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What happened at the Battle of Annual in July 1921?

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Spanish soldiers operate artillery cannons in a desert landscape near Melilla, with smoke billowing as a cannon fires during a 1930s battle. — Rif War Spanish artillery firing outside Melilla during the Rif War.

The Battle of Annual, which took place on July 22, 1921, was a catastrophic military defeat for Spain during the Rif War. Following a series of guerrilla attacks by Berber forces led by Abd el-Krim, the Spanish commander Gen. Manuel Fernández Silvestre made the ill-advised decision to abandon the frontline post of Annual (Anwal).21

This hasty evacuation triggered a panic among the poorly trained and organized Spanish conscript army, leading to a disorganized retreat. Rifian fighters routed the Spanish forces, resulting in the deaths of approximately 8,000 to 10,000 Spanish troops, including Fernández Silvestre. In the ensuing weeks, Spain lost all the territory in the eastern part of the protectorate that it had occupied since 1909.21

The disaster caused widespread outrage in Spain and prompted an official investigation known as the Expediente Picasso, which exposed severe failures in military leadership, logistics, and equipment. This event remains one of the most significant military debacles in the history of European colonial warfare.1