WAR IN MOROCCO

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 15 May 1925, Page 5

WAR IN MOROCCO

A FRENCH ADVANCE

RIFFS FORCEID TO' WITHDRAW.. FROM ENTRENCHED POSITIONS. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPY RIGHT. Received May 15, 8.53 -a.m. London, May 14. Reuter's Rabat corrospomienfc report's that at. dawn yesterday, French columns under Generals’ Cuioinbat and Freydenburg, supported by many aeioplan.es and artillery, dislodged the Riffs after .stubborn resistance from their fortified positions or. Biban range. While retreating northwards they were plastered by French aviators. Their losses were -severe. The withdrawal became general by noon. The French relieved several posts, using the bayonet. —Reuter.

PRESS BEING CENSORED. LONDON, May 13. The Paris-correspondent of the Daily Herald says the situation in French Morocco is really much more grave than is officially admitted. One of the disquieting symptoms is M. Painleve’s admission, that press telegrams front' Morocco are- being censored. Information in military circles shows that the Riffs have not been repulsed. but only checked with the greatest- difficulty. Abdel Krim is waging a trench, warfare along a front of 121 miles. A Communist deputy (M. Berthon) reveals that during the spring of 1923, M. Poincare consenting, he saw Abdel Krim in Paris. The Riff leader then interviewed the Foreign Office, who offered him assistance- against the Spaniards ini return for his acceptance of the French protectorate over the Riffs, but Abdel Krim rejected this offer, and France thereupon joined in Spain’s attacks upon the Rliffs.