Battles of La Güera and Tichla
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2012) |
| Battles of La Güera and Tichla | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Western Sahara War | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Mauretanien Marokko |
 Polisario Front | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Mohamed Ould Bah Ould Abdelkader |
Mohamed Uld Emhamed Mohamed Salek Uld Buceif | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
1,000 Unknown | 100–800 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
20 killed 36 wounded (Mauritanian-Moroccan claim)[1][2] |
96 killed 103 captured (Mauritanian-Moroccan claim)[2] | ||||||||
| 200 killed[3] | |||||||||
The Battles of La Güera and Tichla took place between 10–22 December 1975, when the Mauritanian Army invaded the southern part of Western Sahara, which was the zone agreed to be annexed by Mauritania in the Madrid Accords. Mauritanian troops were confronted by Polisario Front guerrillas, forcing the Royal Moroccan Army to intervene on behalf of Mauritania. By the end of 1975, Mauritania controlled the southern half of the former Spanish colony of Río de Oro.
Background
By 6 November 1975, the Spanish government had evacuated the Spanish civilian population from La Güera during a 48-hour operation, part of the broader "Operation Swallow". Nineteen corpses from the La Güera cemetery were exhumed and embarked on the Ciudad de Huesca boat.[4] A few hours later, POLISARIO flags waved on the main buildings of La Güera, after dozens of Sahrawi guerrilla fighters captured it and set up their own administration,[5] and the town became cut off from air, sea and land.
Battles
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (April 2018) |
References
- ^ "Many die in Sahara fighting". Pasadena Star-News. Associated Press. 26 December 1975. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
- ^ a b "Golpe fallido del POLISARIO para apoderarse de combustible". ABC. 30 December 1975. Retrieved 19 August 2012.(in Spanish)
- ^ Guijarro, Fernando (1997). La distancia de cuatro dedos – En la guerra del Sáhara con el POLISARIO. Barcelona: Ediciones Flor del Viento / Colección De los Cuatro Vientos vol. 14. p. 388. ISBN 978-84-8964409-0.
- ^ "Las Palmas: En La Güera y Villa Cisneros no queda ya ningún español". La Vanguardia. 7 November 1975. Retrieved 20 August 2012. (in Spanish)
- ^ "Malestar e incertidumbre entre los españoles del Sáhara". ABC. 6 December 1975. Retrieved 24 August 2012. (in Spanish)