Conflict: | Bombardment of Chefchaouen |
Partof: | Rif War |
Date: | September 17, 1925 |
Place: | Chefchaouen, Morocco |
The Bombardment of Chefchaouen was an aerial bombardment of Chefchaouen, Morocco carried out in the middle of the Rif War by a rogue American squadron in the service of the French colonial empire, the Escadrille Cherifienne, on September 17, 1925.[1]
The motivation to bomb Chefchaouen specifically was to drive the Jebala people out of the war, as it was a city the tribe considered holy.[2]
Paul Ayres Rockwell later wrote: "The city looked lovely from the air, hugging its high mountain and surrounded with many gardens and green cultivations… I looked down upon the numerous sanctuaries, the six mosques, the medieval dungeon, the big square with its fountain playing and fervently hoped none of them had been damaged."