Spain has been the largest colonial power in the world for several centuries. She almost completely owned South and Central America, the islands of the Caribbean, not to mention a number of possessions in Africa and Asia. However, over time, the weakening of Spain in economic and political terms led to the gradual loss of almost all colonies. The countries of Central and South America proclaimed independence in the 19th century and managed to defend it, defeating the Spanish expeditionary forces. Other colonies were gradually "squeezed out" by stronger powers - Great Britain, France, the United States of America.
By the turn of the XIX and XX centuries. Spain even managed to lose the Philippines, which belonged to her since the travel of F. Magellan - this archipelago in Southeast Asia was conquered by the United States of America, as well as the small island colony of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. In the Philippines, the American occupation was preceded by an uprising against Spanish rule in 1898, which, however, led to exactly the opposite consequences - not to gaining national independence, but to falling into colonial dependence on the United States in 1902 (initially posing as defenders of "freedom fighters ", The Americans did not fail to turn the archipelago into their colony). Thus, by the beginning of the twentieth century, only insignificant in area and economically weak colonies in Africa remained under the rule of Spain - Spanish Guinea (future Equatorial Guinea), Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara) and Spanish Morocco (northern Morocco with port cities Ceuta and Melilla).
Nevertheless, the problem of maintaining order and maintaining power in the remaining colonies worried the Spanish leadership no less than in those years when Madrid controlled half of the New World. By no means in all cases the Spanish government could rely on the troops of the mother country - they, as a rule, did not differ in high combat training and military spirit. Therefore, in Spain, as in other European states that owned colonies, special military units were created, stationed in African colonies and staffed, to a large extent, from among the inhabitants of the colonies. Among these military units, the most famous were the Moroccan arrows, who were recruited among the inhabitants of the Spanish-controlled part of Morocco. They played one of the key roles in the victory of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War and the establishment of his power in the country.
Since Equatorial Guinea gave the Spanish authorities much less problems than those inhabited by the militant and more developed Berber and Arab tribes of Morocco and Western Sahara, it was the Moroccan units that formed the basis of the Spanish colonial troops and were distinguished by the greatest combat experience and good, in comparison with parts of the metropolis, military training.
Creation of divisions "Regulars"
The official date for the creation of the Regular Indigenous Forces (Fuerzas Regulares Indígenas), also known as the abbreviated name "Regularas", was 1911. It was then that General Damaso Berenguer gave the order to recruit local military units on the territory of Spanish Morocco.
Damaso was one of the few Spanish military leaders who had real combat experience in commanding military units in the colonies. Back in 1895-1898. he took part in the Cuban war, which Spain waged against the Cubans who fought for the independence of their homeland. Then he moved to serve in Morocco, where he received the epaulettes of a brigadier general.
Parts of the "Regulars", like the units of the Gumiers or the Senegalese Riflemen of France, were recruited from the representatives of the native population. They were the inhabitants of Morocco - young men, as a rule, recruited among the population of Ceuta and Melilla - long-Hispanized colonial cities, as well as among the part of the Berber tribes of the Rif mountains loyal to the Spaniards. By the way, it was in the Rif War that the main "combat test" of the Regulars units took place as anti-partisan and reconnaissance units. By 1914, four groups of regulares were created, each of which included two infantry "camps" (battalions) of three companies each and a cavalry battalion of three squadrons. As we can see, the structure of the "Regulars" units resembled the French gumier units, also staffed by Moroccans and created around the same years in French Morocco.
By the early 1920s, Regulars units were deployed in the following regions of Spanish Morocco: 1st group of Tetouan Regular Forces in the city of Tetouan, 2nd group of Melilla Regular Forces in Melilla and Nador, 3rd group "Ceuta" - in Ceuta, the 4th group of "Larash" - in Asilah and Larash, the 5th group of "El-Hoeima" - in Segangan. Later, several more groups were allocated as part of the Regular Native Forces, which was required by the complication of the operational situation in the territory of Spanish Morocco on the one hand, and the use of "Regulars" units outside the colony, on the other hand.
