FRANCE: Moroccan War: Aug. 3, 1925

It may and may not have been a coincidence, but the fact remained, plain and evident, that from the moment Marshal Pétain took over supreme command of the French armies in Morocco, the war with the rebellious Riffians (TIME, May 11 et seq.) took on a more favorable aspect for the French.

Heavy engagements were reported in various sectors of the fighting line. French Spahis, crack Algerian cavalry and other cavalry detachments hurled the enemy back from their recently acquired positions. Tanks were also employed in driving the Riffians from their entrenchments. At the western end of the Wergha Valley, the rebels were driven back into the Spanish zone where, in conjunction with the French, Spanish troops were preparing to deal with them. After these engagements, undertaken in an appalling heat wave, the war became less hectic. A calm that precedes a storm settled on the front.

In Paris, Premier Painlevé was inclined to listen sympathetically to the rumors of peace which reached him; for Marshal Pétain had told him that victory in Morocco was impossible in less than six months. Foreign Minister Aristide Briand was also pleased at the prospects peaceful; for, with many international problems on his mind, the war in Morocco was an intolerable strain upon him. Finance Minister Joseph Chalaux, last of the triumvirate ruling France, was more relieved than anybody, for every centime spent in Morocco makes balancing his next budget more difficult.

On top of this news came the report that Marshal Pétain (whom a U. S. correspondent called “France’s military pinch-hitter”) would make an early return to France, leaving General Naulin in supreme command of military operations in Morocco. It appeared that the Marshal had been sent to France to make an expert survey for the Government. Prince Aago of Denmark, nephew of Queen Mother Alexandra of Britain, was wounded in the hand while fighting the Riffians in the French Foreign Legion.

Aviator Sadi Lecointe, famed speed pilot, volunteered for service in Morocco.

Col. Charles Sweeney, Lieut.-Col. Kerwood, Majors Pollock and Parker, Captains Rockwell, Weller and Buffum, all U. S. aviators, left Paris for Morocco.

Mules from Missouri also helped to fight the Riffians. Many carloads of them were landed in Morocco.

French forces in Morocco were said to rival kaleidoscopes in the diversity of their hues, varying from fairest white to darkest black. White Frenchmen from the North and olive Frenchmen from the South fight shoulder to shoulder with coffee, chocolate and black Annamites, Senegalese, Hindus, Algerians, Tunisians, and, as despatch most aptly put it “the mixed grill of the Foreign Legion.”