MR 335
27 postcards of the mining operations at Nador and San Juan de Las Minas and the military operations there to protect the railway workers. Shown are mining operations, railroad construction, military protection. The postcards were all sent by Jose Galve to his family estate in Barcelona during the Kert campaign. (Note: In 1929 Jose Galve was the Lieutenant Judge in charge of the Alcantara Cavalry Regiment, 14th Cavalry, based in Ceuta, Morocco. See https://www.boe.es/gazeta/dias/1929/09/12/pdfs/C00193-00208.pdf
Price: $810.00
NOTE: In 1908, shortly after the Algeciras Conference, the Spanish Rif Mining Company was established, which acquired the rights to the Uixán and Axara mines and the right to build a 30-kilometer railway from the San Juan de las Minas deposits, near Segangan, to Melilla. The mining village of San Juan de las Minas is located near Segangan (Beni-Bu-Ifrur tribe), in the province of Nador. It was home to 80 to 100 working-class families. Two kilometers further up the road were the Uixán mines, which included a large building for employees, the office-house called San Jerónimo, another group of houses, an abandoned fort on a hill, and other dwellings on a rise called El Carmen, where civilian families lived.
The rescue operation for the workers building the railway to San Juan de las Minas was the first Spanish military operation of the 20th century . It took place near Melilla on July 9, 1909, at the beginning of the Melilla War. On this same day, a group of Rifians attacked Spanish workers who were working on the construction of the railway of the Spanish Rif MinIng Company, trying to capture them in order to exchange them for the Rifians captured by General Pedro del Real on July 3 during a punitive operation on Zoco el Arbáa , Charrauit and Lehadara.MR 335
The CEMR (Melilla Mining Company) created two cities, San Juan de Las Minas and Uixan, and shaped the Melilla landscape, conditioning it to the need for mineral exports. The railway lines, the ore loading dock, and the bridges are still visible scars of that economic policy. All existing space was adapted to the need to transport one million tons of iron ore annually from the Rif region. The CEMR was a company that controlled absolutely everything, and only the Franciscans, in its early days, and later the unions during the Republican era, offered resistance. Working conditions were akin to slavery, leading to many bitter conflicts. The exploitation of the mine did not result in economic benefits or social development for the area, as the profits and dividends went entirely to the shareholders and owners of CEMR.
NOTE FROM WIKIPEDIA: The Kert campaign was a conflict in northern Morocco between Spain and insurgent Riffian harkas led by Mohammed Ameziane, who had called for a jihad against the Spanish occupation in the eastern Rif. It took place between 1911 and 1912. The campaign saw the introduction of the tropas regulares indígenas ("native regular troops"), created by Dámaso Berenguer on 30 June 1911. The campaign followed a revolt initiated by Mohammed Ameziane, caïd of Segangan, who had called for a jihad and had attacked both Spanish and tribes friendly to them. After an attack on a group of Spanish military personnel undertaking topographic works at a position near Ishafen (near the river Kert) the Spanish campaign formally started on 24 August. However, a Spanish column had been already attacked on 30 June.MR 335
Following a visit to Melilla, Spanish War Minister Agustín Luque took control of the operations on 7 October, and the struggles brought numerous losses to both sides, 64 death and 204 wounded on the Spanish side. On 14 October 1911 General Salvador Díaz Ordóñez was killed in action and a column commanded by General Navarro suffered 33 deaths and 105 wounded. The Spanish forces took the position of Al Aaroui (Monte Arruit) on 18 January 1912. The Spanish ended the campaign following the killing of Ameziane by native regulares on 15 May 1912. Si Mohammed Bourhayl replaced him but surrendered soon after. The Spanish losses by that time amounted to about 500 killed and 1,900 wounded. The Spanish control line was extended to the Kert River and the new boundaries for the Spanish-occupied territory entailed the annexation of the Berber cabiles of Aith Sidel and Aith Bouyafar.
MR 339
MR 339