As you know, in the long and bloody Rif war, which Spain waged against the Rif Republic and the militia of the Berber tribes of the Rif mountains, led by Abd al-Krim, the troops of the metropolis suffered one setback after another. The low combat success of the Spanish troops was due to poor training and lack of motivation of soldiers to participate in hostilities in the overseas colony. The weakness of the Spanish army was especially noticeable in comparison with the French troops stationed in the neighborhood - in Algeria and French Morocco. Ultimately, it was with the support of France that Spain managed to overcome the resistance of the Berbers of the Rif Mountains and establish its rule in the territory of Northern Morocco.
Against this background, only two units looked more or less impressive - these are the Regular Native Forces and the Spanish Legion, created a little later and headed by Francisco Franco, the future dictator of Spain, who, by the way, began his career in Africa in the ranks of the Regulars. By the way, Franco's Moroccan soldiers were the general's most reliable support and it was with their help that he largely gained the upper hand in the Spanish Civil War.
Spanish Civil War and Franco's Moroccan soldiers
In addition to the anti-guerrilla war in the Rif Mountains and maintaining order on the territory of Spanish Morocco, the country's leadership sought to use the "Regulars" to suppress anti-government protests in Spain itself. This was due to the fact that foreigners - Moroccans, professed a different religion and generally perceived the Spaniards rather negatively, were excellently suited to the role of punishers. Pity for the oppressed workers and peasants of the Iberian Peninsula was practically absent from them, as we can assume, and in this they were much more reliable than the troops of the mother country, recruited from the same workers and peasants. So, in October 1934, largely thanks to the Moroccans, a workers' uprising in industrial Asturias was suppressed.
In 1936-1939. Moroccans took an active part in the Spanish Civil War. The officers who served in the "Regulars" differed from the commanders of the metropolitan troops in the presence of real combat experience and a special attitude towards the Moroccan soldiers, who, although they were natives, were nevertheless their front-line comrades, with whom blood was shed together in the Rif Mountains. The Spanish Civil War began precisely with the revolt of the officers of the colonial troops against the republican government on July 17, 1936 - and precisely from the territory of Spanish Morocco. At the same time, all the African colonies of Spain - Spanish Guinea, Spanish Sahara, Spanish Morocco and the Canary Islands - took the side of the rebels.
Francisco Franco, who commanded colonial troops in Spanish Morocco for most of his military biography, relied on Moroccan units. And, as it turned out, not in vain. During the civil war, 90,000 Moroccans from the Regulars units fought on the side of Franco and the anti-republican forces. The Spanish Legion also took part in hostilities on the side of the Francoists, also staffed largely by foreigners - however, mainly by descendants of immigrants from Latin America.
It is noteworthy that the leaders of the Republicans, especially from among the representatives of the Communist Party of Spain, proposed recognizing, if not independence, then at least broad autonomy of Morocco with the prospect of soon granting full independence from Spanish rule. However, the Moroccan soldiers, due to their illiteracy and loyalty to the commanders, did not go into these nuances and during the civil war were distinguished by particular cruelty towards the enemy. It should be noted that it was precisely the African units - the Moroccans and the Spanish Legion - that inflicted many key defeats on the Republican troops.
At the same time, the civil war also exposed some of the shortcomings of the Moroccan units. So, they did not differ in particular successes in urban battles, since they were difficult to navigate in unfamiliar terrain and could not quickly switch from battle in the mountains or the desert, where they were unsurpassed warriors, to combat in urban conditions. Secondly, entering Spanish settlements, they easily switched to looting and committing common crimes. In fact, for the Moroccans, the expedition to the metropolis itself presented a wonderful opportunity to rob the European population and rape a huge number of white women, whom they could not even dream of in their homeland.
