 7 a.m. after an artillery preparation, in light rain and an icy north-east wind. The defenders, entrenched behind low walls, repelled the assault; several officers were killed. At 12.20 p.m. all further assaults were halted (Gérardin).
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
Order of battle (Gérardin): first wave, 16th, 21st and 28th goums, motorised platoon of the 1st Foreign (Lieutenant Brencklé), mounted company of the 3rd Foreign (Captain Faucheux), with the fezaâ of the Tafilalt and the Regg as flank guard; second detachment (Captain Fouré), mounted company of the 2nd Foreign, carried platoon of the “Algeria” mounted company of the 1st Foreign, 7th and 17th goums.
Support: six 75 mm mortars, a 65 mm mountain battery, 80 mm mountain guns of the Marrakesh militia and two 75 mm Legion batteries from the valley floor.
Gérardin reports the deaths of Lieutenant Brencklé, Captain Faucheux (around 7.40 a.m.) and Lieutenant Binet, whose body was found “a few days later”. He describes Aït Atta women present behind the fighters, in terms shaped by the colonial gaze.
Wikipedia puts French losses at “more than 64 killed”, including 12 legionnaires and Bournazel: an unreferenced figure. No source consulted gives Aït Atta losses for that day.
Reported figures
| Killed on the French side | « plus de 64 », dont 12 légionnaires | Wikipédia (français) — « Bataille de Bougafer » | Unverified information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time of assault / halt | 7 h 00 / 12 h 20 | Gérardin, 1987 | Confirmed by a verified source |
| French and auxiliary losses (Saulay) | 64 tués, 115 blessés | Saulay, 1983 | Confirmed by a verified source |
| Alnif and Mecissi fezzas (130 engaged) | 17 tués, 22 blessés | Saulay, 1983 | Confirmed by a verified source |
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 3 sources cited · 3 independent documentary line(s)
During the assault on piton 6, Bournazel is hit once, gets up again, then is struck by a second bullet. Accounts differ on what follows: evacuated, he dies that day according to Gérardin and Wikipedia; according to médecin-major Vial's testimony transcribed by Bordeaux (1935), he dies on the mountain, having refused to be taken down to the aid post.
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
What do the archives say? →Sources — 5 sources cited · 4 independent documentary line(s)
“At 12.20, the order was given to stop all further attacks. The blockade of the massif was prescribed” (Gérardin). Saulay dates to 1 March General Huré's decision to “suspend any major attack” and tighten the blockade. Wikipedia adds that Huré now considered the Bou Gafer “impregnable”.
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
Sources — 3 sources cited · 3 independent documentary line(s)
For about twenty-five days the Aït Atta were besieged “with families and herds” (Gérardin). Morocco's national portal mentions a “strict blockade supported by aviation”; Wikipedia mentions artillery and air bombardment, and a failed request for a truce.
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
The material conditions of the siege (access to water, food, care, the fate of the wounded) are not described in any of the sources consulted. This gap is real: it must not be filled by imagination. Military archives (daily reports) and testimonies collected locally, such as those in the documentary Bougafer 33 (2010), are the leads to explore.
Reported figures
| Partisans kept for the blockade (Drâa and Regg harkas) | 1 800 | Saulay, 1983 | Confirmed by a verified source |
|---|
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 4 sources cited · 4 independent documentary line(s)
Ait Ouanebgui and Ait Yazza families cross the lines on the side of the Drâa harka; Captain Spillmann receives them with a doctor who treats the worst affected (Saulay).
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
Saulay then attributes to Captain Spillmann, in indirect style, these thoughts before “this grim Bou Gafer, last stronghold of magnificent [misprinted in the bulletin] warriors who would rather be cut to pieces than submit. And they have their women, their children, their flocks with them... How can this massacre be stopped?”, narration by a former officer, fifty years later, not a quotation from anything Spillmann wrote.
Reported figures
| Families crossing the lines | 150 | Saulay, 1983 | Confirmed by a verified source |
|---|
Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
After an hour of “oratorical jousting” on 21 March, the Ait Aïssa ou Brahim agree to talk; on the 24th, the jemaa led by Assou Oubasslam declares: “We are still at war and we are not ‘Maghzen’”, and states its conditions (Saulay).
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
On the 23rd a local truce allows about fifteen delegates to come down; Assou, who had come with them, left on seeing that the artillery was still firing. On the 24th he asked to leave the Bou Gafer with the flocks and to return freely, weapons in hand, to the transhumance routes. When Commandant Boyé replied that they would be treated like the fractions already rallied, the jemaa dispersed in protest; the intermediary Ali ou Adda and Lieutenant Lecomte finally obtained an agreement in principle. Saulay also reports that a prophecy had led the Ait Aïssa ou Brahim to elect as war chief a five-year-old child of the Ou Ghezis clan, the only survivor of his line.
Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)
Duclos writes that the last defenders of the Saghro, “led by El Haj Assou Baslam”, “negotiated their submission”. 24 March is the date given by Bounfour as the end of the armed resistance and by Wikipedia as the start of negotiations. The terms obtained are reported in divergent ways.
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
What do the archives say? →Sources — 5 sources cited · 5 independent documentary line(s)
“On 25 March, exhausted but magnificent, they surrendered to General Huré” (Gérardin). Saulay places the scene at the small marabout of Khouia Brahim, before Generals Huré, Giraud and Catroux, and reproduces Huré's official telegram (no. 43/PC, 25 March, 11 a.m.). 25 March is also the date given by Wanaim (2024), Wikidata and English Wikipedia.
⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)
What do the archives say? →Sources — 7 sources cited · 5 independent documentary line(s)