Battles of La Güera and Tichla

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.

Battles of La Güera and Tichla
Part of the Western Sahara War
Date10–22 December 1975
(1 week and 5 days)
Location
La Güera and Tichla, Spanish Sahara
Result Mauritanian victory
Territorial
changes		 Occupation of La Güera and Tichla by Mauritania.
Belligerents
 Mauritania
 Morocco		 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]

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.

References
  1. "Many die in Sahara fighting". Pasadena Star-News. Associated Press. 26 December 1975. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  2. "Golpe fallido del POLISARIO para apoderarse de combustible". ABC. 30 December 1975. Retrieved 19 August 2012.(in Spanish)
  3. 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.
  4. "Las Palmas: En La Güera y Villa Cisneros no queda ya ningún español". La Vanguardia. 7 November 1975. Retrieved 20 August 2012. (in Spanish)
  5. "Malestar e incertidumbre entre los españoles del Sáhara". ABC. 6 December 1975. Retrieved 24 August 2012. (in Spanish)
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