ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 presents an overview of the role of Moroccan troops in the Spanish Civil War and their significance.Around 80,000 ‘Moors’ took part in the war. They came mainly from north Morocco, but also from Ifni, the Sahara and from French Morocco. Not all of them had prior military experience, and training periods varied according to the urgency of the military situation. The Moroccans, along with the Spanish Legion with which they formed the Army of Africa, were decisive in the first months of the war, achieving rapid success against the Republican militia and army that Peninsular Nationalist units often lacked, and relieving besieged Nationalists who could not be otherwise succoured. The insistence on the part of the Nationalist command to spread Moroccan units among other Spanish larger formations, rather than concentrating them close to each other, reflected the wish to raise the combative edge of the larger formations and is an indicator of the importance of the Moroccan troops. Besides, Moroccan units figuredisproportionately among the recipients of collective decorations, and they also suffered disproportionately high fatalities.
