The Report of Marshal Petain on his visit to Morocco
was kept secret for some time, but it was issued last Sunday night by M. Painleve. It is plain that M. Petain takes a serious view of the task before his country. " The brutal truth is," he says, " that we were attacked unexpectedly by the most powerful and best armed enemy we have ever encountered in our colonial opera- tions." He points out that the Riffs and Djebalas have a reserve of thirty to forty thousand fighting men inde- pendently of those who are scattered along the frontiers. These men are all keen mountaineers, and they are not only skilful in arms but are now full of confidence. They fight well on very little food, so that, unlike the French, they are almost independent of convoys. Marshal Petain nevertheless takes it as a happy omen that Abd-el-Krim's boasts that he would quickly reach Fez or Taza have not come within the possibility of being fulfilled. He feels able to pay a handsome tribute to the gallantry and efficiency of the French troops, so we must suppose that the reports which reached this country of acute disaffection and the spread of Communist doctrines among the men were greatly exaggerated. The Tangier correspondent of the Times says that an attack is now expected on the Spanish lines near Tetuan and on the French lines somewhere south of Alcazar. e * * *
Previous page
