SHOWER OF BOMBS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 689, 14 June 1929, Page 9

SHOWER OF BOMBS

MOORISH BESIEGERS PERSIST FRENCHMEN HELD IN FORT (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 12.42 p.m. PARIS, Thursday. A message from Rabat, Morocco, states that 300 troops are still- besieged at Fort Aityakoub by a force of 2,000 hillmen, who are persisting in the attack, despite the fact that squadrons of French airplanes are dropping 600 bombs daily. A party of friendly Moors took the attackers in the flanks and rear, killing 35 of them. So far, the raiders have evaded contact with the Foreign Legionaries, who are advancing over an 18-mile front. There are no signs of the insurrection spreading. The Rabat correspondent of “Le Matin" describes the experiences of Lieutenant Briard, who was wounded in the attack. A bullet fractured one of his shin-bones early in the fight, and he lay all day while the fighting raged around him. In the evening the rebels went round killing the French wounded. Lieutenant Briard pretended to be dead, and miraculously escaped detection. Next morning the wounded officer saw a French detachment, but failed to attract the attention of the men. Later a friendly native assisted him to rejoin his comrades, and he was taken to Meknes in an airplane. Lieutenant Briard says he saw the rebels kill two leaders of a native detachment. An official communique states that reinforcements are being rushed to the scene of the French reverse in Southern Morocco. They include eight battalions of the Foreign Legion, a battery of artillery, and also military airmen and airplanes. "Le Journal” says the French setback': is likely to involve considerable political and moral consequences.