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Why did Francisco Franco oppose the Spanish evacuation of western positions in 1924?

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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.

In 1924, the Spanish government, led by dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera, ordered the evacuation of thousands of troops from isolated positions in the western part of the protectorate to a fortified line near Tetuán.

Francisco Franco, then commander of the Spanish Foreign Legion, was one of the most vocal critics of this decision among the "Africanista" officers. His opposition stemmed from a professional military perspective: the retreat was viewed with great discontent by the upper ranks of the colonial army, who saw the abandonment of these positions as a strategic failure and a blow to the military's standing.

The evacuation, which resulted in at least 2,000 Spanish casualties, was driven by the government's realization that the conflict was becoming financially unsustainable and reflected a broader war weariness among the Spanish public. However, for officers like Franco, the withdrawal represented a retreat that ultimately allowed the forces of Abd el-Krim to quickly fill the resulting power vacuum and expand their control over the protectorate.1