With their atrocities in the occupied cities and villages of the Iberian Peninsula, the Moroccan soldiers managed to forever remain in the memory of the Spanish population. As a matter of fact, the marauding antics of the Moroccans, which are mentioned in the previous article on the Gumiers in the French service, took place in Spain as well. Only with the difference that the Moroccans were brought to the Iberian Peninsula not by the occupation troops of the enemy, but by their own Spanish generals and officers, who were forced to turn a blind eye to the robberies and mass rapes of the civilian population perpetrated by the North African military. On the other hand, the merits of the Regulars in the victory over the Republicans were also appreciated by Franco, who not only retained these parts after the end of the civil war, but also distinguished them in every possible way, turning them into one of the special elite units.
After the victory in the civil war, Moroccan units continued to participate in anti-insurgency operations in Spain itself. A unit was formed from among the Moroccans, included in the famous Blue Division, which fought on the eastern front during the Great Patriotic War against the Soviet army. On the territory of Morocco proper, several additional subdivisions of Moroccan "Regulars" were created - the 6th group "Chefchaouen" in Chefchaouen, the 7th group "Liano Amarillo" in Melilla, the 8th group "Reef" in El Had Beni Sihar, 9- I am the Asilah group in the city of Kzag el Kebir, the 10th Bab-Taza group in Bab-Taza and two cavalry groups in Tetuan and Melilla. The total number of the permanent composition of the Moroccan "Regularis" in the period after the civil war reached 12,445 soldiers from among the representatives of the local population and 127 officers.
It was from among the representatives of the Moroccan troops that Franco created the "Moorish Guard" - a personal escort manned by cavalrymen on white Arab horses. However, after the proclamation of the independence of Morocco, it was replaced by Spanish cavalrymen, who, however, retained the external attributes of the "Mauritanian Guard" - white cloaks and white Arabian horses.
The history of the Moroccan "Regulars", like the French gumiers, could have ended in 1956, when Morocco gained official independence and the process of withdrawing Spanish troops from the country began, which lasted for several years. Most of the Moroccan Berber troops serving in the Regulars have been transferred to the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces. Nevertheless, the Spanish authorities still did not want to part with the illustrious corps. This was also due to the fact that General Franco continued to remain in power in the country, whose youth was associated with service in Regulars units, firstly, and he owed his rise to power to them, and secondly. Therefore, it was decided to leave the "Regulars" units in the Spanish army and not to disband them after the withdrawal from Morocco.
The Regulars units are currently being recruited primarily from the inhabitants of Ceuta and Melilla, the remaining Spanish enclaves on the North African coast. Most of the "Regulars" units, however, after the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Morocco, were nevertheless disbanded, but out of 8 groups (regiments), two continue to serve at the present time. These are the Regulars Group, stationed in Melilla (as well as on the Isle of Homera, Aljusemas and the Shafarinas Islands) and the former Tetuan group, which was relocated to Ceuta. Parts of the "Regulars" took part in the hostilities as part of the peacekeeping forces in Western Sahara, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Lebanon, etc. In fact, the Regulars units today are ordinary Spanish units, manned by Spanish citizens, but retaining their military traditions, manifested in the specifics of the organization, wearing special ceremonial uniforms and deploying units on the North African coast. The military orchestras of the regiments "Regularis" also retain their specificity, in which musical instruments are supplemented by North African ones.
Camel Cavalry of Western Sahara
In addition to the Moroccan "Regulars", the Spanish colonial service consisted of several other military units, staffed by the natives. So, starting in the 1930s, when Spain managed to conquer the Western Sahara located south of Morocco, which was called the Spanish Sahara, on the territory of this colony were created "Troops of nomads", or Tropas Nomadas, staffed by local Arab-Berber tribes, but as well as the "Regulars", which were under the command of officers - Spaniards by nationality.
