Alhucemas landing

The Alhucemas landing (Spanish: Desembarco de Alhucemas; also known as Al Hoceima landing) was a landing operation which took place on 8 September 1925 at Alhucemas by the Spanish Army and Navy and, in lesser numbers, an allied French naval and aerial contingent, that would put an end to the Rif War. It is considered the first amphibious landing in history involving the use of tanks and massive seaborne air support. Alhucemas is seen as a precursor of the Allied amphibious landings in World War II, and the first successful combined operation of the 20th century.

The operations consisted in landing a force of 13,000 Spanish soldiers transported from Ceuta and Melilla by a combined Spanish-French naval fleet. The commander of the operation was the then dictator of Spain, general Miguel Primo de Rivera, and, as the executive head of the landing forces at the beach of Alhucemas bay, general José Sanjurjo, under whose orders were two army brigades from Ceuta and Melilla, led by Leopoldo Saro Marín and Emilio Fernández Pérez, respectively. Among the officers of the Ceuta brigade, there was the then colonel Francisco Franco who, for his leadership of the Spanish Legion troops in this action, was promoted to brigadier general.