WESTERN SAHARA

Evening Star, Issue 21193, 29 August 1932, Page 9

WESTERN SAHARA

RESTLESS TRIBESMEN FRENCH DETACHMENT AMBUSHED. Press Association —By Telegraphy-Copyright. PARIS. August 27. Restless tribesmen ambushed a French camel detachment in the western Sahara. Six officers and fifty native soldiers were killed, one of the officers being Lieutenant Patrick MacMahon, a grandson of the famous marshal. [Marshal MacMahon, French soldier and politician, was born at Sully in Loiret, on June 13, 1808. He belonged to a family exiled from Ireland for its loyalty to James 11. Educated at St. Cyr, he entered the army and saw a good deal of service, mainly in Algeria. H© commanded a division in the Crimean War, and in Italy was responsible for the victory of Magenta, being made a marshal and duke of Magenta as a reward. From 1864-70 he was Governor-General of Algeria. In the Franco-Prussian War he held a high command,- but he was defeated at Worth and driven back to Toul. He then took charge of a new force, which he lead to Sedan, only, however, .to be wounded and taken prisoner. Released at the peace, ho was given the task of crushing the Communist rising, which he did, recovering Paris from the insurgents. This led to his election, in May, 1873, as president of the republic, in succession to Thiers. By no means a convinced Republican, he was suspected of favouring a restoration, and was too conservative for many of his countrymen. A crisis in 1877 was not made less acute by his unyielding attitude, and when another took place in 1879 he resigned office. He died on October 17, 1893.]