The Spanish Sahara has always remained one of the most problematic colonies. Firstly, its territory was covered with desert and was practically not exploited economically. At least, the lands of desert nomads were practically unsuitable for the management of settled agriculture, and minerals were not extracted from the depths of Western Sahara for a long time. Secondly, the Berber and Arab nomadic tribes inhabiting the region were distinguished by increased militancy and did not recognize either state borders or state power at all, which created numerous problems for the colonial administration. Although Western Sahara was officially assigned to Spain as its "sphere of influence" back in 1884, at the Berlin Conference, in reality, the colony of Rio del Oro was created on its territory only in 1904, and more or less stable Spanish power was established here in the early 1930s. In the period from 1904 to 1934. here endless uprisings of the Berber tribes took place, which Spain was often unable to suppress without the military assistance of France. Finally, after the proclamation of independence by Morocco and Mauritania, the latter countries began to look closely at the territory of Western Sahara, intending to divide it among themselves. Morocco made claims to the territory of Western Sahara immediately after gaining independence.
Forming colonial units from among the representatives of the local population, the Spanish administration hoped that they would not only participate in maintaining order on the territory of the colony, but also, if necessary, provide armed resistance to the penetration of foreign troops or tribes from neighboring Morocco and Mauritania. The rank and file of the "Nomad Troops" was recruited from representatives of Western Saharan nomadic tribes - the so-called "Saharan nomads" who speak the Arabic dialect of Hassania, but in fact are representatives of the indigenous Berber population, assimilated and Arabized by the Bedouins in the process of the Arab-Maghreb penetration into the Sahara.
“Troops of nomads” wore national clothes - white burnuses and blue turbans, however, the technical staff served in modernized khaki uniforms, in which the “Saharan specificity” of these units was reminiscent only of the turbans, which were also khaki colors.
The Tropas Nomadas units were originally created as camel cavalry units. If the "Regulars" troops were created under the obvious influence of the French gumiers - Moroccan riflemen, then the French mecharist - camel cavalry - served as a model for the creation of the "Sahara Nomad Troops". The competence of the Nomad Troops was assigned to carry out police functions on the territory of the Spanish Sahara colony. Since most of it was covered with desert, the cavalry rode on camels. Then the units began to gradually mechanize, however, camel riders continued to serve until the 1970s, when Spain withdrew from Western Sahara. It should be noted that the mechanization of the “Nomad Troops” also entailed a proportional increase in the number of Spaniards in units, since the indigenous Saharans did not have the necessary training to drive cars and armored vehicles. Therefore, the Spaniards appeared not only in officer positions, but also among ordinary soldiers.
In addition to the "Troops of the Nomads" on the territory of the Spanish Sahara, units of the territorial, or desert police, were also deployed, performing gendarme functions similar to the civil guard service in Spain itself. Like the Nomad Troops, the Desert Police were staffed by Spanish officers and representatives of both the Spaniards and the local population in non-commissioned officer positions.
Spain's withdrawal from Western Sahara led to the disintegration of the Nomad Troops and the joining of many indigenous military personnel to the Polisario Front, which fought against Moroccan and Mauritanian troops to create an independent Saharan Arab Democratic Republic. In the ranks of the front, the combat experience and army training of former servicemen came in handy. However, until now the territory of Western Sahara officially remains a country without a clear status, since the United Nations refuses to recognize the division of this land between Morocco and Mauritania, and the proclamation of the Sahara Arab Democratic Republic.
Due to the fact that Spain, against the background of other European powers by the beginning of the twentieth century, had few colonies, especially since almost all of its possessions were not only underpopulated, but also economically underdeveloped, the colonial troops in the service of Madrid were also not very numerous, especially compared to the colonial forces of such powers as Great Britain or France. Nevertheless, it was the units formed and deployed in Africa that for a long time remained the most combat-ready units of the Spanish army, as they had constant combat experience, tempered in the inevitable clashes with the rebels and trans-Saharan nomads.
