| Battle of Al Mahbes (1979) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Western Sahara War | |||||||
 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Western Sahara |  Morocco | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | At least 132 Killed 150 wounded 53 captured | ||||||
  Location within Western Sahara | |||||||
The Battle of Al Mahbes was fought on 14 October 1979 during the war in Western Sahara. The Polisario Front annihilated a battalion of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces.
The town of Al Mahbes is defended by a battalion of the 14th motorized infantry regiment of the Moroccan army, about 780 men. [1]
The garrison included an artillery battery, BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles and an armoured squadron, including 8 AMX-13 tanks (4 of which were present on the day of the attack). [2]
After the attack on Smara, the Polisario forces who retreated to their bases in Algeria decided to attack the garrison of Al Mahbes. [3]
Around ten Polisario units took part in the attack, i.e. around 1,200 men. [1]
The attack is launched at 6:00 a.m. Around noon, all Moroccan defensive lines were taken by the Polisario, and the last Moroccan resistance was broken at around 4 pm. The Moroccan Air Force intervened. [4] During the day of the 15th, the Saharawis pursued the fleeing Moroccans [2] and blocked Moroccan reinforcements. [5] Part of the garrison, including its commander Captain Mohamed Sakka, managed to withdraw to the town of Zag. Both sides are said to have run out of ammunition. [6]
According to the Polisario, 767 Moroccan soldiers were killed. Journalists who came to the scene counted 132 Moroccan corpses. [2] The Polisario also presented 53 prisoners to journalists. [5] According to Moroccan reports, 20% of the soldiers of the garrison have been killed and the number of wounded is even higher. [7]
According to Morocco, the assailants deplore 350 dead and 75 vehicles destroyed, but journalists can come and visit the base conquered by the Polisario the day after the attack. [8]
400 tonnes of weapons of all kinds, including a BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile, were captured by the Polisario Front following this attack. [2]
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thèse encadrée par K.R. Singh